Chapter 59 Section fifty-ninth

At this time, a strange event happened in Jiangning that had never happened since the founding of the Qing Dynasty: the governor of Liangjiang, Ma Xinyi, was assassinated. Ma Xinyi trained four battalions of new recruits in Jiangning. It was stipulated to practice twice a day, specializing in foreign guns, carrying guns, and spears, and reviewed them on the 25th of each month. The main thing was to watch the recruits shoot targets with foreign guns. Before the completion, the arrow path to the west of the Jiangning government office was temporarily borrowed.He was very serious about the "accuracy" of foreign guns used by recruits. Fortunately, he went out of the west side door of the department, which was the arrow path, and he came and went without any trouble, so he visited in person every time. school shooting.

On July 25, the review period was again due to rain, so it was delayed by one day.Early the next morning, as usual, Ma Xinyi walked back to the office as usual after finishing the reading at nine o'clock.Followed by Yu Jisan, the deputy general of the Chinese army who supervised the standard, Ye Hualong, the military inspector who sent the order for the governor, and two or three Ma Bian.Approaching the side door, I saw a middle-aged man shouting in the accent of Ma Xinyi's hometown, Shandong Heze: "Marshal!" Then he knelt down, holding a letter in both hands and holding it above his head.

Ma Xinyi knew this person, and immediately asked, "You haven't gone back yet?" "If you want to return to the Commander, you've run out of money. Today, I'm here to ask the Commander." "Didn't I give it to you twice?" Ma Xinyi looked quite impatient. "yes……." Just as the man was muttering, he didn't know what to say, another person on the right shouted loudly: "Marshal, avenge me!" Then he also knelt down.When Ma Xinyi looked back, the man suddenly took out a bright short knife from under the skirt of his clothes, held Ma Xinyi's arm with his left hand, and raised his right hand, and the knife was inserted into his right chest.

"It's stuck!" Ma Xinyi yelled, and then fell to the ground. So Yu Jisan, Ye Hualong and others rushed forward and grabbed the assassin and the Shandong man who had sued him, and at the same time carried Ma Xinyi back to the upper room, and called for a doctor for first aid. Such a big event immediately spread throughout the city, and everyone was astonished.So General Kuiyu, Acting Secretary Sun Yiyan, Standard Secretary Mei Qizhao, and Xuezheng Yin Zhaoyong rushed to the Superintendent's Office, only to see Ma Xinyi dying, unable to speak, and his two middle-aged concubines crying Crying loudly, kneeling in front of Kuiyu, she kept saying: "Please, general, avenge my master!"

Kuiyu knew that what he said was to ask him to arrest the culprit who instigated him.But Kuiyu himself was also afraid. From his point of view, the disbanded Hunan Army all seemed to be instigated by evildoers.You can't say this, because if you say it, you may even get a stab at him. Therefore, apart from good words of comfort, Kuiyu dared not say anything about his responsibilities, and only hoped to save Ma Xinyi's life.Reluctantly stabbed at the vital point, the group of doctors tied their hands and waited until noon the next day, when they finally passed away. At this time, the confessions of Sun Yunjin, the magistrate of Jiangning, and the county magistrates of Shangyuan and Jiangning, who interrogated the murderer, had also been submitted to Kuiyu.The murderer's name was Zhang Wenxiang, a native of Ruyang, Henan Province, who had served as Li Shixian's assistant general in the Hong Army.The confession was so bizarre, Kuiyu read it, but kept shaking his head, calling it "absurd".

"What's the reason for the vacancy?" Kuiyu asked the judge, Mei Qizhao, "How can such absurd confession be made?" "Yes!" Mei Qizhao frowned and said, "The person in charge has a vicious heart. He not only wants Ma Zhitai's life, but also destroys his reputation. Fortunately, the murderer is still under trial, so we have to Be vague first." So with the wording of "the reason for the assassination, the confession flashed", Feizhang entered the play, and the day he arrived in the capital was the second day of August. The governor has a lot of authority and a great dignified appearance, so he was stabbed at the place where the officers and soldiers were shooting. This is not only shocking, but also surprising to everyone.Therefore, there is no one who does not doubt that there is someone behind Zhang Wenxiang, but who is the leader and what is his purpose?But only a very few people can see a general idea, and Prince Gong is one of these few people.

The Empress Dowager Cixi is suffering from the loss of her mother, and her health is not very good, but she still looks forward to the court with all her strength.Prince Gong was afraid of frightening the empress dowagers of the two palaces, so he didn't dare to say more about the various illegal events of being laid off from the Hunan army and exiled in Liangjiang. He only severely interrogated the murderer Youxie Ma Xinyi, and talked about the vacancy of the governor of Liangjiang, thinking that Zeng Guofan must return to his post. Not for the stragglers in the town of Liangjiang, Zeng Guofan's return to office is also a good arrangement for public and private considerations.On public affairs, Zeng Guofan did not complete the Tianjin missionary case, but he was exhausted physically and mentally because of it, which greatly damaged his reputation. The court could not bear to blame, let alone transfer him, and send another person to preside over the peace negotiation. It is best to have this logical opportunity now but.In terms of private matters, Zeng Guofan returned to Liangjiang, and he was familiar with it, just in time to recuperate from his illness.Therefore, the empress dowagers of the two palaces played with the same voice.

So the governor of Zhili fell to Li Hongzhang.This is also a matter of course. On the one hand, he has "elite soldiers" to defend the capital, and on the other hand, he is also the number one expert in foreign affairs, which is just right for him to take over the tie that Zeng Guofan failed to achieve. This made it easier for Li Hongzhang's elder brother Li Hanzhang.Li Hongzhang was ordered to lead troops to assist Zuo Zongtang in his westward expedition. The imperial court specially appointed Zhejiang governor Li Hanzhang to act as the acting governor of Huguang to "guard his hometown" for him. Zeng Guofan's little fellow countryman is Zuo Zongtang's "direct descendant".Zhejiang was restored by Zuo Zongtang, and it has always been regarded as his "forbidden land". The successive governors Jiang Yili and Yang Changjun were all protected by Zuo Zongtang. The reward of these two people was to raise money for him in Zhejiang.When the military affairs in Shaanxi and Gansu are in a tight situation, any movement of Yang Changjun will affect the "cooperative payment" of the Western Expedition. Since Yang Changjun cannot be moved, Li Hanzhang cannot return to his post. Giving it to Huguang kills two birds with one stone.

The Li family is blessed with double happiness, but the Ma family's misfortunes never come singly.Apart from slandering Ma Xinyi, Zhang Wenxiang did not tell the truth about whether someone ordered the assassination.When the magistrates were interrogated, their attitude was rebellious. When the general Kuiyu interrogated him personally, he only said: "What's wrong with me excepting a rebel who leads to chaos for the world?" He moved from Wuchang to Caozhou Prefecture, Shandong Province in 1999, and has been handed down to Ma Xinyi for eighteen generations. He is an authentic native of Shandong, and has nothing to do with the Hui people in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Gansu. It can be seen that Zhang Wenxiang's words are completely slandered.

But after asking and asking, in the end there was an important sentence that was left out! Zhang Wenxiang himself only has a bizarre fragment of his confession, but in Jiangning City, there are two kinds of legends with complete branches and leaves: one is that Ma Xinyi is related to the chaos in Shaanxi and Gansu; at the turn of.Of course, the latter legend is more sensational. The legendary Ma Xinyi was captured by the Nian army when he was acting magistrate in Hefei, Anhui, and Zhang Wenxiang was the one who captured him.But Zhang Wenxiang had a long-standing desire to do anything wrong, so he caught Ma Xinyi, and instead of reporting credit to Zhang Luoxing and others, the leader of the Nian Army, he paid him back and introduced him to two good friends, one named Cao Erhu and the other named Shi Jinbiao , the four people bowed their hands, and then quietly let Ma Xinyi go back, and told Futai that it was settled, and then came to pick them up and surrender.

Things went very well, and Zhang, Cao, and Shi all pulled troops and joined the officials.Ma Xinyi was appointed by the superior to select the subordinates and set up two battalions. Because Ma Xinyi's name was Zhushan, it was called "Shanzi Camp", and his three brothers all became "sentinel officers".Ma Xinyi started his career with these two battalions, soared all the way, and was promoted to the Anhui Feudal Commander. Hong Yang was settled down, the army was disarmed, and the Shanzi camp was disbanded. Zhang, Cao, and Shi all followed Ma Xinyi to the vassal yamen to serve as errands. It is said that at this time, Ma Xinyi already looked down on friends in need. Therefore, when Cao Erhu was going to pick up his family, Zhang Wenxiang advised him to stay still, but Cao Erhu refused to listen, and took his wife out of his hometown to live in the feudal yamen.Now that I'm here, I have to meet Mrs. Ma. It just so happens that Ma Xinyi also came to the upper room. When he saw Cao Erhu's wife, he was astonished.Therefore, Ma Xinyi often sent Cao Erhu on business trips, and every time he went on a mission, there was always money to be made. Cao Erhu never tired of it, and Ma Xinyi also got his place. After a few days like this, the scandal spread quickly, and Zhang Wenxiang had to tell Cao Erhu. At first, he refused to believe it, but after inquiring secretly, he found out that it was true, and decided to kill his wife. Zhang Wenxiang persuaded him: "Killing the adulterer Xu Shuang, just killing his wife, it is too wrongful to pay for life according to the law. Why does a man have no wife? You just gave him your wife and preserved your friendship." Cao Erhu thought about it well, and found an opportunity to reveal his intentions slightly. Unexpectedly, Ma Xinyi was furious and denounced Cao Erhu for insulting the big bureaucrat.Cao Erhu came back and told Zhang Wenxiang that Zhang Wenxiang knew that he was about to die. After a while, Cao Erhu was ordered to go on a business trip again, this time to Shouzhou, Anhui, to lead the army.Zhang Wenxiang made an appointment with Shi Jinbiao to escort him in case there was any change in his departure.The journey was safe and sound, Cao Erhu still laughed at Zhang Wenxiang's suspicion, and Zhang Wenxiang himself felt at ease. So the next day, Cao Erhu went to the gate of the Zongbingyuan of Shouchun Town to submit a letter to handle affairs. While waiting for an audience, the Chinese military officer took a command arrow and a horse to arrest Cao Erhu, saying that he was a bandit.As soon as he was tied up, Xu Xuxu, the commander in chief, pretended to come out, not allowing Cao Erhu to argue, so he told him, "After Mr. Ma commissioned you to move, someone told you to go to Tong Nian, and you are going to receive the arms and help the Nian bandits. There have been After the official document is issued, as soon as you arrive, you will immediately proceed with military law. You don’t need to say more.” Cao Erhu was killed, and Zhang Wenxiang cried a lot. He told Shi Jinbiao that he must avenge Cao Erhu.When Jin Biao looked embarrassed, Zhang Wenxiang accused him of being "not enough friends" and was willing to do things alone.So after collecting Cao Erhu's body for burial, Zhang and Shi broke up.In this legend, the only truth is that Shi Jinbiao was indeed a real person, and now he is serving as a general in Shanxi. The legendary Zhang Wenxiang was portrayed as a character in Shiji "Biography of Assassins".It is said that he forged two daggers out of fine steel, tempered them with poison, practiced his stabbing skills diligently every night after the people were quiet, folded up four or five layers of cowhide, and stabbed with the daggers. At first, his wrists were too weak to penetrate. , After two years like this, I have practiced five layers of cowhide, and I can pierce through it with one blade.The reason he did this was to assume that Yan Dong had a chance to strike, even if Ma Xinyi was wearing a heavy coat, it would not be difficult to kill him with one blow. Zhang Wenxiang has been secretly following Ma Xinyi for several years since he practiced such kung fu.I once met at Chenghuang Mountain in Hangzhou. Because the governor had too many guards, I couldn't do anything. Until now, I can only get my wish.It was also said that when Ma Xinyi was stabbed, he yelled "I'm stuck!" It was actually "I found it", which means that the enemy's road was narrow and he was finally found.Others said that when Ma Xinyi was assassinated, he saw that the murderer was Zhang Wenxiang, and said: "It's you!" Then he told his left and right: "Don't make things difficult for him!" These legends are vivid and convincing, and even people with a clear mind cannot but believe them.Because, otherwise, there would be such a question: Zhang Wenxiang's stabbing horse, why?At the same time, those in the officialdom knew that Zhang Wenxiang didn't have any detailed statements, but they kept the secrets secret, and they were quite emotional about talking about it, which further encouraged the spread of these rumors, and soon even the capital knew about it. However, there are many people who are against the Ma family, but some are timid and dare not make trouble, and some have a long history with the Hunan Army, so it is inconvenient to come forward.Only Anhui governor Yinghan, as a banner man, is not involved in any faction. Because he has a close personal relationship with Ma Xinyi, he went up to the memorial. There is a message to Wang Shurui, who asked to "send more trusted ministers to investigate thoroughly". , Even the Empress Dowager Cixi became suspicious.So with a five-hundred-mile intensified edict, Zhang Zhiwan, the governor of water transportation, was appointed to "go to Jiangning, and together with Kuiyu, supervise all the officials and officials, try to put the criminal through trial, and make sure that the circumstances of the crime are accurately interrogated and reported." It will be handled tomorrow."This edict was just issued, and then issued a secret decree, saying, "This case is of great importance, and we must not keep the mind of turning the big into the small, and try to rush the matter." Zhang Zhiwan is a number one scholar and also a "head-kowtow bug". His unique and secret way to strengthen his body is to kowtow a few times before going to bed every day.He is also a "tumbler" because he has a deep understanding of Huang Lao's theory of using softness to overcome rigidity. At this time, he received the imperial order and panicked. If he followed the order to the end, he would definitely become Ma Xinyi's second.Sure enough, he received an indirect warning not long after, advising him not to be troublesome. This time, Zhang Zhiwan became more and more frightened, and kept delaying to go to Jiangning. Reluctantly urged by the imperial decree, Kuiyu wrote to Qingjiangpu again, urging the "imperial envoy" to go quickly, Zhang Zhiwan had to prepare to leave, and transferred all the elite of Caobiao to protect, dozens of official ships, went south again and again in the canal , He himself has been hiding in the cabin without showing his face.