Historically, there was a king of showmanship, Shi Chong, who fought against everyone, including the emperor's uncle, and was never defeated.
Shi Chong, a literary scholar, official, and rich man of the Western Jin Dynasty, is a chinese poet. He was agile, intelligent and resourceful from an early age. His father, Shi Bao, split up the family before his death and did not give him any property. His mother disagreed and asked Shi Bao to leave some property for her son. Shi Bao said there was no need. This kid will earn his own money, he will make a lot of money. Finally, as Shi Bao said. Shi Chong was good at exploiting his father's connections. He initially served as an official during the Western Jin Dynasty, and was later appointed as the Commander of the Jingzhou Assassins, the Southern Manchu Colonel, and the General of Yingyang. During his tenure, he plundered and plundered rich local merchants and obtained huge wealth, and over time, anyone who came to Jingzhou to do business would pay him a lot of money and goods. But the wealth that is plundered is always limited. After gaining wealth, Shi Chong used his ingenuity to participate in a large number of trades and created more and more wealth. After Shi Chong's death, his property was confiscated. There are more than 30 watermill workshops for rice milling and flour near Luoyang, monopolizing the rice milling and flour industry in the capital Luoyang. There were more than 800 slaves and countless treasures there.
Of course, the astonishing story that Shi Chong's widely circulated is not his wealth history, but the story of his struggle with people to get rich. According to the Book of Jin, Shi Shichong mainly competed with the emperor's uncle Wang Kai for wealth. Because Wang Kai could not stand Shi Chong's arrogant behavior of flaunting his wealth, he planned to fight Shi Chong to the death and teach him a lesson: sugar water was a luxury in the Western Jin Dynasty, and ordinary people could not drink it several times a year. In order to fight with Shi Chongfu, Wang Kai actually brushed the pot with sugar water. Shi Chong did not show weakness when he heard this. He used candles as firewood to cook. The candles we usually use are also a luxury in the Western Jin Dynasty. As a result, the two men fought each other in the first round and tied. Wang Kai was not convinced and wanted to overthrow Shi Chong again. After thinking about it, I decided to take a crazier move. Wang Kai made a 40-mile barrier out of silk. When Shi Chong learned of this, he was dismissive and immediately ordered the craftsmen to make a cloth barrier of fifty miles out of brocade cloth. Although silk is valuable, it is much worse than brocade. Because compared with silk, the production process of brocade is more complex and cumbersome. The ancients had clouds: "Brocade", gold also, made of hard work, its price is like gold". This is enough to illustrate the value of the tapestry. Shi Chong's brocade cloth was used as a barrier, and his profligacy far exceeded Wang Kai's, ten miles higher than Wang Kai.'s. Therefore, Dou Fu Shi Chong won the second round of the competition without suspense. Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, saw that his uncle Doufu had failed, and wanted to help his uncle regain face, so he secretly gave Wang Kai a two-foot-tall coral tree, which was a treasure in the world and a priceless treasure. Wang Kai invited Shi Chong, along with a group of ministers, to view the coral trees. Unexpectedly, Shi Chongshun picked up Tie Ruyi and broke the coral tree two or three times. When Wang Kai was angry, Shi Chong apologized to him and instructed his servants: "Go and bring all our coral trees." Whichever one he likes, I will compensate him. After the servant brought the coral trees to Wang Kai, Wang Kai was surprised to find that each tree was three or four feet high, and each tree was brighter and more gorgeous than the other. This time, he was completely conquered. In the third round, Wang Kai defeated the rich.
In 300, Sima Lun, the King of Zhao, staged a coup d'état and killed the main imperial forces of Empress Jia Nanfeng's family. Shi Chong, implicated in his attachment to Empress Jia Nanfeng, was removed from all positions. Sun Xiu, the favorite vassal of Sima Lun the Prince of Zhao, took a fancy to Shi Chong's family wealth and ordered his men to ask Shi Chong for his favorite concubine, Lu Zhu. Shi Chong, a greedy and lustful lord, was naturally reluctant to give it to him. In the end, his favorite concubine, Lu Zhu, committed suicide by jumping off a building. Sun Xiu was furious and persuaded Sima Lun to kill Shi Chong. When Shi Chong was tied up and sent to the execution ground, he always thought that he was just exiled. He didn't understand until he got to the execution ground. According to the history books, "Slaves benefit my family's wealth." The recipient replied, "Knowing that wealth is harmful, why not disperse it early?" Chong could not answer. Only then did Shi Chong understand that Sun Xiu's request for the green pearl was false, and that he wanted all of Shi Chong's wealth. I knew that it was better to scatter my wealth, and in the end, the fifteen members of Shi Chong's family were completely destroyed, and all their wealth belonged to Sima Lun, the king of Zhao. Shi Chong has both wealth, talent, and status, but it is precisely because of his corruption and showing off money that he finally ended up with a tragic end of being beheaded and people and money empty, which is really breathtaking.
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