Do you really know Fang Xuanling? The history encyclopedia editor provides detailed related content for everyone.
In ancient times, it was normal for men to have three wives and four concubines, and many men even took pride in it, thinking that the more wives and concubines they married, the more capable they were. But there are also some men who only married one wife in their lifetime, such as Fang Xuanling. Although he was highly influential and highly valued by the emperor, he never took concubines. Even if Emperor Taizong wanted to send him beautiful women or even if the princess voluntarily married him, he was not swayed. What the hell is going on here?
Fang Xuanling was a very famous prime minister in the Tang Dynasty. He was extremely talented and assisted Emperor Taizong in governing the country, making many contributions to the country. Moreover, he was loyal to Emperor Taizong and always followed his side. Such loyal ministers were naturally highly valued by Emperor Taizong. He was also extremely concerned about him. When Tang Taizong found out that he had only married one wife, he wanted to give him a concubine. However, when Fang Xuanling heard that the emperor wanted to give him a concubine, she was not only unhappy but also very anxious.
He refused Emperor Taizong’s offer to take a concubine for him and instead said that he only needed one wife. But this made the emperor very unhappy, but it didn’t cause too much trouble. On the contrary, the empress wanted to marry her princess to him because she saw that Fang Xuanling was talented and had made so many achievements. She developed feelings of admiration for him and wanted to marry him.
Who knows if Fang Xuanling heard that the princess was going to marry him or refused, which made the empress feel strange. After all, the princess was willing to marry, which was a great honor. Why did Fang Xuanling still refuse? But Fang Xuanling refused to reveal the reason no matter how hard he tried. Instead, the minister next to him who knew him said it was because his wife was strict and did not allow him to remarry. After hearing this reason, the princess wanted to see what kind of person Xuanling’s wife was, who could manage her husband tightly.
The next day, the princess came to Fang Xuanling’s house and met his wife. I saw that his wife had an ugly appearance, a rough voice, and was not gentle at all, but she was extremely neat when it came to doing things and looked very virtuous. And as soon as the princess saw Fang Xuanling and his wife, she didn’t beat around the bush and directly expressed her intentions. At the same time, she didn’t understand why Fang Xuanling refused to marry her. Was it really because his wife was too vicious?
After hearing this, Fang Xuanling did not immediately explain. Instead, she took the princess to the study and showed her a portrait of an extremely beautiful woman dancing gracefully, like a fairy. Even the princess felt inferior to her. The princess asked Fang Xuanling, who is this woman?
Fang Xuanling said that this was her ugly wife. It turned out that she wasn’t originally that ugly, but because Fang Xuanling fell seriously ill later, she almost couldn’t get through several times. It was his wife who, in order to encourage Fang Xuanling to continue fighting against the disease, spared no effort in digging out one of her own eyes and destroying her appearance. Upon seeing this, Fang Xuanling was greatly moved and also gave him great courage to fight against the illness.
Later, Fang Xuanling finally overcame the illness and gradually recovered his health, while his wife’s appearance had been ruined and could never be restored to before. But Fang Xuanling did not mind at all, and instead loved his wife even more, while also swearing to never let her down for the rest of his life. Upon hearing this, the princess understood and was deeply moved by their love story. She voluntarily chose to withdraw and sincerely wished them well. Afterwards, Emperor Taizong of Tang no longer mentioned the matter of Fang Xuanling taking concubines.
