Late at night on the 18th, Tan Sitong came to Yuan Shikai's residence in Fahua Temple alone.

Liang Qichao wrote about the dialogue between Tan Sitong and Yuan Shikai in his "Tan Sitong Biography".

The only person who participated was Xu Shichang.

Tan asked Yuan: "How is the emperor the emperor?" ”

Yuan replied: "The Holy Lord of the Kuang Dynasty is also." ”

Tan asked: "What does you know about the conspiracy of the Tianjin military parade?" ”

Yuan replied: "I have heard it inherently. ”

Tan immediately went straight out of the secret edict of Emperor Guangxu and said to Yuan: "Those who can save my holy master today are only under their feet, and if they want to save them under their feet, they will save them." Then he touched his neck with his hand and said, "If you don't want to be saved, please go to the head of the Summer Palace and kill the servant, and you can get rich and rich." ”

Yuan Zhengse said sharply: "Why is Yuan like a person? The Holy One is the Lord of our generation, and the servant and the foot suffer the same extraordinary encounters, and the responsibility of salvation is not the only one. If there is a teaching, the servant is willing to hear it. ”

Tan said: "Rong Lu conspired, all in the Tianjin military parade. The three armies of Zuxia and Dong and Nie are all controlled by Rong Lu, and they will coerce troops to do great things. Although, Dong and Nie are insignificant; The only way to be healthy in the world is to take a step. If it changes, one army will be used to protect the Holy Lord, restore power, clear the army, suppress the court, and command if it is determined, and the cause of the world will also be immortal. ”

Yuan said: "If the emperor gallops into the servant camp during the military parade and sends orders to punish the traitor, then the servant will be able to remedy it with all his might from the back of the gentlemen." ”

Tan asked: "Rong Lu meets a thick foot, how can he treat it?" ”

Yuan smiled but did not speak.

Xu Shichang interjected on the side and said: "Rong thief is not a person who wants to comfort the handsome (referring to Yuan Shikai), a certain prince in the past wants to comfort the handsome soldiers, Rong said: 'The Han people can not fake the power of the army' has never come to cover the ears." …… Rong Zhu's scheming is extremely clever, doesn't the comforter know it? ”

Tan said: "Rong Lugu (Cao) Cao, (Wang) Mang's talent, peerless hero, it may not be easy to treat." ”

Yuan looked at him angrily and said: "If the emperor is in the servant camp, then Rong Lu will be punished like killing a dog's ear." ”

Many books on history go on to write like this: Tan Sitong listened to these impassioned words, thinking that Yuan Shikai was moved by his heart-to-heart, heart-to-heart, and loyal words, and had a secret discussion with Yuan Shikai for a while.

Yuan Shikai finally said: "The guns and bullets in the camp are all in the hands of the thieves, and most of the officials in the camp are old people. If the matter is urgent, and the established policy is established, the servants must return to the camp in a hurry, and the generals will be selected, and they can try to stock up on ammunition. ”

said that he would hurry back to Tianjin to step up the deployment, and Tan Sitong got up to say goodbye.

On the 19th, Xu Shichang returned to Tianjin. The Empress Dowager returned to the palace from the Summer Palace.

On the 20th, Emperor Guangxu summoned Yuan Shikai again, and Yuan Shikai also confessed the loyalty of a courtier to Emperor Guangxu in person. It is said that the change of law can not be too urgent, only Zhang Zhidong and other people who are aware of current affairs, and the old and serious figures Zanxiang preside, and the new ministers are too shallow and careless.

After he came out, he spread it to others: "If the emperor instructs me to train my soldiers, I dare not disobey the edict; If it is something else, it is not my place. ”

It has been clearly revealed that he wants to draw a gap with the Restoration.

In the afternoon of the same day, he hurried back to Tianjin and went straight to the Yamen of Ronglu, the governor, to report on it.

On the morning of the 21st, the Empress Dowager Xi staged a coup d'état in the palace and announced the re-training of the government, and the Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned in Yingtai.

At the same time, he ordered the arrest of Kang Youwei and other reformers.

Kang Youwei fled Beijing the day before the coup. Liang Qichao hid in the Japanese embassy, and then went to Japan under the cover of the Japanese.

Tan Sitong and the chivalrous Wang Wu plotted to save Emperor Guangxu, but they were unsuccessful.

The Japanese advised Tan Sitong to run away, but he did not listen, saying: "All countries change the law, all of them are made from bloodshed, and today China has not heard of anyone who has shed blood because of the change of law, and the reason why this country is not prosperous." Yes, please start with the same heirs. ”

On September 28, 1898, Tan Sitong, Lin Xu, Kang Guangren, Yang Rui, Liu Guangdi, and Yang Shenxiu were killed in Caishikou, Beijing, and were called the "Six Gentlemen of Wuxu" by later generations.

Tan Sitong shouted when he was about to be executed: "If you have the intention to kill, you can't return to heaven, and you can die as you want, hurry up!" ”

Since then, he has become a model of sacrifice and self-sacrifice.

Yuan Shikai became the person who betrayed the reform and changed the law and left a reputation for eternity.

Soon there was a three-word ballad circulating in the society: "Six gentlemen, send the head." Yuan Xiangcheng, the top is red, sells the same party, and invites miraculous achievements. Kang and Liang, in the dream, don't know him, he is a hero. ”

Because of Yuan Shikai's whistleblowing on the 20th, the Empress Dowager launched a coup d'état on the morning of the 21st, which has almost become a habitual saying.

However, some people objected after research.

They believe that it is true that Yuan Shikai returned to Tianjin from Beijing on the afternoon of 20 June and went to Ronglu to tell the truth, and Yuan Shikai himself did not deny this.

However, the coup d'état launched by the Empress Dowager on the morning of the 21st had nothing to do with Yuan Shikai's whistleblowing.

Because, in terms of time, Yuan Shikai told Rong Lu that it was already very late, and there was no train from Tianjin to Beijing at night.

The telegraph Jingshi was in the hands of the reform faction, and could not contact Beijing by telegraph, which means that Rong Lu did not have the time and conditions to report Yuan Shikai's whistleblowing to the Empress Dowager Xi before launching a coup d'état.

At that time, the reformists did not have strict organizational records, and the old school spies in the capital were all over the place.

In a pessimistic and dejected mood, taking Yuan Shikai, the straw to save his name, and cheering for his own people may have become a matter of concern.

It is very possible that the Empress Dowager Xi learned about such a thing from elsewhere.

The author is also inclined to this view, and the reason is not because of time.

For example, if there is no train, in case of emergency, Ronglu can't send a special train? The old school is so powerful, there may not be no way to communicate with the telegraph, and it is possible to kill a few horses with a quick whip.

And the simplest basis is: if Yuan Shikai wanted to tell the truth and make meritorious service, why didn't he go directly to the Empress Dowager Cixi in Beijing, but went around in a big circle and returned to Tianjin to report to Rong Lu?

If someone says that Yuan Shikai can't see the Empress Dowager Xi, don't forget that Yuan Shikai and Li Lianying are friends.

And Li Lianying hated the reform to death, and once cried and knelt down with Yixuan to beg the Empress Dowager Xi to re-discipline the government.

The main reason why Yuan Shikai went to Rong Lu to tell the whistle was to protect himself.

He himself was once an activist in the reform of the law, and was sent to Beijing by the Guangxu Emperor at a critical time. Again and again, the promotion was full of ups and downs. The situation is already quite crisis, once the reformists fall, will he have anything to do with Yuan Shikai's escape?

He was in favor of the reform change, but in the situation of inevitable defeat, he lost his life for this impossible change, and of course Yuan Shikai did not do it.

He is not a big hero like Tan Sitong, and at present, the first thing is to plan for himself.

According to some historical records: After Rong Lu learned about Yuan Shikai's whistleblowing, the first thing he thought of was not to report, but not to know what to do?

On one side is the emperor, and on the other side is Galeries Lafayette. In the final analysis, it is a family, a mother and son.

How can others get involved in the affairs of other people's mothers and sons? If it doesn't work well, after the incident, the mother and son are fine, but the people who are involved in it get sick.

Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, and Cao Ying's affairs are difficult to do.

Just when they were at a loss, the next day came the news of the coup d'état of the Empress Dowager West.

So, Rong Lu immediately went to Beijing to report the information provided by Yuan Shikai to Lafayette.

Yuan Shikai is worthy of him, and he must also be worthy of Yuan Shikai.

Because there are historical records, the Empress Dowager of the West was wary of Yuan Shikai, and Rong Lu also mobilized troops to monitor Yuan Shikai's department.

In fact, the Wuxu method will not succeed.

First of all, we have seen that the people who preside over the change of the law are scholars, not people who do things. The bookseller is angry, thinking that as long as they want to change, they can change anything.

As we said earlier, such a reform is quite difficult. And these scholars are not mentally prepared for this, and they don't even have basic concepts.

In Yuan Shikai's words, the Wuxu change method is urgent, and it must be gradual and gradual. But this group of scholars is bold and careless.

Here's an example. In a little more than 100 years, Emperor Guangxu, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Tan Si and others promulgated a total of more than 180 edicts and edicts of the new policy.

At first, it was taken seriously, but then I was overwhelmed, I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it, and I simply threw it aside without looking at it.

These people above have hollowed out their minds, repeatedly discussed, repeatedly argued, repeatedly revised, and finally came up with something. Isn't it sad that it became a piece of waste paper down there?

Is it that easy to do one thing? But in the eyes of these scholars of the Restoration, it was child's play.