The Last Empress - Anchee Min [111]
Yung Lu cut in: "Late the same night, Kang Yu-wei's right-hand man, Tan Shih-tung, visited Yuan Shih-kai. He claimed that he represented the 'Throne Party.'"
"That's right," Yuan Shih-kai said. "I knew Tan was the son of the governor of Hupeh. There was a reason he woke me at two o'clock in the morning. He told me that the Emperor was in great danger and that I must go and rescue him. I was ordered by the Emperor to return to Tientsin immediately. I was to call up my troops and return to Peking to suppress the enemy. Tan specifically said that the Emperor wanted me to eliminate two people..." Yuan tried to steady his quavering voice.
"Was I one of the two?" I asked.
Yuan Shih-kai looked at me. His face was solemn. "Yes."
"And the other?" I asked.
Yuan Shih-kai looked down, then turned to Yung Lu. "I see." I nodded.
Yung Lu stood expressionless, like a bronze statue.
"I..." Yuan Shih-kai made an effort to finish his sentence. "...was asked to collect both of your heads." He fell to his knees and kowtowed, knocking his forehead on the ground.
"Rise, Yuan Shih-kai," I said and felt my mouth stiffen.
"Tell Her Majesty how you asked Tan for proof of the authenticity of the edict." Again Yung Lu tried to hurry him along.
"Yes, of course." Yuan Shih-kai rose. "I demanded that Tan show me the Emperor's signed edict. Tan said he couldn't. He said that the evidence had to be hidden. He said the situation was reaching a critical moment and Emperor Guang-hsu's life was in danger."
"Did you believe him?" I asked.
"Believe or disbelieve, I couldn't risk it either way. But I did let Tan know that His Majesty and I had met that very morning, and His Majesty mentioned nothing of a coup. Tan became upset and said that 'things had changed' and that 'His Majesty's life hadn't been threatened until the afternoon.' I asked for witnesses, and he gave me a list of names to contact. Among them were Secretary of the Supreme Court Yang, Chief Judge Lin, Chief General Liu and Kuang-jen, Kang Yu-wei's brother."
"When did you learn that the Emperor wanted you to murder me?" I asked. I was losing all sense of the connections, the logic between events. A feeling of shock began to overtake me. I kept hearing the cries of the four-year-old Guang-hsu, and my mind flashed back to the scene of the night when Yung Lu had brought him to the Forbidden City.
"Tan said that he wasn't able to produce the actual edict," Yuan Shih-kai replied. "Anyway, Tan told me that His Majesty had ordered 'to put to death anyone who dared use his or her power and influence to block reform from moving forward.' When I told Tan that I would not bite the hand that fed me, he said that all I had to do was provide an opportunity. He wanted me to take him inside the Summer Palace. These were Tan's words: 'I will slash the Dowager Empress's throat myself.' He opened his shirt to show me a foot-long knife he was carrying."
"What did you think, Yuan Shih-kai?" I asked.
"I saw myself getting in trouble either way, assuming Tan was being truthful, which I seriously doubted. If I betrayed the Emperor, my punishment would be death, and if I betrayed Yung Lu and Your Majesty, it would be the same. So I weighed my decision while Tan talked. I wanted to make sure that he truly represented the throne. Tan kept saying, 'Cut off the head of the anti-reform monster and the body will wither and die.'"
"Have some water, Yuan." Yung Lu offered his cup.
The general drank the water and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Tan then showed me his map. It was meticulously detailed. It marked the entrances of the Summer Palace, in particular where Your Majesty's bedroom was. Several alternative plans had also been