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Story 73: A Madman Accidentally Breaks into the Golden Palace

A Madman Accidentally Breaks into the Golden Palace

Author: Anonymous

In the past, the Forbidden City was a forbidden area of the imperial palace and was heavily guarded. Palace personnel were not allowed to walk freely, so how could outsiders sneak in and break into the Golden Palace? However, the relevant archives of the Qing Palace recorded in detail an incident in which a madman sneaked into the Hall of Supreme Harmony and was eventually hanged.

On the eighth day of July in the 31st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1905), Zhang Jing, the man on duty at each palace door, inspected each palace as usual and initially found no abnormalities.

Four people including Zhang Jingjishan on duty at the middle left gate, Zhang Jinglonghai on duty at the middle right gate, Zhang Jing Akdan’a on duty at the back left gate, and Zhang Jingshenglu on the back right gate took over and inspected the three main halls together. When they arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, they suddenly saw the window lattice on one side of the hall falling off, and the four of them immediately became alert.

Recently, they faintly heard voices in the palace, and the four people quickly reported the situation to Song Quan, the chief guard and military officer on duty, and Zhang Jingkui Lian, the officer on duty. After hearing this, the two people did not dare to neglect, and immediately reported to Dou Qin, the minister on duty at Jingyun Gate. Dou Qin was very surprised and immediately led his troops to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

After unlocking the palace door and opening the palace door, a person was seen dancing in the palace. So the soldiers entered the palace and swarmed up, captured the dancer, and found a sheathed dagger, a pocket knife, two boxes of matches and other items from the person. The Forbidden City is a fortified place, but this man actually sneaked in with a short sword and entered the Jinluan Palace. This matter was not trivial.

The minister on duty at Jingyun Gate, Douqin, and others immediately interrogated the prisoner severely. It is said that the prisoner’s name is Jia Wanhai, 29 years old, from Daxing County on the outskirts of Beijing. During the interrogation, his speech was muddled and he seemed to be crazy. Seeing that it was impossible to find out the truth, Dou Qin reported to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor on July 9 that he planned to send Jia Wanhai to the Ministry of Punishments for severe interrogation and punishment according to law.

On the same day, the order was issued: “In accordance with the proposal. This is the case.” The Ministry of Punishment immediately interrogated the prisoner Jia Wanhai after receiving it. Jia Wanhai was still stunned and his speech was confused. The medical officer diagnosed him as suffering from liver fire and phlegm, causing him to panic and speak incoherently. The Xingbu Tang official ordered him to be treated. When he was interrogated again one month later, Jia Wanhai was still the same, so he could not obtain a confession.

But Jia Wanhai was caught hiding a knife and sneaking into the Jinluan Palace. The evidence is conclusive. This case is being investigated under orders and cannot remain unresolved for a long time. According to the law of the Qing Dynasty: Those who are not in charge of the guard should be responsible for leading troops, but those who enter the palace gate with an inch knife will be hanged and awaited.

For this reason, the Ministry of Punishment requested an order on August 9 to punish him in accordance with the law and planned to hang him in prison. As usual, he was locked up and imprisoned and was submitted to the court for review.

On that day, the order was issued: “According to the agreement. Please accept this”. Jia Wanhai, the man who danced in the Jinluan Hall, was hanged after the court trial.

Because Jia Wanhai was a lunatic and could not leave any confession, it is still a mystery how he was able to sneak into the heavily guarded palace with a short knife on his waist and break into the Golden Palace.