The four major unjust cases refer to the Great Halal Case, the Yang Yuelou Case, the Zhang Wenxiang Case, and the Huai'an Strange Case.

The Great Moslem Case

In the late Qing Dynasty, Yang Naiwu, a scholar from Yuhang, held a banquet to celebrate his success in 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. He was accused of this. 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 to the county government, tortured him to extract a confession, and made a plan to "scheme a husband and steal a wife", which was punishable by 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. 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 reputation 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 heads to the world: "The people of the Qing Dynasty long for a blue sky", Prince Chun received the answer "There is a blue sky in the Qing Dynasty". On the day he was released from prison, Yang Naiwu witnessed Bi Xiugu being escorted to a nunnery to become a monk according to Yi's order. 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 Has this injustice been cleared up? Is there really a clear sky in the Qing Dynasty?..."A song of injustice has been passed down for a hundred years, and the long-lasting regrets talk about the clear sky!

The Case of Yang Yuelou

Yang Yuelou was a famous actress who played a niche role in a Peking Opera troupe. She became famous for her excellent acting skills and appearance, and was praised for her jade, pavilion and martial arts skills. . 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 men and women in Shanghai. They were all interested in Beijing opera, just because they wanted to see 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. Yang Yuelou continued to perform the Brahma Palace and other plays in Jinguiyuan, which showed the love between men and women. A mother and daughter named Wei, a tea merchant from Xiangshan, Guangdong, went to watch the play for three days in a row. The girl's name was A Bao, who was seventeen years old. She was deeply moved by Yang Yuelou. Live with admiration. After returning home, he wrote a letter by himself, detailing his longing and intention to get married, and sent someone to deliver it to Yang Yuelou along with Nian Geng's invitation to meet 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 started 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 then secretly arranged for Yang Yuelou to imitate the old folk custom in Shanghai to kidnap his bride. Wei's uncle then brought Yang Yuelou to court with a local gentry and merchant from Xiangshan in Shanghai for the crime of kidnapping. So on the day of her wedding in her new home, county officials and patrol officers went to Zhiyuelou and Wei Nv, and found seven boxes of clothes and jewelry of Wei and her daughter. It was said that there were four thousand gold. On the way to take Wei Nv to the court, it was recorded that the car Sitting in it was a dangerous car, and the red clothes that were used to worship the ancestors were still on the body. There were clouds of spectators following along the way. Ye Tingjuanqia, the magistrate of Shanghai who tried the case, also severely punished Yang Yuelou in front of him because of the hatred of the people from Xiangshan, Guangdong. He was beaten 150 times on his tibia. The woman not only did not say any words of regret but instead said that if she married a chicken, then she would follow the chicken and she would have no different ambitions, so she was criticized for being slapped 200 times. 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 was a hit! It was natural that such a dramatic romantic case, which was committed by a well-known celebrity, attracted special attention. At the same time, actors have always been regarded as untouchables, while the tea merchant surnamed Wei not only belongs to a good family, but also has an official title, and has a certain status! Yang Yuelou, a businessman with a small family fortune, marries a daughter of a good family because he is an untouchable, which violates good and lowly marriage. In addition, Wei Yang's marriage had the legitimate form of marrying with a matchmaker, and the township party brought a lawsuit against the county magistrate for kidnapping and severely punished him for kidnapping. These irregular things also aroused people's interest and caused a lot of discussion. One after another. 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.

The Zhang Wenxiang Case

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 all at once was 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 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.

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.

The Strange Case of Huai'an

In the 13th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1808), Huai'an was flooded and the government provided relief. Li Yuchang was ordered to go to Shanyang County to conduct relief work and lived in Shanyuan Nunnery. The county magistrate Wang Shenhan asked Li Duo to open a household registration in order to enrich his own pockets. When Li refused to obey, Wang feared that things would be revealed and bribed Li's servants to poison Li Yuchang to death. The prefect Wang Hub also received 4,000 taels of silver from Wang Shenhan, and reported the case by hanging himself during the autopsy. Uncle Li found blood stains in the relics, opened the coffin and found signs of poisoning, and went to Beijing to file a complaint. Shandong Fuzhen was ordered to review the truth and detained Wang Shenhan and others to the Ministry of Punishment for severe interrogation. As soon as the news was confirmed, Wang Gui embezzled 23,000 taels of disaster relief silver, his colleague Lin Yongsheng received 1,000 taels, and dozens of others received varying amounts of money. Wang Shenhan was beheaded, and the prefect Wang Hu was hanged. Jiang Governor Tiebao and Tongzhi Lin Yongsheng were both dismissed and sent to garrison Urumqi. Jiangsu Governor Wang Rizhang was dismissed and stayed in Hegong. Li's entourage executed the old emperor in front of Li's tomb. I was really angry, and the other 8 people who were in charge of miscellaneous duties were punished with the migration stick. This is one of the four most bizarre cases in the Qing Dynasty.