"What do you count for yourself?" Liu Xuan was annoyed and asked. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Will you be able to escape this sword?" The jailer's voice was mocking.

Hearing the jailer's answer, Liu Xuan couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

If it weren't for the news, the jailer would definitely not have said such a thing!

"Big brother, did you hear anything? Can you tell me about it? Liu Hong also heard the bad words of the jailer, thinking of the unfavorable news about Liu Xuan that he had heard recently, a cold sweat immediately broke out on his head, and he hurriedly stepped forward and stuffed a small silver cake to the jailer, and asked anxiously.

The jailer didn't take the piece of silver cake, but smiled and said, "Lord Liu, it's better to prepare for the future, tomorrow morning, I'm afraid I will have to be executed." The imperial court's will to 'correct the law on the spot' was already delivered yesterday. ”

The jailer's words were like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, Liu Hong's face was full of shock, the silver cake in his hand fell to the ground, and he was in a trance, and Liu Xuan's whole body shook violently and shook to the ground.

"Impossible! That's impossible! It will take more than a month to send a round trip to the court at the earliest, where is it so fast! This must be a false edict that Lin Yizhe wants to harm me and make a mess of life! Liu Xuan's face turned pale, and he suddenly shouted, "Zuo Gong hasn't gotten the news yet!" Zuo Gong knows about it, and he will definitely save me! ”

"Look, Lord Liu still doesn't believe it, hehe." The jailer sneered, "Lord Liu probably doesn't know that Lord Futai Lin, Master Li, Master Wen, General Wen, and Lord Shen, the Minister of Shipping, are going to punish you for your crimes!" And what the court sent away was not a post delivery, but a ship delivery! ”

"Ship delivery?" Liu Xuan was stunned.

"Hehe, Lord Liu only cares about the study of feng shui, and he doesn't understand this Western ship cannon." The jailer's tone was full of contempt, "The Harbour Master's Bureau has built a special reconnaissance steamer for transmitting information, which can travel thousands of miles a day and be used to report emergency military information. This ship delivery is several times faster than the post delivery, from Fuzhou to Beijing, it takes more than a month to go back and forth by the post delivery, and the ship is delivered, but it will take a few days to arrive! ”

After listening to the jailer's words, Liu Xuan collapsed on the grass of the cell like a deflated ball, rolled his eyes, and fainted.

Seeing Liu Xuan collapse, Liu Hong was shocked, and just wanted to go up to help him, but was stopped by the jailer.

"We're here! You! Hurry back and tell your family to prepare for the future! It's too late, but it's too late! The jailer sighed.

Liu Honglian thanked him, picked up the silver cake that had fallen on the ground, and handed it to the jailer again, but this time the jailer refused. He waved his hand impatiently and motioned for Liu Hong to go and handle the funeral for Liu Xuan.

Just as the jailer said, when Liu Hong got out of the government prison and came to the street, the official file that counted Liu Zhang's crimes and the law in the market tomorrow had already been posted on the city gate.

That night, Liu Xuan officially learned of his death sentence, at this time, although Liu Xuan already knew that there was no way to beg for his life and that there was no escape from the crime, he refused to wait for death, and spent the whole night calculating whether he could live. The next morning, Liu Xuan, who had been calculating all night, was already white-headed, but he still hadn't figured out why.

At about 6 o'clock in the morning, Liu Xuan was **** on his upper body, wearing gray cloth pants on the bottom, and was escorted to the execution ground by the guards barefoot. Originally, in the early morning, there would not be many onlookers watching the execution, and the execution was chosen at this time in order to save him a little last face, but because his behavior of seeing death and not saving the people when the Japanese army invaded and slaughtered the people, the people of Tainan hated it to the bone, and before dawn, hundreds of people gathered on the way to the execution ground, "seeing the prisoner car coming, he threw chickens, vegetable leaves and other miscellaneous objects to vent his anger."

Liu Xuan did not know that the execution in the early morning was actually a special order given by Li Henian to take care of him.

After Lin Yizhe knew, he said that he could "be shot in Western law and keep his whole body to show the grace of the imperial court", Li Henian, Wen Yu and Shen Baozhen all agreed, but after the news came out, the specific executioners of Tainan Prefecture protested (it is estimated that a family member was killed in the Japanese invasion of Taichung), insisted on executing according to the "Great Qing Law", and pointed out that Liu Xuan was a criminal official of the Great Qing Dynasty, not a foreigner, and could not be executed. In order to appease the situation, Li Henian and Lin Yizhe had no choice but to agree.

At the beginning of the execution, the executioner waved the machete, but what was very strange was that after three slashes in a row, Liu Zhang's head fell to the ground and his life returned to Huangquan. "The soldier takes a heavy knife to engage in it, and the blade falls three times, and the body and head are separated."

After Liu Xuan was beheaded, all his family property was confiscated, and his family members were later exiled to Heilongjiang.

The news of Liu Zhang's beheading soon spread to the provinces along with the Di Bao, and then literati and retired officials from all over the country also got the news.

Hunan, Changsha, Sixian Lecture House.

An old man of about fifty or sixty years of age, whose hair had turned gray, was looking at the copy in the study room at this time, and on his desk there were foreign newspapers with pictures of Western warships.

"I didn't expect him to really ask the court to behead Liu Xuan! This son is really extraordinary! The old man's eyesight is not bad after all! After reading the copy, the old man couldn't help but sigh loudly.

This old man is Guo Songtao.

"Not only is it familiar with foreign affairs, but it can also govern the army and lead the troops, build ships overseas, and warlords in the sea! What a genius out there! Guo Songtao read the details of Lin Yizhe's two naval battles in Langqiao and the East China Sea on the newspaper again, and he couldn't bear to let go.

Thinking of his experience when he was young, Guo Songtao actually gave birth to a trace of amazement.

Guo Songtao was born in 1818 in a landlord's family in Xiangyin, Hunan. This year is the twenty-third year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, and it is still a "prosperous age". That is, two years ago, the British sent Amsterd to China to ask for trade with China, but was firmly rejected by Emperor Jiaqing, because China is an all-encompassing "**** country", and the "Yidi" in the wilderness can only pay tribute to the "****", and has no right to "communicate with China" located in the "middle of the world". At that time, China was still immersed in the dream of the "China-centric" theory, and had no understanding of the rapidly changing world trend. Who would have thought that "Yingyi" would brazenly launch the Opium War more than 20 years later, and defeat the dignified **** Shangguo with the strength of the ship and artillery!

Although the two opium wars were a huge stimulus to China, the lives of ordinary people did not feel much change.

Like all scholars at that time, Guo Songtao received a traditional Confucian education since he was a child, and took the road of fame in the imperial examination. In 1835, the 18-year-old Guo Songtao was admitted to the Xiucai examination, and the following year he entered the famous Yuelu Academy to study. Emphasizing the application of the world, perseverance, not being vague, and abandoning floating words is the tradition of "Hunan Studies", and the Yuelu Academy with a long history has always been an important town of Hunan Studies. As a "child of Huxiang", Guo Songtao was already deeply influenced by Hunan studies, and his studies in Yuelu Academy deeply affected him. But more importantly, it was in Yuelu Academy that he met Zeng Guofan, Liu Rong and others, learned from each other, sharpened their integrity, and became like-minded friends. Of course, he would not have imagined at the time that his friendship with Zeng Guofan would affect his fate. He also couldn't have imagined that their "Huxiang children" were about to become important figures in modern Chinese history.

But on the road of traditional fame, Guo Songtao did not go smoothly. Although he was promoted in 1837, he went to Beijing twice in 1838 and 1840 to take the examination, but Zeng Guofan was admitted to the Jinshi in 1838. In frustration, he had to accept the recommendation of a friend, and in 1840 he went to Zhejiang to serve as a staff member of Zhejiang Xuezheng.

At this time, when the Opium War broke out, Zhejiang was on the front line, Guo Songtao personally saw the loss of Zhejiang's coastal defense, and the strong guns of the "Daoyi", which had always been despised by "Huaxia", left a deep impression on him. However, he was not willing to be reluctant to travel to his career, and went to Beijing several times to participate in the examination, and finally participated in the fifth examination in 1847, and officially entered the official career. But soon his parents died one after another, and he had to return to his home to mourn.

But fate seems to have arranged for Guo Taosong to appear on the stage of history. In the past few years of returning home to mourn, it was just in time for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. In 1852, the Taiping army entered Hunan from Guangxi, and the officers and soldiers of Hunan fled in despair. Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan, who also lived in the countryside, were hesitant to go out of the mountains to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, while Guo Songtao strongly persuaded them to come out and make contributions. Later, Zeng and Zuo both became famous ministers, and he was always proud of his "strong promotion" back then. persuaded others to go out of the mountain, of course, he himself was not willing to be lonely, and in the following years, Guo Songtao has been with Zeng Guofan Counselor in military affairs, and has made many achievements. At the same time, a certain network of relationships has been established in the officialdom. At the end of 1856, he left Hunan and went north to the capital to serve as the editor of the Hanlin Academy.

In the capital, Guo Songtao won the appreciation of the powerful Hubu Shangshu Sushun. Su Shun has a strict temperament, is known for his courage to do things, advocates the use of strict punishment and strict laws to change the situation of corruption in the administration of officials at that time, and repeatedly raises large prisons, only strictness is still up, and excludes dissidents, but because he is deeply relied on by Emperor Xianfeng, others dare not speak out against him. Unlike other Manchu magnates who were suspicious of and excluded Han Chinese, Su Shun advocated the reuse of Han bureaucrats, and he paid special attention to the Hunan lineage headed by Zeng Guofan. Due to Su Shun's recommendation, Guo Songtao was summoned by Emperor Xianfeng several times in a short period of time, and was naturally flattered. Emperor Xianfeng also appreciated his insight and ordered him to enter the study of Zhinan. The South Study is actually the emperor's private advisory organ, and entering the Zhinan Study means that you can often see the emperor and participate in military affairs. Emperor Xianfeng further said to him: "Nansai Division does not have much to do with pen and ink, so he ordered you to enter Nansai, but he is not doing pen and ink, reading more useful books, trying to be a useful person, and he will still go out to do military affairs in the future." ”

Soon, Emperor Xianfeng sent him to the front line in Tianjin to accompany the monk Gelinqin to assist in defense affairs. At the beginning of 1859, Guo Songtao came to Tianjin monk Grinqin. But Seng Lingqin, the Mongolian prince, did not take Guo Songtao, a southern scholar, in his eyes at all, and was very cold to him. And Guo Songtao is already full of literary popularity, plus he is the emperor's pro-faction, and it is clear that he and Seng Lingqin are "parallel", not "accompanying utility", so they can't swallow this breath, so the cooperation between the two is extremely unpleasant. In January 1860, Guo Songtao was forced to leave Shandong and return to Beijing, lamenting that "two months of searching for money were wasted" and "endured hardships and endured hard work, and made a dream come true".

After returning to Beijing, he was punished by "demoting two levels to call", although he still returned to the south study, but he was actually an idler and was left out in the cold. In a letter to Zeng Guofan, he complained: "I have been dealing with all the nobles for a long time, and my language has advanced and retreated, and I am often to blame. ”

Zeng Guofan, who is known for his knowledge of people, pointed out that Guo Songtao knew and met people as early as when he was a student at Yuelu Academy, but he was a scholar with too heavy habits, and he could write books and speak independently, and he was even a "high counselor" who came up with ideas, but he was unbearable to the "complicated drama" of officialdom. Zeng Guofan said very clearly when commenting on Su Shun's repeated revivals of prisons and the rectification of officials with strict punishments: "The reasons for the country's malpractice are embellished with examples, and everything collapses; If it is not wide, it is also a loss. "Nowadays, everything is lenient and strictly treated, and those who are cited are still embellished with examples, and they have not tried to talk about the benefits and pathogens of what they have done and the people who have saved them. It is because the edicts and prisons are becoming more and more complicated, and the disadvantages are serious. "The breadth of the person and the strictness of today, it is also the same. Grace and generosity are enough to maintain peace as the foundation of maintaining people's hearts, and the disadvantages are unspeakable. "Therefore, I thought that it was an urgent task to save the punishment and respect the practical government." In other words, the fundamental reason lies in the fact that "everything is lenient", that is, there are huge gaps in the official system itself, so that officials at all levels have the opportunity to take advantage of it and face the temptation of huge interests from time to time; In this environment, there are not many people who can resist the temptation of huge interests for a long time and clean themselves, so it has created a situation of "no official and no greed". Under such circumstances, the sudden use of severe punishment and the number of corrupt officials and corrupt officials who are cracked down on are actually only a small minority, and on the contrary, everyone at all levels will be in danger. The fundamental way to solve the problem lies in "advocating practical government", that is, reforming the system itself, so as to "save burdensome punishments", but also make politics clear and the country stable (in modern language, that is, the government is facing its own "systemic corruption"). Systemic corruption means that only when corruption is used as a lubricant can government departments provide "normal" public services. In this kind of systemic corruption, corruption has actually become a regular practice for officials, a means of survival for them, and over time it has become a norm that does not cause inner moral conflicts and guilt, and those who do not conform to corruption are inevitably systematically ostracized, which in turn makes corruption more serious, more rampant, and more deep-rooted. Taking a step back, even with the support of the "Holy Lords" in systemic corruption, it is useless to seriously deal with individual corrupt officials, because simply dealing with one corrupt official after another in isolation cannot curb the increasingly serious systemic corruption, let alone eradicate corruption at all.

Guo Songtao didn't know at the time that this was the cause of his own tragedy. He was "born in the last days" but he didn't want to go along with the dirt and couldn't bear to see the "building falling", so he wanted to rely on his own strength to rise and fall, but even though he was "only clear and ambitious", he would inevitably end up with "luck and disappearance".

In April 1860, Guo Songtao, who had been left out in the cold, returned to his hometown with a lonely and depressed mood and returned to his hometown for medical treatment. After two years of leisure life in his hometown, Guo Songtao was persuaded by everyone to be invited by Li Hongzhang, who had not long trained the Huai army and was short of manpower, to go out of the mountain again in the spring of 1862 to serve as the Susong Grain Road, and soon he was promoted to the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy. Thanks to the full support of Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, Guo Songtao's financial management in Lianghuai has been smooth and effective. In the autumn of 1863, he rose to the rank of governor of Guangdong, who was economically wealthy and had many foreign contacts, and thus had an important position. Rising to this high position in less than two years can be described as a prosperous official, and he is also determined to make a difference and live up to the grace of the imperial court. However, when he was appointed governor of Guangdong, he was resentful because of his straightforwardness, and he had many contradictions with the two governors of Guangzhou, who were stationed in Guangzhou before and after, and his old friend Zuo Zongtang, who had entered Guangdong to "suppress" the rest of the Taiping army and had always been high-spirited, also suddenly had a disagreement. In the midst of the intricate contradictions, Guo Songtao was finally relieved of office in June 1866 and began to live in his hometown again, this time for several years.

Although he returned to his hometown and lived in seclusion, Guo Songtao still always cares about the current situation and worries about the future of the country.

And it is precisely in the past few years that although the Westernization Movement is breaking through the tremendous resistance of the old forces and gradually developing, at the same time, the international situation facing China has become more sinister, and the national crisis has deepened, because even Japan, which has always looked down on China, dares to find an excuse to invade Taiwan this year!

As soon as he heard the news of Japan's invasion of Taiwan, Guo Songtao was very worried, because when he was an official before, he had already seen the emptiness of coastal defense along China's coast. The development of the war that followed further confirmed his judgment.

After the news of the annihilation of the Penghu Naval Division came out, all parts of the coast were in shock, and the rumors that the Japanese ships had invaded the southeast coast, wantonly hunted and plundered merchant ships, and cut off the sea lanes made all parts of the coastal area even more frightened overnight, and children did not dare to cry at night when they heard the name of the Japanese Invaders!

It was not until the news of the great victory in the Battle of Langqiao came, that this atmosphere of panic disappeared, and then turned into a mood of blind optimism, when the whole country was crusading against the Oriental voice, the news of the defeat in the naval battle of Fengshan Island and the bombardment of Xiamen by Japanese ships came out, which caused an uproar in the whole country, and just when the government and the opposition were at a loss, the news of the total annihilation of Japanese ships in the naval battle of the East China Sea came again, which made this tragicomedy with great ups and downs finally come to an end.

For Lin Yizhe, the protagonist of this "Battle of the Plateau", Guo Songtao can be said to be so impressed that he threw himself on the ground.

But for Lin Yizhe to arrest Liu Xuan and put him in prison without the emperor's order, he was very disapprehensive in his heart.

In Guo Songtao's view, Lin Yizhe's move was too reckless.

Because behind Liu Xuan, there is no one person!