Speaking of the late Qing Dynasty, no matter from what aspect, Li Hongzhang is a figure who cannot be bypassed, and his evaluation of him has always been mixed. People who like him say that he is the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty because he created the Beiyang Fleet, which was the first in Asia at that time; those who hate him say that he is a traitor because he has signed too many unequal treaties. But no matter how it is evaluated, one thing is undeniable, that is, Li Hongzhang, as a major minister of the late Qing Dynasty, had a profound impact on China's modern history, although these influences were not all positive.
Compared with Li Hongzhang's popularity, his grandfather can be called obscure. Li Hongzhang's grandfather, named Li Dianhua, was a tried-and-true reader who had been reading all his life and had not even been able to pass the show talent, and could only make a living as a private school. At that time, the Li family was very poor, and Li Hongzhang once mentioned in nostalgia for his brother that "my grandfather was poor and poor, and at the end of the year, the creditors were like carps crossing the river." Grandfather could not pay for it, but he had to do it. Zhiwu is not a long-term solution, that is, to borrow from relatives and friends, and there is no repayment period for borrowing, and it is gradually disliked by relatives and friends." (Li Hongzhang's family letter)
So why is the Li family so poor? One is because Li Dianhua is not good at taking care of the family, and the other is because there are too many children. Originally, the family did not have any savings, but there were 4 sons to support, you said how to live this life, so it is not unusual to borrow money. Because the family is too poor, his son Li Wen'an has reached the age when he should marry his wife, but he is still single, and no one is willing to marry his daughter into the Li family. Li Dianhua was very upset about this, but there was more to his trouble, and his daughter had not yet mentioned her when she was old enough to marry.
Why? Because his daughter is so ugly. In fact, this daughter was not his own daughter, but he picked it up. One year he saw an abandoned baby on his way home from teaching, a little girl with smallpox, and Li Dianhua had 4 sons but no daughters, so he took the baby home. He slightly understood the medical path, and after several treatments, he actually cured the baby girl. Although the disease was cured, the girl's face was left with many pockmarks.
After that, the girl stayed in the Li family, and Li Dianhua was very kind to this child, regarded her as if she were her own, and never mentioned her origins to outsiders, so that others thought that this girl was his biological daughter. Fast forward more than ten years, and girls have reached the age when it is time to get married, but because there are too many pockmarks on their faces and they are still big feet, no one mentions matchmaking. Li Dianhua's son Li Wen'an also could not marry a daughter-in-law because the family was poor, and the two eventually married. At that time, this marriage was not less criticized by people, but after marriage, the girl showed extraordinary ability to govern the family, and the Li family's family situation was getting better and better, Li Wen'an also passed the entrance examination, and at this time the girl also became Mrs. Li. Mrs. Li has given birth to 6 sons and 2 daughters for the Li family, the most famous of which is Li Hongzhang. Mrs. Li not only had a good goddaughter, but also a long-lived person, who died at the age of 85.