In ancient Chinese history, there were many rich people, and the wealth of those people can be described as rich in the world, rich enough to rival the country, so do you know who the richest people in ancient times were? Today, I will take you to see the top ten richest people in ancient China (excluding the emperor), see who is on the list, and see how rich they are!
10th place: Tao Zhugong - Fan Li
Fan Li
Status: Politician, military, economist (businessman), Taoist scholar
Source of wealth: Doing business
Assets: Nineteen years of three gold, wealth accumulation of huge millions
Fan Li (536 BC – 448 BC), a native of the Chu state at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, later defected to the Yue state. Although he was born into poverty, he was erudite and versatile. Fan Li was a great wise man who helped the Yue King to retire after destroying Wu's hegemony, and was also a great rich man who "gave a huge amount of money and was called Tao Zhugong in the world". Fan Li became extremely rich in business three times but scattered his family wealth three times, because of his outstanding business talents and the image of a businessman who widely distributed money and wealth to help the poor and indifferent to fame and fortune, as well as the influence of huge business ideas and theories, after Fan Li's death, he was gradually respected by later generations as the god of wealth, shang sheng, and shang ancestor, and many businessmen worshiped his statues and portraits.
So how rich is Fan Li? Although there is no clear record of how much wealth he had, the "Chronicle of History" records it like this: "After nineteen years of three gold, the wealth gathered tens of thousands." Some people here should have doubts, the wealth of the huge million is not a lot, in fact, "huge million" means the number is extremely large, that is, the meaning of infinite, there are historical sources that say, "ancient giant, now ten thousand." "Millions are at least more than 100 million riches." Combined with the social environment and productivity at that time, the richest man in a proper manner.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, currencies were circulated in various countries
9th place: Shi Chong
Shi Chong
Status: Official, rich
Sources of wealth: robbery of merchants along the way, embezzlement, bribery
Assets: "Shi Chong's property is incomparable to the mountains and seas"
Shi Chong, chancellor, writer, and giant of the Western Jin Dynasty. Shi Chongduo is rich? Wealth piles up! Life is poor and extravagant! I also like to show off my wealth. The most luxurious private garden villa at that time was built - Jingu Garden, the house was magnificent and rich, "extremely blue sky", decorated with pearls, agate, amber, rhino horns, ivory, golden splendor, comparable to the royal palace. There are hundreds of concubines in the family, usually wearing mop silk long skirts, wearing gold belts and silver, pearlescent treasures, Yan Li is almost comparable to the emperor's harem. The toilets at home are beautifully built, inlaid with gold and jade, the sink is filled with various perfumes and spices, and more than a dozen beautiful women dressed in silk satin are waiting. After going to the toilet, the beautiful woman came forward to take off her original clothes, changed into the new clothes she had prepared, and threw them away.
Legend has it that he had more treasure than the emperor at the time, and that wang Kaidoufu, the emperor's uncle with the support of the emperor, could easily crush him.
Shi Chong's "trench is inhuman", so how did all this wealth come from? Almost all of them were ill-gotten gains, and it was he who robbed merchants when he was serving as the assassin of Jingzhou, collected the people, and obtained huge amounts of wealth to get rich. In addition, in addition, Shi Chong's continuous work as an official, all kinds of corruption and bribery, but also accumulated a lot of wealth.
8th place: Liang Ji
Liang Ji
Status: Foreign relative, power minister
Sources of wealth: embezzlement, amassing wealth with power, food (30,000 households)
Assets: more than 300,000, when the government tax revenue for one year half
Liang Ji (梁冀), a foreign relative and courtier during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Born into a large family, he was the son of the great general Liang Shang, and his sister was Empress Shun of Han (Shunlie Empress). Seven people were enfeoffed with marquises, three empresses, six nobles, two great generals, seven women who had the title of emperor, three who married princesses, and fifty-seven others who served as secretaries, generals, yins, and schools. In the second year of Yanxi (159), Emperor Huan of Han, who had long been dissatisfied with Liang Ji's dictatorship, used the power of the eunuchs Shan Chao, Xu Huang, Gu Yan, Zuo Yi, and Tang Heng to kill Liang Ji and exterminate him. Subsequently, the imperial court confiscated all of Liang Ji's property and sold it to enrich the state treasury, obtaining a total of more than three hundred thousand (more than three billion), which was half of the annual tax income of the Eastern Han government at that time, because it reduced half of the tax of the people of the world.
7th place: Dunton
Status: Male favorite of Emperor Wen of Han
Source of wealth: relying on the minting industry, opening up copper mines, and making "Deng Tong money"
Assets: Rich world
Deng Tong, the male favorite of Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty, was deeply favored by Emperor Wen of Han. Emperor Wen rewarded Deng Tong more than a dozen times before and after, accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars. Later, he rewarded him with large and small copper mountains near Deng Tong's hometown and allowed him to mint money. Deng Tong money, every money must be finely crafted, and never mixed with lead and iron when minting money, and take advantage of it, so it is made of glossy, sufficient, thick and uniform, and pure texture. From the princes and ministers, from the middle to the rich merchants, down to the peddlers and pawns, all of them love Deng Tongqian. Wu Guoqian has the advantage of large circulation, and Deng Tongqian wins with excellent quality. During this period, the coins minted by Wu Guo and Deng Tong flowed throughout the country.
No.6: Shin Manzo
Jin Manzo
Occupation: Businessman
Source of wealth: Reclamation and wealth, rich people give money, go to sea through the fan
Assets: "Huge capital, field property all over the world"
Shen Wansan, a native of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. Commonly known as Wansan. Ten thousand three, three shows among ten thousand households, so it is also called three shows, as a nickname for the great wealth. Wansan is a social name for him, his real name is Rich, the word Zhongrong, is the richest family in Jiangnan in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, and the richest man in the country.
Shen Wansan started from "starting from a family of crops" and then "a good wide range of fields and houses, rich in gold and jade", and had the foundation of his career, and obtained a huge amount of money from the Lu clan of Fenhu, so that the accumulation of his wealth was even higher. After having such a huge amount of money, on the one hand, he continued to open up farmhouses: on the other hand, he began his bold foreign trade activities of "competing for prosperity", and shipped silk, ceramics, grain, and handicraft products from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to overseas, making him quickly become the first richest man with "huge millions of dollars and field production all over the world". It is said that he donated money to help Zhu Yuanzhang rebuild the Great Wall and one-third of the city of Nanjing, and also planned to use a million taels of gold instead of the emperor to reward the three armies. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Shen Wansan wanted to reward the soldiers, saying: "There are millions of troops in The Yuan, can Ru be all over the place?" Shen Wansan replied, "May each army reward one or two gold." ”
5th place: Hu Xueyan
Hu Xueyan
Status: Red-top businessman, politician
Sources of wealth: business, money banks, embezzlement of official banks, loans and loans
Assets: more than 20 million yuan of funds, 10,000 acres of land
Hu Xueyan (1823-1885), a famous red-topped merchant (rich merchant "donating officials"), politician, and representative figure of Huishang in the Qing Dynasty. In the third year of Qing Tongzhi (1864), since the Qing army captured Zhejiang, all the looted goods of the generals, regardless of their size, were stored in Hu Xueyan's money house. Hu used this as capital, engaged in trading activities, set up businesses in various towns and cities, and made a lot of profits, and in just a few years, the family property has exceeded ten million. After the Taiping Army was destroyed, Hu Xueyan's silver trumpet drove into Hangzhou to prepare military salaries and ammunition for Zuo Zongtang. Relying on the power of the Xiang Army, more than 20 Fukang Silver No. 20 were set up in various provinces, and at the same time, they also engaged in medicinal materials and silk tea, opened the Huqing Yutang Chinese Medicine Store, which is still in business, manipulated Jiangsu and Zhejiang commerce, with more than 20 million yuan of funds and 10,000 mu of land, which was the "richest man in China" at that time, and was also known as the "God of Living Wealth".
4th place: Wu Bingjian
Wu Bingjian
Occupation: Trader
Sources of wealth: Imports, Exports, Money Banks
Assets: Personal assets of about 28 million taels (at that time the richest people in the United States were only 7 million taels), world-class rich
Wu Bingjian (1769-1843), a Merchant of the Qing Dynasty, was the richest merchant of his time. In 2001, the Wall Street Journal of the United States counted 50 of the world's richest people in the past 1,000 years, and 6 Chinese were selected, and Wu Bingjian was one of them! Personal assets are equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the entire Qing Dynasty for half a year.
Wu Bingjian's property takes many forms, not only silver, but also his own enterprise, which is called "Jardine Matheson", which does Chinese and Western trade, mainly engaged in silk fabrics, tea and porcelain. He was based in Guangzhou, mainly to trade with the British, and at the same time enlarged the industry abroad, and even the debt was put abroad, and was the largest creditor of the British East India Company, which sometimes had poor capital turnover and often borrowed money from the Wu family. Because of this, Wu Bingjian enjoyed a high degree of popularity in the Western business community at that time, becoming the world's richest man in the eyes of foreigners, and was once called "the richest man in the world" by some Western scholars. Like ordinary Chinese landowners, he also bought a large amount of land, houses, tea gardens, shops, and even turned silver into capital, and invested in railroads, securities and insurance businesses in the United States. Wu Bingjian's Jardine Matheson bank once became a world-class multinational consortium.
3rd place: Lü Buwei
Stills of Lü Buwei
Status: Businessman, Minister
Source of wealth: doing business, investing
Assets: Rich enough to rival countries
Lü Buwei (Chinese: 刘布伟; pinyin: Dībāng Đại, d' Lü Buwei , surnamed Lü , was a merchant , politician , and thinker of the late Warring States period , and later a minister of the State of Qin. During the merchant period, Lü Buwei traveled from place to place, from the cloth business to jewelry, salt and iron, weapons, and horses, bought at low prices, sold at high prices, and accumulated huge family property. History says that "the peddlers sell cheaply and expensively, and the family accumulates thousands of dollars." Then he made the most proud big deal in his life, met the Qin Yiren who was "strange goods to live in", and funded him to return to the throne, was worshiped as Xiangguo, Fengwen Xinhou, food yi up to 100,000 households, 3,000 diners under the door, the family had 10,000 slaves, and successfully realized the historic transformation of personal from business to politics, it is said that even Qin Shi Huang was his illegitimate son of "dropping the bag".
The above-mentioned "family accumulation of thousands of gold" is definitely not just 1,000 gold, otherwise how can it be easy to give Qin Yiren, who was still a proton at the time, 600 gold to buy people's hearts and make friends with guests? Then he spent 500 gold to buy rare treasures to give to Lady Huayang of the Qin State, persuaded Lady Huayang, who had no sons, to recognize Yiren as a son, and then bribed Zhao ren with 600 gold to flee Handan.
It is said that before helping Qin Yiren, Lü Buwei had a working capital reserve of 300,000 gold for business profits, as well as more than 40 workshop shops and more than 2,600 employees, while the Qin State at that time did not have 300,000 gold working capital reserves.
2nd place: Washu
Washu stills
Status: Courtier, businessman
Sources of wealth: embezzlement, bribery, business
Assets: Rich and invincible, the hidden property is equivalent to the income of the Qing government for 15 years at that time! World-class rich man
He Yan (1750-1799), of the Niuhulu clan, formerly known as Shanbao ( Shanbao ) , was a courtier and merchant during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. He served as the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Minister of the Interior of the Consular Guard, the Minister of the Interior Ministry, etc., and the official worshiped the Scholar of the Mandarin Temple, and was appointed as the First Class Loyal XiangGong. As positions of power grew, lust grew. Taking advantage of his position, he formed parties for personal gain, amassed money, and cracked down on political enemies. Personally operating industry and commerce, he opened 75 pawnshops and set up more than 300 large and small silver numbers.
In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), the Jiaqing Emperor declared the twenty major sins of Hezhen and ordered the raid on his home. In the "Records of Emperor Qingrenzong" and the "Complete Case File of the Crime of Hezhen", it is recorded that the copy of the Hezhen family's recital was recorded, and the copy was 800 million taels of silver, as well as incalculable jewelry and calligraphy and paintings, countless antiques and treasures, "gold and silver, jade, and ginseng alone are worth 200 million taels." During the Qianlong period, the annual tax revenue of the Qing court was only 70 million taels, and the total property hidden by Hezhen was equivalent to the financial revenue of the Qing government for fifteen years at that time! At that time, people said that "Hezhen fell, and Jiaqing was full".
In 2001, the Wall Street Journal of the United States counted the 50 richest people in the world in 1,000 years, and Hezhen was also included in the list!
1st place: Liu Jin
Liu Jin
Status: Eunuch, eunuch
Sources of wealth: embezzlement, bribery
Assets: "The world's richest man", the property hidden is equivalent to the national treasury income of the Ming Dynasty for more than 10 years at that time! World-class rich man
Liu Jin (1451-1510), a eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, was a eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household, and after taking power, he took the opportunity to specialize in the government of the dynasty, and was the head of the "Eight Tigers", who was called "Emperor Li" and "Emperor Sitting". After Liu Jin was arrested, millions of taels of gold and silver were found from his home, and there were counterfeit seals, jade belts and other prohibited objects.
According to the "Supplement to the Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty", after Emperor Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao personally raided Liu Jin's family property, he received a total of "29.87 million gold, 5 million yuanbao ingots, and more than 8 million silver taels", in addition to two buckets of gems, two golden armors, three thousand golden hooks, 4,162 bundles of jade belts, and various fields and real estates that could not be counted.
There is also a record in Jiajing's "Ji Ji Wen" in the early years of Jiajing that Liu Jin's family property was "a total of 1,257,802 gold and 25,958,380,800 silver", that is, 12,057,800 taels of gold and 259 million taels of silver.
There is also a saying that Liu Jin embezzled as much as 2.5 million taels of gold and more than 50 million taels of silver, and other treasures could not be counted.
No matter which statement is closer to the historical facts, it shows that Liu Jin's huge greed is indeed rich and invincible, rich in the world, rich to the point of oil, and these wealth are equivalent to the treasury income of the Ming Dynasty for more than 10 years at that time. In 2001, the Wall Street Journal of the United States counted the 50 richest people in the world in 1,000 years, and Liu Jin was also included in the list! He was considered the "richest man in the world" at the time.
Do you agree with the ranking of this list? Which of these 10 people do you think is the richest? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.