Liang Yunlong, Harry's niece, once wrote the book "The Virtue of Officials in the Sea", including Harry's theory of "three wives and two concubines". According to this book, historian Huang Renyu said in "Fifteen Years of Wanli" that Harry was "married three times and had two concubines", which was inherited by many works. But some people say that Harry has married six or seven wives, and there is even a saying of "nine marriages", and "Harry is married, but his wife loves him." This means that Harry still married a beautiful young girl as his little wife when he was very old. Although these statements are a bit excessive, it can be seen that there are many wives and concubines of honest official Hai Rui, which is undoubtedly an undeniable fact.
Xu, the first wife of honest official Hai Rui, gave birth to two daughters for Hai Rui. In the 25th year of Jiajing (1546), when Harry was 32 years old, Mrs. Xu was abandoned by Harry. At that time, it was a great shame for a woman to be abandoned, what's more, at this time she had two daughters, and it was bound to be a great pain for a woman to leave her children. Moreover, it seems that Mrs. Xu has also suffered economic losses. For this reason, she also sued Harry.
What is the reason for Mrs Xu's divorce? Which of the "seven out" did she commit? Judging from the formulation of "Xu Shi, a daughter born in Dali", Mrs. Xu seems to have made a big mistake, but what is the so-called "Dali"? Maybe there are no boys. There are three generations of Hai Jia Shan Chuan. How can we face our ancestors if there are no heirs? This is a more reliable reason. There is no way to find out whether this is the case. However, Mrs. Xu is still young, and the issue of fertility seems unreasonable.
Another reason, which is also speculated by many people, may be related to the contradiction between mother-in-law and Harry's mother, Mrs. Haitai. This kind of thing is described in detail in the famous sentence "Peacock flies southeast" in the Han Dynasty, which is a common phenomenon in single-parent families. The question is, does Mrs. Xu have the same feelings as Jiao Zhongqing, like the unfortunate Liu Lanzhi and Harry? Historical data show that although Harry is not Jiao Zhongqing, he is a famous dutiful son. He always stands on his mother's side unconditionally, which determines that Haijia's daughter-in-law is in a rather awkward position.
After the divorce between honest official Harry and Mrs. Xu, she married Mrs. Pan Shi. However, Mrs. Pan was abandoned less than a month after she arrived at Haijia, and the reason for her abandonment is unknown.
Then the upright official Harry married Mrs. Wang. Mrs. Wang is more competitive. Two years before Harry arrived in Chun 'an, she gave birth to a son named Zhong Di. In the second year when Harry took office in Chun 'an, Mrs. Wang gave birth to a son named Zhong Liang for Harry. Mrs. Wang also gave birth to a daughter.
In October of the 43rd year of Jiajing, Harry was transferred to Beijing Housing Department. Mrs. Haitai doesn't like living in the cold north. Harry had no choice but to let Mrs. Wang take two men and three women to wait on Mrs. Haitai from her post in Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province, and Harry took two servants to work in the north. This year, Harry is 50 years old.
In October of the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, the honest official Hai Rui was sharply criticized by the ruling and opposition parties. Jiajing "frankly speaking, the world is the best", that is, "public security". So he went to prison in February of the following year, and his two sons died one after another in this year. One was 1 1 and the other was 9 years old, while Harry was 52 years old.
Three years later, two years later (1568), on the evening of July 24th, Mrs. Wang died suddenly, but some people said that she committed suicide. In "Fifteen Years of Wanli", it is said that Mrs. Wang "died in extremely suspicious circumstances". 1 1 A few days before Mrs. Wang died, Harry's concubine Han hanged herself. These two things are linked together, which makes the family life of honest official Harry very chaotic. Why did Han commit suicide? How did Mrs. Wang die? Although these things have become a historical mystery, they have given Harry a very bad reputation in officialdom. At this time, Harry served as the right post of the General Political Department of Zhengsipin in Nanjing. He came to Nanjing more than half a year ago.
It is conceivable that this series of blows will be cruel to Harry and his family. What is Harry's mentality when his wife is dead and his concubine is dead? According to a letter he wrote to a friend, Harry said that "every time he thinks about it, he is exhausted", which shows that he may not be the heartless person people think, and he is not without feelings for his wives and concubines. The crux of this family tragedy may still be Mrs. Haitai, who is nearly 80 years old.
Honest official Harry also has a concubine Qiu. According to historical records, she only gave birth to a son for Harry in her later years, but the child died when she was three years old. Harry applied for retirement after staying in Qin Long for four years, and left Nanjing to return to his hometown Qiongshan for seclusion. From then on, he left the officialdom 15 years until the thirteenth year of Wanli (1585). 7 1 year-old returned to the officialdom and went to Nanjing as the right assistant minister and official department of Duchayuan. Qiu's family may be the concubine that Harry received when he was living in his hometown.
On October 14th, 15th year of Wanli, honest official Harry died of illness. He had two servants when he died. Ai is a wing and a concubine. One of these two concubines is Qiu, and the other is the girl who is called "Fang Ai" because she has retired. In that case, Harry should have three concubines.
Honest official Harry is over 73 years old at this time. "People live 70 years old", with gray hair and old age. He married a beautiful young girl as a concubine. Although this is not a strange thing in ancient times, it is not a glorious thing after all. This undoubtedly left an indelible excuse for the political opponents of the dynasty. Therefore, it is obvious that many political opponents have attacked it.
At that time, Harry had at least one concubine with him. What is his legitimate reason for marrying a beautiful young girl as a concubine? Maybe it's to carry on the family line. But concubinage costs money. Where did the money come from? Not only does it cost money to get married, but it also costs money after entering the door. How can an honest official, Harry, have a lot of money to take concubines frequently?
What is the value of concubinage in Ming Dynasty? In the Ming dynasty, it usually cost two thousand silver to buy a famous prostitute with good color and art as a concubine. I'm afraid those famous prostitutes in Qinhuai in the late Ming Dynasty are more than this price. According to the Ming Dynasty novel Jin Ping Mei, it costs about 50 taels of silver to marry a servant girl, but it costs more than 100 taels to marry a concubine, generally about 300 taels. In this case, Harry will spend a lot of money to marry a concubine, even if it is only three times, it will always cost three or four hundred taels of silver. This is a very heavy burden for honest official Harry, who only gets a limited legal salary and has nothing to do with his poverty. You know, these expenses are almost the salary of a county magistrate at that time in 10.
According to relevant historical records, Hai Rui was appointed as an official in Nanping County, Fujian Province in December of Jiajing, and applied for retirement in April of four years. Harry was an official in the imperial court for seventeen or eighteen years. When he returned to his hometown in Qiongshan, he bought a house with Jin Lu's 120 silver. Harry bought a house and a concubine. Then, as an honest official, how could he spend so much money? I'm afraid it can only be a mystery of history.