In the twenty-third year of Qing Daoguang (1843), Li Hongzhang was 20 years old, still a fledgling young man, he wrote such a poem: "The husband only holds the Wu hook with one hand, and his spirit is higher than the hundred-foot building; who has written history for ten thousand years, three thousand miles away wants to be crowned a marquis!" With the increasing prominence of his position in the late Qing court, Li Hongzhang was no longer the proud person he was.
The so-called "cold in the heights", Li Hongzhang was cautious in every move, lest he leave a handle on whom, and the marriage of his children alone would break Li Hongzhang's heart. First of all, children cannot marry the royal family, and secondly, children cannot marry people who are illiterate and of too low status. The children of the Li family are basically talented, and even their daughters are proficient in literature and history, and Li Hongzhang's younger daughter Li Jingxuan (shú) is.
In order to pick a son-in-law who satisfies himself and his daughter is not rejected, Li Hongzhang did not let his daughter marry early, Li Jingxuan was still in his 20s, and people at that time were talking about it, not knowing what kind of person Li Zhongtang wanted to choose to match his daughter. To everyone's surprise, Li Hongzhang finally chose a minister who was not confused for many years and was humiliated by the defeat.
This person is Zhang Peilun. Zhang Peilun was a talented man, at the age of 23, he entered the Hanlin Academy, and Zhang Zhidong and others were the "Qingliu" at that time, and also had contacts with Li Hongzhang; at the age of 34, he entered the Duchayuan as the left deputy capital Yushi, often commenting on major events, advocating a confrontation with the great powers, and Empress Dowager Cixi admired his eloquence and writing.
He wrote very well, so Cixi gave him the title of Sanpinqing and sent him to Fujian to supervise the battle and beware of the French army. But Cixi also said, "I will not move if the enemy does not move." After Zhang Peilun arrived in Fujian, he completely followed her words, and the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" recorded: "The Collection of French Ships, the Battle Book, the Police, and the Gurudwara Peilun urgently needed to prepare, but still came out..." As a result, the Fujian Marine Division was almost completely destroyed, and Zhang Peilun was so frightened that his shoes were too late to wear and fled.
After this battle, Zhang Peilun was impeached, expelled from the capital, and sent to chahar military platform to serve as an atonement for his sins, and did not return to Beijing again until 3 years later. During this period, Zhang Peilun's second wife died of illness, which was an even worse blow for Zhang Peilun. However, Li Hongzhang saw Zhang Peilun's potential and invited him to the palace to "go on a blind date" with his younger daughter Li Jingxuan, and soon married his daughter to him.
When the two were married, Li Jingxuan was 22 years old and married for the first time; Zhang Peilun was 40 years old and married three times. How the couple looks at it is not a good match, but Li Hongzhang may feel that Zhang Peilun was once appreciated by Lafayette, and the family origin is also good, talented, and can make a difference in the future, no matter what others think, he wants Zhang Peilun to be his son-in-law.
With Li Hongzhang's position at that time, Zhang Peilun became his son-in-law and was also a high climb, and Li Hongzhang pulled Zhang Peilun aside. But for Li Jingxuan, this marriage did not bring her much happiness, Li Jingxuan is a talented woman, and Zhang Peilun talked about history and literature; but after the two married, Li Hongzhang tried to find a good errand for his son-in-law but failed, and even he was impeached for "accommodating criminals".
So Li Jingxuan had to go south with her husband and go to Nanjing to live. Zhang Peilun was frustrated, his temper was getting worse and worse, and he borrowed wine at home all day to pour sorrow, and Li Jingxuan did not listen to how to persuade him. Looking at her husband like this, Li Jingxuan was very depressed in her heart, she wrote to her father Li Hongzhang, mentioning these things, Li Hongzhang replied that you should look at the opening point, if you accumulate for a long time, it is harmful to the body.
Obviously, Li Jingxuan could not get better because of her father's comfort, so she had to give up persuading her husband and focus on teaching her children. In 1901, Li Hongzhang died of illness in Beijing, and in 1903, Zhang Peilun died of illness in Nanjing, and Li Jingxuan lost his father and husband one after another, which was very sad.
At this time, she was only 37 years old, her son was 7 years old, and her daughter was 2 years old. Orphans and widows can only live on some ancestral property, so Li Jingxuan hopes that his son Zhang Zhiyi will have a career and teach him strictly. However, Li Jingxuan also died of illness 9 years later, zhang Zhiyi was left unattended, and became a young master who squandered his ancestral property and smoked a lot of cigarettes; instead, Zhang Zhiyi's daughter became a famous person in the modern literary world, and her name was Zhang Ailing.