Why did Zhang Zhidong, the four famous ministers, keep taking concubines instead of getting married?

The reason why Zhang Zhidong, one of the four famous ministers, kept taking concubines is that Zhang Zhidong had three wives before, namely Shi, Tang and Wang, but these wives lived in poverty. Although Zhang Zhidong was very kind to them, they either had an accident or died. At that time, Zhang Zhidong was superstitious and thought his life was too hard. He killed his wife and never married again. However, Zhang Zhidong also has concubines. At that time, in order to meet his physiological needs, he didn't give them names for fear that they would be killed like his three wives.

Zhang Zhidong was one of the four famous ministers of ZTE in the late Qing Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong, Zeng Guofan, Zuo and Li Hongzhang made great contributions to the development of the country. Zhang Zhidong not only supported the Westernization Movement, but also actively set up modern industry and modern military. He also attached importance to education and founded many institutions of higher learning, such as South China University of Technology, Wuhan University and Nanjing University. Many schools run by Zhang Zhidong are still developing here today, and have trained and exported many talents for modern times.

Zhang Zhidong is very diligent. He often forgets to eat and sleep for business. Sometimes he can sit and fall asleep while dealing with official business or eating, or he can sit and sleep for a few hours and wake up to continue dealing with official business. People will wonder, doesn't Zhang Zhidong care about his family and wife when he sits like this? In fact, it's not that nobody cares, but that nobody cares. Zhang Zhidong's wife has passed away, and the servants around Zhang Zhidong dare to take care of it. The best they can do is to persuade them to have a rest.

In fact, Zhang Zhidong had been married three times before, but none of the three wives stayed with him for long. Basically, after entering the door for a year or two, you either have an accident or get sick and eventually die. Ancient people were superstitious and attributed this phenomenon to Zhang Zhidong's hard life, which would kill his wife around him. Although Zhang Zhidong accepted many foreign advanced ideas, he thought he could get away with it every time, so he believed this statement that he refused to get married and never got married again. However, Zhang Zhidong is still a normal person. In order to meet the demand, he can only keep his concubines, but he won't straighten them, so that they can save their lives and keep their reputation.