Tan Sitong, born in Liuyang, Hunan, 1865, was born in Beijing in March. His family has been an official for generations. When he was born, his father Tan Jizhun was an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After a few years, he was transferred to Gong, Qin and Jiedao in Gansu.
Tan Sitong spent his childhood and adolescence in Gansu. Born into a family that has been an official for generations, Tan Sitong began to receive education at the age of five and studied Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics. But he is naturally quiet and active, so he likes martial arts. When he was a teenager, Tan Sitong worshipped two masters, one was Ouyang Zhonggu, a fellow countryman, and the other was Wang Wu, a broadsword. From then on, Tan Sitong was both civil and military. In his spare time, he was more willing to go to Shan Ye forest to practice riding, shooting and hunting with his family or companions. For such a life, when 19 years old, Tan Sitong once wrote a poem:
"Policy my horse, industry my petticoats, the day the wind blows lang lang! Why not go directly to the top of Kunlun Mountain and see the famous mountains and rivers in the world! "
As can be seen from the poem, Tan Sitong is not satisfied with reading, practicing martial arts and shooting. He is not the kind of person who wants to be an official and get rich or play with things. He keeps the "world" in his heart and has his own ambitions and pursuits.
These two teachers played an important role in Tan Sitong's life. Ouyang Zhonggu certainly played a leading role in thinking, because he taught literature, and he admired two famous thinkers in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties: Wang Fuzhi and Huang Zongxi, so he indirectly passed this thought on to Tan Sitong and sowed the seeds of improvement and reform on Tan Sitong. Besides, Ouyang Zhonggu worked as an official in Beijing yamen for a while and was well informed, which was also good for young Tan Sitong to increase his knowledge. Wang Wu, broadsword, comes from the folk. He used to be an escort in the escort agency and was famous for his high martial arts. Especially in the north, the name "Wang Wu the broadsword" is almost unknown, but few people know his real name: Wang Zhengyi. Wu Wang is a generous man. Because of the conflict with the escort, he left the escort agency and wandered around the world, doing chivalrous things. Later, he was invited to be a teacher in a private martial arts school and was introduced to Tan Sitong. Tan worshipped him as a martial arts master. Because Wang Wu came from the people, it is not a good thing for Tan Sitong, who was born in an official family for generations, to introduce their sufferings, which made him introduce many things that happened in the people that he didn't know before, and also let him briefly introduce the difficulties and hardships of the people. Tan sitong is also a generous person, and they hit it off at first sight. Although he was a master and apprentice, he became an old friend (Wang Wu was older than Tan Sitong 10 years old) and later developed into a friend of life and death.
As mentioned above, Tan Sitong is a quiet and active person who is indifferent to fame and fortune. So although he read a lot of books, he was not very active in taking the imperial examination. At first, he attended several times. Because of his negative attitude and inadequate preparation, he naturally fell into Sun Shan several times. Later, I simply stopped taking exams and completely gave up the road of being an official through the imperial examination. After he was twenty, he began to roam the country for ten years? During these ten years, Tan Sitong saw the magnificent and beautiful rivers and mountains of the motherland, with majestic mountains and rivers, endless wild fields, beautiful and charming scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, and small bridges and flowing water. This made him feel how beautiful the rivers and mountains of the motherland are and enhanced his love for the motherland. But, more importantly, he witnessed the poverty and miserable life of ordinary people everywhere. One day, Tan Sitong marched on the road from Shaanxi to Gansu. When there was a flood in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Qing government ignored the lives of the people and still imposed heavy taxes and wantonly exploited them. The victims in Shandong and Henan, with their children, fled to the northwest in droves, cold and tired. Some of them starved to death and some were sick along the way, which was terrible. Tan Sitong asked the victims where to go. The victims replied: "Go to the wasteland to open up wasteland." Tan sitong asked, "Are you going alone?" The victims replied, "My hometown is Wang Yang, and there is no place for us. Can we still miss it? " Tan Sitong thought: At this time, the government should stand up and help the victims, at least by providing vehicles, food and medical care. How can it turn a blind eye? When the world is at peace, farmers can't pay less this tax. When farmers were made homeless by natural and man-made disasters, the government ignored them. Tan sitong was very dissatisfied with the Qing government. In short, ten years of wandering life has broadened Tan Sitong's horizons, increased his knowledge and made some like-minded people. More importantly, he understands the society and feels the sufferings of the people. He felt that many practices of the Qing government were unreasonable and needed improvement. Roaming for ten years, he deeply felt that the rivers and mountains in China are so magnificent, while the lives of ordinary people in China are so miserable, which is really out of proportion.
From 1894 to 1895, there was a war between China and Japan, which was the so-called Sino-Japanese War. As a result, China was defeated and forced to sign treaty of shimonoseki with Japan. China lost a lot of sovereignty because of the compensation for the ceded land in the treaty. The corrupt and incompetent Qing government, instead of reviewing itself, passed on the losses after the defeat of the war to the people of the whole country, increased all kinds of taxes and miscellaneous fees, and stepped up the search for the people's rights and interests. Due to the huge amount of compensation, almost every household has to pay a share of the money. With the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, the corrupt and traitorous nature of the Qing government was exposed, which made Tan Sitong extremely sad and resentful, from initial dissatisfaction to disgust. In a letter to relatives and friends, he accused the Qing government of "putting up with the lives of 400 trillion people and abandoning them in one fell swoop" and expressed the hope of getting rid of the rule of the Qing Dynasty. This idea is also played in his book Benevolence. After the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, Tan Sitong, who was indignant, wrote a seven-character poem:
There is nothing in the world worth the sadness of spring, so I cry to Cang Ming. Forty million people shed tears together, and there are plenty of fish in the sea!
From 1896 to 1897, Tan Sitong completed the book Benevolence. At that time, Tan Sitong's mental state was very low, so he studied Buddhist scriptures crazily, hoping to find some answers in Buddhist theory. In addition, he also studied western knowledge, works by Wang Fuzi, Huang Zongxi and others, as well as Confucianism and Mozi thought he had learned in the past. He absorbed what he thought was reasonable and combined his own ideas to write this book. The main contents of this book can be divided into two aspects: one is the "salvation" scheme designed by Tan Sitong; The second is the attack on feudal autocracy, that is, the so-called "breaking the net." Although some people say that Tan Sitong's "salvation plan" is idealistic, his purpose is designed for the oppressed and exploited people. As for "breaking the net", it represented the rights of the national bourgeoisie, an advanced force at that time, and declared war on feudal absolutism that oppressed it and bound its development. Some remarks in Benevolence had a considerable influence on the ideological circles in the late Qing Dynasty.
When Tan Sitong wrote "Benevolence", political reform movements were also going on in various places. 1895, Kang Youwei initiated "writing on the bus", and later wrote many times to put forward the requirements and propositions of political reform. Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Yan Fu and others also set up newspapers and magazines and societies in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong and other places to vigorously promote political reform. At this time, the governor of Hunan was Chen Baozhen, who was the only local official who supported the political reform, and Huang Zunxian, Tang and others were also in Hunan at this time, so Hunan Province became the most powerful place in the national political reform movement. Tang et al. also founded Hunan Daily, which ranks with Shanghai Times and Macao Zhixin, and is known as the "three pillars". 1In the first half of 897, Chen Baozhen, Chen, Tang, Tan Sitong and others founded a current affairs school in Hunan to train talents who are proficient in Chinese and foreign countries and support political reform. Although this school was only established for two years (1abolished after the coup in 898), it trained many talents, some of whom later turned to the revolution. Liang Qichao, Tang, Tan Sitong and others often give lectures here, which has become an important place for them to publicize their thoughts of political reform and reform. However, the political reform movement in Hunan is by no means plain sailing. The old and new factions fought fiercely, the old factions were stubborn and abnormal, while some of the new factions gave up halfway and ran away. However, Tan Sitong, together with Tang and others, resolutely and unyieldingly countered the attack of the die-hards and became the backbone of the Hunan Reform Movement.
1897 1 1 month, Germany occupied JIAOZHOU bay. Then, Russia seized Lushun and Dalian, and France seized Guangzhou Bend. China has become a big fat. In this situation, Kang Youwei rushed to Beijing twice, wrote to Emperor Guangxu, and put forward the specific contents of the reform and reform. Emperor Guangxu also deeply felt the aggression of foreign powers. If he doesn't reform his country, not only will it be in danger, but even his own position as emperor will be shaken. 1June, 898 1 1 day, Emperor Guangxu issued the imperial edict of Guo Zheng, officially announcing the political reform. From this day to 103 days on September 2 1 day, it is a "hundred-day reform" in history. The reform movement was suppressed only after one hundred days, let alone under the leadership of the emperor. Many patriots were beheaded, and the emperor himself was under house arrest ... Sadly, why were the rulers so vulnerable to foreign forces and so cruel to their own people? The purpose of proposing reform and political reform is nothing more than hoping that the country will be strong and the people will be rich and will no longer be bullied by outsiders. It may touch your selfish interests, but is it worth killing with a butcher knife? Where did you learn the Four Books and Five Classics from childhood, and where did you teach the ancient sages, such as "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you"? Looking around the world, the reforms under the leadership of emperors have been successful, without a drop of blood, such as Peter the Great in Russia and Meiji in Japan, but not once in China. Terrible, China's old habits and old forces. )
According to Kang Youwei's suggestion, Emperor Guangxu decided to use some new people to implement the new law. 1June, 898 12, Emperor Guangxu ordered Governor Zhang Zhidong of Huguang and Governor Chen Baozhen of Hunan to send Huang Zunxian and Tan Sitong to Beijing to accept their new posts. Because of the backward traffic at that time, Tan Sitong spent nearly twenty days on the road and arrived in Beijing on August 21st.
1On September 5th, 898, Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi and Xu Lin were summoned by Emperor Guangxu, and were awarded four knighthoods, appointing them to walk on the Ministry of War Zhang Jing and participate in the planning of the New Deal. The position of the official rank of secretary and Zhang Jing, a military aircraft, is not prominent, but Emperor Guangxu added the word "participating in the New Deal" to their positions, imitating the position of "participating in politics" in the Tang Dynasty, making their positions similar to that of "prime minister". Since then, these four people have actually become the main assistants of Emperor Guangxu, and assumed the connection between Emperor Guangxu and Kang Youwei.
Just as Emperor Guangxu and the reformists headed by Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong tried to implement the new law, the forces opposed to the reform were also tense, and they were prepared to solve the problem by force. The old forces opposed to the new law, headed by Empress Dowager Cixi and Rong Lu, held military power in their hands. Therefore, they decided to launch a mutiny during the Tianjin military parade in autumn, depose Emperor Guangxu and abolish all the New Deal. The news reached the reformers and frightened them. They tried their best to discuss countermeasures. Kang Youwei suggested that Emperor Guangxu establish an army under the personal command of the emperor, change the name of the country and move the capital ... Although these suggestions were reasonable, Emperor Guangxu could not do it at all, not to mention the time was too late. At that time, three armed forces were stationed in Beijing and Tianjin, led by Yuan Shikai, Nie Shicheng and Dong Fuxiang respectively. Nie Shicheng and Dong Fuxiang are both from Rong Lu, and they won't listen to your reformists. Yuan Shikai's attitude is not clear, but he is very enthusiastic about political reform at ordinary times and joined the "Strong Society" established by Kang Youwei. In addition, the army commanded by Yuan Shikai is the strongest among the three armed forces. This is a newly-built army with 7,000 people, and it is also the strongest army in the Qing Dynasty. In desperation, although he was worried that Yuan Shikai might be unreliable, he still pinned his hopes on Yuan, hoping that Yuan would "rescue" for the sake of Emperor Guangxu, thus saving the fate of the reformists. So who will go to Yuan to do the work of persuading Yuan to "save the driver"? Tan Sitong volunteered to be a lobbyist, persuaded Yuan Shikai, and dispatched troops to kill Rong Lu, the governor of Zhili, one of the cronies of the Western Empress Dowager, and sent troops to surround the Summer Palace where the Western Empress Dowager lived to rescue Emperor Guangxu.
On the night of September 18, Tan Sitong went to Huokeji-Yuan Shikai's residence at that time, and Yuan Shikai received him politely. After the two sides exchanged pleasantries, Tan Sitong cut to the chase: He said that the Sagrada Familia was in danger today, and that Rong Lu wanted to depose the emperor by the military parade. Now the only one who can save the emperor is Yuan Shikai ... Finally, Tan Sitong said: "If you are willing to save, please save it. If you don't want to save me, please tie me up and send me to the Western Empress Dowager, and you can also make meritorious deeds. " Say that finish, stretch out your hands and prepare to bind each other.
"Who do you think I am Yuan?" Yuan Shikai looked serious and said loudly, "The emperor is our benefactor. It is not only your responsibility to rescue the emperor, but also mine. Please let me know if you need me to do anything. " When Tan Sitong saw that Yuan Shikai was so loyal, he immediately believed it, so he told them all their plans. For the sake of safety, he deliberately used provocation. He said to Yuan Shikai, "Rong Lu is a treacherous man. I'm afraid it's not easy for you to deal with him? " Yuan Shikai said with a scowl, "As long as there is an order from the emperor, killing a Rong Lu is like killing a dog. What are the difficulties? " In this way, the meeting between Tan Sitong and Yuan Shikai was a "satisfactory" result. After the conversation, he rushed back to report "good news" to Kang Youwei and others.
Two days later, on September 20th, Yuan Shikai arrived in Tianjin and told Rong Lu all Tan Sitong's plans. Yung Yung arrived in Beijing by special bus that night, got off the bus and went straight to the Summer Palace to report to the Western Empress Dowager. The next day, in the early morning of1September 2, 8981,the Western Empress Dowager ordered the house arrest of Emperor Guangxu. Then, she announced that she would "listen to the government" again and began to raid reformers and so-called "imperialists" ... All the new policies promulgated by the "Hundred Days Reform" were overthrown. This is the "1898 coup" in history. (Tan Sitong and the reformists were betrayed by Yuan Shikai. This is a painful historical lesson: it is difficult to draw bones when drawing dragons and tigers, and people know their faces but not their hearts. The despicable and cunning villain like Yuan Shikai is not unique in history, and there are countless successful people. Why? Because a gentleman can't fight a villain, Tan Sitong, a gentleman, will be deceived by Yuan Shikai. Human beings are constantly evolving, so should human morality. I hope there are fewer and fewer people like Yuan Shikai, not more and more. )
On September 25th, Tan Sitong was arrested in his residence Liuyang Hall. After his arrest, Tan Sitong only stayed in prison for three days. Looking back, he compared his experiences with those of James Zhang and Dugan in the Han Dynasty and found similarities. He thought he could escape and couldn't escape, so he was willing to commit suicide. Is it consistent with the sage's saying of "suicide to death" ... He also thought of Kang Youwei and broadsword Wang Wu. One of them has fled Beijing, and the other is still in Beijing. I hope they will continue to work hard and complete the unfinished reform and reform cause. Thinking of all this, he picked up a piece of coal dust from the ground and wrote a poem on the wall of his cell:
Watching the door and staying in James Zhang, I endured death and treated Dugan for a while. My smile goes from the horizontal knife to the sky and stays in the liver and gallbladder.
At four o'clock in the afternoon of September 28th, Tan Sitong died generously at the execution ground in Caishikou, Beijing. Before his execution, he asked the prison guard to come over resolutely and said, "I have something to say to you!" " "But resolutely ignore. Tan sitong was punished for saying, "If you want to kill a thief, you can't return to heaven, die a fair death, and be quick."
When Tan Sitong died, he had no relatives in Beijing, but all his relatives were in Hunan. And friends are dead and dead, running and running, and there is no one anymore. At this time, someone finally stepped forward and personally buried Tan Sitong's body. This man is broadsword Wang Wu. The following year, Wang Wu, together with Tan Sitong's family, transported Tan Sitong's bones back to his hometown in Liuyang, Hunan, and built a tomb under a rocky mountain outside the city. As for the broadsword Wang Wu, there are different opinions about what will happen to him in the future and the final outcome, which is difficult to unify. Someone once wrote his story into a novel, which shows that his life is not dull. But I only remember a legend: in the third year after Tan Sitong's death, Wang Wu left China for Nanyang, and his whereabouts were unknown.