History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Among the many warlords in the Republic of China, the name Wang Zhanyuan is not very loud, and there is no comparison with Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zongchang, Wu Peifu, but when it comes to the ability to earn money, Lao Wang is not inferior at all.
Wang Zhanyuan was a native of Handan, Hebei Province, who defected to the Huai Army in his early years, and later participated in Yuan Shikai's small station training, and since then he has been promoted all the way to the capital and the second pin.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Wang Zhanyuan was quickly promoted to general of the army because of his heart and eyes for fighting, and he was also appointed as the governor of Hubei, a major member of the party. However, this person's reputation is not very good, the biggest feature is greed, which can be seen from his two nicknames.
The first nickname was "Chun Ge".
After Wang Zhanyuan became the overseer of Hubei, he took advantage of it in various names, causing the entire Hubei region to complain. Even his staff could not bear to look at it, so they reminded him to take over it properly, otherwise the people's resentment would be too great, and the position of the Hubei overseer would probably not be guaranteed.
When the staff said this, Wang Zhanyuan was really a little scared, and if this position was lost, there would be nothing. So he thought of a way.
Soon after, a phenomenon occurred in the Overseer's Palace: the number of relatives who came to him every day increased significantly. In the past, when these poor relatives came, Lao Wang didn't see them behind closed doors, or took some silver dollars to send them away as soon as possible, but in these days, he completely changed, everyone came, he was well entertained, and declared to the outside world: "These poor relatives can't live in their hometown, I am a person with heavy feelings, I can't ignore it." ”
Soon, a very interesting phenomenon appeared in the Hankou area: many streets were bustling with signs with the name of "Spring", including Minghu Spring, YizhiChun, Penglaichun, etc., some operating restaurants, some operating tea houses, and some operating hotels...
After investigation by people with hearts, the owners of these "Spring" names were all relatives who came to wang Zhanyuan, and people quickly understood the reasons for this.
It turned out that this was a method of accumulating wealth that Wang Zhanyuanxin had come up with. He said to others: "These relatives have come to join me, and I cannot arrange to work in the Overseer's Palace, after all, they are not in public office, but they cannot be ignored, so I will pay everyone out of my own pocket and let them do business." Do a good job, give me back the money, make a loss, all counted on my head. ”
Wang Zhanyuan's explanation seems to be very clean, but in fact, this is a whitewash of his wealth.
The bosses behind these businesses are Wang Zhanyuan, and because Lao Wang's name is "Zi Chun", all the shops have a "Chun" character, the intention is very clear: I have typed out the "Chun" signboard, and those overseers and rich merchants everywhere have watched and done it themselves.
This is good, Wang Zhanyuan earned more money than before, but his reputation is obviously better than before, and no one can say anything.
Later, due to warlord battles, Wang Zhanyuan went to the wilderness and lived in Tianjin. There are many warlords like him in Tianjin, but these people just stay at home and don't go out easily, but Wang Zhanyuan is different, he rarely stays at home, and he keeps shuttling through the streets of Tianjin all day. Soon after, he got a nickname: "Tianjin Road Patrol Envoy".
According to legend, at that time, people on the major roads in Tianjin could see Wang Zhanyuan from time to time, wearing a melon skin hat and a large key hanging from his waist, maybe stopping where he was, and then took the key to open the door and enter the house.
Some people guessed whether Wang Zhanyuan had fallen into disgrace and worked as a house keeper and the like. In fact, on the contrary, the old king of the people did not have no money to spend, but too much money.
During Wang Zhanyuan's warlord conquest, in addition to fighting wars, the most important task was to accumulate wealth and invest in fixed assets, and when he went to the field, there were more than 3,000 properties purchased in Tianjin alone, and then all of them were rented.
After going to the wilderness, Lao Wang had nothing to do, so he went out shopping every day, collected rent from house to house, and got the nickname of "Tianjin Road Patrol Ambassador".
Are you envious of this kind of life?
Don't be in a hurry to envy, let's calculate an account for him, Lao Wang has a total of more than 3,000 houses, collect rent every month, an average of 100 houses per day, even if each family takes 3 minutes, plus 3 minutes of walking, all of which have to be collected for a full 10 hours, and they have to eat or drink for a moment.
What fun is there in such a life?