No matter when close relatives get married, it is against human morality, Li Hongzhang's father, Li Wen'an, is also a scholar and has also been a senior in high school, how can he not know that it is against the etiquette system for brothers and sisters to marry?
Pictured| Li Hongzhang
So if he knew, why did he marry his "sister"? What kind of hidden feelings are there? All this also starts with Li Wen'an's father, Li Dianhua, li Hongzhang's grandfather:
Li Dianhua was born in the countryside, and his ancestors were also rich, but unfortunately, later the family fell in the middle of the road, and when it passed on to Li Dianhua's generation, the family's assets were only a small tile yard with three entrances, and dozens of acres of land.
However, even so, Li Dianhua's family situation was also considered to be a middle-class class at that time, if he lived with peace of mind, at least he could ensure that he would be able to eat and wear for a lifetime, and maybe even marry a few small wives.
But Li Dianhua is not a person who is born in peace, although he was born in the countryside, he yearns for the temple, so Li Dianhua has studied hard since he was a child, hoping that one day he can obtain a meritorious name and achieve the achievements of Guangzong Yaozu.
But the exam is not a university, and now when you take the university, even if the score is not ideal, there will always be a university that will want you, and you can still go to a technical school.
Figure | Examination of the Imperial Examination - Schematic Diagram
The ancient examination name, but the real "ten thousand miles to pick one", even called "one out of 100,000 miles", countless students who study poetry books in order to succeed in the name of merit, but in the end, there are very few people who can successfully obtain the meritorious name.
Although Li Dianhua had some talent, it was far from enough for him to obtain a meritorious name, so even if he participated in the imperial examination for decades, he still had nothing in the end.
In the past few decades, Li Dianhua has been too obsessed with obtaining meritorious names, and the assets of his family have been almost exhausted by him, and he even owes a lot of debts outside.
Fortunately, when Li Dianhua was more than half a hundred years old, he finally recognized the reality and knew that he was not the material for the examination of merit, so he gave up his dream and turned to open a school at home, while earning money, while trying to cultivate the next generation, he pinned his dreams on his sons.
Unfortunately, although Li Dianhua has many sons, he is not the material for reading, which makes Li Dianhua sad and feels that his dream is afraid that it will not be realized one day.
Figure | The list of science and technology - schematic diagram
But Li Dianhua did not expect that later, because of his own momentary good thoughts, he not only let his dream be completed, but also created a huge Li family.
As mentioned above, Li Dianhua spent countless sums of money because he participated in the imperial examination for many years, resulting in a lot of foreign debts in his family, and the money earned only by opening an academy could not pay off the debts.
Fortunately, Li Dianhua had learned some medical skills in his early years, although he was not very skilled, but it was still no problem to treat some simple diseases, so Li Dianhua used his free time to earn money by treating people in eight villages.
Once, when Li Dianhua went out to see people, he saw a baby girl with "smallpox" on the side of the road, Li Dianhua was kind to people, and he couldn't bear to see the baby girl die in the wild, so he took the baby girl back home.
Subsequently, Li Dianhua held the mentality of trying it out and treated the baby girl, but he did not expect that after several treatments, the "smallpox" of the baby girl was really cured by Li Dianhua.
Figure | Smallpox Patient – Schematic
However, although the baby girl's illness was cured, there was no place to go, so the kind-hearted Li Dianhua left the baby girl at home and raised her as her own righteous daughter.
Later, when the baby girl grew up, she learned of her own lineage, and she was very grateful for Li Dianhua's life-saving and nurturing grace, and in order to repay this kindness, the girl began to take the initiative to help Li Dianhua's family.
In order to work better, the girl did not wrap her feet like other women, but walked between the fields every day with her free feet.
However, although these big feet can help the girl to work better, it also makes her the object of ridicule of the neighbors, plus the girl had to live with smallpox when she was a child, although she was cured, but it left a lot of marks on her face, which made the girl unable to find a good in-law family after reaching the marriage age.
Li Dianhua is also often worried about this matter, after so many years of getting along, he has long regarded the girl as his own daughter, and now seeing that the girl has not been able to marry, his heart is naturally worried.
Figure | Mrs. Lee - Schematic
However, soon Li Dianhua was not worried, because he found that his fourth son, Li Wen'an, was actually interested in the girl, and once When Li Dianhua was passing by the kitchen, he happened to see Li Wen'an dressing the girl.
Li Dianhua thought to himself, the two grew up together, the relationship has always been very good, called the green plum bamboo horse, why not let the son marry a girl? In this way, not only does the girl have a good family, but the son also marries a good wife, is it not the best of both worlds?
In this way, under the mediation of Li Dianhua, Li Wenan married a girl as a wife, and it was this decision that made Li Dianhua not only realize his dream, but also let the Li family completely soar.
Since the girl married Li Wen'an, the li family's large and small affairs have all been handled by the girl, and Li Wen'an was able to obtain a meritorious name with peace of mind, and finally entered high school soon after, completing the dream of his father Li Dianhua.
After Li Wen'an became an official, the Li family was excited, but Lady Li was very calm, and she warned Li Wen'an not to be dazzled by the wealth in front of him, and to be cautious, only in this way could he get long-term wealth.
With his wife's advice, Li Wen'an always maintained a self-effacing style of behavior, and was able to rise all the way in the official arena, and finally achieved the supervision of The Langzhong, so that the Li family successfully transformed from a rural family into a powerful family in the DPRK.
Moreover, Mrs. Li's contribution to the Li family is more than this, she gave birth to a total of 8 children for Li Wen'an in her life, and these 8 children have achieved good results under the guidance of Mrs. Li, the most famous of which is Li Hongzhang.
As a major minister of the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang not only made great contributions to the Pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, but also personally founded the Beiyang Fleet, known as the "First Water Division in Asia", and even Cixi called him the "re-creation of Xuanhuang".
Of course, many of Li Hongzhang's deeds have also been criticized by posterity, among which many unequal treaties signed with the great powers on behalf of the Qing court have become the biggest black spots in his life, so the evaluation of Li Hongzhang by posterity has always been mixed.
However, whether it is praise or disparagement, Li Hongzhang must have a very outstanding talent if he can become a heavy minister of the Qing court, and Li Hongzhang can have such achievements, which has a lot to do with Lady Li.
Picture | Li Hongzhang with the great powers
According to Li Hongzhang's recollections in his later years, the most grateful thing in his life was his mother, and it was his mother's strict teaching that gave him today's achievements, which shows the depth of Mrs. Li's influence on Li Hongzhang.
As the biggest contributor to the Li family, Lady Li was very happy in the second half of her life, not only enjoying the filial piety of her children, but also being rewarded by the imperial court many times in her later years, and even Cixi specially rewarded Lady Li on her 75th birthday.
It can be said that it is Lady Li's great wisdom that has enabled the Li family to rise rapidly and prosper for hundreds of years, and Li Wen'an can marry such a virtuous wife thanks to the kind heart of his father Li Dianhua.