The industrialist Sheng Xuanhuai and the red-top merchant Hu Xueyan were well-known businessmen in the late Qing Dynasty, Sheng Xuanhuai was the second generation of officials, and Li Hongzhang was a family friend, helping to organize finance, education, banking and other matters, from official to business. Sheng Xuanhuai was in charge of telegraphs, ships, railways, banks, etc., and was known as the father of Chinese industry. Hu Xueyan was born in the grassroots, relying on business talent and luck to turn into a businessman, and slowly approached Zuo Zongtang to enter the government from business.
Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were both figures who controlled the fate of the Qing Dynasty in the late Qing Dynasty, and the two were political enemies who did not look at each other, and Li Hongxing could not overthrow Zuo Zongtang, so he wanted to use Sheng Xuanhuai to overthrow Zuo Zongtang's money bag Hu Xueyan.
Hu Xueyan made quick money, using the money deposited by the government in his silver trumpet to calculate the time difference and make money from speculative business. Sheng Xuanhuai made money by industry and founded the Steamship Merchants Bureau. The two men have different political positions, and it is inevitable that the two tigers will fight each other.
Taking advantage of Zuo Zongtang's absence in handling Sino-French affairs, Sheng Xuanhuai found the right time to deal with Hu Xueyan. Hu Xueyan accumulated a large amount of raw silk to control market prices, and many foreign silk factories were forced to stop production, and it seemed that they were going to win a big victory. Sheng Xuanhuai took the shot, bought a large number of raw silk and sold it to Hu Xueyan's customers, contacted businessmen and foreign compradors around the world to let them not buy Hu Xueyan's raw silk, resulting in Hu Xueyan's raw silk inventory for a long time, tight funds, and Hu Xueyan's suffering. Li Hongzhang also sent a message to delay the huge amount of 800,000 silver owed to Hu Xueyan for 20 days, and when Hu Xueyan bought raw silk at a low price, the Italian raw silk market had a bumper harvest, and the price could not be bought. When Hu Xueyan was in extreme difficulty, Sheng Xuanhuai encouraged the people to go to Hu Xueyan's silver trumpet to get silver, saying that Hu Xueyan had been forced to produce property and was insolvent. Hu Xueyan's businesses collapsed one after another, and eventually collapsed, and the Qing court ordered a strict investigation of Hu Xueyan's finances and the execution of the raid. In November 1885, Hu Xueyan ended with hatred, and a generation of red-top merchants fell into a business empire.
Sheng Xuanhuai's daughter Song Ziwen's first love, Sheng Aiyi
Sheng Xuanhuai and Hu Xueyan were ostensibly a struggle between merchants, but behind them were actually a contest between the forces of feudal society, and Hu Xueyan was a victim of the political struggle between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang.
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