Li Hongzhang (February 15, 1823 – November 7, 1901), one of the "Four Famous Ministers" of the late Qing Dynasty, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, was known as "Li Zhongtang" in the world. As a heavy minister of the late Qing Dynasty and the leader of the Western affairs movement, Li Hongzhang was extremely controversial. One thing is the consensus of the people, that is, the Li Hongzhang family has huge wealth, and the descendants have produced three billionaires. (This is a group of old photos reflecting different periods of Li Hongzhang)
[Li Hongzhang during the signing of the Treaty of Maguan] Before he was admitted to the zhongjinshi, Li Hongzhang threw himself under Zeng Guofan and "learned from Zeng Fuzi with poetry, and because of his teachers, he lived day and night, seeking righteousness and learning from the world." Zeng Guofan also looked at Li Hongzhang, a student, and thought that he had great talent. History has long told us that Li Hongzhang did have great talent.
[Li Hongzhang's beautiful concubine Dongmei] In the summer of the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), Li Hongzhang founded the Huai Army. The founding of the Huai Army meant that Li Hongzhang officially stepped onto the stage of late Qing politics and burst out into a dazzling light. When Li Hongzhang founded the Huai Army, he was full of vigor, but what he did not expect was that he finally signed one treaty after another on behalf of the Qing court to lose power and humiliate the country, and was scolded by the people.
[Elderly Li Hongzhang] "Prime Minister Hefei is thin in the world", this sentence refers specifically to Li Hongzhang, without the slightest exaggeration. How much wealth does Li Hongzhang have? It is still impossible to estimate. One thing is the consensus of everyone, that is, Li Hongzhang's wealth was ranked first in china in the late Qing Dynasty. Liang Qichao once said: "The property of about millions of gold is also a matter of interest." Therefore, the world evaluates Li Hongzhang as a corrupt prime minister.
[Li Hongzhang and his grandson group photo] Li Hongzhang was originally from the Zhou clan, she died young and did not give birth to children. After Zhou's death, Li Hongzhang married Zhao Xiaolian of the Taihu Wang clan, and she gave birth to Li Hongzhang's daughter Li Jingshu and daughter Li Ju coupled. In addition to Zhao Xiaolian, Li Hongzhang also had a side chamber Mo shi and a concubine Dong Mei. However, Li Hongzhang loved Zhao Xiaolian the most, and eventually the two were buried together.
[Li Hongzhang Attends the Coronation Ceremony of the Russian Tsar] Zeng Guofan once said: "Shao Tsuen's talent is more talented than GongMu's recent, and the consultation letters he has planned are all greater than those of others, and it is not known whether they will achieve extraordinary achievements in the future, or whether they will be blue. "I have to say that Zeng Guofan's ability to recognize people is indeed the best in the world." Li Hongzhang was very good at dealing with Empress Dowager Cixi and other high-ranking officials in the late Qing Dynasty, especially speculating that Empress Dowager Cixi's psychology was even more incapable of matching it.
During the Western Affairs Movement, Li Hongzhang was the core figure, but he always "encountered a red light and took a detour" and never stopped to introduce Western science and technology in a roundabout way. Li Hongzhang also put some of his energy into writing the recital, which he believes is one of the important ways to achieve his ideas. As historians have commented, "Li Hongzhang did not agree with the imperial court on many major state affairs and some matters related to his own interests, but in most cases, he was able to achieve his goals in a roundabout way, and in his recital he listed various reasons to persuade the imperial court that he could not but accept his own propositions." ”
[Li Hongzhang family photo (part)] This photo is a very famous photo, in which we see the figure of Li Hongzhang's most beautiful daughter Li Ju coupled. The members of this photo are: the four boys in the front row are all sons of Li Jingshu; in the middle, from li Guoxiong, Li Guoxu, Li Guoyan, and Li Guojie; from the left in the back row: Li Guojie's wife Zhang Shi, Li Jingshu's daughter, Li Hongzhang's younger daughter Li Ju coupling, Li Jingmai's wife Bian Shi, and Li Jingshu's wife Zhu Shi.
[Li Hongzhang when he was the governor of Liangguang] Although the chinese people's evaluation of Li Hongzhang was mostly critical, Li Hongzhang was still highly praised. For example, Ito Hirobumi said that "the only person in the Qing Empire who has the ability to compete with the world powers"; the German Minister of the Navy, Conrad, called "Bismarck of the East"; Empress Dowager Cixi was highly praised as "the person who recreated Xuanhuang".
[Li Hongzhang] On November 7, 1901, Li Hongzhang died in Beijing at the age of 78. After receiving the obituary in Xi'an, Empress Dowager Cixi sighed and said: "The overall situation is undecided, and if there is any accident, no one will share it anymore." Flipping through the "Qing History Manuscript Li Hongzhang's Biography", li Hongzhang had this evaluation: "Zhongxing's famous ministers, ending with military affairs, their honors are often covered up by martial arts. Hongzhang has been in charge of state affairs for decades, and has often borne the brunt of domestic and foreign affairs, and the country has relied on it as the most important, and its reputation is all over the world, and it is admired by China and foreign countries, which has never been seen in recent times. ”