What are the four major strange cases in the Qing Dynasty?

Four strange cases: Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai, the unjust case of famous actress Yang Yuelou, the case of Zhang Wenxiang's horse stabbing, and the strange case of Huai'an

The horse stabbing case

Editor

Ren Governor

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.

Assassinated

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.

Reason

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 Association, and some were originally members of the Ge Lao Association. 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.

Nanjing Diary

Yan Shizhang, who once spoke to Sun Yiyan, was quite scheming. He wrote a "Nanjing 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."

Account 1

Zhang Wenxiang Assassinate Ma Xinyi and hit him in one fell swoop at the heavily guarded superintendent's office. 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.

Account 2

After the horse assassination case, the Qing court was very frightened. Knowing that the case involved the inside story of the feudal minister, it was disgraceful. Therefore, we can only cover up the contradictions and whitewash the appearance. In order to maintain the shaky rule, Empress Dowager Cixi personally handled the case. Zeng Guofan, a senior official who was handling the teaching case in Tianjin, was transferred to try the case. He also summoned Zeng Guofan on the eve of his departure. During the interview, he said: "Ma Xinyi has done a good job." This set the tone for the case. In a word, Ma Xinyi is a good official, while Zhang Wenxiang is a rebellious one. A large number of unofficial histories, notes, novels, and operas, regardless of official historians' writings, made the whole story of Ma Xinyi's assassination public. Ma Xinyi's official career depended on false reports of military achievements and recruiting powerful people. He was a defeated general in the so-called "bandit suppression" battle. After being captured, he became spineless and became sworn brothers with the "bandit leader" Jin Lan. Then the brothers staged a farce in which Ma Xinyi regained his lost territory, deceived the court and even climbed to the throne of the feudal official. After he became famous, the brothers who worshiped him thought they could cling to him and traveled thousands of miles to seek refuge with him. Ma Xinyi raped his brother's wife, and then trapped and killed his brother. Zhang Wenxiang escaped from his clutches by accident, and that's why he came up with this big case of stabbing a horse. This incident caused a sensation in both the government and the public. Empress Dowager Cixi asked in surprise: "Isn't this very strange?" Zeng Guofan replied with sincerity and fear: "This is very strange.

"What's even more surprising is that the criminal Zhang Wenxiang's confession was unclear, and the presiding officer's report was vague. During the period, although Zeng Guofan, Zheng Dunjin and other court officials reviewed the case, the truth was never found. In October 1871, Zhang Wenxiang was disemboweled and his heart was disemboweled. In memory of Ma

The case of Yang Yuelou

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Process

Yang Yuelou is a famous actress who plays a niche role in a Peking Opera troupe. Because of her acting skills He became famous for his excellent appearance, and was praised for his fine arts and martial arts. During the 11th and 12th years of Tongzhi's reign, he performed in Jinguiyuan, a famous theater in the Shanghai Concession, which attracted the attention of both men and women in Shanghai. In general, Beijing opera was not a favorite but just a show of greed. Yang Yuelou.

In the winter of the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Yang Yuelou was involved in a lawsuit because of his marriage to a merchant woman. A mother and daughter named Wei, a tea merchant from Xiangshan, Guangdong, went to watch the play for three days. The girl's name was A Bao, who was seventeen years old. After returning, she wrote a book detailing her love for Yang Yuelou and her intention to get engaged. The marriage contract, together with Nian Geng's invitation, was sent to Yang Yuelou to make an appointment. Yang Yuelou was suspicious and afraid and did not dare to keep the promise. Wei's daughter became ill and became increasingly serious. Her father was away on business for a long time and her mother was not in Shanghai. That is to say, Shunsui sent someone to tell Yang Yuelou and asked the matchmaker Yan to propose. Yuelou went to see her and accepted the appointment. The matchmaker Qian signed a marriage certificate, made a betrothal gift and started to prepare for the wedding. However, Wei Nu's uncle knew about it and Liang Liang. The etiquette of not marrying was strictly prohibited, but she retreated.

Wei's mother then secretly arranged for Yang Yuelou to imitate the old folk custom in Shanghai and rob the bride. Yang Yuelou was prosecuted for the crime of kidnapping. So on the day of his wedding at his new residence, county officials and patrol officers arrived, arresting 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 reported that she was sitting in a small car, and she was still wearing the red clothes to worship her ancestors. Along the way, there were a lot of people watching, including Ye Tingjuan, the magistrate of Shanghai who was reviewing the case. Yang Yuelou, a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong, hated her and severely punished her. She was severely tortured in court and had her tibia beaten for 150 centimeters. The woman was criticized because she not only did not express any regrets, but said that when she married a chicken, she followed the chicken and she had no different ambitions. The two of them were imprisoned until Wei's father returned. As soon as the case came out, the public opinion was a sensation. Yang Yuelou was a famous actor who was famous for his crime. Such a dramatic affair 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. Marrying a daughter of a good family as an untouchable violates the common etiquette of not marrying between good and humble people. In addition, Wei Yang's marriage has the legal form of marrying with a matchmaker, but the township party prosecuted the county magistrate for kidnapping, and punished him for kidnapping. Punishment, such unconventional things also aroused people's interest, so there was a lot of discussion.

The result

The person who finally clarified the grievances in the case was Empress Dowager Cixi. The case of the building 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. . Yang Yuelou changed his name to Yang Houhou in anger to express his dissatisfaction with the darkness of officialdom and the low social status of actors at that time. [1]

The Strange Case of Taiyuan

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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 him. The family's surname is Yao, but his daughter Yuzhu likes pretty boys rather than money, so she elopes with Cao Wenhuang and plans to take refuge with Chen Dijie, the Cao family's old friend and 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 died of a sudden illness, put on a wedding dress for the monk and placed it in the tomb. In the middle of the night, the monk woke up, ran away, and went to the tofu shop. He changed his wedding dress into ordinary clothes at Mo Laohan's house 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.

The Little Baicai Case

Editor

Account 1

In the late Qing Dynasty, Yang Naiwu, a scholar from Yuhang, passed the provincial examination and held a banquet to celebrate. 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 for his 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-term regrets are still lingering in the sky?"

The second statement

(Renmin University of China Law School) Associate Professor Feng Yujun):

Yang Naiwu was born in the 21st year of Daoguang. He is a squire in Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province. He likes to meddle in other people's affairs and likes to fight against injustice. For this reason, he even contradicted the government. This is also for Later, he was imprisoned to lay 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 fever syndrome at first, but when medicine didn't help, and my condition worsened, everyone thought it was a killer disease, which meant I had a severe fever. 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? They poured hot tin water on her back after melting the metal tin. Under such cruel torture and interrogation, Bi Xiugu was forced to confess that on the fifth day of October, Yang Naiwu bought arsenic and gave the arsenic to her. She took the opportunity to poison Ge Pinlian to achieve the purpose of their adultery and residence. On October 9th, when Ge Pinlian was ill, she poured arsenic into a 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 on that day. This testimony was accepted. The second and very critical point is that Ge Pinlian's bones and coffin were also found. He was escorted thousands of miles from Yuhang to Beijing, where the coffin was reopened and the witnesses re-evaluated 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 component of arsenic. Once the core issue was found out, Yuhang County Magistrate Liu Xitong and the widower Shen Xiang, who were also in court at the time, confessed that it was indeed us who were testing at the time. Ge Pinlian did not do any careful work when he found the bodies, and subjectively believed that they were guilty, so he tortured them 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 was not poisoned. , but died of illness.

Punish officials

After this case was vindicated, it caused an uproar in the political environment of the Qing Dynasty at that time. Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly issued decrees to punish Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang, and sent them to Heilongjiang Sentenced to exile, Liu Xitong, the magistrate of Yuhang County, did not conduct an inquest seriously, which led to the unjust case. He was the culprit and was sent to Heilongjiang. More than 30 officials, including the co-worker Shen Xiang and other related persons, were dismissed, expelled or investigated. In this case, more than 100 officials including Yang Changjun, the governor of Zhejiang, Hu Ruilan, the academic administrator of Zhejiang, and Chen Lu, the prefect of Hangzhou, were dismissed from their posts and would never be renewed. The highly publicized cases of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai ended with the arrest of a large number of officials. The majority of the people applauded and applauded that this was the true case of Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai.