What are the four great mysteries of the Manchu Qing Dynasty?

In the late Qing Dynasty when Cixi was in power behind the curtain, at the turn of Tongzhi and Guangxu, numerous strange and unjust cases occurred, including the case of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai, the unjust case of the famous actress Yang Yuelou, the strange case of Taiyuan, and the case of Zhang Wen The Xiang Horse Stabbing Case was the most sensational and was collectively known as the Four Great Odd Cases of the Late Qing Dynasty. These four cases are complex, the process is tortuous, ups and downs, unexpected and fascinating, and they are still debated by the world today.

[Edit this paragraph] The unjust case of the famous actress Yang Yuelou

Yang Yuelou was a famous actress who played a niche role in a Peking Opera troupe. He became famous for his excellent acting skills and was praised by many. Yuli Tingting is an expert in both civil and military arts. During the 11th and 12th years of Tongzhi's reign, he performed in Jinguiyuan, a famous theater in the Shanghai Concession, which captivated both men and women in Shanghai. In general, Beijing opera performers only favored Yang Yuelou. In the winter of the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Yang Yuelou's marriage to a merchant woman triggered a lawsuit. Yang Yuelou continued to perform plays such as Brahma Palace, which showed the love between men and women, in Jinguiyuan. A mother and daughter named Wei, a tea merchant from Xiangshan, Guangdong, went to watch it for three days in a row. Wei's daughter, whose name is A Bao, is seventeen years old and has a deep admiration for Yang Yuelou. After returning home, he wrote a letter by himself to describe in detail his longing for her and his intention to get engaged. Together with Nian Geng's invitation, he sent someone to deliver it to Yang Yuelou to arrange a meeting with him. Yang Yuelou was doubtful and afraid and dared not keep the promise. Wei Nu became ill and became increasingly serious. His father had been doing business in other places for a long time and was not in Shanghai, so his mother followed her daughter's wishes and sent someone to inform Yang Yuelou and asked a matchmaker to propose marriage. Yuelou went to see her and agreed to the appointment. Qian's matchmaker signed a marriage certificate, made a betrothal gift and began to prepare for the wedding. However, Wei's uncle knew about it and insisted on blocking it because of the etiquette of good and bad not marrying, so he retreated.

Wei's mother secretly negotiated with Yang Yuelou and imitated the old folk custom in Shanghai of robbing relatives. Wei's uncle, together with the local gentry and merchants from Xiangshan in Shanghai, sued Yang Yuelou for the crime of kidnapping. So on the day of her wedding at her new residence, county officials and patrol officers arrived to arrest Yuelou and Wei's daughter, and seized seven boxes of clothing and jewelry from Wei's mother and daughter, which were said to contain four thousand gold. On the way to escort Wei Nu to the court, it was recorded that a small car was sitting in danger, and the red clothes that were used to worship the ancestors were still on her body. There were clouds of spectators following along the way. Ye Tingjuan, the magistrate of Shanghai who tried the case, was also a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong. He hated her and severely punished her. She was severely tortured in court and had Yang Yuelou's tibia beaten 150 times. Not only did the girl not express any regrets, she even called her a married chicken. Then he followed the chicken and never had any different ambitions and was criticized for being slapped with a female mouth for two hundred dollars. Both were imprisoned until Wei's father returned before sentencing. As soon as the case came out, it immediately spread throughout the streets and caused a sensation in public opinion. Yang Yuelou is a famous actor who is very popular and well-known to everyone. He has committed such a dramatic romantic case and is naturally particularly eye-catching. At the same time, actors have always been regarded as untouchables, and the tea merchant surnamed Wei not only belongs to a good family and has an official title, but also a businessman with a certain status and a small fortune. Yang Yuelou, as an untouchable, marries the daughter of a good family, which violates the good and untouchables. The common etiquette of not getting married. In addition, Wei Yang's marriage was in the legal form of marrying a matchmaker, but the township party brought a lawsuit against the county magistrate for kidnapping, and severely punished him for kidnapping. These unconventional things also aroused people's interest, and there was a lot of discussion at the time. . The person who finally clarified the grievances in the case was the Empress Dowager Cixi. However, the Yang Yuelou case was settled in a confused manner. None of the people involved in the case were affected at all, and they were still happily working as officials to make money. Yang Yuelou's wife, Wei Abao, was also kicked out of the house by her father and her whereabouts are unknown. In anger, Yang Yuelou changed his name to Yang Houhou, giving himself a humiliating name to express his dissatisfaction with the darkness of officialdom and the low social status of actors at that time, who were bullied everywhere.

[Edit this paragraph] Zhang Wenxiang's case of stabbing horses

After the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, people rumored that Zeng Guofan was ambitious. In fact, his subordinates had long encouraged him to seek the throne. When fighting against the Taiping Army, the Qing government had to rely on the Hunan Army. However, now that the Taiping Army had been "pacified", could Empress Dowager Cixi allow Zeng Guofan to gain power in the south of the Yangtze River? There was a tiger lying in the southeast, and she couldn't sleep at ease. So she transferred Zeng Guofan away from Jiangning, appointed Ma Xinyi as governor of Liangjiang, and quickly abolished the Hunan army.

Jiangning was captured by the Hunan Army. Liangjiang has always been regarded as private land by the Hunan Army. They have been operating there for several years, how can they easily give it to Ma Xinyi. Ma Xinyi has not had his own army for decades, and coming to Jiangning alone is like entering a dragon's pond and a tiger's den. After Ma Xinyi was assassinated, the imperial court understood that in order not to provoke a mutiny and shake the rule of the Qing Dynasty, it quickly transferred Zeng Guofan back to Jiangning to take charge. From then on, the throne of Governor-General of Liangjiang was in the hands of the Hunan clan for a long time, and others did not dare to care.

After the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the bad nature of the Hunan army was fully exposed. They were more ferocious than bandits and looted brazenly. After the implementation of the system of reducing bravery and reforming the army in the late Qing Dynasty, tens of thousands of Hunan soldiers were dismissed, including many generals. These people did not return to their hometowns to farm, but wandered around and plundered. Some people participated in the Ge Lao Hui, and some were originally members of the Ge Lao Hui.

The dismantling of the Hunan Army expanded the underworld forces, and the stragglers combined with the underworld forces and became a major public nuisance to society. Ma Xinyi was very strict in punishing stragglers. In particular, he appointed Yuan Baoqing, who was known for his toughness, as the general manager of the camp affairs office. If he caught stragglers who harmed the people and committed illegal acts, he would punish them on the spot. The stragglers and the dark forces hated him.

Yan Shizhang, who once spoke to Sun Yiyan, was quite scheming. He wrote a "Southbound Diary" and recorded the entire process of going to Ning. According to his great-grandson Yan Mugao, it was written in the diary: "The horse assassination case is related to the Hunan Army." "There is a big shot behind the horse assassination case."

Zhang Wenxiang assassinated Ma Xinyi. The superintendent's office suddenly hit the ground. Immediately after Ma Xinyi was assassinated, the drama "Assassination Case" was staged, and it was also the time for the provincial examination. Anhui academician Yin Zhaoyong came up with a test question that was ridiculed. Qiao Songnian also joined in the fun and wrote a crooked poem to testify. The general of the Hunan Army Erect a monument to Zhang Wenxiang and so on. All this shows that the assassination was a planned and organized political murder. From the implementation of the case to the strong cooperation of public opinion, as well as the careful planning of the trial and the shrewd design of the conclusion, it all shows that it was written by an expert.

[Edit this paragraph] Taiyuan Strange Case

There was a rich man named Zhang Baiwan in Taiyuan. Because he disliked his poor son-in-law Cao Wenhuang, he betrothed his second daughter Yuzhu to a family named Yao, but His daughter Yuzhu, who likes pretty boys but not money, elopes with Cao Wenhuang and plans to seek refuge with Chen Dijie, an old friend of the Cao family and the magistrate of Jiaocheng County.

The two rested in a tofu shop before leaving the city. The tofu shop's father and his daughter, Mo, sympathized with their plight and lent them their donkeys. The next day, Zhang Wanwan couldn't find anyone, so he thought he had gone to his eldest daughter's house. He led his family to the eldest daughter Jinzhu's house to look for someone, suspecting that she was hiding in the closet. Who knew there was a monk in the closet, so they took the closet away. , but the monk fainted. In order to find a way out, Zhang Wanwan lied that his second daughter had died of a sudden illness, so he dressed the monk in a wedding dress and placed it in the mourning room. In the middle of the night, the monk woke up, ran away, and went to the tofu shop. At Old Man Mo's house, he changed his wedding dress into ordinary clothes and left. On the way, his lower body became excited again, and he molested the woman who had gotten up early in the morning. He was killed by his husband Wu Butcher, and his body was Throw it into the well. The monk's murder case and the case of the Zhang family's walking corpse shocked the whole city. Yang Chongmin, the magistrate of Yangqu County, held a public trial. Nosy people identified the monk's clothes as old man Mo's clothes. Yang Chongmin, who was eager to close the case and meritorious deeds, ignored everything. Old man Mo was identified as the murderer, and he was beaten to death, and the case was reported to the Ministry of Punishment.

After the murder, Butcher Wu moved to Jinci. When Cao Wenhuang returned to Taiyuan, he passed by Butcher Wu's hotel. Butcher Wu, who was drunk and lost his temper, revealed the secret of killing the monk. A few days later, Cao Wenhuang returned to Taiyuan from Jiaocheng to return the donkey. When he learned that the old man had been arrested and appealed to Mo Mo, Yang Chongmin was aware of the injustice, but was afraid of exposing himself to torture and extorting confessions and killing people, so he unjustly accused Cao Wenhuang as an accomplice. After Yuzhu's maid Xiuxiang learned the entire case during a visit to the prison, she asked the chief security officer of Jinci to monitor Butcher Wu, and on the other hand rushed to Jiaocheng to look for Yuzhu. Yuzhu Shi also found Chen Dijie, who had just been promoted from Jiaocheng County Magistrate to Shanxi Punishment Supervisor, and went to Taiyuan. So, the truth came out, and the old man and the young man were acquitted.

[Edit this paragraph] Yang Naiwu and the Xiaobaicai Case

In the late Qing Dynasty, Yang Naiwu, a scholar from Yuhang, held a banquet to celebrate when he passed the provincial examination. The tenant Ge Xiao's eldest wife Bi Xiugu is quite beautiful and is known as "Little Cabbage". She was originally a child bride of the Ge family. She had been a servant in the Yang family. She and Yang Naiwu had been in love for a long time. Due to the etiquette and honor, it was difficult for them to get married, so they had to marry each other. Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang County, was accused by Yang Naiwu of liaison with a scholar for collecting excessive amounts of money and food, and he was accused of it. His financial path was cut off and he harbored resentment. His son Liu Zihe raped Bi Xiugu with poison and poisoned her husband Ge Xiaoda to death. In order to save his son's life and vent his personal anger, Liu Xitong deceived Yang Naiwu into the county government, tortured him to extract a confession, and made a plan to "scheme a husband and steal a wife", and he was sentenced to death. Yang Naiwu, his sister Yang Shuying, and his wife Zhan refused to accept the case and appealed repeatedly. It lasted for two years and dozens of court proceedings. Because Liu Xitong bribed everyone, so that the officials protected each other, they were still sentenced to death and detailed in the Ministry of Punishments. Zhan was also convicted and imprisoned after his appeal failed. Fortunately, he and the imperial examiner Wang Shiping joined the gentry to petition the Ministry of Punishment to plead their grievances. Xia Tongshan, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, rejected the detailed article and requested an edict to order the three major constitutional conferences in Zhejiang to review the case. In order to save her younger brother, Yang Shuying went to the provincial capital to visit the prisoner with her nephew in her arms, and begged Xiugu to retract her confession truthfully. Bi Xiugu felt deeply guilty and agreed immediately. Unexpectedly, in order to save his own face and the support of many participating officials, Yang Changjun, the governor of Zhejiang, relied on the power of Zuo Zongtang, who supported the troops in the border area, and deliberately disobeyed the order together with the feudal lords and Naitai. , played.

Yang Changjun's move aroused the public indignation of the Zhejiang gentry. With their support, Yang Shuying went to prison and asked Yang Naiwu to write a complaint of grievance. She risked her own life and went to Beijing to complain on a nail board. Prince Chun, the biological father of Emperor Guangxu, hated Yang Changjun's contempt for the imperial court and was afraid that the governors of various provinces would follow suit, so he decided to overturn Yang Naiwu's case as a warning. Just when Yang Naiwu saw through the dark government and wanted to sacrifice his blood and head to the world that "the people of the Qing Dynasty long for a blue sky", he received the answer from Prince Chun that "the Qing Dynasty has a blue sky." On the day he was released from prison, Yang Naiwu witnessed Bi Xiugu being escorted to a nun to become a nun under Yi's decree. Although he saved his life, he was disabled and almost a disabled person. He was not even allowed to regain his honorary title. He couldn't help asking himself sadly: "I Is this unjust case cleared up? Is there really a clear sky in the Qing Dynasty... An injustice song has been passed down for a hundred years, and the long-lasting regret is said to be clear?"

Another more true statement (Feng Yujun, associate professor of the School of Law, Renmin University of China):

Yang Naiwu was born in the 21st year of Daoguang. He was a squire in Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province. He was usually nosy and liked to fight injustices. He even contradicted the government for this, which also caused him to fall into trouble in the future. Prison laid hidden dangers. In the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Yang Nai passed the martial arts examination. Bi Xiugu, also known as Ge Bishi, was nicknamed "Little Baicai" because she was pretty and liked to wear white clothes and green trousers. She married Ge Pinlian, and they rented a house in Yang Naiwu's house. Since they lived together in a big family, Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai were very close, and Yang Naiwu often taught Xiao Baicai how to read. , taught her to read the Bible. Because of this, the neighbors started gossiping. At that time, there was a gossip among the neighbors that "Yang eats cabbage".

In October of the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Yang Naiwu went to his mother-in-law’s house in Yuyao to do business and did not come back for several days. On the ninth day of October, the tofu shop’s helper Ge Pinlian, Xiao Baicai’s husband, suddenly woke up early in the morning. When I got sick, I thought it was a fire syndrome at first, that is, I had a severe internal heat. However, when the medicine didn't help, and my condition worsened, everyone thought it was a killer disease. I just had a severe internal heat. I took all kinds of traditional Chinese medicine, but it didn't work until that day. At Shen Shi in the afternoon, which is what we look like from 3 to 5 in the afternoon today, Ge Pinlian was black and blue and died of a serious illness. A good young man suddenly died of a sudden illness. His family and neighbors could not understand it. From this, he thought of Yang Yang on weekdays. Naiwu and Xiaobaicai had a close relationship. At this time, Ge Pinlian's old mother reported the case to the Yuhang County Government. Yuhang County Magistrate Liu Xitong received the report and led his co-worker, who we are talking about today as the forensic doctor Shen Xiang, to Ge's house to see it. The deceased, that is, Ge Pinlian. His assistant, Shen Xiang, took out a silver needle to pierce Ge Pinlian's body. It needs to be mentioned here that during the process of solving the case, he used a silver needle washed with soap locust water to pierce the body. If the corpse If he died of poisoning, then the silver needle might turn black. After Shen Xiang inserted it, the silver needle turned black, so Shen Xiang thought he died of poisoning.

Liu Xitong came to such a conclusion. The conclusion of the forensic examination was that he immediately determined that the rumors from the neighbors were true, so he took Xiaobaicai back to the county government for interrogation. At first, Bi Xiugu, that is, Xiaobaicai did not admit that he was guilty of murder. Because he was suspected of being his husband, Liu Xitong served him with severe punishments and tortured him severely. According to historical records at that time, Liu Xitong used severe punishments, including piercing his breasts with red-hot wire, pouring hot tin on his back, and pouring hot tin on his back. What is melting? She poured hot tin water on her back after melting the metal tin. Under such cruel torture, Ge Xiugu was forced to confess that on the fifth day of October, Yang Naiwu bought arsenic and gave it to her. She took the opportunity to poison Ge Pinlian to achieve the purpose of their adultery and residence. On October 9th, Ge Pinlian was ill, so she poured arsenic into the medicinal soup and drank it together. Ge Pinlian died of poisoning. Liu Xitong felt as if he had gained a treasure after Bi Xiugu's confession, and immediately summoned Yang Naiwu for questioning. Unexpectedly, Yang Naiwu came to the county government office and denied that he had any connection with the case. He claimed that he was not in Yuhang County at all on October 9th and had no time to commit the crime. As for the motive for committing the crime, Liu Xitong determined that torture must be used to obtain a confession. There was a legal provision in the Qing Dynasty that the case could not be finalized if the parties concerned did not make a confession, so Liu Xitong submitted an official document to the Hangzhou government, requesting that Yang Naiwu's judicial background be lifted. Only if his judicial background was lifted could he torture Yang Naiwu to extract a confession. Naiwu, thus obtaining the confession he needed. But just as he was delivering the official documents and the government officials had just left, Liu Xitong, who was eager for success, tortured Yang Naiwu that night. Despite this, Yang Naiwu never admitted that he had any motive for committing the crime. In other words, he has always denied his true crime.

But even so, Liu Xitong still submitted the theory that Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai committed adultery to murder Ge Pinlian and submitted it to the Hangzhou government for a second instance to finalize the case.

At that time, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, that is, the Minister of the Ministry of Public Security or the President of the Supreme Court, would personally preside over the trial, and then Jiu Qing, the highest-level relevant interrogator, would sit next to him and come and conduct the trial. During the trial of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai, both suspects came to Beijing for interrogation. During this trial, there were two questions that needed to be raised. The first one provided testimony that he sold arsenic to Yang Naiwu. Qian Tan, the owner of Airentang Pharmacy, is dead, but the Yang family has already provided testimony that Yang Naiwu was not in Yuhang County that day. This testimony was accepted. The second and very critical point is that Ge Pinlian's bones and coffin were also found. And he was escorted thousands of miles from Yuhang to Beijing, where he reopened the coffin and asked the witnesses to re-evaluate whether Ge Pinlian died of poisoning. As a result, this inspection found that according to the final determination of some doctors, Ge Pinlian did die of illness. During the examination of the bones, no trace of poisoning was found, which was the composition of arsenic. Once the core issue was found out, Yu Hang, who was also in the court at the time, ordered Liu Xitong and the widower Shen Xiang to confess, saying that it was indeed us who were testing Ge Pinlian at that time. Care was not taken when removing the corpses, and they were subjectively determined to be guilty, so they were tortured to extract confessions. This case, which lasted for more than three years, nearly four years, was finally concluded. Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai were exonerated, and Ge Pinlian died of poisoning. But died of illness.

After this case was vindicated, it caused an uproar in the political environment of the Qing Dynasty at that time. Empress Dowager Cixi issued decrees one after another to punish Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang, and sentenced him to exile in Heilongjiang. Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang, failed to conduct an inquest Seriously, he was the culprit responsible for this unjust case and was sent to Heilongjiang. More than 30 officials, including the co-worker Shen Xiang and other related persons, were dismissed, expelled or investigated. Zhejiang Governor Yang Changjun, Zhejiang Academician Hu Ruilan, and Hangzhou Magistrate Chen Luyigan, more than 100 officials, were dismissed from their posts and would never be renewed. This case The much-publicized cases of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai ended with the arrest of a large number of officials. The majority of people clapped their hands and agreed that this was the true case of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai.

Yang Naiwu was born in Juren, and his family was relatively wealthy. In addition, there were many Zhejiang-level officials supporting them in Beijing, the capital at the time. These were all reasons, but if there was no ultimate supreme ruler support, and due to the mutual protection of officials, it is difficult for some cases to be vindicated in the end. The final outcome of the rehabilitation of this case actually hides a profound and sharp power struggle in official circles, which we particularly want to mention. Cases such as the small Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai are ordinary, but at the time when this case was being tried, all the officials in Zhejiang, from the county to the prefecture to the province, were all subordinates of the Hunan warlords commanded by Zeng Guofan, so it was also That is to say, according to the historical background at that time, Zeng Guofan led his Hunan army to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At that time, in the Jiangnan generation, officials at all levels were basically Hunan warlords. They did not have much knowledge and relied on military merit. Holding such positions, they rarely receive strict trial experience education and do not have much knowledge, so they are prone to many unjust cases. Moreover, if all unjust cases are from the same Hunan province, and officials support and protect each other, then As a result, it has been difficult to overturn this case. Faced with this situation, in fact, the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty had long wanted to get rid of it quickly, and had long wanted to find an opportunity to suppress the power of the Hunan warlords. So, The occurrence of the Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai cases provided the Empress Dowager Cixi with an opportunity to find the Aixinjueluo Manchu royal family, or the court, an opportunity to suppress the arrogance of the Hunan warlords. So in the end, more than 100 officials took off all the feathers on their heads. Drop it and never renew it. It actually has the function of suppressing the Hunan warlords