On July 26, 1870, Ma Xinyi, the governor of Liangjiang, went to the school yard on the west side of the government office to review the soldiers' archery, and then walked back to the government on foot. But when he walked to the door of the palace, someone suddenly rushed out from the side. While shouting that he was wronged, this person quickly approached Ma Xinyi, and then pulled out the sharp blade that had been prepared long ago and stabbed Ma Xinyi directly under the armpit.
Ma Xinyi's entourage reacted at this time, hurriedly rescued the person, and found a doctor to diagnose and treat him. But the injury was too serious, and Ma Xinyi died the next day. The person who assassinated him did not flee, but stood in place and shouted, my name is Zhang Wenxiang, and I killed the person. This incident came to be known as the "Horse Stabbing Case".
In broad daylight, the governor of Liangjiang was assassinated at the gate of the palace, and the assassin did not run away after the killing, standing in place waiting to be caught, looking still upright. No matter how you think about it, this thing is weird. Cixi was also shocked when she found out, saying, "This matter is very strange."
In Cixi's heart, Ma Xinyi has a good official reputation and is a capable official. Later generations also had a good evaluation of Ma Xinyi.
Ma Xinyi is a native of Heze, Shandong, and became a magistrate after being admitted to the Jinshi. At that time, it was the end of the Qing Dynasty, with external worries and internal strife, and rebel armies in various places were surging. Ma Xinyi not only had to manage the affairs of the district well, but also had to train the army and lead the troops to fight. In the battles again and again, he was gradually promoted to the political envoy of Anhui and the governor of Zhejiang.
At that time, Zhejiang had long been made miserable by one war after another, and Ma Xinyi saw that the people's lives were too hard, so he wrote to the imperial court, hoping to reduce taxes and abolish many harsh taxes on Caoyun. He also presided over the dredging of the Sanjiangkou and led troops to suppress bandits.
After making political achievements in Zhejiang, the imperial court appointed him as the governor of Liangjiang. At this time, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had been defeated, and the imperial court probably hoped that he could lead the local people to resume production as soon as possible. He was assassinated two years after his arrival, and although the assassin was caught red-handed, more than a hundred years later, the cause of his death is still a mystery.
The Qing Dynasty gave the story that the murderer Zhang Wenxiang was once a Taiping soldier and a pirate. When Ma Xinyi served as the governor of Zhejiang, he led troops to encircle and suppress pirates, most of Zhang Wenxiang's accomplices were killed, and his wife was taken captive. Zhang Wenxiang held a grudge and planned the assassination by himself.
According to this statement, Ma Xinyi was assassinated, and Zhang Wenxiang was the only murderer, and there was no hidden secret, no behind-the-scenes instigation. In the end, Zhang Wenxiang was executed by Ling Chi, his heart was cut out, and the child was also implicated and killed. At this point, the truth of the horse assassination case has been revealed, and it can be classified into the archives.
However, this was only the official statement given by the Qing government at that time, and there was a lot of gossip.
One of the more widely circulated theories is that Ma Xinyi was captured by the bandits because of his lack of ability to suppress the bandits, and in order to save his life, he married Jin Lan with the bandits' boss and the second child, and later acted in a play with the cooperation of the bandits, so that he could recover the lost territory and have the so-called success in suppressing the bandits. Later, he rose all the way with his merits in suppressing bandits and became a feudal official.
Ma Xinyi is soaring, and the good brothers who worshiped the son together are still being bandits, and the days are getting more and more difficult, so they come to run. Who knew that Ma Xinyi not only didn't help, but also fell in love with the second wife. In order to get a beauty, he actually killed the second child.
These things made the third brother Zhang Wenxiang indignant, and now that the second brother is also dead, and the second sister-in-law is occupied, he doesn't want to live anymore. But before he died, he had to help his second brother avenge him. So he planned the assassination, and did not run away after the killing, but stood there reporting his home and waiting to be caught.
There is also a theory that involves another feudal official, Zeng Guofan.
The reason why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and other rebel armies were suppressed was due to Zeng Guofan's great contribution, and the Hunan Army he founded also contributed a lot in the course of the battle. But now that the Taiping army has been defeated, there is no need for so many Hunan troops, and the infighting has begun.
It is rumored that many people persuaded Zeng Guofan to support his troops and stand on his own, and he was dressed in a yellow robe. It is also said that after the Hunan army captured Tianjing of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it privately swallowed Hong Xiuquan's private treasury and obtained countless military expenses. In addition, Zeng Guofan was a Han Chinese, and the Qing Dynasty was a Manchu court, so he was naturally wary of the Han people. Therefore, after the Taiping army was defeated, the Qing government began to be wary of Zeng Guofan.
Cixi transferred Zeng Guofan elsewhere so that he could not control the Hunan army. He also made Ma Xinyi the governor of Liangjiang, hoping that he could divide the Hunan army step by step, so that the Hunan army would no longer pose a threat to the imperial court. Ma Xinyi received Cixi's hint and frantically suppressed the Hunan army, which made the contradictions between the Hunan army and Ma Xinyi increase day by day, and finally broke out completely two years after his arrival.
In the end, Ma Xinyi was assassinated, and Zeng Guofan was reappointed as the governor of Liangjiang. Cixi's plan to divide the Hunan army and weaken Zeng's vassal domain failed.
At that time, the Western powers were eyeing each other, the Taiping Army had just been wiped out, and society was in dire need of stability. Even if Cixi wanted to listen to the play with peace of mind, she couldn't directly tear her face with Zeng Guofan. So, even if she knew it, she had to press down the real cause of Ma Xinyi's death.
According to this theory, the mastermind behind Ma Xinyi's assassination is related to Zeng Guofan, if not Zeng Guofan, at least he is the biggest beneficiary.
However, this is just one of the many claims. In addition, there are different opinions about Ma Xinyitong betraying the country, Ding Richang buying a murderous stabbing horse, anti-foreign religious people buying a murderous stabbing horse, and so on. What the truth is depends on which one you believe.