There is a widely circulated saying in China: "Zeng Guofan" must be read for officials, and "Hu Xueyan" must be read for businessmen. Zeng Guofan and Hu Xueyan are both famous figures, the former is one of the four famous ministers of Late Qing Zhongxing, and the latter is the most successful red-top merchant in the history of the Qing Dynasty for more than two hundred years. Hu Xueyan, a native of Jixi, Anhui Province, was born in 1823, and when he was a child, his family was very poor and he made a living by herding cattle for people. At the age of 12, his father died tragically, and the family lost its pillar, making life even more difficult.
After a year of strong support, the family could not even open the pot, and 13-year-old Hu Xueyan was forced to go out and become an apprentice in Hangzhou's "Xinhe Qianzhuang". After three years of miscellaneous work, he became a formal guy in the money house. So how did Hu Xueyan get rich? Mainly by a venture capital investment. According to the history of Ye, once Hu Xueyan was ordered to go out to collect the account, and received a total of 500 taels of silver arrears. On the way back, due to thirst, he went to a small tea house to drink tea, and happened to meet Wang Youling, the "alternate ambassador of Zhejiang Salt".
At that time, donation officials were very popular in the late Qing Dynasty, and Wang Youling also donated a "Zhejiang salt ambassador", but he was always an alternate. This time, he was ready to go to the capital to do activities and seek a practical job. But the coiled entanglement was about to run out, and when he was in distress, he encountered Hu Xueyan. Hu Xueyan saw that Wang Youling had a list of talents, talked well, and decided that he would be able to achieve something in the future. So without hesitation, he gave Wang Youling all the 500 taels of silver he received from the account, and Hu Xueyan's move made Wang Youling grateful and vowed that if he could enter the army, he would be rewarded.
At that time, 500 taels of silver was not a small amount, and this was not Hu Xueyan's own money, if he did not admit it after looking away or Wang Youling's hair, then Hu Xueyan's life would be ruined. Fortunately, his venture soon paid off, with Wang Youling acting as the prefect of Huzhou, then as the prefect of Hangzhou shortly after, and then as the governor of Zhejiang a few years later. For Hu Xueyan, who sent charcoal in the snow that year, Wang Youling not only funded him to open a money house, a pharmacy, and a silk shop, but also entrusted the army's grain and equipment and the government's transportation to Hu Xueyan.
With the support of Wang Youling, Hu Xueyan's wealth was like a snowball, which quickly accumulated, and almost mastered more than half of Zhejiang's wartime finance, which is a very staggering figure. However, soon after, Hu Xueyan's career was in crisis, when Li Xiuchen led the Taiping Army into the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions and besieged the Hangzhou regiment, Hu Xueyan was ordered to raise grain and grass, but when he rushed to Hangzhou with 200,000 stones of military food, Hangzhou had been breached by the Taiping Army, and Wang Youling also hanged himself. Hu Xueyan suddenly lost his patron, and his career was facing a serious crisis.
After Wang Youling's death, Zuo Zongtang succeeded him as the governor of Zhejiang. At that time, due to frequent wars, agricultural wastes, and a shortage of grain, Zuo Zongtang was a newcomer and was very troubled by the grain and grass problem. This gave Hu Xueyan a chance, he gave zuo Zongtang all the 200,000 stones of grain he raised, which solved Zuo Zongtang's urgent needs, and Hu Xueyan also climbed Zuo Zongtang's "big tree". With the support of Hu Xueyan, Zuo Zongtang created a Changjie Army of more than a thousand people, all equipped with foreign guns and cannons. In addition, Hu Xueyan also assisted Zuo Zongtang in opening the "Fuzhou Shipping Bureau" in Fuzhou, which was the first new shipyard in Chinese history. Zuo Zongtang also gave Hu Xueyan a lot of care, and his business spread throughout the country.
By 1872, Hu Xueyan's wealth had reached 20 million taels of silver, making him the richest man in China at the time. Later, when Zuo Zongtang recaptured Xinjiang, there was a shortage of grain and wages, and Hu Xueyan came forward and borrowed 18.7 million taels of silver from the British, solving the problem of funding for the Western Expeditionary Army. Zuo Zongtang said in his recital to the Qing court: "The merits of Xueyan are no different for a while. Hu Xueyan was also awarded the title of Sanpin by the Qing court, and he wore a yellow coat and became a famous red-top merchant. A few years later, Hu Xueyan failed to speculate in the silk business, losing millions of taels of silver at once, which gave Li Hongzhang the opportunity to fall into the well.
Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang had always been at odds, and when Zuo Zongtang regained Xinjiang, Li Hongzhang vigorously opposed it. He knew that if he wanted to overthrow Zuo Zongtang, he must first get rid of Hu Xueyan, and Li Hongzhang first obtained evidence that Hu Xueyan had gained benefits when borrowing money from the British through his relationship, so as to prevent Zuo Zongtang from coming forward. Then he instructed his henchmen to spread the word that Hu Xueyan had made huge losses in the silk business and that the flow of funds had been broken. The depositors who heard the news went to Hu Xueyan's money house to run, and as a result, it took only 3 days for Hu Xueyan to go bankrupt, and he quickly died in grief. Before his death, Hu Xueyan warned his descendants: Silver money is a white tiger and cannot be touched, and stipulates that posterity is not allowed to do business. In 1885, Hu Xueyan, a generation of business wizards, died of illness at the age of 62.
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