"Under one person, above ten thousand people" is often used to describe ancient courtiers, and Li Hongzhang, a heavy minister in the late Qing Dynasty, is a realistic portrayal of this sentence. In the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang participated in the foreign affairs movement, and at the same time founded the Beiyang Naval Division, holding financial power and naval power, and no one except Empress Dowager Cixi could shake his position. However, just after Li Hongzhang became famous, he married his beloved daughter to a criminal courtier who was not favored by everyone.
The name of the criminal minister was Zhang Peilun, and when Li Hongzhang chose him as his son-in-law, it was just the trough of Zhang Peilun's life. At that time, Zhang Peilun was abandoned by Cixi because of his defeat in the war, and was scolded by the people, and he was also married twice, and he was very old, but Li Hongzhang still insisted on choosing him.
Zhang Peilun was a clear-cut main battle faction, but unfortunately he became a gun in Cixi's hand
In the late Qing Dynasty, in the face of the invasion of Western powers, the imperial court was divided into two distinct factions: the main war faction and the main peace faction. Zhang Peilun was one of the staunch representatives of the main war faction, he was a clear stream in the late Qing Dynasty, belonging to the civilian subjects, but he knew the truth that the country's territory must be contested for every inch of land.
Unfortunately, not everyone in the Qing government had the consciousness of Zhang Peilun, and many officials were afraid of the strength of the Western powers and worried that they would have to pay a greater price if they lost the war. At that time, France invaded Vietnam, Vietnam asked the late Qing government for help, Zhang Peilun argued on the basis of reason, advocating a war to the end, he believed that as long as France was defeated, the Western powers would not dare to covet the land of the Qing Dynasty.
In addition to speaking out within the government, Zhang Peilun also wanted to go to the front, and this idea was appreciated by Cixi. As the empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi did not want to give up her territory to others, but she was a woman in the deep palace after all, did not understand the battlefield, and was worried that if she really annoyed the foreigners, she would lose more land.
Because of this, although Cixi promoted Zhang Peilun to an official and sent him to the front line as a commander, she did not dare to delegate power to Zhang Peilun. Before the war began, Cixi strictly ordered that no Qing soldiers should be allowed to act first, thinking that doing so would avoid strife to the greatest extent, but in fact it gave the French the opportunity to seize the opportunity.
At first, the French were worried that the Qing government was deceitful and did not dare to rush out of the army, but after several trials and intelligence inquiries, the French found out the lifeblood of the Qing soldiers who did not dare to go to war first, and at the same time almost grasped the current situation of the Qing army. When everything was ready, the French suddenly attacked, catching Zhang Peilun off guard, and the Fujian Marine Division disappeared.
After the defeat, Cixi shifted the responsibility to Zhang Peilun, but Li Hongzhang wanted to support him
Cixi sent an errand to Zhang Peilun, but refused to let him dominate the battlefield, and if Zhang Peilun's political consciousness was higher, it was not difficult to find the clues. If he succeeded, Cixi would attribute the victory in the war to his own cleverness; if he failed, it would be Zhang Peilun's poor command. From the very beginning, Cixi played such an abacus, and sure enough, after the defeat, Cixi immediately pushed all the responsibility to Zhang Peilun, the scapegoat.
Because the consequences of the defeat were too tragic, Zhang Peilun was not only dismissed from office, but also exiled, and for a time became a existence that everyone avoided. However, Li Hongzhang did not look down on Zhang Peilun because of this, but was very sympathetic to him, as a member of the power center, Li Hongzhang knew very well that most of the responsibility for this incident did not lie with Zhang Peilun.
It is true that Zhang Peilun did have mistakes and omissions, after all, he was a civilian minister, lacking the ability to adapt to changes in the face of the battlefield, and he was unable to order the army to completely obey his command. However, these problems were not the root cause of the defeat of the Great QingShui Division, he was just a gun in Cixi's early hand, and now he was in distress and abandoned by Cixi.
Unfortunately, there are not many people like Li Hongzhang who can see through, or even if some people see the problems, they dare not show their sympathy for Zhang Peilun. As a heavy minister of the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang not only saw through the twists and turns, but also wanted to support Zhang Peilun, because he also knew that if the Qing Dynasty wanted to continue, war was inevitable.
Since it is unavoidable, then the main battle faction like Zhang Peilun should not be overly suppressed, so as not to let no one dare to take the lead in the future, so Li Hongzhang must support Zhang Peilun and give the main war faction some hope. And li Hongzhang came up with a support method that is to marry his beloved daughter to Zhang Peilun.
The decision to marry a daughter was opposed by everyone, but Li Hongzhang insisted on facilitating the marriage
Li Hongzhang's beloved daughter, Li Jurong, is the daughter of him and his stepsister, very favored, and has been famous in Beijing since she was a child, and is a very famous woman in Li Hongzhang's family. According to the custom at that time, the daughter would marry around the age of 14, but Li Jurong stayed at home until the age of 22, because Li Hongzhang was very fond of this daughter and was reluctant to marry her.
Such a daughter, but Li Hongzhang as the main marriage to Zhang Peilun, who is 40 years old and is shouted at by everyone in the folk, makes many people feel confused, and naturally many people oppose it. However, Li Hongzhang said that the two families were family friends, and Zhang Peilun was a talented son who became famous as a teenager, and the two were very well matched, insisting on consummating the marriage for the two people in 1888.
Although this marriage is somewhat absurd, the two are still harmonious after marriage, and Zhang Peilun has gradually walked out of the lowest moment of her life with the help of Li Jurong and returned to the ranks of Qingliu talents. Unfortunately, Zhang Peilun's career did not improve much because he married Li Hongzhang's beloved daughter, and the government of the late Qing Dynasty also fell into a precarious situation.
Until the end, Zhang Peilun failed to realize his ideal - to defend the land of the Qing Dynasty without damage, and to end up depressed under the condition of being discouraged. After Zhang Peilun's death, Li Jurong lived with their son Zhang Zhiyi, raised him, and later married the granddaughter of Admiral Shuishi. Zhang Zhiyi and the granddaughter of the admiral have a daughter, that is, the well-known Zhang Ailing.
epilogue
Although Zhang Ailing's relationship with her father is very poor, and her childhood experience is also very unfortunate, from the perspective of her literary style, she does inherit the talent from the patrilineal bloodline. Regardless of Zhang Peilun's career situation, his name as a talented son in his youth is not false, and he has been recognized and appreciated by Li Hongzhang, when Li Hongzhang chose Zhang Peilun as his son-in-law, there was also an element of his talent, so Zhang Peilun's talent is beyond doubt.
Zhang Peilun failed to realize his political ambitions in his life, so his body and mind were damaged, but his descendants were famous all over the world because of their talents, and their works were constantly pondered and recalled by posterity, which is also a kind of comfort for Zhang Peilun. Judging from the results, Li Hongzhang's decision to marry his beloved daughter to Zhang Peilun is not wrong, but unfortunately, the political demands he wanted to achieve through this marriage could not be achieved, perhaps this is also a harbinger of the fate of the late Qing government.
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