At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China was in ruins and the whole country was on the verge of shattering. The Chinese nation suffered an unprecedented crisis, in order to overthrow the corrupt Qing Dynasty rulers, many people of insight secretly developed revolutionary forces, accumulated strength, and after the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, China's two-thousand-year-old absolute monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of China was established.
However, the Beiyang warlords led by Yuan Shikai stole the fruits of the revolution, which led china to a long-term warlord melee. During this period, the warlords of all walks of life fought with each other, constantly fought against each other, did not seek benefits for the people, but used the military power in their hands to amass wealth, so the warlords of the Republic of China period were the richest people at that time
。 Among them, the most bizarre is Wang Zhanyuan, who is not as enthusiastic about power as other warlords, but during his reign, he frantically amassed wealth and used most of the property he collected to buy real estate (houses, land).
。 Finally, when other warlords fell, he retired as an invisible rich man.
In his early years, he was poor
Wang Zhanyuan, born in 1861 in Nanguantao, although it is a town, there are only about two hundred households, and many of them are still fleeing the wilderness, including Wang Zhanyuan's ancestors. Wang Zhanyuan's ancestors are said to have fled here from Hongdong County in Shanxi in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, and he also claimed to be a descendant of Wang Dan (957-1017), the chancellor of the Northern Song Dynasty. But in his father Wang Xingren's generation, there were only two broken thatched huts, not even a gate, by short-term work for local landlords and rushing to sell cotton thread to earn a few copper plates to earn a living, until he was in his thirties to get a widow as a daughter-in-law, and this widow Hu clan also brought a girl herself, so the family of three lived a difficult life.
Later, the Hu clan gave birth to two sons to Wang Xingren, the eldest king Zhankui and the second king Zhanyuan. As a result, in the summer of 1870, the Wei River broke through, the Nanguan pottery was flooded, and Wang Xingren, who was nearly half a hundred years old, died of illness due to lack of clothing and food, and Wang Zhanyuan and his brother, who were less than ten years old at this time, could only beg along the street. As a result, the house leaked during the overnight rain, and Wang Zhanyuan's family, who had just lost their father, did not take long for the two rooms in the family to be scraped down by the heavy rainstorm, and the mother and son could only hold their headaches and cry (at this time, the sister was married).
At this time, the slightly older brother found a broken boat on the dock, earned some living expenses by helping the guests cross the river, and at the same time found a flat shoulder for the young Wang Zhanyuan and told him to go to the market to sell vegetables to maintain his life. In this extremely difficult environment, his mother died not long after, leaving only the two brothers to live together.
Forced to join the army
Later, a grocery store in the town just lacked a buddy, and Wang Zhanyuan, who sold vegetables in the city, went to work in this shop, carrying water and chopping firewood every day, wiping the table and sweeping the floor, which was still diligent, and was appreciated by the boss.
He was given about 1.5 taels of silver every month as a reward.
At that time, ordinary people's income a month was 2 to 3 silver and there was still a balance, and Wang Zhanyuan, a person who had so much income a month, also saved a lot of money at that time.
However, Wang Zhanyuan, who had money, began to go to the casino, developed a bad habit of gambling, and later because of gambling debts, began to steal some things in the store to pay off debts, and was found by the boss to dismiss him. The brother who knew about this was so angry that he tied him back home with a rope.
Later, when he reached the age of about 18, he was forced by life to join the army, and became a soldier in the Huai Army's Liu Ming Chuan Department, in charge of the big banner.
It was not until 1885 that Wang Zhanyuan had the opportunity to be sent to the first phase of the Beiyang Wubei Academy to study, and after graduation, he also participated in the Battle of yalu River with Zhang Huaizhi, Cao Kun and others. After that, they were all incorporated into the Beiyang Standing Army by Yuan Shikai, and Wang Zhanyuan also served as the steward (battalion commander) of the Seventh Battalion, and gradually rose to the rank of commander (brigade commander).
By the time he was 49 years old, he had already sat in the official position of Erpin and became a senior general in the Qing Army.
The great warlord was transformed into a chartered public
During the Xinhai Revolution, because of his sleek way of doing things, he was appointed to Hubei as a overseer, became a warlord of the dictatorial Hubei side, and began the road of crazy wealth.
He relied on
Drop shipping
Copper dollars, monopoly of military uniform production, the opening of silver trumpets to sell gold, the establishment of Xincheng Company to sell leather goods, the purchase of military supplies and other means, became a large landlord on the rich side.
And when he became the governor of Hubei, many of his poor relatives came to him, some do not know how many generations apart also came to get some benefits, at first Wang Zhanyuan loved to answer to them, but then suddenly changed his attitude, as long as it is the relatives who come with the past, they will give them money to open a restaurant to do business, and outsiders say that he values his feelings, and he does not forget his poor relatives when he is in a high position.
Soon there were many shops with the word "chun" in the local area, because Wang Zhanyuan's character "Zichun", at this time, the clear-eyed people immediately saw the doorway, because after Wang Zhanyuan used these relatives to open shops, those who wanted to curry favor with him would patronize these places.
As the boss behind the scenes, Wang Zhanyuan not only helped his poor relatives to keep a good reputation, but also quietly earned a pot full of money.
Later, because of the war against the warlords, Wang Zhanyuan no longer commanded the army, but settled in Tianjin as his own chartered duke. After he left office, probably because of his childhood experience, he bought most of his assets into real estate.
There are more than 3,000 houses in Tianjin alone, and most of them have been rented out, which is still not an additional 600 acres of land. He also invested in textiles, flour, banking, electric power, coal and other enterprises. Banks such as China, Communications, Salt Industry, and Jincheng have made huge investments. It also has shares in Tianjin East Asia Woolen Textile Company, Qingfeng Flour Company, Samsung Flour Company, Baoding Qianyi Flour Company, North China Ice Factory, as well as Jingji, Yongshunxing, Qianxianghou and other tea estates. How much wealth he actually occupies is difficult to count.
According to estimates at the time, it was expected to be around 30 million yuan (because the price of the Republic of China fluctuated greatly, which is about equivalent to 3 billion to 20 billion today). Therefore, at that time, it was often seen that Wang Zhanyuan in his later years wandered the streets and alleys every day to collect rent, compared with the later life of other warlords, his life can be described as very moist, and later the local people also gave him a nickname called "Tianjin Road Patrol Envoy".
Former residence of Wang Zhanyuan