Li Hongzhang has 3 sons and 1 daughter.
The sons are named Li Jingfang, Li Jingshu, and Li Jingmai, and the daughter is called Li Jurong. Born in 1866, Li Jurong, as the only daughter of Li Hongzhang, was favored by Li Hongzhang and was regarded as the "pearl in the palm of his hand". In ancient times, it was emphasized that "a woman without talent is virtuous", but Li Jurong received a good family education from an early age, and her words were elegant and elegant, and she could write poetry and literature.
Li Ju Lotus
In the blink of an eye, Li Jurong has grown up and reached the age of talking about marriage. At that time, Li Hongzhang was a directly subordinate governor and minister of trade and commerce in Beiyang, and his power was tilted toward the opposition, which won the trust of Empress Dowager Cixi. In the era of habit of being the right door, Li Hongzhang's daughter will definitely marry the prince of the prince and the minister, so as to meet everyone's psychological expectations, right?
However, what no one expected was that in 1888, Li Hongzhang married his favorite daughter Li Jurong to a 40-year-old middle-aged man. The age difference between husband and wife is 18 years.
If only if you are older, there is nothing, and in ancient times, old men and young wives were also common things. But this middle-aged man has been married twice before, plus this is the third time he has been married.
Taking a step back, it is not a big deal to be older and married twice, and if this middle-aged man is a rich and noble person, it is still understandable. However, this middle-aged man was a courtier who had just been released and returned home.
Surprised? Surprised?
This middle-aged man who was chosen by Li Hongzhang as the son-in-law of the East Bed was named Zhang Peilun.
Zhang Peilun
Zhang Peilun (張佩纶), courtesy name Youqiao (Young Qiao), was born in 1848 in Fengrun Qijiatuo (present-day Fengrun District, Tangshan, Hebei Province). The first half of Zhang Peilun's life was a life of opening and hanging. At the age of 23, he was admitted to the jinshi and ordered Hanlin; at the age of 34, he acted as the left deputy capital of the Duchayuan, Yushi, and the official Ju Zheng Sanpin. He regarded himself as a "clear stream", committed outspoken advice in the imperial court, and impeached many important courtiers. Under his impeachment, one or two officials, including Hubu Shangshu Wang Wenshao, were dismissed. Zhang Peilun became famous for a while, and together with Huang Tifang, Bao Ting, and Zhang Zhidong, he was called the "Four Counselors of Hanlin".
Unfortunately, in 1884, When Empress Dowager Cixi overthrew Prince Gong Yixuan, Zhang Peilun spoke up for Prince Gong, praising him for "his meritorious deeds and hardships at the same time, and his heart should not abandon for no reason in the two palaces, and he should be insulted by the imperial court in the mellow residence", offending Empress Dowager Cixi, so he lost his position and was sent to Fujian to handle maritime affairs. Fujian was the forefront of the Sino-French War. In that year, the French army launched the Battle of Majiang, which severely damaged the Fujian Marine Division, and Zhang Peilun saw that the situation was not right, quickly retreated, and fled. After the war, Zhang Peilun was dismissed from his post and assigned to Zhangjiakou.
Battle of Majiang
In 1888, when Zhang Peilun returned to the mainland from Zhangjiakou, his second wife, Bian Puyu, had already died of illness, and his son Zhang Zhiqian was only 9 years old, and most of his former good friends broke off relations with him, which was the most depressed and frustrated time in his life. At this time, Li Hongzhang did not abandon him and hired him as his staff. In the winter of that year, Li Hongzhang even married his youngest daughter Li Juling to Zhang Peilun.
At that time, people expressed incredulity about the marriage between Zhang Peilun and Li Jurong. There are mean people who even write oil poems to satirize. Reasonable people are also quite critical.
Zhang Peilun has a good friend named Huang Tifang, and Huang Tifang's son Huang Shaoji wrote to his father: "Fengrun is the nephew of hefei Pavilion, and it has now been decided that it will be a ceremony in winter." Everyone who hears it is surprised... This move has become a sweep of the old blues. "Fengrun" and "Hefei" here refer to Zhang Peilun and Li Hongzhang respectively. They are directly subordinate to Fengrun and Hefei, Anhui. "Nephew refers to son-in-law." Huang Shaoji believed that Zhang Peilun's marriage to Li Hongzhang's younger daughter was suspected of climbing the dragon and attaching himself to the phoenix, and that the prestige he had won in the imperial court would be lost.
This is not just Huang Shaoji's opinion alone. However, Zhang Peilun himself did not see it that way. In a letter to a friend, he explained: "If you are not married, you can still hope that Hefei will help, but now that you are among the avoidants, the road to Hefei will be broken." ”
Li
Zhang Peilun believes that before he marries Li Hongzhang's younger daughter, he can also ask Li Hongzhang to say a few kind words in front of Empress Dowager Cixi, and maybe he can return to his career. Now that he has become Li Hongzhang's son-in-law, in order to avoid the suspicion of nepotism, Li Hongzhang has become impossible to help himself. In other words, Zhang Peilun's path of relying on Li Hongzhang to become an official was basically cut off.
Sure enough, as Zhang Peilun expected, after Zhang Peilun and Li Juling got married, although they had been living in Li Hongzhang's mansion in Tianjin, serving as Li Hongzhang's staff and advising Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang really did not recommend him to serve in the imperial court. In 1901, at the repeated invitation of Li Hongzhang, Zhang Peilun went to Beijing to participate in the negotiation of the "Xinugu Treaty", and made a great contribution. After the successful signing of the Treaty of Xinugi, Li Hongzhang took this opportunity to protect Zhang Peilun, and the imperial court used it as sipin Jingtang, but zhang Peilun resolutely resigned.
Li Hongzhang participated in the negotiations on the Xinugu Treaty
In this way, until his death in Nanjing in 1903, Zhang Peilun's identity was that of a flat-headed ordinary person.