In the history of our country, Chao shang, Jin merchants and Hui merchants for the "three major merchant gangs", Hui merchants that is, Huizhou merchants or Xin'an merchants, because Hui land is not easy to cultivate land, so the local people look for another way to survive, Wei and Jin period, Huizhou merchants have a great reputation, and later because the Song Dynasty economy developed rapidly, so Hui merchants are also very active, but the heyday is in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Hu Xueyan, the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, was one of the Hui merchants, Hu Xueyan was born in Huizhou Jixi, he and many Hui merchants started from the same, when they were young, their families were poor, but because of the early death of their father, Hu Xueyan, who was only 13 years old, began to go out alone and did everything.
He has worked as a buddy in a grain store and a trading house, an apprentice in a money bank, and swept the floor over a urinal pot, but Hu Xueyan is indeed a person who is willing to endure hardships and is diligent, so he has become an official partner in the money house. Later, because the Treasurer of Hangzhou Fukang Qianzhuang had no descendants, he regarded Hu Xueyan as his own son, and when he died, he gave the money worth 5,000 taels to Hu Xueyan.
Hu Xueyan stood at a new starting point, some situations have also changed, at the age of 26, he met Wang Youling, the "alternate Ambassador of Zhejiang Salt", and with Wang Youling's step-by-step rise, Hu Xueyan's business is getting better and better, in addition to Qianzhuang, he has also opened many shops.
But to talk about Hu Xueyan's other big starting point, that is, to gain the trust of Zuo Zongtang, thus embarking on the road of official business, which is actually a mutually beneficial and win-win development, because of Zuo Zongtang, Hu Xueyan's identity and status have changed, and zuo Zongtang's lack of military salaries and arms can be obtained from Hu Xueyan.
However, Hu Xueyan's smooth walk on this road will naturally hinder the pace of others. Hu Xueyan became a thorn in the eyes of many people, and those people were quietly lurking, waiting for the opportunity to completely drag Hu Xueyan from a high place.
Everyone knows that Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang are not compatible, Hu Xueyan and Sheng Xuanhuai are competitors, but it is not Li Hongzhang and Sheng Xuanhuai who really defeated Hu Xueyan, the skinny camel is bigger than Ma, even if Sheng Xuanhuai holds the telegraph bureau, Li Hongzhang is calling on his own relationship to give Hu Xueyan a trip, but still can not completely crush Hu Xueyan, the master who really defeated Hu Xueyan is a man named Xi Zhengfu.
Xi Zhengfu opened a money house with himself in the 1860s, and six years later he became a run street of the British hsbc bank, and ten years later he was a comprador of the Chengle HSBC Bank, and Li Hongzhang also specially wrote to the imperial court to sponsor him for official positions in order to win Xi Zhengfu over.
Xi Zhengfu's network of relations is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more powerful, there are 34 large and small banks opened by foreign businessmen in Shanghai, but the Xi family has served as compradors, and at the end of the 19th century, there is a proverb circulating: "Hui Gang people are fierce, see the Mountain Gang (that is, Suzhou Dongting Mountain, Xi Zhengfu is from here), and have to endure." ”
On that day, Hu Xueyan was proud of the spring breeze, hoarding raw silk to challenge the foreign merchants' business houses, which made Xi Zhengfu resentful, and it should be known that those foreign bosses were Xi Zhengfu's "golden lord fathers", and Xi Zhengfu could have today's achievements, relying on knowing how to please the gold lord.
Therefore, when Hu Xueyan lost power, many people came to step on a foot, and Xi Zhengfu's foot was the most fierce, even if Hu Xueyan sold his own property, it was difficult to keep himself, and from the perspective of the contest between Hu Yansong and Xi Zhengfu, it revealed a kind of sadness, and the biggest profit was still those foreigners' business houses.