Chapter 10 Chapter 9 The One Hundred Days That Cannot Change the Law and the System

Now let's look at how the mother and son, Cixi Guangxu, got into a stalemate. At the beginning of the spring of 1898 (the twenty-fourth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), when the crisis of imperialist carve-up of China was imminent, our young emperor with a personality and patriotism could no longer remain silent.Through his Clan Shuqing Prince Yikuang who was the minister of military aircraft, he appealed to the Queen Mother that he could not be the king of the dead garden.If the Queen Mother does not authorize reforms, he would rather "abdicate" and so on.It is said that Empress Xi was very angry when she heard this, and said: "He doesn't want to sit in this seat, and I don't want him to sit in it for a long time." King Qing urged him to say, "Let him do it, and he won't be able to do it later." Let’s talk again.” But when King Qing returned to his command, he didn’t want to say much, he just told the emperor lightly that the empress dowager couldn’t help the emperor to do things.The honest and indifferent Emperor Guangxu got this message, and he really went to work.

The first step in his actual action was "The Edict to Decide the Country", publicly declaring his determination to "reform the law and reform the system."It was April 23rd of the 1898 year, June 11th in the Gregorian calendar.This is the first day of this sad "Hundred Days Reform".Immediately afterwards, Kang Youwei was summoned.Because Kang is the source of his think tank and restructuring theory.But Guangxu did not read Kang Youwei's "Confucius Restructuring" or "Xin Xue Pseudo-Classic".The restructuring he values ​​is obviously limited to the Japanese model, or the Russian Peter the Great model.

Guangxu summoned Kang Youwei from 5:00 am to 7:00 am on April 28th (June 16th in the Gregorian calendar).The venue is the Hall of Renshou in the Summer Palace.Because at this time, the Queen Mother, who was known as "returning to the government", lived in the Summer Palace for a long time.Although the state has a big government, the emperor still has to go to the Summer Palace to ask the queen mother for instructions.This time, Guangxu had come to the garden two days earlier to stay.He summoned Kang Youwei apparently with the permission of the Empress Dowager Xi. The Summer Palace is a world-famous tourist attraction today.Hall of Renshou is familiar to many readers and writers.How did Kang Youwei see Guangxu in this house?I think readers have the same interests as the author.Now let's make a few excerpts of the actual situation of the meeting between his monarch and his ministers at that time.The following is what Kang said to the journalists in person while fleeing:

On June 16, the emperor summoned me once.This summoning was held in the Renshou Palace (Palace) in the palace (garden), and it lasted for two hours from 5:00 in the morning.It was not long before the Russians occupied Lushun Dalian Bay, so the emperor looked worried.The emperor was thin, but apparently healthy.He has a straight nose, full forehead, soft eyes, clean shaven, but rather pale complexion.He was of medium height, with long thin hands and a shrewd appearance.His gentle attitude is not only rare among Manchus, but also rare among Han Chinese.He was wearing an ordinary court dress, but instead of the big square embroidered embroidery on his chest, he had a round tuanlong. In addition, there was also a small piece of embroidered flowers on each shoulder.He also wore an ordinary official hat.On entering, led by a few eunuchs, he then sat on a throne with large yellow cushions, his feet crossed.After being seated, he ordered all the attendants to leave.Throughout our conversation, his eyes were constantly on the outside of the window, as if he was guarding against eavesdropping.In front of him, there was a long platform with two candlesticks on it, and I knelt at a corner of the platform, because the prayer mat in front of the platform was reserved for senior officials to kneel on.The entire time I was on my knees.Our conversation is in Beijing dialect. (See the third volume of "The Reform Movement of 1898", a compilation of Chinese historiography, page 506. Originally published in Hong Kong's "China Post" on October 7, 1898)

The above was the first time Guangxu and Kang Youwei met, and it was also the only time between them.Of course, Kang Youwei said to his master some ideas about abolishing stereotyped essays and practicing foreign exercises, "small changes are worse than big changes" and "slow changes are worse than rapid changes".In fact, these words are redundant.At this time, Guangxu had decided to reform the system in accordance with Kang's rules.Summoning is only a formality. ——He intends to use Kang Youwei to promote the "system bureau". Kang Youwei's master and apprentice's specific propositions on the reform steps at this time can be summed up as qualitative change but not formal change.They were afraid that the conservatives would oppose the New Deal for fear of losing power and position, so they suggested to the emperor to keep all the titles of high officials and dignitaries and the powers of princes and ministers on the surface; politics to promote reform.For example, "New Deals" such as reducing redundant staff, abolishing unemployed yamen, abolishing stereotyped writing, experimenting with policy theory, opening schools, training new troops, cutting and abolishing grain, Manchu and Han equality, and Manchu people earning their own livelihoods, etc.

At the same time, Emperor Guangxu really bypassed the ministers and reused the junior ministers.The first is of course Kang Youwei.Kangzi, the head of the Ministry of Industry, was promoted to the prime minister's office of national affairs, "walking on Zhangjing" (walkers, if they have something to do, they will go, and if they have nothing to do, they will walk).Although he was still a minor official of the fifth rank, Kang Youwei was able to focus on affairs and become a close minister of the emperor-a person who actually held power with the eyes of the court. Soon thereafter, Emperor Guangxu promoted Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Lin Xu, and Liu Guang, the fourth young junior officials, to "walk on the military plane Zhangjing with the title of Sipinqing"; to praise the emperor and handle daily government affairs. ——This non-removal not only "overheaded" the Military Aircraft Office and the Prime Minister's Office; even Kang Youwei, who had no chance to see the emperor again, felt very sour grapes.Youwei said that the four of them are actually in the position of prime minister, but the four of them are thin in appearance and have no dignity, so they don't look like prime ministers, and so on.If the Kang family still feels this way, one can imagine the jealousy of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.And the new school characters inevitably have the impulsiveness and arrogance of their wunderkinds. ——They even publicly discussed that a certain post should be dismissed, and a certain official should be abolished.It made the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty (especially the Manchu) panic.

Both Kang and Liang believed that this method of emphasizing small ministers and supervising ministers was their new invention.In fact, "overhead politics" has both ancients and newcomers in the history of Chinese politics. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties in our country, the most honorable central officials are the so-called "Shangshu".In fact, the post of "Shangshu" was originally one of the "Five Shangs" or "Six Shangs" in the imperial palace in the official system of the Qin and Han Dynasties - what Shang Palace, Shangshu, Shangshi, Shangshu, Shangshu (maybe still Shangshu) )etc.Those were all officials of the Yellow Gate who served the emperor and concubines.Only maids of honor and eunuchs can serve.If a man wants to be a minister, he must first be castrated before he can enter the palace.But in the era of Emperor Wu and Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty, imperial power rose.This eunuch Huangmen was originally a small official in Shangshu, but because he was a close minister of the emperor, he gradually became more important.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the ten permanent servants were in chaos, these ministers emptied all the "three gongs and nine ministers" in the court.This overhead politics, through the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, became a strange phenomenon in which Jiuqing was in charge and Shangshu was in power.When Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty unified the world and reformed the official system, he simply abolished the Jiuqing and replaced it with the "Six Books of Ministers".Of course, the "shangshu" after the Sui and Tang Dynasties did not have any points for eunuchs.

However, the magic of superficial politics will not disappear because of the rectification of Shangshu.Ming Taizu abolished the prime minister and replaced him with a cabinet bachelor. Isn't this magic repeating?When the cabinet scholars became prime ministers again, Emperor Yongzheng wanted to empty them, so he replaced them with small ministers who set up military aircraft offices.Now the military aircraft has power again; Kang and Liang masters and apprentices designed four "Zhang Jing" for Guangxu with fourth-rank ministers, and emptied the high-ranking military ministers.

Not hereby.By the time of the Republic of China and the Communist Party, this art was still inherited by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. In the early 1930s, when Wang Jingwei was in charge of the Executive Yuan and Chiang Kai-shek was the chairman of the Military Commission, wasn’t the importance of the “Chairman’s Attendant’s Room” complete with all six departments above that of the “Executive Yuan”?In fact, the name of the institution "Servant Room" has the smell of the inner court in the feudal royal family. The "Director of the Attendant Office" and other small officials below him, such as the team leaders, should have been castrated if they were born in the Han Dynasty!

By the time of the People's Government in Mao Zedong's later years, the "Gang of Four" who dominated the government and the public was not actually the "Ten Permanent Attendants" who grew up in the inner court?Mao Yuanxin, Wang Hairong and other young men and women who delivered the "supreme instructions" for Mao Gong were also "walking above Zhang Jing". Didn't Wang Hongwen want to evade Premier Zhou?Doesn't even Zhang Yufeng, a little court lady, have to pay the salary of the confidential secretary of the Central Secretariat, and the "five honors" take it all?How could Deng Xiaoping, who was a "co-organizing bachelor" in the State Council at that time, compare with them?Therefore, this overhead art is our national treasure for three thousand years.Kang and Liang's masters and apprentices put gold on their faces-how could they have invented this?

However, there is a prerequisite for this kind of political art of using small ministers and close ministers to evade ministers and power ministers-the envoy who engages in evasion must be as capable as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng, Chairman Jiang, and Chairman Mao. The grand dictator of "the last word".A son-in-law who trembles at the sight of his mother must never do it.Unfortunately, Guangxu, who presided over the reform at that time, was exactly such a "son emperor".If the "little minister" of the son emperor is used to overtake the "powerful minister" of the old empress, what will happen or not? ——This kind of evolution of the political situation, the historians of later generations who are familiar with "Tongjian" in my generation, all have a clear understanding of the fire, and are as sensitive as Kang, and Liang is not aware of it. That's all. In the summer of the 1898 year, the city of Beijing, where "the sky was as sunny as a censer and the rain as a jar of sauce," was unbearably hot.But this season is exactly the time when our respectable, lovely, but also deplorable young emperor is exhausted for the country and the people.In order to promote his reform and reform, he had to rush from the Forbidden City at that time to the Forbidden City today to the Summer Palace in three or two days to ask the Queen Mother for instructions. (Poor Guangxu does not have an air-conditioned car.) From the time when he issued the "Dingguo Shizhao" on June 11 (April 23 in the lunar calendar), to September 21 (the sixth day of August in the lunar calendar), the Empress Dowager returned to the palace to "train the government" , Put him in Yingtaizhi, one hundred and three days before and after, Emperor Guangxu went to the Summer Palace twelve times, staying for three days each time.As for the actual situation of the conversation between their mother and son, there is no way for outsiders to know, but the young emperor begged for reform with all his heart, but the queen mother disagreed, so everyone knew it every time he was reprimanded.When he returned to the palace, although the edicts were issued several times a day, the courtiers delayed him and refused to return; the border officials (Chen Baozhen, governor of Hunan Province was the only exception) treated him positively and negatively, and even refused to obey him.But they also have their reasons and excuses.Cover the actions of Nanyang ministers and governors of other provinces.They all followed the lead of the Beiyang Minister and Zhili Governor; at this time, the Beiyang Minister and Zhili Governor Rong Lu was the head of the diehards.Relying on the authority of the Queen Mother, he openly disobeyed Guangxu.He believed that the emperor was young and ignorant and willful, so he not only ignored all Guangxu's edicts, but also rallied conservative officials in the court, such as Gang Yi, Li Shengduo, Yang Chongyi, etc., to make a small report to the Summer Palace, and jointly called on the Queen Mother to return to the court. Train the government and restore the curtain to curb the chaos. ——Of course this is what the Empress Dowager wished for, and some were even at her behest. Furthermore, the implementation and steps of the New Deal certainly have its own difficulties.Let’s take the new exam policy of “abolishing stereotyped essays and reforming policy theory” as an example. Stereotypes are empty talk, but policy theory is not empty talk?However, to write stereotyped essays, you need to read the books of sages and sages, and there is another "tie Kuo" (called format in English) to follow.Writing "party stereotyped" policy theory is nothing more than this.Therefore, in the summer of 1898, Chen Xuefen, an honest Xuezheng in Zhejiang, said in a memorial: "It is difficult to review papers to change the policy theory of the test, and it is not as easy as stereotyped writing." Just dismiss him.In fact, if Kang Youwei was released to study politics, with his little so-called knowledge of Western learning, I am afraid that he would not have a standard for choosing or rejecting the examination papers of the theory! Liang Qichao said that enlightened and current affairs dignitaries such as Zhang Zhidong also knew that the abolition of stereotyped writing was the first thing to do in the reform; however, Zhang did not dare to lightly abolish stereotyped writing.Because he was deeply "fearful of the wrath of hundreds of Hanlin, thousands of Jinshi, tens of thousands of juren, hundreds of thousands of scholars, and millions of children. He was afraid that they would join forces to slander himself and crowd out himself" (see Liang Qichao's "The Reform Movement of 1898" remember").This was originally a big "problem" related to the fate and future of millions of intellectuals in the country. How can it be solved by talking about reform "isms"?It doesn't matter whether "the cat is black or white, the cat that can catch mice is a good cat" (Deng Xiaoping's words).What is the use of the "New Deal" of abolishing stereotype reform policy that merely creates "problems" but fails to solve them? Let's talk about changing temples to run schools!At that time, there were hundreds of thousands of temples and hundreds of millions of Buddhist and Taoist priests, and they were not ordinary people.How could they be expelled from the temple gate, married and returned to vulgarity with only one paper and two pages of official documents?Even if temples can be abolished to run schools, the funds, teachers, courses, and students will not come from overnight.As for the "holding local autonomy" imagined by Kang, it is even more like a castle in the air.Don't you see, our country and the Communist Party have been engaged in local autonomy for more than half a century, but they haven't even achieved a half-toned "autonomy".If Lord Guangxu wants to replace the old with the new within a hundred days, and create a miracle, isn't it just a dream? In short, to make a long story short, the history of our nation entered the late Qing Dynasty and the Reform Period, and it is hard to return.Our national machinery is rusted beyond repair.Our society has also reached the terminal stage of cancer; the disease is terminally ill, and medicine is ineffective.Therefore, in the eyes of many fierce people with lofty ideals, the complete solution is to kill people and kill them; ——Then came one after another, the KMT and the Communist Party who believed in the "one revolution theory" were both shooting experts who advocated "nothing can be broken and nothing can be established".Mr. Sun Yat-sen said: "Destruction is difficult to build", which is exactly what he meant.It's a pity that the old man died before he was destroyed, which made the hero burst into tears.When the Communist Party came, Lao Mao smashed, smashed and robbed jade and stones without distinguishing them, and the destruction was complete (this is exactly the destructive effect of the ancient rogues in history); he called it "removing three mountains".In fact, like Zhu Yuanzhang, the mayor of my township, he did not remove a single mountain, and added a new one.This kind of mountain-moving and mountain-building movement cannot solve China's old problems; nor can it catch up with the "advanced countries".So Deng Xiaoping is still running around in front of and behind the mountain today, not knowing Yiyuhu? ——These are all things to say later, and I will explain them slowly in the future. Let's see at the same time, what is the old Empress Cixi doing in the Summer Palace to escape the summer heat?Her old man is not idle.In the garden, with her heart in the palace, she is surrounded by spies and eyeliners, and small reports fly in day and night; Manchu officials and Han sycophants, begging for mercy, kneel all around from time to time.Every move of Emperor Guangxu was under her close surveillance. The Empress Dowager was originally a sinister and vicious shrew, who had the appearance of a fox but the heart of a tiger and wolf.But she is also a shrewd and powerful heroine who is scheming and good at maneuvering and giving both kindness and power.She will remain calm about her love rivals and political enemies (including her two sons), setting traps and waiting for the opportunity to hunt and kill.This kind of complex personality cannot be played by stage performers.She is not as cute as Liu Xiaoqing on the screen. Long before the Reform Movement of 1898, she had already had the intention of abolishing her son Zai Tian, ​​who had grown up and had a personality and temper.This started from pure jealousy—a very common phenomenon of psychosis in which no one else is allowed to snore on the side of the couch.But she was afraid of foreigners intervening, secondly, the border officials would not obey, and thirdly, her uncle (Prince Gong) would not obey.At the same time, the object of her fancy did not dare to bear it.That's why she kept silent. In the late spring of 1898, when Zaigou asked to authorize reforms, she certainly couldn't tolerate it.But Cixi is an old fox.Even if she wanted to end her retirement and return to the palace to study politics, she still had to arrange an appropriate situation and timing.The first is that Sun Xingzhe cannot jump out of the palm of Lafayette; the second is to have face. ——Her comeback was at the request of the ministers and the common people (it is called draft in American politics, that is, Raff), and she did it as a last resort.Therefore, between the spring and summer of 1898, she made several important arrangements: First of all, she dismissed Weng Tonghe and drove him out of the political circle.Weng is the think tank of Emperor Guangxu who enjoys the right of "independent confrontation".He is the number one scholar and veteran who enjoys a high reputation, and he is also the leader of the enlightened sect in the court; he is also the parent and guardian of the radical sects such as Kang and Liang.Once the Weng family was deposed, Guangxu would lose a chief adviser, an intermediate bridge, and a parent who supported the new party.Killing three birds with one stone, Weng Tonghe was "vacated and returned home" on June 15th.The emperor was completely isolated. Secondly, she must maintain the absolute security of Beijing, Tianjin and North China in terms of internal struggles.For this reason, on the same day Weng Tonghe was dismissed, the Queen Mother promoted Rong Lu, the leader of the party, to act as the governor of Zhili;Under the jurisdiction of Dong Fuxiang (Gan Army), Song Qing (Yi Army), Nie Shicheng (Wu Yi Army), Yuan Shikai (New Army) and tens of thousands of Gyeonggi Banner Army, guarding the capital and various traffic passes.With this military deployment, although it is not enough to defend against foreign invaders, (as the Manchu princes said) in terms of guarding against "house thieves", the Beijing-Tianjin area can be said to be as solid as gold.As for the Summer Palace where the Empress Dowager lives, it is even more heavily guarded.Those who enter the Hajj order their wives and family members to be searched.In contrast, except for a few eunuchs, Guangxu's security measures are really dependent on others; he has nothing of his own. I remember my friend General Li Zongren, who was appointed as the "acting president" back then.He refused to accept it and clamored to be the "president".During the quarrel, Wu Zhongxin reminded him, "Your guards are all Mr. Jiang's people. Why are you arguing about the 'acting president' and the 'president'?" After hearing this, Li decided not to quarrel. Similarly, when the "Gang of Four" was arrested, weren't Hua Yuanfeng and Wang Dongxing both "members of the Politburo"? "Team 8341" was transferred out of Beijing to change defenses, and Hua and Wang also changed defenses one after another to recuperate? Under similar circumstances, Lord Guangxu cried to the Queen Mother and asked her to authorize the reform.It never occurred to him and his young advisers that their guards were "all Mr. Jiang's people"; "Childish nonsense", there will always be people who will object to it - as many as a few million people, as few as dozens of Manchus among the diehards.When these opponents were worried, they went east to the Tianjin "Supervision Office" to beg for help and move troops; west to the Summer Palace, weeping and kneeling, calling on the Queen Mother to return to the court to teach politics.The old fox, the Empress Dowager, initially laughed and denied it.Even those who asked for tears, the Empress Dowager laughed and scolded them, saying: "Why do you meddle in these nosy things? Could it be that my knowledge is not as good as yours?" At that time, some people also went to the supervisor's office to complain.Rong Lu said: "Let him go around for a few months, and the whole world will be angry and full of evil. Isn't it all right?" Therefore, the Empress Dowager's countermeasure is to keep her face and lay a trap, allowing Guangxu and his new party to "play around for a few months".At this time, King Gong was dead, and no one interfered.When "the whole world is indignant" and the Empress Dowager speaks up, as long as her expression changes, the long live Lord who is kneeling on the ground trembling with pale face will naturally know that "my position is not guaranteed".How can we wait until (as it was widely rumored at the time) to go to Tianjin for a military parade in autumn before abolishing the establishment? Sure enough, the situation developed to mid-September, when Emperor Guangxu was still busy opening the Maoqin Hall to encourage subjects to directly recommend talents to the court, the face of the Empress Dowager Xi suddenly changed.Guangxu immediately felt that a catastrophe was imminent and the throne could not be guaranteed.In order to preserve his position and life, his emperor hugged Buddha's feet temporarily, and on September 13th, July 28th of the lunar calendar (in other words, September 14th), he secretly ordered Kang Youwei and Si Zhangjing to "discuss quickly and try to rescue each other." .On the one hand, he also commented on Kang Youwei's "supervising the official newspaper...going out quickly without delay".What's ridiculous is that Kang Sheng was not vigilant at that time. He thought the emperor really wanted him to go to Shanghai to publish a newspaper!Nai, who is big and big, takes a ride to Tanggu and goes south by wheel.If he hadn't been famous for being pro-British at that time, and the well-informed British sent a special ship to rush to Wusongkou to rescue him from danger, Lao Kang had ten heads, and all of them had moved. ——The reason why Kang Dasheng was able to jump out of the palm of Lafayette and save his head, there is no one else, let me borrow a Sichuan dialect when Deng Gong Xiaoping escaped from the clutches: "Fate!" In the autumn of 1987, Yu passed by Qingdao and visited the new tomb of Duke Kang.Comrade You told me that Mr. Kang was headless in the tomb.His head is faked out of stainless steel.It turns out that although Duke Kang escaped the "Lafayette", he could not escape the "Red Sun".His old grave was dug up by the Red Guards to flog his corpse.His head was also exhibited by the Red Guards, so he disappeared.Later Deng Xiaoping rehabilitated him and reburied him in a new tomb, but the head could not be found.The head of the Qingdao region made one out of stainless steel.Yu Wenzhi sighed.This is also Kang Lao's life! In the middle of September of 1898, when Kang Shengren left Beijing leisurely and went south, Tan Sitong and Zhang Jing, who stayed in the court, became nervous.There may have been secret discussions between them and Guangxu and a consensus was reached. They believed that the only way to save the crisis and turn things around was to persuade Yuan Shikai to mobilize troops to serve the king.If Yuan Ru can be loyal to the emperor, great things may be possible. The "new army" under Yuan Shikai's command at that time was more than 7,000 people, and its military strength was the highest among all armies. It was indeed a powerful faction.His style and thinking also show that he is a new school figure.But his official title is only "Zhili Inspectorate", a provincial and regional middle-level official with "cong Erpin" below Ronglu, commonly known as "standard Taiwan".Yuan Zhi's status is largely due to Rong Lu's "knowledge"; of course, he has a close collusion with Rong Lu, and Rong Lu is the Queen Mother's confidant, so he himself has a bright future.Now Guangxu wants him to break away from Rong Lu and the Queen Mother and switch to the weak imperial party. This is a huge gamble for Yuan Shikai's official career, and even his wealth and life. ——In this conflict between the emperor and empress, as long as he stands still, the imperial party will be beheaded and imprisoned, and the entire army will be wiped out.If he joins the imperial party rashly and raises troops to serve the king, his seven thousand disciples may not be able to save the emperor, and his own head may actually move.Yuan Shikai is a capable minister in governing the world and a hero in troubled times.Between good and bad, he sees everything clearly. Let's talk about right and wrong!If Yuan Laosi really has the heart of a child, like the impulsive little six "Young Marshal Zhang", he may come to engage in a patriotic "bitter attack" regardless of the benefits and consequences.Unfortunately, Yuan Shi is an old fox who is older than the old fox, so he will not be fooled by those patriotic monarchs and ministers. ——This political show was well understood by observers with a little political savvy at the time. Why wait for historians almost a hundred years later to put it behind the scenes? But at that time, the leaders of the imperial party had already faced unforeseen disasters; they had also been driven to the point of hysteria mentally, so they had no choice but to treat dead horses as living horse doctors, and they didn't care much about it.On September 14th (July 28th in the lunar calendar), Yuan Shikai was summoned to Beijing; on the 16th, he met in the Summer Palace, and Guangxu gave him great comfort.Yuan Shixuan entrusted Zhu Yu to "open vacancies according to the inspector"; "the waiter is an alternate, specializing in military training affairs, and playing the necessary matters at any time."At this moment, Yuan Shikai was promoted from a mid-level local official of the "second rank" to a central official of the "right second rank".The Qing "shilang" and the "shangshu" of various ministries are commonly called "tang officials", and they are almost equal in handling affairs.Yuan is a shrewd and capable man (not dull like Kang Youwei).He knew that there was a reason for his promotion, especially when he was "thank you", the emperor ordered him and Rong Lu to "do their own things". At this time, Rong Lu had obtained the information, and he deployed troops to deploy defenses in case of accidents; at the same time, he fabricated false news that Britain and Russia were at war.And sent a special messenger to urge Yuan Shikai to return to Tianjin.When the Yuan family was in a dilemma, the sensitive incident of Tan's "junji" secret visit late at night occurred.According to the "Diary of 1898" leaked after Yuan's death: On September 18 (the third day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar), Tan Sitong visited at night and told him straight to the point that the Queen Mother and Rong Lu had a conspiracy to kill the king and abolish the establishment.The emperor hoped that the Yuan family would protect him, and led his troops to kill Ronglu and surround the Summer Palace.How did Yuan Jian deal with the Empress Dowager? Tan said that he had hired dozens of heroes;Yuan said in his diary that he had heard the words "the soul flew into the sky", but Sitong was "similar to crazy" at this time, and he was "a close minister of the emperor", so he dared not be perfunctory.It was hard to send Tan away. As explained in the previous section, Yuan Shikai would never accept Tan Sitong's conspiracy.When he returned to Tianjin two days later, he revealed all of Tan's plans to Ronglu.In fact, the Empress Dowager Xi and Rong Lu already knew about Tan's secret plan, and they had already taken action—Cixi returned from the garden to the palace on the 19th (August 4th of the lunar calendar).On the 21st, he officially came to the imperial court to "train the government", and ordered martial law in the capital, and the trains were stopped.Immediately, the emperor was imprisoned and the new party was arrested; the New Deal was abolished and the old law was restored.This is the so-called "1898 coup". ——The Empress Dowager of the West gave off a burst of masculinity, and the new party and new policies disappeared from then on; the emperor was also imprisoned in Yingtai. When the coup d'etat suddenly broke out, Kang Youwei was naturally the first criminal to be arrested.Unexpectedly, Kang Jing could walk out of the city in a big way the day before.Fortunately, Liang Qichao, the number one disciple of the Kang family, also has pro-Japanese words and deeds.At this time, under the protection of Japanese friends, he hid in the embassy and fled in disguise.Dozens of others related to the New Deal and the New Party were arrested before they were elected or refused to escape.Among them are the so-called "Six Gentlemen" - Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Lin Xu, Liu Guangdi, Yang Shenxiu and Kang Guangren.These six people were killed in Caishikou, Beijing, on September 28th, two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival without trial, and were "supervised and beheaded" by the big head of the die-hard faction, Gang Yi (1837-1900). 〇) It is the famous saying of the bastard, the manchu who "would rather give a gift to an allied country than a domestic slave" - ​​a jerk. Among the six martyrs, the one with the most martyr spirit was Tan Sitong (1865-1898).He could have escaped.But he felt that he was the vanguard of the New Deal; he had a duty of martyrdom when the New Deal failed.Sitong told his friends who persuaded him to run away that the reform would inevitably lead to bloodshed; if there is blood to be shed, it should start with him.So he took it easy.Sitong is a selfless patriot, a true gentleman; a good man of the Chinese nation. Yang Shenxiu (1849-1898) was also a heroic censor who kept integrity and valued righteousness.Although he was also a reformer, after the coup d'état had become a fact, the Queen Mother officially "trained the government".When the emperor was secluded and trembling, he could have kept his mouth shut to avoid death.But he insisted on stepping forward to question why Guangxu was deposed, and resisted Shujian to ask Cixi to return to power, so he was arrested and sacrificed.Let us try to find out how many of the so-called supervisory officials of the thousands of censors in the Qing Dynasty, He Guo, and the Communist Party who beat flies and flattered poorly, how many of them were Yang Shenxiu? Sun Yat-sen valued officials like Yang Yushi Only then did they insist on implementing the "five powers" constitution! Among the six gentlemen, the most unjust death was the thirty-one-year-old Kang Guangren (1847-1898).Guangren was not an official, nor was he an important cadre in the reform movement.So after the reform failed, he had no intention of fleeing, nor did he flee.Because he was not guilty of being killed.But he finally died at Caishikou because of one qualification - he was "Kang Youwei's younger brother".So before he was killed, he hit his head against the wall in prison and cried out in grief, which was really tragic enough. After all the martyrs died, the backbone of the new party either fled, imprisoned, or exiled.Those enlightened courtiers who were seeking and responding with them were either deposed (such as Weng Tonghe), blocked (such as Zhang Zhidong), or kept silent and stood aside (such as Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, Sun Jiading) ...There is no one in the court, and the internal and foreign policy-making power of the Qing Empire is controlled by the Queen Mother of the West.A group of old, stupid, stubborn and ignorant selfish bureaucrats.If this is the case, then the government will go from bad to worse, and finally cause the disaster of "Yihequan" and "Eight-Power Allied Forces", which is a logical development. The Reform Movement of 1898 is the history of my country's three thousand years, after Shang Yang (390 BC to 338 BC), Wang Mang (32 BC to 23 AD), and Wang Anshi (1021 to 1086). , and before Deng Xiaoping (1903-1997), one of several astonishing political reform movements. Shang Yang's "self-defeating method" was finally "cracked" (four or five carriages or ox carts pulled him into several pieces of meat), and he died the worst.Wang Mang refused to change his past and practiced dogmatism, and was beheaded as a result.Wang Anshi put new wine in old bottles, and used the rusted state machinery to transform a deeply ill society that is hard to return.He was able to preserve his head, which was considered "fate". Deng Xiaoping is among the reform experts of our nation, the oldest, the highest status (one level higher than Wang Mang), the youngest (a few centimeters shorter than Napoleon), and the one who mobilizes the whole family.He also gave birth to an extraordinary horoscope of three ups and three downs.If you are an official and run the party, you have to go up and down; do you have to go up and down when you want to reform the system and reform the law?The secret must not be leaked, and no one knows it at present.We watch the fire from the other side, but we know that he has already made two ups and downs.In the future, observers from all over the world will have their own opinions on whether he will be able to keep up with the top three and be as lucky as he is an official.In fact, today's experts and scholars who shake their heads, noisy uncrowned kings, Hong Kong and Taiwan media, and even countless fortune tellers such as Zhang Banxian and Li Tiezui, including the author who works behind closed doors, are all talking nonsense. ——When the answer to the mystery is revealed in the future, if you guessed wrong, you deserve it; if you guessed right, it is just a coincidence.If it is said that Zhuge Liang's six lines and gossip can really understand ghosts and gods and know the past and future, then it is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.Zen Master Huang Yao said it well: "You have to ask future generations about the future." After the big exam, the scores are posted, and future teachers will have a fair judgment. As for Kang Youwei's Reform Movement of 1898, that's not the case.Since the beginning of the Reform Movement of 1898, the historical materials are complete.In the crystal ball, the facts are clear; but Zaitan Kangliang, Cixi Ronglu, the authority has long faded, and the grievances have been resolved.Today's historians, if they are familiar with historical facts and get rid of prejudices, will not be able to make conclusive statements before the beginning, so as to highlight historical relics and avoid Laizi.The author does not try to think superficially, and once set aside four chapters for this public case, with tens of thousands of words, to get a glimpse of its mystery.To make a long story short, how should the Reform Movement of 1898 be positioned in history? As mentioned in the first chapter, the modern Chinese history of more than 150 years, in terms of the nature of social development, was originally a "transition history" - from a medieval oriental society to a modern western society.This transformation started from the Opium War, and today we are still hovering in the "Third World" on the edge of the Middle Ages.It is conceivable how difficult the project is.But at that time, Lord Guangxu wanted to change the "type" that was hard to change in a hundred years, and change it between his fingers, it was bound to fail, and there was no need to spend more ink.To "conceptualize" this phenomenon, we can say: "The failure of the Reform Movement of 1898" is an "inevitability" in history. But the "necessity" in history is often influenced by "chance".Because the time, space, comprehensive or partial, procedure and direction, method and impact of the failure... are all determined by "accidental" factors.These "accidental" sometimes "inevitably" become the "gene" (gene or cause) of the next stage of historical development. For example: both "total failure" and "partial failure" are "accidental"; but the different spaces of the two have very different genes for the next stage of history.Another example: failure in "hundred days" and failure in "ten years" are also "accidental" of human factors; but the different lengths of time are "inevitably" decisive for the next stage of gene development influences. In studying the Reform Movement of 1898, the reason why we have to spend two chapters to dissect Kang Youwei is that the most important "accident" that controls the "necessity" of history is Kang Youwei's "personality".If Kang Youwei is replaced by Kang Wuwei, the process of the historical failure of the "1898 Reform" and its genetic effect on the next stage may be completely different. During this period of history, Kang's role should be that of a theorist, thinker and politician.Unfortunately, Kang Youwei did not even meet the minimum requirements in these three aspects.Because he was born as a theorist and thinker in modern China, his knowledge and learning should span both ancient and modern generations, and be both Chinese and Western.Kang's superficial understanding of Western learning was not enough to cross these two gaps, but he pretended to know what he didn't know, which was enough to do harm. ——Mao Zedong carried out the "Great Leap Forward" and starved to death 25 million peasants. As for Kang Youwei's Sinology, his popularity is still higher than that of Liang Shuming and Qian Binsi.Unfortunately, he was complacent, obsessed, and made a big mistake of dogmatism.Kang Zuo said in a poem: "There are no two Sima in good history, and there is only one ram in passing scriptures." It may be true that the two thousand years old history cannot catch up with the two Sima.There is only one ram in preaching the scriptures. From the point of view of modern writers, no one can stop him from saying so.The contention of a hundred schools of thought was originally a grand event.He shouldn't, he shouldn't, he shouldn't really come to make a general application, and reject everything with rigid dogmatism.他如果不搞教条主义，而能虚怀若谷的与以张之洞、翁同和为首的开明派合作，则变法维新亦有其建设性，而不致走上后来顽固派独大的局面。教条主义之为害中国，康有为是始作俑者。 ——这也是个历史的“偶然”。 不能做理论家、思想家也就罢了，康有为至少可以做个民胞物与、襟怀豁达的政治家嘛！可惜康氏也没有做政治家的秉赋。他生就是个骄傲不群、木讷乖僻，而又顽固急躁的知识分子。他十九岁结婚；我国千年旧俗，花烛之夕，亲友们热闹一番，闹闹新房，也是常事。而他这个乖僻的新郎，却不许闹新房，弄得颇失亲友之欢。那时有为笃信周礼，一切要按“礼”行事。所以在他祖父去世之日，他也在棺前结苫庐，辕绖白衣不去身，终年不食肉。他自记说：“时读丧礼，因考三礼之学，造次皆守礼法古，严肃俨恪，一步不远。”但是他自己也说，他这样做“人咸迂笑之”。可是他自夸“少年刚毅，执守大过多如此”。他我行我素，才不在乎别人如何批评呢！ 记得清人笔记亦尝记有某翁，因笃信“正心诚意”之说，他“昨夜与老妻敦伦一次”，也要在日记里“正心诚意”地记录下来。康有为正是这样木讷乖僻之人。 这种少年康有为型态的知青。我们小中大学同窗好友之中，正不知有多少。人各有其不同的个性与生活方式，本不应彼此相强。但是这种人就不能当“公开”、搞“P．R．”，尤其是不能做政党的党魁了。 有为青年期，在一再“乡试不售”的沮丧心情之下，也曾习禅打坐、诵佛道经典以自遣。有时竟弄到“哭笑无常”的程度。这也是根据他的夫子自道（自编年谱）。“哭笑无常”是初期精神病的现象。据心理医师言，病人本身如知此现象为不正常而求医，则其疾不致深入。如病人以此“佯狂”而自傲，那就可能变成“疯子”。做疯子仍可做大学者如章太炎。但是做“章疯子”就不能做政治家了。 在我国明、清两代旧俗，考生进学或中举点进士，都要拜主考官为“房师”，以报答主考官对他才华和学问的赏识。可是康氏骄傲成性。他要孙中山拜他为师；他自己则拒绝拜自己的主考官为师，弄得狂名满天下。最后应朋友之劝，康氏总算拜他的乡试主考官许应骥（后任“礼部尚书”）为房师。但他们的师生关系却弄得形同水火。其后维新期间，对康氏痛心疾首，而参劾最厉的也正是许氏。许氏之劾康，与其说是由于意蒂牢结，倒不如说是感情用事。据说康亦怂恿御史反劾，在皇帝面前打个火上加油的笔墨官司。光绪袒康革许。斯为光绪亲政之后，第一次黜陟大臣。其后帝后两党之水火，就更无法收拾了。 据说康有为于六月十六日光绪召见之时，在“朝房”（等候召见的地方）与荣禄不期而遇。二人谈到变法。荣说：“法是应该变的，但是一二百年的老法，怎能在短期内变掉呢？”有为忿然回答说：“杀几个一品大员，法就可以变了。” 我们在一百年后回看戊戌政情，固知那时的荣禄有力足以杀康；而康绝无力量可诛荣。在这百日维新刚启幕之时，康对旧派第一号大头头，作此毫无必要的愤激之言，也可想见他在处人上的偏激，和政治上的木讷了。 总之，“戊戌变法”实在是我国近代史中，继“科技现代化”（或“四个现代化”而来的第一个“政治现代化”（也可说是清末的“第五个现代化”吧），但是这个运动不但未能领导我们的政治体制前进一步，反而倒退了数十年。胡为乎而然呢？ 我们知道戊戌变法主要的推动者是光绪皇帝。若以《春秋》的标准作“诛心之论”，要从为国为民、牺牲小我的动机着眼，光绪帝这位爱国青年，实在是我国历史上极少有的“尧舜之君”。但是光绪帝毕竟是长于深宫之中，受制于无知而狠毒的母后的一个儿皇帝。经验不足，徒善亦不足以自行。他应首先慢慢地建立自己的权力基础——像蒋经国那样——然后才能试行变法。纵使时机发展至法有可变之时，也应分为轻重缓急次第施行。诏书一日数下，朝野莫知所适，也不是个办法．不幸这位年轻皇帝，显然感到国亡无日，所以迫不及待。但是他的军师谋臣，应该有见及此。不幸康某木讷执拗，识见不足；而操切浮躁，且有甚于幼主。——言念及此，我们不能不说康有为实在只是一位狗头军师。他不能担当推行政治现代化的天降大任，而开了倒车。 值此两千年未有的转型期，失之毫厘，差之干里。有心掌舵的人，总应略通古今之变，粗识中西之长。虚怀若谷，慎重将事。君子误国，其害有甚于小人。可不慎哉？ 以古方今，鉴往知来。摩挲旧史，涉猎时文。掷笔几上，吾欲何言？ *原载于台北《传记文学》第六十一卷第三期