In 1840, the British invaders opened the door of modern China with cannons and warships, and at this time, with the proposition of "mastering the art of division and strength to control the yi", Li Hongzhang's late Qing dynasty ministers saw the importance of advanced science and technology in the West, and since then, a vigorous foreign affairs movement has begun.
Compared with the bureaucratic class, a large number of people of insight also realized the crisis in China at this time and threw themselves into the action of saving the country, and Zhang Xiao, the last leader of the late Qing Dynasty, was the first to put forward the slogan of "saving the country through industry" and put it into practice, because the great powers were busy with the First World War at this time, and national capitalism ushered in a brief spring.
Sheng Xuanhuai, the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, was such a person, he was committed to the development of the national cause, and he did not wantonly amass wealth, but actively devoted himself to charity, and the two servants in his family gave birth to two very well-known figures.
The richest man at the end of the Qing Dynasty, two servants are also extraordinary
Sheng Huaixuan was born in 1844 in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, he was born into a famous family, but he was very hardworking, there was no princely temperament of the children of a large family, the Sheng family at that time was very prosperous, the door was like a city, there were nearly two thousand servants alone, among all the servants, there were two of them who were most loved by him, these two people, one was called Lu Baozhen, the other was called Ni Guizhen.
First of all, Lü Baozhen, although he is a maid, but beautiful as a flower, very calm in the world, a small family jasper posture is particularly attractive, when Sheng Xuanhuai and Zhao Qinghua befriended, so there is the intention of assigning Lü Baozhen to Zhao Qinghua, because the feelings between friends will always fade with time, if the two are combined, then between him and Zhao Qinghua, there will be an in-law relationship, the relationship between the two will be even higher, and Lü Baozhen is gentle, by no means a sinister person, will be favored by Zhao Qinghua, in this, You can also find a good family for Lü Baohua and spend the rest of your life safely, and sure enough, Zhao Qinghua liked it very much at first sight of Lü Baozhen.
And Lü Baozhen also competed, and after marrying into the Zhao family, he spread his branches and leaves, and the vigorous love story between Zhao Yidi, the fourth lady of Zhao, and Zhang Xueliang, the young marshal, was also widely circulated in later generations.
As for another maid, Ni Guizhen, although she is a maid, her status is slightly more honorable than other servants, because he is the adopted wife of the Sheng family, responsible for the food, clothing and living of Sheng Huaixuan's descendants, and she was also born in a family of scholars, and later the family fell in the middle of the road, and she was good at arithmetic, and her achievements in piano made Sheng Xuanhuai take a fancy to her at a glance.
Ni Guizhen is also a devout Christian, she opposes feudalism, believes in democracy, relative to marriage, her premise is love, later, her love came, met the priest Song Jiashu, the two were married, and the two children left were the famous three sisters of the Song family" Song Xialing, Song Qingling and Song Meiling. ”
2. Li Zhongtang was a representative of the Red Top Merchants at the end of the Qing Dynasty
Sheng Xuanhuai's pair of wise eyes knows countless people. It has never been missed, as can be seen from the two servants in the previous article. And those who are familiar with history know that Sheng Xuanhuai is also Li Hongzhang's proud protégé and has won the support of Li Hongzhang. Sheng Xuanhuai's commercial war with Hu Xueyan is also a topic that people are talking about, but in fact, the big war between Sheng Xuanhuai and Hu Xueyan is only artificially operated, and the people in the rear are Li Hongzhang's and Zuo Zongtang, carefully reading the data, it can be seen that the person behind Hu Xueyan is Zuo Zongtang, and the person behind Sheng Huaixuan is Li Hongzhang, Zuo and Li have always regarded each other as a nail in the eye because of political discord in the court, and the political achievements of the two are needless to say, Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang and quelled the rebellion many times. It is a high position that has been carried out by virtue of military merit.
And Li Hongzhang can be said to be a complete politician, his true talent and practical learning is also beyond doubt, the original Xinjiang problem, it was the two people almost tore their faces, Zuo Zongtang advocated recovering the lost land, and Li Hongzhang believed that coastal defense should be emphasized, Xinjiang's land is barren and useless, and everyone should understand the later situation, Zuo Zongtang won, adopted the method of slow advance and rapid retreat, and recovered Xinjiang in one fell swoop, thus becoming famous in history, and the later red-top merchant commercial war was actually a war between Zuo and Li in the people, and later, with the death of Zuo Zongtang Hu Xueyan was defeated, and the great battle finally ended with the victory of Li Sheng and li sheng.
3. Committed to charity and creating multiple firsts
Although Sheng Xuanhuai accumulated a lot of wealth, but did not fish and meat people, bullying the township, on the contrary, but did a lot of charity, the time of national disasters, but also coincided with natural disasters and man-made disasters, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places have a great flood disaster, and Sheng Xuanhuai organized rescue for the first time, and donated a large number of materials, and called on all walks of life to donate. Before his death, Sheng Xuanhuai also made a will, half of his assets are always charitable, and the other half is left to his children's families, in this regard, whether Sheng Xuanhuai's merit is greater than his excesses, or his excesses are greater than his achievements, but his compassionate heart is nailed down.
As a pioneer of industry to save the country, he created a large number of real economies and created a whole ten firsts, such as the first civil steamship Merchants Bureau, the Telegraph Bureau, the first domestic bank, the first public library, etc. Sheng Xuanhuai was an official, and later resigned from the government to engage in business, thus becoming the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, perhaps he was tired of the official intrigues, so he hoped to save the country from the curve. In the end, his efforts were not in vain, although he failed to save the decaying old China, but he used his limited ability to help too many people, worthy of the title of the father of Chinese industry.
IV Summary
The evaluation of historical figures has always been positive and negative, just like a star, always true love powder and black powder coexist, although Sheng Xuanhuai also has some despised behavior, so that posterity's evaluation of him into two sides.
But what cannot be erased is that his dedication to the idea and achievement of industry to save the country, and his contribution to charity, gold is not enough, no one is perfect, take Lü Baozhen and Ni Guizhen as an analogy, if they did not meet Sheng Xuanhuai, and as far as the identity of the maid is concerned, I am afraid that the results are very different, and the results are different, there may not be zhao Yidi and the first lady of the Republic of China in the future.