Mr. Gao Yang (Xu Yanbiao), a famous historical fiction writer, wrote a book "Hu Xueyan", which comprehensively shows the rise, prosperity and decline of Hu Xueyan, a red-topped merchant in the late Qing Dynasty, outlining the image of a traditional Chinese businessman, which once became one of the must-read books for modern business people.
In "Hu Xueyan", there is such a story: When Hu Xueyan was 26 years old, he met Wang Youling, the alternate ambassador of salt, in Hangzhou. Wang Youling's life was very depressed, and he could not come up with money to turn the word "candidate" into "fill the gap". Hu Xueyan saw that Wang Youling was a person with a big heart and would have excellent development in the future, so he secretly took out 500 taels of silver from the money house where he worked and gave it to Wang Youling. Wang Youling went to Beijing with 500 taels of silver to report to the official department, filled the vacancy of official positions, and was issued to Zhejiang, opening the road of officialdom. After that, Wang Youling was indeed an official luck and prosperity, "sesame blossoms are high and high", and the official went to Zhejiang to inspect. Wang Youling was grateful for Hu Xueyan's strong support, repaid the favor with peach, and frequently took care of Hu Xueyan's business, and Hu Xueyan made a lot of money and became a famous "god of wealth" in Zhejiang.
Hu Xueyan
This story was told by Gao Yang, vivid and interesting, so that many readers mistakenly believed that it was a historical fact that really existed in history. In fact, it is simply Gao Yang's fiction.
First, Wang Youling had never been to Hangzhou before he was issued to Zhejiang.
Wang Youling (王有灵; pinyin: Wáng Youling, Literally Yīng Yīng Đồ
Wang Youling
Wang Youling was born into a family of official eunuchs, and his father Wang Xie (王燮) had obtained a meritorious name and served as an aide to Inspector Yan of Fujian, and was distributed to Yunnan as a first-class official. Wang Xie served as an official for more than 20 years, successively serving as the prefect of Qujing, Heyang, and Qiaojia Tongzhi, acting as the prefect of Shunning and Lijiang, and as the prefect of Pingliang Prefecture in Gansu. During this period, he never went to Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Wang Youling has been living and studying with his father, and naturally will not run to Hangzhou to meet Hu Xueyan for no reason.
Second, Wang Youling's family is not very rich and noble, but it will never fall to the point of needing Hu Xueyan's support.
Wang Xie's more than 20 years of official eunuch career, most of the time was in the local office, as the zhi county or prefect. Wang Xie was an official with purity, prudence, diligence and self-discipline, and his reputation in the official arena was very good. However, as the saying goes, "three years of Qing prefect, 100,000 snowflake silver", Wang Xie, as a zhixian or prefect, every year just raises incorruptible silver, Feng Lu and other legal income, can get one or two thousand silver, enough to support the family, there is a surplus.
Qing Dynasty official
Wang Youling reported to the salt ambassador in 1834, issued by the officials in Zhejiang in 1839, and only arrived in Zhejiang in 1841. During this time, Wang Xie also served as an official in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places. As a serving official with real power, Wang Xie took out a few hundred taels of silver to fill his son's vacant official position, there would be no difficulty, then it would be necessary for a money bank guy Hu Xueyan to secretly take money to fund it?
3. Wang Youling was 13 years older than Hu Xueyan, and Hu Xueyan was only 16 years old when he was issued by the officials in Zhejiang.
As mentioned earlier, Wang Youling was born on March 31, 1810, and Hu Xueyan was 13 years younger than Wang Youling and was born in 1823. According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" and other sources, Wang Youling entered Beijing in 1839 to report to the official department, and after some operation, he obtained the qualification to issue Zhejiang. What is Hu Xueyan doing this year?
When Hu Xueyan was a child, his family was poor, and in 1836, he came to Hangzhou alone to work hard, and successively worked as a young man in the Hangzhou Miscellaneous Grains Company and the Jinhua Ham Merchant House to survive. In 1839, the 16-year-old Hu Xueyan was working as an apprentice at Xinhe Qianzhuang in Hangzhou, doing chores such as sweeping the floor, wiping tables, and pouring urinals, and had no access to silver tickets and silver in the bank. How could he secretly take 500 taels of silver to give to Wang Youling?
Silver tickets of the Qing Dynasty
Fourth, when Wang Xie first came to Zhejiang, Wang Youling had been an official for 8 years, how could he be poor?
Gao Yang wrote in "Hu Xueyan": "His father (Wang Xie) was an alternate Dao, distributed to Zhejiang, lived in Hangzhou for several years, and did not serve as a good messenger. Old disease invaded, depressed mood, died in a foreign land. There was not much money left behind, the coffin was transported back to Fuzhou, it was better to be entangled, and there were no relatives and friends to rely on in his hometown, so Wang Youling had to live in a different place with his mother. ”
In fact, Wang Xie had never been given an errand by an alternate Dao, nor did he have the experience of being an official in Zhejiang. His first visit to Hangzhou, Zhejiang, was in 1849.
Hangzhou during the Qing Dynasty
At that time, Wang Xie was promoted from managing Tongdian in Luzhou, Sichuan to the prefect of Pingliang Province in Gansu. However, due to Wang Xie's frail health and illness, he was absent and no longer an official. After that, Wang Xie set off from Sichuan, took a boat down the river, and came to Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, to join Wang Youling.
At this time, Wang Youling had been an official in Zhejiang for 8 years (1841 to 1849), successively serving as an official in Xinchang County, Cixi County, Yinxian County, Zhenhai County, Renhe County, and Dinghai Tongzhi. Even if Wang Xie was a clean and honest official and did not leave any savings, his son Wang Youling had been an official for so many years, he would not be poor and destitute, and reached out to Hu Xueyan for money?
To sum up, it can be inferred that Hu Xueyan did not sponsor Wang Youling to enter Beijing to buy officials. They knew each other as early as 1851 when Wang Youling was the prefect of Hangzhou. Hu Xueyan and Wang Youling hit it off and became a pair of mutually beneficial partners, cooperating for up to 10 years. That's the last word.