"In the house of the rich, the son is loved too much, and the son wants to get what he wants, and all the calamities are brought to an end."
Look closely at the big names in the history of the losers, most of them are rich second generations. Parents' doting and indulgence have led to their profligacy. And Sheng Enyi of the late Qing Dynasty in China is such a rich second generation. His father, Sheng Xuanhuai, was evaluated by Li Hongzhang as follows: "One hand abacus, the other hand official seal, but also officials and businessmen, with ease." However, he himself spent everywhere drinking, lost hundreds of millions of family properties, and eventually became poor and ended his bleak life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" data-track="3" > Sheng Enyi, Sheng Xuanhuai's fourth son, known as "the first loser of the Republic of China"</h1>
Sheng Enyi was able to become the "first loser of the Republic of China", benefiting from the prosperity of his father Sheng Xuanhuai. Sheng Xuanhuai went from a staff member to the richest man, and he had two major backers, one was Li Hongzhang, and the other was on himself.
Sheng Xuanhuai's history of his family can be started from the establishment of a steamship company, in 1844 Sheng Xuanhuai was born in a family of eunuchs in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, and after he became an adult, he did not pass the township examination 3 times, and later a close friend of his father introduced him to Li Hongzhang as a secretary.
In 1870, Li Hongzhang was still the governor of Huguang, Sheng Xuanhuai at first only dealt with some trivial matters, and later Li Hongzhang found that Sheng Xuanhuai was not only good at dealing with people, but also good at learning Western knowledge and culture, so Li Hongzhang asked him to help him deal with foreigners. Sheng Xuanhuai relied on his talents to become a Sipin official the following year with the help of Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang's campaign for foreign affairs has also achieved great results.
In 1872, Li Hongzhang wanted to open up the shipping business, sheng Xuanhuai analyzed the situation for Li Hongzhang at that time, the speed of internal sand ships was slow, the volume of transportation was small, and officials were corrupt, resulting in high costs; external foreigners occupied all the ships and shipping along the Coast of China. Therefore, Sheng Xuanhuai proposed to create a steamship company by himself, using the form of the official supervisor's commercial office to establish it.
At that time, Zhu Qiang, who was born into a Caoyun family, also proposed to Li Hongzhang to start a steamship company, but advocated official management. Because Li Hongzhang took into account the opposition of the diehards in the imperial court at that time, he eventually adopted Zhu Qiang's official form to establish a steamship company.
On January 17, 1873, on Yong'an Street in Yangjingbang, Shanghai, the Steamship Merchant Company was formally established, with Zhu Qiang as the person in charge. However, on the one hand, because the government-run steamship company did not have the support of businessmen, on the other hand, because Zhu Qiang's business style was conservative, the company could not make ends meet. So Li Hongzhang found Sheng Xuanhuai again, and Li Hongzhang also expressed his willingness to let Sheng Xuanhuai operate in the form of an official supervisor and a commercial office.
At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai recommended to Li Hongzhang the very famous compradors at that time, Tang Tingshu and Xu Run. They are merchants hired by foreigners to conduct bilateral trade with China, and they not only have strong funds, but also have great influence in the business world. Li Hongzhang spent a lot of money to dig them into the steamship company, and the steamship company was managed by Sheng Xuanhuai and the two of them, and the business was getting better and better.
Li Hongzhang's good business influenced foreign steamship companies, so foreign companies began to fight price wars. According to the situation at that time, Sheng Xuanhuai made a precise analysis, reported the combat strategy to Li Hongzhang, and prepared to fight a protracted war with these three companies. Soon, Qichang Company, which lacked a strong backing, declared bankruptcy. At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai immediately made a decision on mergers and acquisitions, and with the support of Li Hongzhang, raised funds from the local government. After the successful acquisition of Qichang Company, two other foreign companies determined that the steamship investment company was short of funds and began a new round of price war. At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai did not back down, but insisted on fighting to the end. Out of experience and keen judgment in China's water transport business, Sheng Xuanhuai finally won the victory, and the price war ended with two other foreign companies taking the initiative to negotiate.
During the founding of the steamship company, Sheng Xuanhuai also took charge of railways, postal services, banks and other industries, and he can be said to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the foreign affairs movement. Sheng Xuanhuai also created hundreds of millions of family properties in this way, creating conditions for Sheng Enyi to become the "first loser of the Republic of China".
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" data-track="14" > extravagant, the first Mercedes-Benz on the beach he bought, married 11 aunts</h1>
Sheng Xuanhuai's family is rich, the family system is also quite large, seven wives and concubines, eight sons and eight daughters, among these children, Sheng Xuanhuai hurt the fourth son Sheng Enyi the most, because the first three sons died early, Sheng Xuanhuai is counting on the fourth elder to inherit the family business.
Sheng Xuanhuai's successor, Sheng Laosi, can be described as painstakingly cultivated, but the spoiled education method did not let Sheng Laosi learn how to keep his job, but let him learn luxury. Sheng Enyi stood on the tip of the person from birth, Empress Dowager Cixi gave the name, the birth mother was in charge of the Sheng family compound, eating and wearing the degree of use needless to say, the family hired servants are also quite exquisite, good looks, high character, on this basis will also select more cultured people to be servants in the palace, even if there are many conditions, there is never a shortage of servants in the Shengfu.
Sheng Xuanhuai also spent a lot of money to hire famous teachers to educate the children, and here was Ni Guizhen, who was the mother of the three sisters of the Song family. At that time, Ni Guizhen was born in a family of priests, well educated, proficient in mathematics, able to play the piano, and stayed on to teach at the school. Ni Guizhen also worked as a tutor in the Sheng family.
Sheng Xuanhuai hopes that Sheng Enyi can study abroad and take over the business in the future. However, Sheng Enyi did not like to learn at all, and he was bent on having fun. Sheng Xuanhuai wanted to find a wife for Sheng Enyi who could help him study abroad. Sheng Xuanhuai has a wide network of contacts, and it is naturally easy to find the right talented woman, this time, Sheng Xuanhuai has taken a fancy to the eldest daughter of Sun Baoqi, the premier of the Republic of China.
Sun Baoqi's father was once a teacher of the Guangxu Emperor, a clean official, and a famous courtier in the late Qing Dynasty. Sun Baoqi himself is studious and proficient in English and French. When the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Beijing, Sun Baoqi and other "royalists" escorted Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor. When the carriage fell into the dirt and could not come out, Sun Baoqi took off his official clothes and pushed the cart barefoot to the empress; when Li Hongzhang negotiated with the Eight-Nation Alliance, Sun Baoqi also relied on his amazing memory to accurately translate, and Sun Baoqi's talent was appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi, and the official was promoted to the premier of the Republic of China.
Although Sheng Xuanhuai was the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty, Sheng Enyi was a famous clumsy disciple at that time. Moreover, Sun Yonghui also inherited his father's talents, proficient in the Four Chinese Words, Xiu waihui, who was also four years older than Sheng Enyi, Sun Baoqi naturally disagreed with his eldest daughter Sun Yonghui marrying into the Sheng family at first.
Sheng Xuanhuai will definitely try to do things for his son in various ways. When Sun Baoqi refused to marry on the grounds that he could not climb the Sheng family and could not afford the dowry, Sheng Xuanhuai took the initiative to send all the dowry to Sun Baoqi's family, and Sheng Xuanhuai also used various connections, and eventually Sun Yonghui, who was both talented and beautiful, became Sheng Enyi's wife.
From childhood to adulthood, all the things that Sheng Xuanhuai did for his son felt easy in Sheng Enyi's eyes, and he felt that he did not need to work hard to get everything he wanted, so Sheng Enyi did not learn to keep his job, only learned to lose.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" data-track="24" > eating, drinking, gambling, and losing a street of real estate in one night</h1>
Speaking of losers, Sheng Enyi can be described as a teacherless, Sheng Xuanhuai spends a lot of money, spends a lot of money to let Sheng Enyi learn the skill, Sheng Enyi did not learn, spend days and nights, smoke a lot, and gamble heavily, these are the daily life of Sheng Enyi.
Although Sheng Enyi married Sun Yonghui, who was both talented and beautiful, he often spent his days outside drinking. At the beginning, Sheng Xuanhuai looked for Sun Yonghui as his daughter-in-law, just to let Sun Yonghui accompany Sheng Enyi to study abroad, but when he was abroad, Sheng Enyi could not change his nature of attracting flowers and provoking grass.
After Sheng Enyi returned to China, there were 11 aunts and wives around him, not including women without names, he bought villas and cars for each aunt and wife, and the servants were also in groups.
Sheng Enyi also spent a lot of money to buy Shanghai's first imported Mercedes-Benz car, and also transformed the car, using sterling silver to build car handles, and the license plate number was changed to 4444, all to show the identity of Sheng Laosi.
In addition to these large-scale expenses, there were even more fierce gambles, and Lu Xiaojia, the son of Lu Yongxiang, the governor of Zhejiang, won more than a hundred houses of Sheng Enyi in one go.
Lu Xiaojia was the son of a warlord who had beaten the Golden Dragon, and he knew that Sheng Enyi was good at gambling, so he deliberately set up a game to let Sheng Enyi lose the game. However, these did not make Sheng Enyi make any changes, or continue to lose.
Of course, Sheng Xuanhuai also arranged a formal job for Sheng Enyi and gave him the position of general manager of Hanyeping Company, but although he had experience in staying in the West, he went to spend days and wine when he studied abroad, he didn't know anything at all, and he didn't have the heart to do things, he handed over the company's affairs to his classmate Song Ziwen to take care of.
Sheng Enyi slept until four or five o'clock in the afternoon every day, while lying down and smoking a big cigarette, listening to Song Ziwen report on his work, and after a while, he signed the documents and went out to gamble. Often the outside bank is closed before going out, if there is no gambling money at home, then the antiques at home will be pawned, and the next day the bank will open the door to redeem the antiques.
In this way, he was busy gambling, spending days and drinking and smoking cigarettes every day, leaving the work to Song Ziwen to complete. Later, Song Ziwen fell in love with Sheng Aiyi, the seventh sister of Sheng Enyi, and Sheng Aiyi's mother did not agree to this marriage, because at that time, the Song family was not yet prominent in the Sheng family. In this way, Song Ziwen did not continue to stay in the company. Without Song Ziwen's helper, the company's business deteriorated. In 1927, his mother died of illness, and the inheritance left by his father ten years ago was completely spent.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" data-track="35" > when he was old, he was too poor to buy a ticket to the park, and he died of poverty</h1>
When Sheng Enyi lost all his money, he thought of his eldest son, and in 1911 Sheng Enyi passed on his eldest son Sheng Yuyou to his third brother as an heir, so that when the property was divided, the eldest son Sheng Yuyu also shared a share of the property. So he began to borrow money from his eldest son often. Every time he borrowed money to squander it, he would never pay it back, and the son next to him often had to support Sheng Enyi, and slowly the money of the two children was also lost. In desperation, the two sons left Shanghai with their wives and children and went to Japan to make a living.
Fortunately, both sons inherited the business acumen of their grandfather Sheng Xuanhuai, and Sheng Yuyou went from frying fritters to setting up a Chinese restaurant, and his business was getting better and better, and he also opened a number of branches. Sheng Yudu first studied in Japan, and later created a catering dish with Chinese characteristics to become famous in one fell swoop.
After Sheng Enyi spent all his family property, the Sheng family's property was left, and in order to maintain the expenses, Sheng Enyi secretly helped the Japanese sell cigarettes by opening a medicine hall. After the victory, his property stolen by the Japanese was not returned, but was taken back to the Nationalist government.
Once, Sheng Enyi and Li Hongzhang's grandson Li Houfu wandered to the front of Xiangyang Park, and neither of them could even come up with the money to buy tickets, and it is difficult to imagine that people who once spent a lot of money can't even afford to buy tickets now. In the end, Sheng Enyi fell into the streets in his later years, with no place to stay, and died of illness in the ancestral hall of Suzhou in 1958.
Sheng Xuanhuai, known as the "Father of Chinese Businessmen", painstakingly created the family business, which was thus squandered. Sheng Xuanhuai was also a knowledgeable and knowledgeable person, and he also cultivated Sheng Enyi, the only heir to the family property, but he used the wrong method and achieved little effect. Li Ka-shing said: "To let children suffer a little and suffer a little, this is to sharpen their will, cultivate their sentiments, and enrich their experience." ”
Maybe Sheng Enyi is less bitter about life, which has created the life of a loser.