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As we all know, the history of the fortune of Hu Xueyan, the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, is very legendary, he started from a young man from Hangzhou Qianzhuang, step by step towards the peak of life and success, not only rich enough to rival the country, but also official seal sanpin, becoming the most prominent red top businessman, experiencing strange experiences, twists and turns in the process, and the results are amazing.
Hu Xueyan
Hu Xueyan's legend from the bottom of society to the peak of life, if there is really any experience worth summarizing, it is the word "being a person". As the saying goes: "To be an official, you must learn from Zeng Guofan, and to do business, you must learn from Hu Xueyan", which means that he will be a man.
Although Hu Xueyan is good at making friends with powerful people, good at using relationships, and especially knows how to seize opportunities, these three points are indispensable on the road to his success, but you must know that the reason for his success is that in the final analysis, he will still be a man, with a broad mind, treat people sincerely, take advantage of the situation, grasp the bottom line, and give full play to the word "being a person" to the extreme.
On the column of the palanquin hall of Hu Xueyan's former residence, there is a couplet: "Heirloom has a way to survive, and there is nothing strange but frank in handling things", which highly summarizes Hu Xueyan's way of being a person and doing business, in a word. It can be said that without Hu Xueyan's generosity in human behavior, there would be no success and brilliance in his later career.
Hu Xueyan's former residence car hall couplet
The most emblematic of Hu Xueyan's ability to be a man is his friendship, whether rich or poor, the people he identifies, help to go to the soup and the fire, and never give up, which shows his inner mastery, and the atmosphere of being a man, the pattern of life is different, and the life experience will be very different.
The first nobleman he met was Wang Youling, but the moment of friendship was when Wang Youling was extremely poor and destitute.
Wang Youling was born in a family of eunuchs, but this family did not decline before he became an adult, his father died early, the family was destitute, Wang Youling had to live in the Hangzhou Tea House Liquor Store, a cup of tea for more than a year.
Wang Youling's father once donated officials to him, but because he had no money to dredge in the capital, it was like today's people who did not have a house had a low-priced purchase index, but because they had no money to buy, they could only look at the house and sigh.
Wang Youling is very depressed, but his temper and shelf are big, so no one loves to take care of him. Of course, he is arrogant and arrogant, and he is not willing to take care of others. Only Hu Xueyan, the guy in this money house, often paid attention to him, cared about him, and had the heart to help him.
Once, Wang Youling, who was grateful to Hu Xueyan's enthusiasm, confided his heart to Hu Xueyan, he did not want to be a thing in the pool, he wanted to be a big bird soaring in the sky, but he was short on hand and could not be used. Hu Xueyan understood and sympathized with Wang Youling's plight very much, and on the third day, he took a total of 500 taels of silver with a whole and a zero, and lent it to Wang Youling to encourage him to enter Beijing to operate.
Wang Youling knew that with Hu Xueyan's wealth, it was impossible to have such a huge fortune, so he shed tears of gratitude.
Indeed, Hu Xueyan was also born poor, his family was ordinary, he had no savings, and the 500 taels of silver he had borrowed from Qianzhuang, because Wang Youling had entered Beijing to operate, and if he wanted to succeed, his funds could not be less than 500 taels, so he tried to get this huge amount of money to lend to Wang Youling, hoping to achieve his dream.
Hu Xueyan xianned the fourth lady of Luo
When there is surplus in the pocket, borrowing money is borrowing money; when there is no surplus in the pocket, borrowing money from others is borrowing life. Because once Wang Youling can't pay it back, this money can make Hu Xueyan's debt high, not to mention, his life may have to be put in.
Therefore, Hu Xueyan helped Wang Youling, which was the help of sacrificing his life. What moved Wang Youling the most was this.
Therefore, Wang Youling took the 500 taels of silver lent by Hu Xueyan to the capital for some operation, not only made up for the actual deficiencies, but also made surprising achievements with his own talents and abilities, which attracted the attention of the imperial court, and then rose step by step, and later returned to his hometown and became the inspector of Zhejiang, which was prominent for a while.
After wang youling became a high-ranking official, the first thing he did was to try to repay the favor, under his operation and help, Hu Xueyan independently portaled, began to start a business, taking advantage of wang Youling's opportunity as the inspector of Zhejiang, opened a money bank, acted as an agent for the government treasury silver money matters, and dug his first bucket of gold. Subsequently, he also operated raw silk, pawnshops, pharmacies, etc., because of his harmony and clear concept, he earned a lot of money.
After Wang Youling's death, Hu Xueyan again befriended Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Zhejiang, and in the course of Zuo Zongtang's western expedition to Xinjiang and quelling the rebellion, when Zuo Zongtang was strapped for cash and grain, Hu Xueyan fought in all directions, moved from all sides, sent grain and money and arms, and single-handedly helped Zuo Zongtang to do the logistics of military supplies, so that Zuo Zongtang did not have to worry about worries, let go of the front, and finally put down the rebellion and made contributions to western Xinjiang.
Zuo Zongtang became one of the "Four Famous Ministers of Zhongxing in the Late Qing Dynasty" because of his meritorious service in Pingjiang.
Zuo Zongtang, like Wang Youling at that time, received the most sincere and friendly help from Hu Xueyan at the most difficult and difficult time, so he was most grateful.
For his contribution to Zuo Zongtang's recovery of Xinjiang, and also under Zuo Zongtang's retribution, Hu Xueyan was appointed by the imperial court as an envoy to the government, the general office of the "Four Provinces Treasury", the official residence of Sanpin, the reward wearing of yellow coats, the second poinsettia top wear, became the most famous red top merchant in the late Qing Dynasty, the richest man in China.
Statue sculpted in Zuo Zongtang's hometown of Xiangyin, Hunan
In the autumn of 1885, Zuo Zongtang died of illness. In the winter of the same year, Hu Xueyan also died at the age of 63.
Before his death, Hu Xueyan left a will for future generations, one of which was to warn his descendants: "Do not approach the White Tiger." ”
So, what exactly does this "white tiger" mean? In fact, white tiger means silver. People die for money, birds die for food, many people live for the word "money", but if the goal of life is only money, then what happiness and meaning is there in life?
Here, on the one hand, Hu Xueyan educated his children and grandchildren that the goal of life can be struggled is not only to make money, but also to make money in Rome, and there are many ways to bring glory and happiness; at the same time, Hu Xueyan also told his children and grandchildren not to do business as much as possible, especially in the era when businessmen are not respected, let alone be trapped in business.
Hu Xueyan, dressed in a flower-wearing feather
After Hu Xueyan's death, his descendants also remembered his instructions, and almost none of his descendants were in business.
Although the commercial empire established by Hu Xueyan finally collapsed, the reason for his defeat was not that he could not be a man, nor was it poor management, but that in the change of the times, the officials and people fought, and the mud and sand were all down, drowning out personal talents.
Li Hongzhang, a famous official of the late Qing Dynasty who was also a member of the Western affairs school, was also Zuo Zongtang
At that time, although Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang were both foreign affairs factions, they were still opponents in the DPRK after all, and between the opponents, there were factions, often either friends or enemies. Therefore, in the fighting methods of Li and Zuo, Li Hongzhang became the victor who came to the top, and Hu Xueyan, as Zuo Zongtang's aide, was naturally the first target to strike, so he was liquidated.
In addition, Hu Xueyan had the backbone and integrity, and when foreigners were rampaging through the Chinese market and plundering China's wealth, he stepped forward and used his wealth to wage commercial wars with foreigners, and was brutally encircled and suppressed by foreigners.
However, the hero of the successful, but Hu Xueyan, who once rode the shopping mall and crossed the official field for decades, is not also a hero? Who can say that when Liu Bang seized the world, Xiang Yu was not a hero? Therefore, even if Hu Xueyan was later attacked, he was still a banner of the political and business circles of that era, and his personality still had many places worth summarizing and learning from future generations.
Being a person and doing business, in Hu Xueyan's body, is actually just two sides of a coin.