In 1898, the Wushu Rebellion failed, and Empress Dowager Cixi launched the Wushu Coup d'état and imprisoned the Guangxu Emperor in Yingtai. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao fled. The other six people involved in the change of law, Tan Sitong, Liu Guangdi, Yang Rui, Yang Shenxiu, Lin Xu, and Kang Guangren, were arrested and finally killed.
Statue of Tan Si Tong
Here we focus on Tan Sitong and Kang Guangren.
Tan Sitong sent Liang Qichao to the Japanese consulate, but due to the language barrier, he could only communicate with a pen. Tan Sitong said that Liang Qichao was a useful person and asked the Japanese consul to protect him. The Japanese consul said that Tan Sitong was also a useful person, and he did not have to go back to die, but could go together. But Tan Sitong refused, insisting that he use his own blood to sacrifice the Fa and arouse the awakening of the nation.
Tan Sitong (Image from Baidu Image)
Kang Guangren did not participate in the Penghu Reform Law, nor did he have any official position, and he was arrested only because he was Kang Youwei's younger brother.
Kang Guangren (Image from Baidu image)
In prison, Tan Si sat quietly waiting for death, but Yang Shenxiu was still not dead hearted and continued to write to Cixi to return the government to the Guangxu Emperor. And poor Kang Guangren was suddenly devastated, weeping bitterly, and bleeding with his head against the wall, which was really tragic.
Yang Shenxiu (Image from Baidu Image)
Originally, after the capture of the six gentlemen of Wushu, Cixi's attitude was not to kill them immediately, but to order Zhao Shuqiao, the then criminal department of the Punishment Department, to interrogate and convict according to the law.
The purpose of the Penghu Reform Law was to make the country strong, and although it harmed the interests of conservative forces such as Cixi, it was not harmful to the country. If it is tried and convicted according to the law, it is estimated that he will not die, like Kang Guangren, who did not participate in the change of the law at all, and was connected by Zhu Lian, which even Cixi knew.
Liu Guangdi (Image from Baidu Image)
In response to the old Chinese saying, if you are not afraid of no good things, you are afraid of no good people. The bad guy Zhao Shuqiao, the Shangshu of the Punishment Department, snuffed out the vitality of the Six Gentlemen.
After receiving Cixi's order, Zhao Shuqiao went so far as to write to Cixi saying, "Such beasts without kings and fathers, there is no need to ask for forgiveness if they are killed." Cixi then nodded and said yes, so without interrogation, killed the six people.
Yang Rui (Image from Baidu Image)
Zhao Shuqiao's students were friends with Yang Rui and Liu Guangdi, and when they heard that they were going to be beheaded, they deliberately went to Zhao Shuqiao's place to intercede, prostrating their heads like pounding garlic, and burst into tears. However, Zhao Shuqiao was not moved.
Yang Rui was also a student of Zhang Zhidong, the great official of the feudal frontier, and Zhang Zhidong also tried to find a way to rescue Yang Rui, but he did not have time.
Lin Xu (Image from Baidu Image)
Bad people naturally have bad retribution. This Zhao Shuqiao, who had always advocated the use of troops against foreigners, was given death by Cixi after the Gengzi Rebellion. But he was very afraid of death, swallowed only a small amount of gold, did not die, and then swallowed opium, only a little, or did not die, and then there was arsenic, or a little, the result was painful rolling on the ground, and the call did not die until midnight. He struggled to hold on, just hoping to get a glimmer of life, but in the end he did not wait for the pardon order. In the end, the people who monitored it became impatient, and let people dip hot wine with thick paper and cover their faces layer by layer, so that Zhao Shuqiao would choke to death.
Compared with the beheaded Six Gentlemen of Wu Shu, Zhao Shuqiao's death was both painful and humiliating.