At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, in the Jiangnan area, Shen Wansan was mentioned, which can be said to be known to women and children, and everyone knows it. This man's life was extremely legendary, from a peasant with a lot of land, he quickly became the richest man in the Ming Dynasty, and he became famous for funding the ming grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang to build the city of Nanjing, and finally declined because he was jealous of Zhu Yuanzhang. Its decline was as fast as his beginnings, and in an instant it fell apart and his family was destroyed.
What kind of person was Shen Wansan, how did he go from a farmer to the richest man in the world, and how did he decay?
Shen Wansan, whose original name was Shen Fu, followed the Yuan Dynasty system in the early Ming Dynasty, dividing the people into five classes, namely Qi, Qi, Lang, Guan, and Xiu. The show is the most superior, and the show is divided into grades according to the amount of property, and those who have more property are called ten thousand households. Ten thousand households are divided into one, two or three grades, this Shen Fu is the third class ten thousand households in the show, called "ten thousand households and three shows", so it is called Shen Wansan.
Regarding Shen Wansan's history of his fortune, there are many folk legends, some people say that he is proficient in alchemy, and can turn stones into gold; some people say that he has a cornucopia at home, Shen Wansan once released more than a hundred frogs, and the frogs repaid their kindness, so that he could get a cornucopia; some people said that he fished in the Wusong River, found a large number of black gems, he watched the Big Dipper at night, and the next day he got the horseshoe gold transformed by the seven stars, and so on. Obviously, these are nonsense.
So how did Shen Wansan get started?
First, forcibly occupy and reclaim the land. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and the powerful and powerful rose up, and Shen Wansan took advantage of the chaos to occupy the land of many people who died or fled for their own (it can be seen that the Shen family was originally a bit powerful), coupled with the reclamation of wasteland, the field property continued to increase, and gradually became a local tycoon.
Two; the nobles give each other. The "Zhouzhuang Zhenzhi" records that Shen Wansan's wealth was obtained by the Wujia people's Lu clan, and the Lu clan was rich in Jiangzuo, and all they did.
Three; maritime transport. The Yuan Dynasty began to transport grain by sea in 1282, and because there were not enough official ships, they hired private ships to transport it, and Shen Wansan was one of them.
4. Overseas trade; in the late Yuan Dynasty, private foreign trade was opened, mainly to Goryeo, Japan, Ryukyu, Nanyang and other places. The silk, tea, and ceramics transported by Shen Wansan are widely welcomed overseas. The famous historian Wu Han has conducted a special examination of this.
Five; smuggling. Smuggling contraband by sea. (We should criticize this harshly)
In short, Shen Wansan operated in all parties, unscrupulously, and his wealth sprung up like mushrooms, quickly becoming a generation of huge wealth.
"Chaotic times, chaotic rain", the good times are not long, Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Zhang Shicheng, Suzhou rich merchants have more funding, mainly in Suzhou activities Shen Wansan, as the richest man to fund is certainly indispensable.
After Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Zhang Shicheng, he held a grudge against these rich merchants and retaliated against all of them, and the shrewd Shen Wansan saw the wind and began to curry favor with Zhu Yuanzhang.
After Zhu Yuanzhang became a great cause, he set the capital nanjing and wanted to build a capital city. In order to curry favor with Zhu Yuanzhang, Shen Wansan sent a huge fund to support him to repair the city. The History of Ming records that Shen Wansan helped build one-third of the capital.
After funding the construction of the city, Shen Wansan continued to pat Zhu Yuanzhang on the horse's ass, but unexpectedly this time he patted the horse's leg.
Once, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to reward the three armies, and Shen Wansan offered to give him a reward for the silver, but Zhu Yuanzhang said: "It is advisable to punish the army of the world and the people who are chaotic." Fortunately, Empress Ma's intercession for him was able to escape this fate.
However, Shen Wansan was unable to escape from Zhu Yuanzhang's palm after all, and his son-in-law was involved in the "Blue Jade Case", one of the "Three Major Cases of the Early Ming Dynasty", because he had an affair with his husband's wife, and the Shen family was also implicated.
However, there are many theories about his ending: some people say that he was eventually killed by Zhu Yuanzhang; some say that he was sent to Yunnan and died elsewhere; some say that he fled to Lingnan. Regardless of which claim is true, its eventual defeat is certain.
Just as the so-called: watch him rise up the Zhu Lou, watch him feast on guests, watch him collapse the building.
It can be seen from this that it is better to be a person or to be down-to-earth, step by step, in order to walk correctly and steadily.
Mo Xue's reeds on the wall, top-heavy and shallow, is there any reason not to fall?