Hu Xueyan is a very wonderful figure in history, in the seventh year of Guangxu, that is, in 1881, although Hu Xueyan was 58 years old, he still made great contributions to the country, he gave great help when Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang, so Hu Xueyan was named the second minister of the Qing court, rewarded with a yellow coat, and was allowed to ride a horse in the Forbidden City. It can be said that this is the symbol of the peak of Hu Xueyan's life.
Hu Xueyan's decline is mainly because he is too high-profile, Hu Xueyan, who makes a living in business, is very strong with foreigners in the raw silk business, in order to monopolize the raw silk business, Hu Xueyan used a lot of money to acquire new silk, resulting in a very lack of silk among foreigners, and his high-profile behavior caused many foreign businessmen to be dissatisfied with him, and he also gave himself a lot of enemies. Hu Xueyan, who was originally full of self-confidence, did not expect that the silk harvest in Europe was suddenly bumper, and there was an economic crisis in China, and Hu Xueyan, who had the upper hand, began to decline.
Business failures were secondary, and Hu Xueyan's decline was mainly political. If Li Hongzhang wanted to bring down Zuo Zongtang, he would definitely have to start with Hu Xueyan, Zuo Zongtang's proud assistant. Li Hongzhang's methods of dealing with Hu Xueyan were particularly vicious, which directly led to problems with Hu Xueyan's money bank funds, if Hu Xueyan reported the situation to Zuo Zongtang in time to apply for help, perhaps his situation was not so miserable, but Hu Xueyan, who wanted face, did not. Hu Xueyan was also framed by Li Hongzhang for scraping the oil and water of the imperial court, and after this news reached the ears of Empress Dowager Cixi, she was angry and directly dismissed Hu Xueyan from his official post, and also sealed his money estate, and overnight, Hu Xueyan was ruined and ruined.
After the news of the dismissal and seizure of the family property came out, Hu Xueyan did not transfer the funds, obediently accepted the punishment of the imperial court, and also gathered his aunts and wives to eat a family banquet, and this family banquet was actually a scattered meal, and he gave each aunt and wife 500 silver taels. It was a great difficulty to see who was sincere to him, and the only one who stayed with him was The Ninth Aunt. Hu Xueyan is also very particular about repaying debts, and he gives priority to paying off the dignitaries and poor families. The purpose of first returning to the ranks and dignitaries is to leave a way back for themselves, and perhaps they can get back up again with the help of relationships in the future, while the first poor people are considering the difficult lives of the poor people, and the well-off families are put last.
In order to save Hu Qingyutang, he made a lot of efforts to join his good friend Shangshu Wenyu of the Punishment Department to perform a play in front of Empress Dowager Cixi, and Wen Yu pretended to claim that Hu Xueyan had not repaid his debts in front of Cixi, and used Hu Qingyutang as collateral, and Empress Dowager Cixi gladly agreed, and that is how Hu Qingyutang was saved.
After Hu Xueyan cleaned up a series of messes, the last problem was his own posthumous affairs, Zuo Zongtang lost his position in old age, Li Hongzhang's camp pressed forward step by step, the only thing Hu Xueyan could do was to die a decent death, and finally he chose to commit suicide, and his ninth aunt also chose to hang himself after burying Hu Xueyan, and finally everyone did not even know where Hu Xueyan was buried, it is said that Hu Xueyan picked a lonely grave that no one knows.