In the early morning of August 16, 1959, the Beijing police received a call from the Palace Museum, saying that a large hole had been smashed into the glass at the entrance of the Yangxing Hall and that cultural relics in the hall were suspected to have been stolen.

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In the early morning of August 16, 1959, the Beijing police received a call from the Palace Museum, saying that a large hole had been smashed into the glass at the entrance of the Palace of Yangxing, and cultural relics in the palace were suspected of being stolen.

After receiving the news, the police immediately rushed to the scene. According to estimates by cultural relic experts from the Forbidden City, the market value of the stolen cultural relics in the Yangxing Hall is at least 1.5 billion!

Before this, the Palace Museum had never been robbed, not only because of the moat outside the courtyard and the more than ten-meter-high wall inside the courtyard, but also regular patrols by security personnel, making it extremely difficult to commit crimes.

After the news was broadcast, it immediately aroused widespread attention from all walks of life. Some people said that the administrators were guarding theft and that there was an "internal thief" in the Forbidden City. Others said that this was the work of a "hero" who relied on light skills to fly over the walls and sneak into the Forbidden City. .

Due to the relatively backward technical means at the time, and the fact that there were so few clues collected, the police investigation work was at a deadlock for a while.

Who is the thief?

What kind of lost cultural relics are so valuable?

How did the thieves commit the crime?

The sky-high price of cultural relics disappeared overnight

The heavy rain for several consecutive days washed the entire Beijing city clean. Every leaf in the park seemed to be glowing under the reflection of the sun, and the air was mixed with moisture. The smell of water and the fragrance of earth hit your face, and the streets were very lively with people coming and going.

The morning after the rain always brings people a good mood for the day. Tian Yihe, the administrator of the Forbidden City, opened the door of the Forbidden City as usual. After arranging the work for the cleaning staff, he walked inside humming a tune. Perform daily routine checks.

As he walked, he thought: After the rain, the Forbidden City seems to have been renovated. The glittering gold is so beautiful. There will probably be many tourists today.

However, when Tian Yihe first arrived in front of the Yangxing Hall, he noticed something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. He slowed down, walked closer and took a closer look, thinking: It's broken!

A large hole appeared in the glass near the window of Yangxing Hall. Glass fragments were everywhere. It was obviously caused by external force.

Needless to say, many years of work experience have told Tian Yihe what happened here.

He suddenly felt his eyes darken, and hurriedly called his colleagues to guard here to prevent others from getting close. He immediately rushed to the security department and shouted:

"Something happened! The cultural relics were stolen!!!" "

Seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, the security section chief immediately called 110 and then reported the situation to his superiors.

After a while, the police car from the city bureau stopped at the entrance of the Old Summer Palace. After learning the basic situation of the case, Yihe Xiangtian began to investigate the scene.

The police first came to the broken glass and found blood stains in the gap in the window. They made the same judgment as Tian Yihe. The police also determined that the thief entered the Yangxing Hall from here and probably scratched his skin in a hurry.

After collecting the glass debris at the scene, the police notified the park to seal off the scene, and then walked into the Yangxing Hall.

Yangxing Hall is located in Ningshou Palace. It is the main building of Ningshou Palace. It is the "study" built by Emperor Qianlong for himself. The main door and the secondary door are full of exquisite gold hand-painted paintings, which is grand and spectacular.

There are three exhibition halls in Yangxin Hall . The middle exhibition hall and the east exhibition hall display various gold and silver jewelry from the Qing Dynasty period.

staff found no signs of prying after careful inspection. What was stolen was in the west exhibition hall. There was a big hole in the first volume cabinet known as "Gubianzi No. 1", where the 14-page gold was previously stored. Eight pages in the volume and five golden sheath daggers were missing.

This lost golden book was originally created by Kangxi Emperor. Since he lost his mother when he was young and had no one to take care of him, the kind-hearted Queen Xiaohui took good care of him and treated him as her own son.

Later, in order to show his filial piety, Emperor Kangxi created this Manchu-Chinese "bilingual" gold book. Since the gold book records historical events of the Qing Dynasty, it has extremely high research value.

The five golden scabbard daggers are also exclusive to the royal family. The scabbards are made of pure gold and the handles are inlaid with bright gems. Emperors Shunzhi and Emperor Qianlong have used these daggers.

After counting the stolen cultural relics, the police launched an investigation into the entire Yangxing Hall and its surrounding buildings.

found obvious scratch marks on the wall of the south gate of Yangxing Hall, and also found a fresh palm print on the gate tower.

Since this place is not usually open to tourists, the police concluded that the palm print should have been left by the suspect.

At this time, the on-site inspection staff provided the police with another clue: the door lock of Xiqing Gate in the south of Yangxing Hall was removed, and it is usually closed. It should be that the suspect removed it while escaping. of.

After learning about the incident, the head of the central government ordered that the suspect must be arrested and brought to justice in the shortest possible time!

The Beijing Public Security Bureau immediately set up a task force to analyze the existing evidence while quickly reporting the case to the whole country and seeking help from other fraternal units and people from all walks of life.

After discussion, the police locked the time of the suspect's crime to after the evening of August 15th, and the method of committing the crime was relatively simple and crude.

After reviewing all internal staff, the police ruled out the possibility of self-inflicted theft and focused on outside thieves.

However, how did this foreign thief get in, and where did he go after the theft? Could it be that he is really a martial arts master?

At that time, cameras were not yet popular, and there was no need to register when entering or leaving the Forbidden City. You only needed to buy a ticket to enter.

Therefore, if the police want to lock down the criminal suspect, they can only use the existing palm prints and interviews to investigate the people who may have committed the crime one by one, which is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack, which is extremely difficult.

Time passed by, and the police's efforts failed to receive a response. Just when everyone thought the case was unsolvable and regretted it, the case took a turn for the better.

On November 11, 1959, as soon as the train bound for Beijing stopped at Tianjin Station , a large number of passengers rushed forward and the carriage was immediately packed.

After the train started moving again, the flight attendant began the routine ticket inspection. At this moment, he discovered two passengers in tattered clothes and panic-stricken eyes who had been dangling in their seats, looking very unnatural.

The flight attendant saw the clues. When he learned that he had not bought a ticket, the flight attendant decided to take the two people to the cabin to make up for the tickets.

However, the two people showed abnormal panic and uneasiness. The flight attendant felt something was wrong and called the police on the train to examine the two people.

No one expected that after some questioning, the "first theft case of the Forbidden City in New China" that had been troubling the police for three months without progress would be solved.

is fascinated by ghosts, and a single thought

Wu Qinghui was born in 1940, and his ancestral home is Weifang City, Shandong Province.

When he was very young, his parents passed away one after another. Wu Qinghui, the youngest in the family, was raised by his elder brothers and sisters.

Wu Qinghui

Although he lives a very poor life, the conscientious "little parents" cannot bear to see his younger brother being wronged at all. Even if he eats less, he must let his younger brother eat and drink well. Even without the care of his parents, the young Wu Qinghui Like other children, they thrive in the bath of family affection.

As the saying goes, "Old and young, old and young, the older you get, the younger you get." This is exactly why Wu Qinghui, who grew up in a honeypot created by his elder brothers and sisters, developed the habit of opening his mouth when he has clothes to eat, and he can't talk about anything. When you get interested, you either run away when you encounter difficulties, or you ask your older brothers and sisters to come over and smooth things over.

After he became an adult, his brothers and sisters all had their own families and careers. Only he was still idle in the village every day, wandering around. People around him introduced him to jobs. After working for a few days, he chose to run away because he couldn't bear the hardship. .

Later, Wu Qinghui thought that it would not be a problem if things continued like this, so he decided to go to Beijing to find his sister and ask her to help arrange a living.

At this time, my sister had just gotten married, and her foundation in Beijing was not yet stable. How could she help him find a job right away? After working for a long time, no company was willing to take him in, so she helplessly said to her brother:

"It works." I've tried all the tricks, but there's really nothing I can do about it. You go back to your hometown for a while, and then come back when my situation is stable."

Wu Qinghui also understood his sister's difficulties and nodded silently.

"However, you finally came to Beijing. I'll get you some money. You can have some fun these two days before leaving."

Wu Qinghui took a dollar from his sister and left the house and got on the bus. The first stop of the bus went straight to the Forbidden City. Although he had not read any books, he knew that this place was the former residence of the emperor, and it was quite luxurious.

Even though Wu Qinghui was mentally prepared, he was still deeply shocked when he saw so many gold and silver treasures in the Forbidden City with his own eyes.

He was thinking: If I could just steal one of the treasures here, wouldn’t I have enough food and clothing to worry about in my life?

Once evil thoughts arise, they will continue to amplify in his heart. After returning to his sister's house at night, he lay on the bed tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, feeling nervous and excited.

The next morning, he asked his sister for fifty cents in the name of fun, picked out a handy pair of pliers from the tool box, and set off to the Forbidden City.

Although it was only one day later, Wu Qinghui was much more rational at this time. He visited places everywhere, and after much hesitation, he finally decided to take action at Yangxing Hall.

Firstly, it was because he fell in love with the "big gold piece" and the knife inlaid with gems in the glass cabinet of Yangxing Hall. It can be taken out with just one pliers. Moreover, compared with other porcelain and jade, this thing is easier to carry. It is also easier to sell; secondly, because the Yangxing Hall is very close to the Shenwu Gate, it is very convenient to escape.

It was already around four o'clock in the afternoon after finishing the checkpoint. Wu Qinghui wandered around for a long time and found that there was a small public toilet in a very hidden location on a trail in the south. He decided to hide here first, waiting for tourists and The staff all left and came out after cleaning themselves.

I don’t know how long I waited. Wu Qinghui saw that the sky outside was getting darker and darker, and he heard the voices of the staff in the Forbidden City saying goodbye to each other getting farther and farther away, so he quietly ran out of the toilet and slipped into the door of Yangxing Hall. .

After once again confirming that no one was around, Wu Qinghui kicked the glass window with all his strength. The loud noise startled him, and he quickly ran to the pillar at the door and squatted down to look around.

However, the thunder in the sky and the sound of heavy rain hitting the ground covered up the sound of breaking glass. After a while, when no one came to check, Wu Qinghui crawled into the hall through the hole in the window.

Because the hole in the wall was relatively small, Wu Qinghui had a hard time drilling, but he would rather endure the pain and scratch his skin than get kicked again. If he called security at this time, all his previous efforts would be completely wasted.

After climbing into the Yangxing Palace, Wu Qinghui took advantage of the dim light outside and reached step by step to the west exhibition hall where he had stepped before. He took out the pliers and found a good angle and smashed it hard. The glass cabinet was more fragile than imagined, "Bang" After a crash, glass shards fell into the counter like snowflakes. Wu Qinghui's hands trembled slightly as he put the heavy "gold pieces" and the knife into his backpack and dug out the Yangxing Hall.

Perhaps because he was too excited, Wu Qinghui was still a little disoriented when he came out. It took him a long time to find the escape direction that he had determined before.

ran out of the Forbidden City. He did not dare to look back. After a while, he disappeared into the night...

The French Open was restored, and no omissions were missed.

"You are crazy! Do you know this is a crime? Give me the things quickly." Go back!"

When Wu Qinghui ran back to his sister's house, it was already late at night. He couldn't restrain his excitement and pulled his sister aside to show off his "trophies" excitedly. However, her sister was shocked after hearing this. He stayed and walked outside.

"Why should I return it? I took such a big risk to get something, and I still use it to marry a wife!"

"Such a precious thing, if you are caught, you will be sentenced to a long time."

"Beijing is so big and there are so many people, how could the police catch me!"

Maybe it was their childhood experiences that made both sisters afraid of poverty, or maybe it was because the gold tablets handed over by their younger brothers were indeed worth a lot of money. Although he still looked worried, he no longer raised any objections.

However, although he said that he was not afraid of being caught, Wu Qinghui was still uneasy and decided to buy a ticket to leave Beijing the next morning and go back to his hometown to hide for a while.

When he first returned to the village, Wu Qinghui was scared and excited. One moment he imagined that he would make a fortune selling gold, and the other moment he wondered if the police would chase him.

After Wu Qinghui stayed in this extremely contradictory state for more than ten days, he finally couldn't bear it anymore and decided to find a way to sell the gold in his hands.

But he was not stupid. He knew that selling this big gold piece directly would definitely arouse suspicion from others, so he took the scissors and cut them all into pieces. At the same time, he struggled to pull the gems off the knife, and finally cut them off separately. It was sold to different banks in Shandong, Beijing, Tianjin and other places.

At this moment, Wu Qinghui’s brother was going to Xinjiang to find a job and wanted to take his younger brother with him. Wu Qinghui, who had just received the money, just wanted to run away and hide, so he immediately accepted the offer.

However, due to the long distance from Shandong to Xinjiang, train tickets were also very expensive. Unknown to Wu Qinghui, his brother had already become a "monopoly" at this time, so he suggested getting on the train first and evading the fare all the way to Xinjiang.

After the two brothers got on the train, their demeanor and clothing were incompatible with the passengers around them. Therefore, they received special attention from the conductor before they had gone very far.

When the train arrived at Tianjin Station, the conductor walked over without waiting for the brothers to stand up and said, "Hello, please show your ticket."

Wu Qinghui became even more flustered when he saw this situation and said, "I...I bought it." I got the ticket, but lost it again."

The conductor naturally didn't believe this and took the two brothers to the conductor's room to replace the tickets.

But what is different from other fare evaders is that the two behaved even more strangely after entering the closed cabin. One of them kept looking around, and the other hugged the backpack in his hands with evasive eyes.

When the flight attendant saw this, he quickly reported it to the police in the car. When the police came and took a look, the two men almost had the word "criminal" written on their faces and proposed to conduct a routine search on them.

Wu Qinghui became even more panicked when he heard this. He backed away and shouted: "I didn't do anything, I don't have anything in my bag."

There is no silver three hundred taels here. After several policemen controlled Wu Qinghui, they snatched the backpack from his hand. When they opened it, everyone was shocked. It was full of gold.

Wu Qinghui hurriedly saw that the matter was revealed. Shouted: "This is what my father left for me, you are not allowed to touch it!" "

No one listened to his excuse. Everyone knew that something had been lost in the Forbidden City recently. After the police controlled the two people, they immediately reported the matter to the leadership. After an on-site appraisal by Beijing experts, this package of "fragments" was It was the gold book that had been lost in the Forbidden City.

During the interrogation, Wu Qinghui's psychological defense collapsed and he revealed the whereabouts of the remaining gold book and the dagger.

At this point, the "first theft case of the Forbidden City in New China" that had been causing a lot of noise in the past few months was over. The case was closed.

4 months later, the Beijing Intermediate People's Court opened a trial.

Wu Qinghui was suspected of stealing and selling national treasures, causing irreparable losses to the country, and was sentenced to life imprisonment; Wu Qinghui's sister was sentenced to 15 years in prison for being suspected of harboring, conniving, and dividing the stolen goods.

After the verdict was announced, Wu Qinghui lowered his head in his seat. The archaeologists in the Forbidden City sighed deeply