Tan Sitong, with a face full of grief and indignation, sharpened his ink, took up his pen and wrote the famous desperate poem on the rice paper on the table.
"I looked at the door and stopped thinking about Zhang Jian, and endured death for a moment to wait for Du Gen. I smiled at the sky with my sword across the sword, leaving my liver and gallbladder intact."
After Tan Sitong finished writing his desperate poem, he threw the pen on the table, then looked up to the sky and sighed, "I want to kill the enemy, but I can't save myself."
The two guards who came to look for Tan Sitong watched Tan Sitong perform there. Finally, they couldn't bear it anymore and asked cautiously: "Master Tan, what's wrong with you? If you have anything you can't think of, you can talk to him."
Our master said, don’t commit suicide."
Tan Sitong was very angry after hearing what these two guardians said. He turned around, pointed at these people and shouted: "Liu Hai has a human face and a beast's heart. On the surface, he promised to be with me, but secretly imprisoned me here. Now he just wants me, Tan Sitong."
Life, why do you have to do this? Come and get it quickly."
When another guard saw that Tan Sitong was so angry, he heard what he said and knew that Tan Sitong had misunderstood, so he quickly explained: "Master Tan misunderstood, no one wants to do anything to you, it's just that our master invited you to go."
Meeting in the study."
Tan Sitong is still a little confused. Is it true that Liu Hai wants to kill himself to ask for merit from the Empress Dowager Cixi?
"Are you telling the truth?"
"How dare you kid to deceive Mr. Tan?"
Tan Sitong was now very calm on the surface, but he breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart.
You must know that there is great terror between life and death. Although Tan Sitong could accept dying for the reform, it does not mean that he did not have fear in his heart.
Seeing that the words had been spoken, the other guard smiled and said, "Master Tan, our master has been waiting impatiently. If it is convenient for you, please come with us."
What Tan Sitong could say now was that he followed the two guards out of the bedroom and went straight to Liu Hai's study.
When Tan Sitong entered Liu Hai's study, he saw Liu Hai sighing towards the window.
When Tan Sitong saw this scene, he laughed and said: "Master Liu is the governor of Liangjiang and has countless elite soldiers under his command. What else can make Master Liu difficult?"
Liu Hai seemed to have just discovered that Tan Sitong had entered the study at this time. He turned around with a face full of sorrow and anger, looked at Tan Sitong and said, "You are still in the mood to joke with me. Do you know that something big has happened in the capital?"
When Tan Sitong saw that Liu Hai's face did not look like he was pretending, he was also shocked. When he left the capital, there was already something wrong in the capital. Could it be that something terrible had happened in the capital in such a long time?
"Master Liu has offended me a lot just now. Please tell me clearly, Master Liu, what exactly happened in the capital?"
Liu Hai sighed, picked up the telegram on the table, and handed it to Tan Sitong, "Read it yourself."
Tan Sitong only blinked after receiving the telegram, and his face was already red with anger. The further he looked back, the more unstable his breath became.
By the time he read the telegram, Tan Sitong was already shaky. If he hadn't been holding Liu Hai's desk, he might have lost his balance.
Liu Hai saw that Tan Sitong had read the telegram, so he asked: "Today, the emperor is imprisoned and the reformists are arrested. What do you think, Tan Xiandi?"
Tan Sitong's eyes were already red when he arrived. He banged the table and said loudly: "What do you think? It's just death."
At this point, Tan Sitong stared into Liu Hai's eyes tightly and said: "If Mr. Liu wants to be promoted to an official position, Mr. Tan's head is here. Mr. Liu, please take it."
Liu Hai saw that Tan Sitong's tone was not good, but he did not argue with him, because Liu Hai could now see that Tan Sitong was in a mess.
"What did Brother Tan Xian say? Although I am not very young, I know that I am loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Now that the emperor is in dust, it is when I and other ministers are doing their best. How can I ask for merit and reward? You are ashamed to kill me."
When Tan Sitong saw Liu Hai confessing his feelings to him in person, his face finally softened a little. He calmed down and then said: "Since Mr. Liu is serious, why don't we jointly issue a statement asking Empress Dowager Cixi to release the emperor and return to power again?
What do you think, Mr. Liu?
Liu Hai nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "My dear brother's words are exactly what I want. Why don't I let my dear brother draft the document, and I will sign it, and then we will send it to the capital together."
Tan Sitong saw that Liu Hai really wanted to save the emperor this time, and he felt a little guilty for feeling disrespectful to him just now, so he bowed to Liu Hai again to apologize.
After Tan Sitong apologized to Liu Hai, he came to the desk and Liu Hai personally polished his ink.
Tan Sitong took the brush and stood on the ink for a few times, and then began to brush dots on the slips, and then an article was written in one stroke.
After Tan Sitong finished writing, he handed the article to Liu Hai and said, "If Mr. Liu sees anything wrong, I will correct it immediately."
Liu Hai took it and took a closer look, and found that Tan Sitong was indeed very talented, and he wrote an article in a short period of time.
The content of this article is very clear. Although the whole article is about asking Cixi to release the emperor and return power to Guangxu, the whole article is a beautiful article without any disrespect.
It seems that Tan Sitong still had some scruples about Cixi and did not want to offend her too much.
But this is exactly what Liu Hai wants. This article is just a pathfinder.
After reading the article, Liu Hai immediately picked up the brush from the table without hesitation and wrote his name crookedly on it.
After Liu Hai finished thinking, he handed the brush to Tan Sitong. Tan Sitong did not hesitate and signed his name on the back of the letter.
When Liu Hai saw both parties signing, he immediately put the letter in an envelope, and then shouted to Liu San who was standing outside: "Come in alone."
When Liu San heard Liu Hai's words, he immediately entered the study and said, "Master, what are your orders?"
"Immediately send it to the capital at an expedited distance of 800 miles without any delay."
Liu San took the slip and bowed respectfully to Liu Hai before exiting the study.
After Liu San exited, Liu Haicai said to Tan Sitong: "Brother, please stay in my house for a few more days and see how the Queen Mother will respond when this memorial is sent to me."
Tan Sitong now regarded Liu Hai as his ally, so he said: "I'm afraid Mr. Liu will be disappointed this time. I think Empress Dowager Cixi is very ambitious and will never hand over the power easily."
Liu Hai pretended to be silent for a long time after hearing this, with a helpless and sad expression on his face. Finally, he gritted his teeth and stamped his feet and said: "If this is really the case, I can only temporarily abandon the courtesy of a monarch and a minister, send a message, and go north to protect King Qin."
After Liu Hai said this, he bowed deeply to Tan Sitong and said, "In this case, I still need my dear brother to help me."
"Dare you disobey your orders?"
When Liu Hai saw that Tan Sitong agreed, a smile appeared on his face. He stepped forward and grabbed Tan Sitong's hand and said, "I would like to ask my dear brother to stay in my house for a few more days and see how the court responds."
Then Liu Hai ordered his servants to send Tan Sitong back to his residence.
Just as Liu Hai sent Tan Sitong away, a servant came in and replied, "Come back to me, sir, the eldest sir is here."
Liu Hai frowned when he heard this. The eldest man this servant was talking about was his uncle Liu Kunyi.
His side had just sent off Tan Sitong, and the news from the capital had not yet spread to the government. Where did Liu Kunyi get the news?
However, Liu Hai turned over and thought about it. After all, Liu Kunyi had been the governor of Liangjiang for many years, and he also had some reputation in the Hunan Army. If he couldn't keep it, he would have other channels, which he didn't know.
Therefore, Liu Hai no longer hesitated. He dismissed the servant and came out in person to welcome Liu Kunyi into the study.
After entering the study, the two men took their seats, and the servant served them fragrant tea.
Liu Kun took a sip from his tea cup and then said, "I just saw Tan Sitong go out from here?"
Liu Hai didn't hide anything after hearing this, "Not bad."
Liu Kun was silent for a long time after hearing this, and then he said, "Have you also heard about what happened in the capital?"
"My nephew still has some connections in the capital, and he also knows a little about things in the capital."
When Liu Kun heard this, he let out a long sigh. He put down his teacup and stood up. He walked back and forth in the study for a few steps before finally saying, "This matter was caused by the struggle for power between the emperor and the empress. Don't get involved."
After Liu Hai heard this, he pretended to be upright and awe-inspiring. He stood up and cupped his hands towards Liu Kun, "My uncle's words are wrong. To be honest is to eat the emperor's salary and to be loyal to the emperor. Now that the emperor is in dust, it is the time for us to be loyal. How can we
Can you push through three obstacles and four?"
Liu Kun was a little surprised when he heard this. He looked up and down at his bangs, trying to see whether he was sincere or not.
Because Liu Kunyi had gone through this period of time, he knew his nephew well. If he wanted to say that he was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, Liu Kunyi would not believe it for the first time.
However, Liu Kunyi didn't care whether Liu Hai was sincere or not, and directly scolded him: "This is the Queen Mother and the Emperor, why are you, a foreign minister, involved? Besides, the imperial court is powerful, you, the governor of Liangjiang, can you really do this?"
Do you want to fight against the Qing Dynasty?"
Liu Hai saw that Liu Kunyi had already said this, so he simply expressed his feelings.
"I see that all the soldiers and horses in the imperial court are useless. I have hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers under my command. If we go north and advance by land and water, we will surely capture the capital within three months!"
Liu Kun was a little surprised when he heard Liu Hai's naked words. He didn't expect that his nephew would be so arrogant.
So Liu Kun took a deep breath, and then said to Liu Hai: "Although the troops under your command are powerful, don't forget that there are Zhang Zhidong's Ziqiang Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army in the north. These two troops
They are all elites, not to mention that Ronglu’s subordinates are in charge of the new army in the capital, and Nie Shicheng and others under his command are also strong generals. How can you resist these people combined? "
After listening to Liu Kunyi's words, Liu Hai felt that although Liu Kunyi's words were fierce, he no longer said that Liu Hai acted inappropriately, but only said that his military strength was weak.
Liu Hai now paid no attention to these so-called new armies of the Qing Dynasty, so he laughed loudly and said, "Uncle, don't worry too much. Although these Qing armies are powerful, are they still comparable to the armies of the Japanese and Jili countries?"