In the late Qing Dynasty, there were four strange cases, one of which was the "Thorn Horse Case", the so-called "Thorn Horse Case", which was the case of Zhang Wenxiang's assassination of Ma Xinyi, which was presented by later generations in various works, but all of which had elements of joke and exaggeration. How the real "thorn horse case" is, it also depends on the notes left by the Qing Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, there was a detailed record of the "Thorn Horse Case", written in Chinese, which I translated into the vernacular for the reference of all officials.
It says: Zhang Wenxiang was a forward colonel in Li Shixian's department in the "Rebellion" (referring to the Taiping Army), and after the official army attacked Jinling (Tianjing, Nanjing), Li Shixian led thieves to flee to Minguang, and was defeated by several officers and soldiers. Zhang Wenxiang knew that Li Shixian's life was not long, and after conspiring with Xu Daye, a native of Shandong, to steal Li Shixian, he defected to Ma Xinyi.
At that time, Ma Xinyi was already an official governor of Zhejiang, and Xu Daye was originally a general under Ma Xinyi, but after being captured by the "rebellion", he had to submit to Li Shixian, who was in the same camp as Zhang Wenxiang, and the two formed an alliance as righteous brothers. After leaving Li Shixian, Xu took Zhang Wenxiang to the old lord. Ma Xinyi was not thin on the two, and asked Xu Daye to resume his post, and transferred Zhang Wenxiang to Ningbo as a garrison general. Zhang Wenxiang then resigned and opened a pawnshop and gambling house in Ningbo, and the business was very prosperous.
One day, Zhang Wenxiang went to Zhejiang with a heavy amount of money, just to repay Xu Daye. Xu was very happy to receive his gold and silver, and drank and talked freely with Zhang Wenxiang. During the banquet, Xu Daye couldn't stop sighing, and Zhang asked why he sighed? Xu said that he had been an official of the imperial court, but he was helplessly captured by the "rebellion", and in order to save his life, he could only submit. Today, although the official is reinstated, his colleagues regard him as an outlier and deliberately alienate him. Although Ma Xinyi is not thin on it, he is often suspicious, only afraid that sooner or later, he will be framed.
Zhang Wenxiang advised him not to be afraid, and it was a big deal to resign and go to Ningbo to do business with him. Xu also said that hou, the thief of the hook, the thief of the country, received a letter from Ma Xinyi the day before, but it was a false edict written by a certain rebel king in the Hui department of Xinjiang. After pacifying the west, the army will march to the Central Plains, and if Ma Xinyi is willing to cooperate, all the provinces of the South Wind will belong to him.
Zhang Wenxiang was furious when he heard this, and he shot up the case and declared, "Such a rebellious thief, I will hand blade it to vent public anger!" After returning to Ningbo, Zhang Wenxiang did not move, and the bold words during the banquet were just barking wildly through wine.
What really angered Zhang Wenxiang was related to Ma Xinyi's prohibition of opening gambling houses privately. Ma Xinyi ordered that no private gambling be allowed in his jurisdiction, and all the gambling houses opened were destroyed, and all the wealth obtained was confiscated. After Zhang Wenxiang's gambling house was demolished, the family property was confiscated, and he became angry and made up his mind to assassinate Ma Xinyi.
Not long after, Ma Xinyi was transferred to the post of Governor of Jiang, and Zhang Wenxiang wrote a letter claiming that he knew the location of the remnants of the "Jinling Rebellion", and Ma Xinyi replied and ordered him to meet him in the camp.
After Zhang Wenxiang arrived at the camp, he learned that Ma Xinyi was going to take a small car to the school yard every day at dawn to read exercises, and Zhang Wenxiang lurked on the side of the arrow road gate with a sharp blade, waiting for an opportunity to assassinate Ma Xinyi.
When Ma Xinyi's palanquin reached the Jiandao Gate, a fellow villager in Shandong suddenly stopped Ma Xinyi's palanquin and begged Ma Xinyi to look at his fellow villagers and find him an errand. Ma Xinyi leaned out of the palanquin and talked to him. Zhang Wenxiang saw the opportunity, quickly walked to the edge of the car, and stabbed a sharp blade into Ma Xinyi's ribs, slashing hard into his abdomen and strangling his intestines.
After the crowd rescued Ma Xinyi, Zhang Wenxiang shouted "Tied up", the crowd tied him up, Ma Xinyi still had breath, could still speak, and sent back to the camp to die of ineffective medication. Asked why Zhang Wenxiang wanted to kill Ma Xinyi, Zhang Wenxiang claimed that the two had an old grudge, so they killed him with a knife.
Ma Xinyi has two concubines in his family, both more than 40 years old, who have followed Ma Xinyi for more than 20 years and have deep feelings. The two concubines went to the office to cry out for injustice, and the two divisions opened a court to hear the case. After Zhang Wenxiang was brought to the hall, he sat down on the ground and asked him to kneel, but he insisted on not kneeling. I asked the two adult officials in the hall what their duties were? Answer, Daotai, Zhentai.
Zhang Wenxiang immediately broke out and scolded, saying that your two officials are humble, which one deserves to judge me? Hurry up and ask the Zhejiang general to come, and my words are only to the general.
After the Zhejiang general arrived, Zhang Wenxiang asked the general to shield the left and right, drive Out Ma Xinyi's family, and send troops to surround the inner house to prevent Ma Xinyi's family from coming in and beating him.
The general rebuked him for his arrogance and ignored it, while he was silent. The general was furious and ordered people to use torture, and under the heavy punishment, Zhang Wenxiang broke his mouth and scolded, still refusing to tell the truth about the assassination of Ma Xinyi. In desperation, the general could only shield the left and right, leaving only a few henchmen present. Zhang Wenxiang said that he killed Ma Xinyi in order to eliminate a traitor from the imperial court, and Ma Xinyi conspired with the Huibu in an attempt to subvert the imperial court, and he killed Ma Xinyi only to kill a thief who stole the country. He also said that the letter was hidden in Ma Xinyi's house, and he could quickly search for it, and then he would know whether what he said was true or not.
As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked. The general then ordered someone to take zhang Wenxiang's mouth and put Zhang Wenxiang in charge of assassinating a member of the imperial court as a madman. After Zhang Wenxiang's death, the trial documents were submitted to the Third Division, and the Third Division played the role of Shengshang and the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager immediately issued an edict not to mention the matter again. At this point, the case is completely settled.
What is written above is the whole process of the thorn horse case written by the Qing Dynasty, as to whether it is true or false, it is not known, unless the parties concerned, outsiders only look at this matter from the perspective of a bystander. It is rumored that Zhang Wenxiang assassinated Ma Xinyi, but it is related to women, in fact, there is no woman at all, Ma Xinyi has a high evaluation in history, this person is very accomplished, whether it is to unify the army or govern the people's livelihood, he is very accomplished, not the treacherous villain described in the film and television drama, but he is bent on serving the Qing court, so some people who hate the Qing court deliberately scandalize it.
The article refers to the "Zhang Wenxiang Case" left over from the Qing Dynasty archives