Li Wenan

Li Wenan

Li Wen'an (1801-1855), who was born in Hefei, Anhui Province, was the father of Li Hongzhang, an important minister in the late Qing Dynasty. Li Wenan studied very hard in his early years. He was the youngest of his brothers and was very weak from childhood. Other people's smart children began to enlighten at the age of 4. He didn't study until he was 8. At the age of 13, others were admitted to the scholar's examination, and he just finished reading "four books" and "Mao poetry". In 1834, there were 96 candidates in the imperial examination of Daoguang in the Jiawu period. In 1838, there were 112 candidates in the new Fubao list of Daoguang in 1898 with Zeng Guofan. They were the top three candidates in the palace examination. They served in the Ministry of punishment in the same year as Ruzhou, the son of Lin Zexu. In 1841, he was an incorruptible official in charge of Guangxi, Fengtian and Shanxi in the Ministry. He supervised the prison department and also carried out the autumn examination. Later, he was the chief minister of Sichuan Province, the yuanwailang of Yunnan Province, the doctor of the Department of supervision and arrest, and the appointed censor. After his death, he was buried in Hefei.

Life of the characters

Li Wen'an, the fourth son of Li Dianhua, was born at noon on December 29, 1801 (the year of Jiaqing and Xinyou). He was named Yuchuan, Yuquan and Yuquan. He was named Wengan and Xueyou was born in the county. In 1834, he gave birth to 96 imperial examiners of Daoguang in the Jiawu period. In 1838, he joined Zeng Guofan in the new Fubao list of Daoguang in the 1898 movement. He won the top three in the palace examination and served in the Ministry of punishment in the same year as Lin Ruzhou, the son of Lin Zexu. In 1841, he was an incorruptible official in charge of Guangxi, Fengtian and Shanxi in the Ministry. He supervised the prison department and also carried out the autumn examination. Later, he was the chief minister of Sichuan Province, the yuanwailang of Yunnan Province, the doctor of the Department of supervision and arrest, and the appointed censor.

Wen Anju was honest and loyal. He was loyal to his friends and devoted himself to his work. In the management of the prison hall, the officials were restrained from abusing prisoners, and the prisoners were strictly prohibited from abusing prisoners. As a rule, each prisoner had a spoonful of rice, and the Wen'an scattered rice must be full, cooked and tasted by himself. Donate rice to cook porridge for prisoners who arrive at night. It is easy to get sick in prison, which is prepared by Wen'an pharmaceutical. In summer, they donated Pu fans, in autumn and winter, they donated cotton padded clothes, and they bought quilts in various institutes, in case the sick prisoners sweat and recuperate. There are no dead in prison. The chief executive's autumn trial has also been vindicated by many institutions, and no one has been wronged.

In 1852, the Taiping army occupied Anqing and Jiangning, and there were four peasant armies in Lianghuai. Wen'an advocated the establishment of "Huainan village covenant" in the township, which is the foundation for the future League training of volunteers. He also set up a grain reserve for famine, which is good at far and near. In 1853, Xianfeng ordered him to return home to assist in the suppression, and he had a good record. In 1854, it was used by the magistrate and changed into a new one. Wen'an held a rural League meeting in MODIAN. In 1855, he recruited soldiers and horses in Yitang Temple of CuO Town, expanded the ranks, and set up Qinghu in Hefei and Chaoxian to defend the two bureaus. Because Lu is located in five counties, the land and water are in conflict, Wen'an is in high heat, cold and galloping, and overwork makes him sick. He died in the League training office in 1855, and he died at the age of 55. After his death, he gave the governor's military camp as a case of illness, followed by Taoist officials, first to senior officials, Tongyi doctors, Jianwei general, and then to Ronglu doctors, Guanglu doctors, Tongfeng doctors. He built a special temple in Zhongmiao temple, and publicized his military achievements to the National History Museum for biography.

Li Dianhua, Li Wen'an's father (Li Hongzhang's grandfather), is a rural scholar who has not been to the city for 50 years. His family has dozens of mu of land. He never went to the city, but he always wanted to go out of the loess, so he was very concerned about the imperial Kung Fu. However, he failed in the examination and failed in the imperial examination for many times. Later, he set up a library at home to teach students and children how to read, and pinned his hopes on his sons.

His family is a small tile house with three entrances. It's not very rich. At most, it's a middle-class peasant. When the year is not good, life is very tense. Li Hongzhang, his grandson, once exposed his family's "old background" and said in a letter to his brother, he Zhang, when he was nostalgic

“

My grandfather was poor and poor. At the end of the year, he was like a crucian carp crossing the river. Grandfather couldn't pay for it, he had to falter. Hesitation is not always a long-term solution, that is, to borrow from relatives and friends, borrowing without return period, but also gradually tired of relatives and friends. At that time, I was lucky to be married to my great uncle Zhou juchu. He had a little savings. At that time, he was a benefactor. He advised my grandfather to be diligent and thrifty, and he was eager to send his children and grandchildren to school. From his words, my grandfather had today

”

(letter from Li Hongzhang). It can be seen that the early life of the Li family was not easy. However, Li Dianhua was very high spirited and determined that all his four sons would be able to study and become officials. To this end, he invited local experts to be tutors to help his sons study and prepare for the exam.

Among the four sons, Li Wen'an, the youngest son, finally realized his father's ideal. He was elected in the Jiangnan provincial examination. Four years later, he passed the Jinshi examination. As a result, he became one of the top officials in the capital. The Li family, a middle-class peasant family by the waterfront, rose up in the imperial examination and became a famous family of Lu County overnight. Li Wen'an is the first member of the family to go out of Anhui, to officialdom, to the capital and to the coast. He is the only Jinshi in the first seven generations of Li family with genealogical records.

The Jinshi in the examination was very good at that time! Many people study hard all their lives and are not allowed to enter. Liu Bingzhang was the only one of Li Hongzhang's generals. His comrades, Tang Diankui and Tang dingkui's family, were able to fight and study. In two hundred years, the whole Tang family only got one scholar in the examination. Therefore, Tang Degang, his descendant, said that "it's normal to fail in the examination of Jinshi, but it's abnormal to fail in the examination" (Tang Degang's seventy years of the late Qing Dynasty). Only once every four years does the country have the chance to be a Jinshi, and only a hundred lucky people can be listed each time. It can be seen that the difficulty of the imperial examination is "difficult to reach the top of the blue sky".

In his early years, Li Wen'an studied very hard. He is the youngest of his brothers and has been very weak since he was a child. Other people's smart children began to enlighten at the age of four. He didn't study until he was eight. At the age of thirteen. Others have been admitted to the scholar, and he just finished reading "four books" and "Mao poetry". His father looked at him and worried. He didn't see that he was a talent with a big talent. He thought that he was too fond of playing and didn't work hard, so he asked his eldest son, Li Wenyu, to supervise the army and take charge of his studies. Li Wenyu did not like the imperial examination. After he passed the examination, he did not make any progress. He also learned from his father and opened a school at home to teach. Li Wenyu is very strict with his younger brother. Every year, school starts on the third day of the first month, and he never relaxes until new year's Eve. After all, a strict teacher is a good student, and his youth is better than blue. As a result, Li Wen'an won the exam, but his elder brother didn't. a few years later, Li Wen'an became a Jinshi again, and his elder brothers all fell behind.

However, Li Wenan also made great efforts. He studied hard until he was 35 years old (1834). Before that, he had been suffering for more than ten years. During that time, he was also a teacher, or an apprentice, or a librarian, but he never relaxed in his homework. Four years later, he finally passed the Jinshi examination. By this time, he was almost forty and had spent most of his life (according to Li Wen'an's Ode to the homesickness of Du men Wang Yun).

But the most important thing is that his "life" is good. He was not too early or too late in the examination, which happened to be the same year as Zeng Guofan, who was very popular a few years later. This kind of relationship used to be called "the same year". At that time, it was an extremely delicate and important interpersonal relationship. In the sense of "material benefit", it was far more than the relationship of fellow townsmen, classmates, families, and even compatriots, because at the same time, to win the entrance examination meant to be an official at the same time, which had a common connection and reference. The new Beijing officials are virtually a whole. In addition to their examiners, they are often closer to each other than others in the officialdom, and they can help each other and make use of each other as a matter of course.

Li Wen'an was introverted and "inferior in seniority", but he knew everything well and had good eyesight. In the same year, he always had a close relationship with Zeng Guofan. At that time, Zeng Guofan was just an ordinary official in Beijing. At first, he was a Bachelor of Imperial Academy and cabinet. He was just an idle official in compiling history books. Later, he became a minister in the Ministry of rites, the Ministry of war and the Ministry of officials (equivalent to today's Vice Minister). Li Wen'an had arranged for his two sons, Li Hanzhang and Li Hongzhang, to worship Zeng as their teachers and learn from them the "learning of managing the world". Once it was time for them to make great efforts, they would be of great use. This is probably the highest wisdom Li Wen'an has contributed to his family.

As a judicial officer, he is honest and upright. Fang Gang insists on solving cases according to law. When the case is finally solved in autumn, he always looks over the case files until late at night, and strives to accurately measure the penalty. He does not wrongly a good man. "When the court is in dispute, people have the purpose of ensuring the old man's rebirth.". However, he was "stubborn and uncommunicative, and did not win the title of Shangguan" (epitaph written by Li Hongzhang for his mother). In fact, this has always been the case in officialdom. We should be serious and not too serious. It depends on what it is. You are too serious to be an official. The problem is Li Wen'an's Anhui temperament. If he takes everything too seriously, he will not be liked by his superiors. Therefore, he has never been able to become a "Ministerial cadre". In the same year, others all rose very fast, and he was still looking at the prison.

Nevertheless, some upright colleagues could see clearly that they wrote down his good deeds in the form of poetry, especially his kindness to prisoners, which was extremely rare in that dark age. At that time, no one even cared about the innocent people. Who cares about the prisoners?

There are several poems in praise of Li Yuquan as a poet in prison. The poem says:

One soup and one meal, shallow and deep, whether you can taste each meal.

One hundred thousand soldiers can be promoted through hardships and joys, and one's name is fragrant in prison.

After dinner, my eyes were bright and sad.

Fortunately, there was Tuen MI in prison, for example, since my husband came here.

It is not easy to eliminate the heat fumigation.

Lai Youren's wind blows across the block, and Pu Kui's fifty thousand show off.

The beggars along the door of the salary, autumn deep inspection point supplement yellow cotton.

Mr. Wang was even more imprisoned, so cold that he didn't shrug. (prison administrator Wang Xietang)

That is to say, when he was in charge of the prison hall, he was in charge of the two prisons under him, and he was in charge of the prison every day

Chinese PinYin : Li Wen An