The Thorn Horse Case, a strange case of the qing dynasty caused by a Runan

□ Zhao Xinchun

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were four strange cases, namely the Yang Naiwu and Xiao Cabbage case, the famous Yang Yuelou unjust case, the Taiyuan Strange Case, and the Zhang Wenxiang Thorn Horse Case, and the most bizarre one was the Thorn Horse Case. The movie "Letter of Submission" starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Jin Chengwu was adapted from one version of the case. In the film, Pang Qingyun, played by Jet Li, is based on Ma Xinyi, a Shandong Heze man who was the governor of Liangjiang and minister of trade and commerce, and The third brother Jiang Wuyang, played by Jin Chengwu, is the initiator of the horse assassination case and Zhang Wenxiang, a native of Runing Province in the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Wenxiang's name is unknown, but one of the versions of zhang wenxiang's origins is the version of the "Letter of Submission", which is the statement in Qing Xuke's "Qing Barnyard Notes", saying that Zhang Wenxiang was originally a small leader of the Twist Army, and captured Ma Xinyi of Ren Hefei Zhi County during the battle, so Zhang Wenxiang, who wanted to defect to the Qing army, and his brothers Cao Erhu and Shi Jinbiao became brothers with Ma Xinyi. After the surrender, the Zhang Wenxiang brothers entered the Shanzi Second Battalion formed by Ma Xinyi and became the battalion sentry officers. As his official position grew larger, Ma Xinyi was afraid that the brothers would expose their capture, and coupled with his lustful occupation of Cao Erhu's wife, he killed Cao Erhu with a knife. This made Zhang Wenxiang, a very righteous and righteous person in Runan, very angry, and he saw the opportunity to assassinate Ma Xinyi. This saying is the most widely spread in the folk because of the peach color incident. Regarding the assassination of Yiqi, Qing Ouyang Yu's "Trivia of Seeing and Hearing" records another version, saying that there was a thief who was brave and invincible, and repeatedly defeated the officials and troops, and this person was secretly close to Zhang Wenxiang. As the leader of the bandits, Ma Xinyi really had no way, so he consulted with Zhang Wenxiang, who had always had a good relationship with him, and asked him to persuade him to surrender, and promised that after the man surrendered, he would not only be exonerated from his crime, but also give him an official and a knighthood. Zhang Wenxiang renewed his promise and went to persuade him to surrender. The man believed Zhang Wenxiang and surrendered, but Ma Xinyi killed him and his men while he was drunk. At this time, Zhang Wenxiang stopped doing it, "hating to sell himself, and hating to be negative to a certain thief", so he assassinated Ma Xinyi. In this version, Zhang Wenxiang and Ma Xinyi have always been acquaintances, regardless of the cause, they are all acquaintances.

The official version of Zhang Wenxiang's horse assassination case can be found in books such as the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty. Zhang Wenxiang did not know Ma Xinyi, he was a soldier of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, a brother of Li Xiucheng, the loyal king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and a general of Li Shixian, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As the situation in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom deteriorated, Zhang Wenxiang deserted, and later went into exile in ningbo, Zhejiang Province, where he started a private pawn business, sometimes colluding with pirates and doing some murderous and transgressive things. Later, Ma Xinyi served as the governor of Zhejiang, suppressed private pawns, and sent troops to suppress pirates. Zhang Wenxiang cut off his livelihood and his wife ran away. In the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, it is said that "the wife was omitted by others", saying that she was robbed by someone. Qing Ouyang Yu's "Trivia of Seeing and Hearing" said: "He had three wives and concubines, all of whom fled, and two of them disappeared without a trace, and one hid in the family of Wu San Young Master in a certain county in Ningbo Province, and he refused to do so." Controlled to Ningbo Province, too conservative to return to. After the case was closed, Wu still did not comply with the decision. It means that Zhang Wenxiang's wife and concubine ran by themselves. The Qing Xue Fucheng "Notes on Yong Di" and Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Notes" record that his wife was abducted by someone. The first time she was chased back by Zhang Wenxiang, the money she took away was not recovered. Qing Miao Tsuen Sun's "Judicial Chronicle of jiangsu Province's General History" said: "His wife Luo Shi was lured and escaped for Wu Bingxie. ”

If according to the records of the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", Zhang Wenxiang can be regarded as an evil person no matter how he says it, but his wife ran away, but he was helpless. At this time, Ma Xinyi paraded in Ningbo, Zhang Wenxiang stopped the car and shouted injustice, asking the government to make decisions for itself and help recover the property, while Ma Xinyi thought that this was a family affair and had no time to manage. If Zhang Wenxiang's wife gives up on this, it will be forgotten, who knows if she chooses to escape again. The more Zhang Wenxiang thought about it, the more angry he became, and Xue Fucheng's "Notes on YongYi" and Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Notes" said: "Wen Xiang's wife also plotted to escape, and Wen Xiang forced him to commit suicide, and he was angry: 'The inspector does not pursue the stolen goods for me, so that my wife has a light heart, and it is the inspector who kills my wife. Zhang Wenxiang decided to be the villain, on the one hand, forcing his wife to commit suicide, on the other hand, preparing to assassinate Ma Xinyi. After planning for almost two years, Zhang Wenxiang finally stabbed Ma Xinyi to death on July 26, 1870, the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870). Because Zhang Wenxiang did not flee and voluntarily confessed after stabbing Ma Xinyi to death, many people believed that there must be a demon when things went wrong, and the officials of the first instance never tortured Zhang Wenxiang, which made this case even more suspicious. Xue Fucheng's "Notes on Yong Xi" said: "When things happen, things are extraordinary, and false rumors are everywhere, or there must be people who direct them, or there are people who suspect Ma Gong with small things." Gai said that Wen Xiang did not worry about death, and did not have a deep hatred to this point. ”

Zhang Wenxiang's horse assassination case was initially tried by the Jiangning general Kui Yu and the governor of Caoyun, Zhang Zhiwan, and later the imperial court sent Shangshu Zheng Dunjin of the Punishment Department to try the case together with Zeng Guohuan, the governor of Liangjiang, to agree with Kui Yu and Zhang Zhiwan's conclusion, which is what is said in the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty": "Wen Xiang tried to recover from the Cantonese bandits and restore the pirates." Xin yi caressed Zhejiang and hunted down the Nantian pirates, and his party was mostly killed, and his wife was neglected. The new yi parade to Ningbo, the complaint is not allowed, because it is a vendetta, and there is no one to direct it. Please condemn with great rebellion. Zhang Wenxiang was in Jiangning and killed his son. Regarding this execution, the "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" is very detailed, which is somewhat different from the "Qing History Draft". It was said that Ma Xinyi's fourth brother was in Jiangning as an alternate county commander at the time, so he made him a supervisor. Because of his hatred, he "ordered the executioner to cut it with a hook and hook meat", which was not relieved, and ordered someone to cut Zhang Wenxiang's abdomen and dig his heart to pay tribute to his brother. Zhang Wenxiang's son was not executed, but castrated and sent to Heilongjiang as a slave.

The second volume of Qing Miao's "Judicial Chronicle of the General History of Jiangsu Province" records that Zhang Wenxiang's son was assigned to zhang Changchang, believing that "the reason for the assassination in this case, or the ambiguous matter, is probably not credible." Qing Li Yuerui's "Spring Ice Room Wild Ride" volume "Zhang Wenxiang Case Strange Story" also believes that "Zhang Wenxiang assassinated Ma Xinyi's case, at that time, the official was vague, for this reason, after the fact, different opinions sprung up." "Therefore, folk" is mostly called Ma Xinyi's fishing color negative friend, Zhang Wenxiang takes revenge for his friend, and he is close to people and performs a new drama with his affairs, which is almost irrevocable than the iron case. "After folk interpretation, Zhang Wenxiang's horse assassination case has become a peach-colored case, and the truth of the case is insignificant. At the same time, Li Yuerui also gave another version of Zhang Wenxiang's horse assassination case, that is, the Tonghui case. When Zhang Wenxiang was under Li Shixian, he befriended Ma Xinyi's compatriot Xu Mou, who was forced to join the Taiping Army, and the two later plotted to escape from the Taiping Army. Xu served under Ma Xinyi because of his hometown connections, and Zhang Wenxiang moved to Zhejiang. One day, he went to visit Xu, and Xu told him a surprising news, when the Hui commander who was in turmoil in Xinjiang contacted Ma Xinyi, who was also a Hui, and said: "Now that the soldiers have decided to Xinjiang, they will not enter the Guandong in a day, and all the matters in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be discussed, and the secretary of state will take care of them cheaply." And Ma Xinyi also gladly accepted the order, replying to the letter, saying that "if the big soldiers are determined in the Central Plains, then several provinces in the southeast, and the responsibility of one person is the subject." Zhang Wenxiang listened, is this not a blatant split of the country? So "When I heard the words of indignation, I called the case: 'Such a rebellious minister, I will use my hand to dispel my anger.' Coupled with Ma Xinyi's rectification of the pawn industry, Zhang Wenxiang cut off his livelihood, and family hatred forced Zhang Wenxiang to assassinate Ma Xinyi, and Zhang Wenxiang here seemed to be a loyal and patriotic righteous man. However, when the officials of the trial heard this, they felt that the case was of great importance, and "Xian da was confused and did not want to build up the prison, so he corrected it to prison words", and finally formed the official statement of the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty".

Regarding The case of Zhang Wenxiang's horse stabbing, Ouyang Yu's "Records of Seeing and Hearing" also recorded this: "There was a gap between Ding Richang and Duan Huan (Ma Xinyi), and on the same day there was a private discussion, and xian said that Zhang Zhi's assassination would be his master. Ding Richang served as an aide to Zeng Guofan, and accordingly later generations also raised the case to the interest struggle between the Qing court represented by Empress Dowager Cixi and the Xiang Army represented by Zeng Guofan and other local armed forces at the end of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, it was also "quite a person who quoted Zhang (Wenxiang) and Ding Ding (Richang) with words, And Zhang Dan laughed incessantly." With Zhang Wenxiang being sentenced, because "this matter was out of the question, it became a suspicious case." ”

Liu Tixin's "Three Strokes of Cang Chu Zhai" Volume III "Zeng Guofan Does Not Kill Li Zhaoshou" has "Li Shizhong's tomb known as 'The Tomb of Zhang Wenxiang, a Righteous Soldier of the Great Qing Dynasty'. "Li Shizhong here is Li Zhaoshou, the general of the Twist Army who was recruited by Zeng Guofan, which shows that after Zhang Wenxiang's death, someone buried him and built a tomb.

For Zhang Wenxiang, Ouyang Yu had this feeling when describing his tragic punishment: "When Zhang was killed, the slices of meat were cut down, and more than a thousand knives were slashed, and the flesh was exposed, and the qi began to die. Since the killing, there is no such tragic person, and Zhang Yiran suffered it, until death without a cry of pain, the viewer is salty, the punishment is not shocked, and the skin is cut and unchanged. With such fortitude and perseverance, what kind of thief cannot be done to become a general and unify the army? Shame on him as an assassin too! Zhang Jinhuan also said in the "Rebuilding the Chronicle of RunanXian And Remembering Zhang Wen (Wen) Xiang": "Wen (Wen) Xiang assassinated a feudal governor with a puppet and set a precedent that had never been set in our country. ”