Why did Wang Anshi become furious when his wife took a concubine for him? Interested readers and history encyclopedia editors, let’s take a look together!
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a prime minister whose wife secretly took a concubine for him. Upon learning of her identity, he immediately had her sent back home.
Everyone is familiar with this prime minister, who is the famous Wang Anshi. Although he comes from a prestigious family and both his grandfather and father have held official positions, he is different from other young men. In his early years, Wang Anshi traveled with his father to various places and came into contact with many poor people, which had a great influence on him. He secretly swore in his heart that he would study hard and become an official in the court in the future, realizing his ambition of “adapting to the times and changing customs”.
When he was twenty-two years old, Wang Anshi was admitted to the imperial examination and served as a magistrate of Supervisor of the County and prefecture, and was appointed as a magistrate of Zhidu in the third year of Jiayou. During this period, Wang Anshi spent nearly a month writing a nearly ten thousand word memorial, in which he raised many issues and hoped that the emperor could issue reform measures. However, due to others speaking lightly, his opinion was not adopted by Emperor Renzong of Song, and it is estimated that Wang Anshi was also very depressed in his heart.
During his tenure as an official in the local government, Wang Anshi worked hard and achieved many accomplishments. He was also honest and well respected by the people, and his talents gradually gained recognition from the court. In the second year of Emperor Shenzong’s accession to the throne, Wang Anshi was promoted to the position of political advisor and soon became prime minister. He immediately assisted the emperor in implementing reforms. However, due to impeachment by ministers such as Sima Guang, Wang Anshi resigned from his position as prime minister.
In addition to his strong work ability, Wang Anshi is also a famous literary figure, ranking among the “Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties”, and many of his works are well-known. According to the historical records of the Song Dynasty, although Wang Anshi had married several wives and concubines throughout his life, he remained low-key and left behind a funny story.
One year, Wang Anshi went out for some business. Perhaps his wife Wu thought that her husband was very hardworking and was a court minister, so she should have taken on several concubines. Whenever she mentioned this matter, Wang Anshi refused with words. So, taking advantage of Wang Anshi’s absence in the past few days, Wu entrusted a matchmaker to take a concubine for her husband. The matchmaker was indeed not joking and quickly found a young and beautiful woman. Wu was very satisfied after seeing this and gave her a lot of dowry.
After a period of time, Wang Anshi returned home from a business trip, and the Wu family sent the woman to serve Wang Anshi. Suddenly, there was another person at home, which startled Wang Anshi. He asked, “Do you dare to ask if the girl has gone to the wrong place?” The woman then told Wang Anshi the truth. Originally, the woman had already married into a married woman, but due to the fact that her family owed a lot of silver to someone else, she could only tearfully agree to become a concubine in the palace.
After learning about the situation, Wang Anshi immediately called his wife Wang Shi over and angrily shouted, “This is too absurd. Hurry up and send the girl home.” In addition, Wang Anshi gave the woman a lot of silver to repay her debts to others and instructed her to live a good life in the future.
