On the eve of Tan Sitong's death, he wrote a poem with charcoal residue on the prison wall. This is the well-known and enduring poem "The Wall of Prison": I want to stop thinking about James Zhang and wait for Dugan; My smile goes from the horizontal knife to the sky and stays in the liver and gallbladder.
This poem allegorizes the disaster of party struggle in the Eastern Han Dynasty, denounces the despicable behavior of the die-hard Luo Zhi, and expresses his fearless spirit of death, while placing high hopes on newcomers. Later generations praised that "if you dare to liberate the shackles of old ideas, there will be a dynasty, which is unparalleled" (Biography of Chinese Writers by Yang). Because the "two Kunlun Mountains" mentioned in the last sentence of this poem is a metaphor or a proper name, it has aroused many speculations and doubts from researchers at that time and later. Who does it refer to?
It was Tan Sitong's comrade-in-arms Liang Qichao who first explained the "two Kunlun Mountains". Liang Qichao said: "The so-called two Kunlun Mountains, one refers to the South China Sea (Kang Youwei), and the other is Wang Wu, the knight's sword. Liuyang teenagers get fencing from it and have moral expectations. " Liang Qichao is Tan Sitong's colleague. On the eve of Tan Sitong's arrest, they also said goodbye generously. It can be said that he knows his best friend's thoughts and behaviors very well, so this statement has become an authoritative statement for decades, and almost all people involved in this desperate poem use this statement. He added, "Beggars have the idea of Wang Zhengyi, a northern warrior, and Wang Wu, a so-called broadsword." . Tan Sitong of modern Zheng Yunshan and the patriot story of modern China are called "Two Kunlun Mountains, which refer to Kang Youwei and Wu Wang". The Sketch of Modern Patriots edited by Li Zhi also introduced Wu Wang, saying that his original name was Bai Zhengyi and his parents died. When he was young, he was adopted by Wang Wu, Shunxing Escort Agency outside Qianmen, and later changed his surname to Wang. Because he was good at single-handedly, he was known as "Wang Wu with a big sword", and later he died in the battle against Eight-Nation Alliance invaders. In recent years, The Biography of Wang Wu tells its story. It is said that Wang Wu urged Tan Sitong to escape a few minutes before his arrest, and later planned to rob the court to rescue him. In Liang Qichao's view, in Tan Sitong's mind, Wu Wang is a great chivalrous man like a mentor.
However, some people object that Kang Youwei is not among the "two Kunlun Mountains". In The History of Ezhou Blood written by Cai who participated in the Revolution of 1911, "Two Kunlun Mountains" are interpreted as Wang Wu and Tang Dynasty. The latter, together with Tan Sitong and * * *, established the School of Current Affairs and Nanshe in Hunan. Don Cai Chang is the hope in the poem.
In 1930s, the new Yu Lin by journalist Tao Juyin described an anecdote about Tan Sitong, saying that when Tan Sitong lived in Liuyang Hall, a semi-hutong in Beijing, there were two chivalrous men, Wang Wu and Hu Qi (Hu Zhiting), who "taught him martial arts at the same time". It is said that Tan Sitong is good at qigong and all kinds of weapons, thanks to their careful teaching. Because they studied the Kunlun School, "Liu Yang (Tan Sitong)' s" Desperate Poetry "said that the Kunlun School refers to you (referring to Hu Zhiting) and Wang Wu, because you are both Kunlun School." It seems to be reasonable to follow the legend of chivalrous men in the Tang Dynasty here. It is said that Liang Qichao did not know Hu Qi, except that Tan Sitong had a close friend Wu Wang. In addition, in order to make his teacher's image higher, he deserves the name Kang Youwei.
In the Complete Works of Tan Sitong, edited by Cai Shangsi, Tan Xuncong put it another way in his notes: "Hu Lichen and Luo Sheng are two servants, and Poetry on the Wall in Prison refers to two servants, which is the name of Kunlun slave." Commentators make this statement, which seems to be evidenced by Tan Sitong's imprisonment and letters with his servants, such as "You are full of loyalty and love, which is commendable".
In recent years, for the explanation of "two Kunlun Mountains", some people call it one, namely Tan Sitong himself. This is probably because there is a word "going to stay" in the poem, which is interpreted as "going to stay all my life". For example, Feng Youlan interprets "two Kunlun Mountains" as "Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong have their own aspirations to stay or stay" in "On Tan Sitong's Two Papers on the History of China Philosophy". Pi's Tang and the Guard also said that "Tan Sitong probably refers to himself", and the author insisted that another "Cang Kun" was Tang. "Because both of them were embarrassed, before that, Tan had called Tang to Beijing; Tan's desperate poems often regard talents as heroes of Kunlun and place infinite trust on them. "
Tan Sitong is an important figure in modern China. He is a strong-willed hero on the execution ground. He is bold and unrestrained in thought, excellent in writing and good in martial arts. Such an all-rounder with both civil and military skills, the Kunlun guest he wrote is naturally not a leisurely generation. Tan sitong has many mentors and friends. In this turbulent era, the vast China is "regarded as a mountain peak on the edge of a ridge". Therefore, the "two Kunlun Mountains" he referred to on the eve of his death are speculations from latecomers and survivors, and of course there are different opinions. But who can reasonably and accurately dissect Tan Sitong's intention at this moment?