Introduction: Hu Xueyan, White Tiger. One is a human being and the other is an animal, how can they not be linked together, so why did Hu Xueyan warn his children before he died, "Do not approach the White Tiger"? Could it be that he was injured by a white tiger before he died?
The "white tiger" is not actually an animal, but refers to money, that is, the currency in circulation in the Qing Dynasty at that time.
silver
。 The reason why Hu Xueyan said this is a kind of summary of his "failed" life before he died. However, the result of failure is something he himself does not want to see.
Thinking about how refreshing it was to fight "coastal defense" and fight against the great powers, to this day we can still feel the thrill of that time when we recall his participation in the recovery of Xinjiang and the commercial war.
However, it was this business genius who finally lost in the Sino-foreign alliance, and finally ended up with a confiscation of family property, and there was no snow rock in the world from then on.
So today we will look back at how this once-popular business tycoon created his business empire and how he lost to the raw silk business war between China and foreign countries.
"The Richest Man"
Regarding Hu Xueyan's origin, here is still a simple nagging word.
He was born in poverty, and initially he was just a young man in the money house, but he was smart and generous, good at making friends, and especially good at dealing with officials, so it took only more than ten years to become a prominent figure in both political and business circles.
The key factor for Hu Xueyan's development was that he was good at using the resources of the official family, befriending Wang Youling, the ambassador of Jiangyan, when he was in Hangzhou, and using his connections to carry out various businesses in Zhejiang. After becoming bigger, he befriended Zuo Zongtang, and with the help of Zuo Zongtang, Hu Xueyan was like boarding a special express train, developing particularly rapidly, and became the "richest man" in the country at that time.
But things are mutual, yesterday you helped me, today it is my turn to help you, the tense and exciting "fighting coastal defense" gradually opened the curtain.
In 1865, Agubo invaded Xinjiang with the support of the great powers, and in the face of sudden war, the imperial court was divided into two factions, one faction was the coastal defense faction led by Li Hongzhang, and the other was the Saifang faction advocated by Zuo Zongtang.
Solid backing
In this war without smoke of gunfire, Hu Xueyan became Zuo Zongtang's solid backing, actively wandering among major officials in the political field, and resolutely supporting Zuo Zongtang in the economic aspect.
In zuo and hu's view, Xinjiang is an inherent territory, and if this land is abandoned, it will undoubtedly tell the great powers that the Qing Empire is a lamb that can be slaughtered by others, xinjiang today is Gansu, so it is impossible to give up any land.
It was also under this strong belief that Zuo Zongtang finally said that Cixi had moved, but Cixi was a wise man, and it was okay to fight, but the military expenditure was limited, and the imperial court only had 500 taels of silver, and the rest was left to watch.
When the opportunity was won, money was naturally not a problem, Hu Xueyan immediately took action, he did not hesitate to mortgage the goods, borrowed money from foreign banks, and finally gathered nearly 2,000 taels of silver, zuo Zongtang embarked on the road of the western expedition with this heavy "military expenditure".
However, what Hu Xueyan did not expect was that it was his righteous deeds that deeply stimulated Li Hongzhang.
Li knew very well that the reason why he failed was because Zuo Zongtang had this money bag, so if he wanted to win back a round and win more military funds from the imperial court to build coastal defense, he had to overthrow Hu Xueyan's "money bag".
But Li Hongzhang understood that it was not good for anyone to be the ground, so he decided to wait for the opportunity to die with one blow. Sure enough, this opportunity made him wait.
Bloody merchants
After Zuo Zongtang's triumphant return, the big stone in Hu Xueyan's heart was put down, so he began to fight a big fight, and his goal was the price of raw silk that had always been controlled by the great powers.
Raw silk is a high-grade textile material inherent in China, and the products made are not only soft and silky, but also elastic, so they have always been favored by Western merchants. This time, Hu Xueyan planned to "shear the wool" from the bodies of the great powers, so that they knew that the merchants of the Great Qing Dynasty were not easy to mess with.
However, Hu Xueyan also understands that the great powers have a very strong set of capital operation capabilities, and if he wants to win, he must rely on his own local advantages. Out of caution, he first tried the bull knife, through small-scale procurement, and then contacted major raw silk merchants to form an alliance.
After several small-scale confrontations, Hu Xueyan tasted the sweetness, he is also full of confidence, as a local businessman, as long as you control the price of raw silk, and then through your own strong capital flow to acquire raw silk on a large scale, in conjunction with the major silk merchants to unify the price, to win this business war.
Heaven forbid
The development of things is also just as Hu Xueyan thought, although the Western merchant's popularity jumped up and down, but he could only buy the high-priced raw silk in his hands.
However, just when everything was in order, the world's weather vane suddenly changed. First Italy produced relatively good raw silk, followed by the outbreak of the Sino-French War, and many Western merchants stopped purchasing for fear of causing a financial tsunami.
If these goods cannot be digested in time, then the 15,000 bags of raw silk hoarded by Hu Xueyan will become a pile of waste. What's worse is that Hu Xueyan's various loans and loans have expired, and he can only deal with them cheaply.
It was also this "providence to make people" that caused him to suffer heavy losses, and the history books recorded that he was "half of the family wealth".
However, how could Li Hongzhang let go of this opportunity, on the one hand, he sent people to Cixi to accuse him of "embezzling the state's grain and wages", and on the other hand, he secretly joined forces with Sheng Xuanhuai to spread rumors, resulting in Hu's money being squeezed. This is not the end, Li Hongzhang continued to add firewood and fire, which eventually led to Hu being raided.
A generation of legendary merchants fell.
To this day, when people mention his name, they feel a little sad, how did such a patriotic businessman end up like this?
In fact, in the final analysis, it is like that sentence
"Success is also Xiao He defeat is also Xiao He"
It was precisely because he got too close to the people in the officialdom that he eventually fell victim to the political struggle between Zuo and Li.
Nevertheless, his commercial success is undeniable, and his business acumen is rare to transform from a small guy into the "richest man" in the Qing Dynasty at that time.
brief summary
Finally, it is necessary to talk about the starting point of Hu Xueyan's final defeat, which is the core of the dispute between the left and Li, whether coastal defense is important or border defense is important.
Let's put aside the modern concept, during the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang believed that the Qing Dynasty's many losses were caused by naval battles, and the two Opium Wars, the great powers were all riding on the waves, which was imminent in Li's eyes, so he did his best to build coastal defense. However, he ignored the political system at that time, and for a country that had been feudal for thousands of years, it was not a few cannons, a few warships, and a few reformers who could save it.
Zuo Zongtang and Hu Xueyan believe that territory is the foundation of the country, which is the so-called
"It is better to crush jade than to be complete", "on the side of the bed, do not allow others to snore",
The defence of territory is paramount.
In my opinion, the concept of Hu Xueyan and hu xueyan is very correct, the loss of naval warfare can also be contained through land warfare, but the loss of territory, especially the loss of border territory, is likely to be permanently lost, which is similar to Hu Xueyan's business thinking.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Red Top Merchant