In addition to those who have made windfalls from heaven, most of them are related to ingenuity, which is the so-called wisdom to make money.
Since the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, the Zeng Guofan lineage has derived two figures who have influenced history, one is Zuo Zongtang and the other is Li Hongzhang. Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were both representatives of the foreign affairs movement. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Li Hongzhang's influence in the Foreign Affairs Movement was greater, and Zuo Zongtang was more involved in military and purely political activities.
Hu Xueyan was twenty years older than Sheng Xuanhuai, with excellent business acumen, because of his defection to Zuo Zongtang and help him take care of military finances, with the full display of Zuo Zongtang's military talent, Zuo Zongtang's political status in the Qing court rose step by step, hu Xueyan also became the richest man in the country under the shade of Zuo Zongtang. When The wealth of the Hu Xueyan family was rival to the country, Sheng Xuanhuai had just debuted.
Reading is not enough to learn the sword
Sheng Xuanhuai was born in 1844 in a standard eunuch family, his grandfather was Jiaqing's juren, and his father was a jinshi of Daoguang, but when he arrived at Sheng Xuanhuai, he lost interest in the name of merit and could no longer be promoted after winning xiucai. Sheng Xuanhuai was very intelligent since childhood, and his sensitivity to money and wealth was very high, and at the age of 17, he helped his father Sheng Kang successfully mediate the Sichuan-Huai salt dispute, which impressed his father.
In 1870, Sheng Xuanhuai entered the shogunate of Li Hongzhang on the recommendation of his father's friend Yang Zonglian and became one of his staff. Li Hongzhang and Sheng Kang were originally good friends in the official field, and Sheng Xuanhuai left a deep impression on Li Hongzhang at first sight. The young Sheng Xuanhuai, because of his mature and sophisticated character, coupled with his meticulous work and unique analysis of problems, won the appreciation of the old bureaucrat Li Hongzhang, and soon became Li Hongzhang's most effective staff officer. Although he did not have an official eight-share academic qualification, Sheng Xuanhuai was still able to succeed in the official field of the late Qing Dynasty.
Haiphong and Saifang, Lafayette's Qingyi Garden, Sheng Xuanhuai's brilliant plan
On November 5, 1874, "Coastal Defense Urgently Needs to Prepare for Armament and Seek Practical Evacuation" was submitted from the Prime Minister's Office to cixi, which was a recital of coastal defense. The song emphasizes the importance of building a navy, and many matters such as military training, shipbuilding, employment, salary raising, and protractedness are requested to be discussed by the ministers of the coastal provinces. At this time, Zuo Zongtang began to talk about land defense and made a big disagreement, but fortunately both sides were foreign affairs factions, and the final result was to appoint Li Hongzhang and Shen Baozhen to supervise the defense of Beiyang and Nanyang. Soon after Shen Baozhen died of illness, Li Hongzhang seized the opportunity to build a navy and emulate the West, so that it would not be as simple as coastal defense, but also a complete set of naval offensive and defensive systems. Li Hongzhang eventually monopolized power, and the Beiyang marine division system began to appear, and there was a later Beiyang warlord.
The dispute between coastal defense and Cypriot defense is actually a dispute over the national policy of the late Qing Dynasty, and most of the supporters of coastal defense are ministers from the south and east coasts, while those who support Serbian defense are mostly ministers from the north and northwest, mainly Zuo Zongtang and Wang Wenshao. In fact, those who supported the Serbian defense were not completely opposed to coastal defense, and with the development of time, coastal defense eventually occupied the main position of the defense of the late Qing Dynasty, which also opened the curtain of the accelerated demise of the late Qing Dynasty. As far as the late Qing Dynasty is concerned, which is the more important, coastal defense and Cypriot defense, the fact is that The Serbian defense is the fundamental place to maintain the security of the empire, and the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle is a living proof.
At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai had become the first strategist and confidential secretary under Li Hongzhang's account, and whenever there was a major event, Li Hongzhang often liked to ask Sheng Xuanhuai's meaning first, and Li Hongzhang's words to Sheng Xuanhuai must be listened to every count, and although the two were superior-subordinate relations, they actually forgot to make friends.
In order to show his achievements, Li Hongzhang invited the Chinese military dignitaries and foreign envoys to watch the naval performance on this day. The sea is calm and the blue sky is cloudless. On the parade stage, Prince Alcohol was centered, Li Hongzhang in his left hand, Sheng Xuanhuai in his right hand, and the envoys of Britain, France, Germany, and the United States sat on the left and right. As soon as Li Hongzhang waved his hand, three salutes sounded, and all kinds of ships came and went, lined up in one word, and the sailors on board waved the banner of "welcome." For this exercise, Prince Alcohol and other ministers praised it, and Li Hongzhang was indeed a minister of the imperial court.
During this exercise, Prince Shuo privately revealed to Li Hongzhang that "Lafayette is going to return to the emperor, and the emperor is preparing to build the Qingyi Garden in order to express his filial piety to Cixi, and is currently raising funds in various aspects, and the amount of this batch of money will be very huge... ”
Prince Shuo's meaning is very clear, nothing more than hoping that Li Hongzhang can use this opportunity to donate a huge amount of money to the emperor, but in fact, although the naval expenditure is relatively large, it has already spent most of it on coastal defense construction alone. Back at the Governor's Palace, Li Hongzhang told Sheng Xuanhuai about the incident and said that he would donate at least 10 million taels of silver, otherwise it would be impossible to say. In fact, more than that, while the Prince of Alcohol expressed this matter to Li Hongzhang, he actually implied that he himself also needed a large kickback to say good things in front of the emperor and the empress.
Sheng Xuanhuai tried to say that now that naval construction has just started, some of the original warships are too old, naval guns also need to be purchased, and foreign naval guns are changing with each passing day, and if war breaks out, it will be difficult to deal with. Li Hongzhang also expressed helplessness, as a veteran politician, he knew the importance of doing a good job in the relationship between superiors and subordinates, and he believed that if a choice was made between the two, he would have to embezzle naval military funds to the emperor to build gardens first, and as for naval construction, he could only put it later and wait for a few years.
Sheng Xuanhuai told Li Hongzhang at this time that since both were very important, it was better to build the Qingyi Garden and the Navy. Li Hongzhang shook his head helplessly, there is so much money, if you give it to the garden, the navy will have no money, and if you give it to the navy garden, you can't build it.
Sheng Xuanhuai's idea to Li Hongzhang was: You may wish to make a promise to the emperor and the empress dowager first, and report the number to a larger one, the emperor can also be comfortable, in fact, the donation time is delayed, use this time to build the navy first, there are still some years away from the sixtieth birthday of the empress, in this time to find a way to make up this donation, so that there is no mistake, in the sixtieth birthday, you can also save a sum of life money. Li Hongzhang felt clever when he heard this, but the gap in this money was still very large, and he was afraid that he would still not be able to make it out by then, Sheng Xuanhuai replied that he had a way to squeeze out five or six million, and Li Hongzhang only grew a breath, praising Sheng Xuanhuai for having many methods and courage, so he would do it according to Sheng Xuanhuai's method.
The mountain does not turn around, the road does not turn around, people must learn to be flexible, if they do not change, the above situation, there will be the embarrassment of choosing one of the two, Sheng Xuanhuai this high view, everyone is happy, the navy can continue to expand, the emperor's garden is also reasonable, and the empress dowager is also satisfied.