In the history of the late Qing Dynasty, there was a man whose official position was not the highest and his power was not the greatest, but his influence was far-reaching than that of Li Hongzhang and Zuo. He founded the first university, the first telegraph office, etc. 1 1 China No.1, with assets of13.49 million silver, ranking first in the wealth list of the late Qing Dynasty. Now people prefer to call him the father of industry in China and the father of commerce in China. Seeing this, many people must have guessed his name-Sheng Xuanhuai.
But what we don't know is that this genius, who gallops in the shopping mall and dominates the four major industries of wheel (ship), electricity, coal and textile, was actually a failed student from the beginning and failed the provincial examination three times in a row. 19 1 1 year, Sheng Xuanhuai seized the state-owned railway, which directly led to the road protection movement in Sichuan and indirectly detonated the Revolution of 1911. He fled to Qingdao to take refuge.
After three rural examinations, he went to Sheng Xuanhuai, a native of Changzhou (now Changzhou), Jiangsu Province. Shengjia is the family of a famous local official. Grandfather Shenglong was a magistrate in Haining, Zhejiang Province, and his father Kang Sheng was a juren in the late Qing Dynasty. He used to be an official in Yancha Road, Wuchang, Hubei, and a standby in Zhejiang Road. Sheng Xuanhuai, born in 1844, is the eldest in the family, and his family has high hopes for him. Therefore, he has shouldered heavy responsibilities since he was a child and will earn fame and honor in the future. The excellent environment he was born with gave him many advantages over others. He often visited the literati with his father, listened to their conversation, and sometimes worked with his father to keep abreast of the developments of the imperial court. Once there is any book editing work in the local area, Sheng Xuanhuai will also actively participate in it to improve his literary talent ... He has been smart since he was a child and knows eight-part essay like the back of his hand. If he is qualified now, he will definitely be a young talent in Tsinghua, Peking University.
But God played a joke on him, and he failed to take part in the rural examination three times in a row in Sun Shan. After having obtained the township exam is the most basic exam for entering the official career. You won't have the opportunity to take the next exam until you get the provincial exam. However, in people's eyes, he is brilliant and tried every time. Sheng Xuanhuai was desperate. Seeing this result, his family stopped pushing him. He found him a job through connections and went to follow Li Hongzhang. This is the strength of the Sheng family at that time. Even if he fails in the exam, Sheng Xuanhuai has a chance to enter the official career.
At that time, Li Hongzhang was the governor of Huguang, and he was trying to climb to the top of his career alone. As a typical representative of the Westernization School, Li Hongzhang just lacks a person who can help him handle the Westernization, and Sheng Xuanhuai's ability is gradually emerging here. As the son of a good friend, Li Hongzhang initially asked him to be his own secretary and handle some trivial matters. Unexpectedly, Sheng Xuanhuai, who has been pampered since childhood, can bear hardships and stand hard work in the workplace, which is quite appreciated by Li Hongzhang. In addition, his writing style is good, and many documents are written by him, which has won a reputation of thousands of words. After the Tianjin religious plan, Sheng Xuanhuai followed Li Hongzhang to Tianjin. During this period, he was mainly responsible for purchasing military materials, and he also successfully completed the task.
Soon, Li Hongzhang discovered Sheng Xuanhuai's talent. This young man is not simple. He is good at dealing with people and doing business well, so he slowly gave him the task of organizing westernization enterprises. 1874, when Sheng Xuanhuai successfully completed the negotiation task of repurchasing Wusong Railway, Li Hongzhang gave him this evaluation: Only those who are loyal and righteous can know the great connections, and they should be able to see the great connections in Sino-foreign negotiations. After that, Sheng Xuanhuai's wonderful life officially began.
He won 1 1 and became the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty. As a newcomer in the business world, Sheng Xuanhuai, though clever, experienced many twists and turns at first. For example, in 1872, when the first shipping company in China was established, many merchants chose to wait and see in the face of such a new undertaking. People who can't wait to buy shares can't run a business. Seeing that others were afraid of risks, Sheng Xuanhuai took a stake first, which not only set an example, but also reassured the businessmen. This method has been used throughout his later career.
Another time, I opened a coal mine in Hubei and almost went bankrupt. At that time, because of his inexperience, the progress of the project was very slow. Someone complained to Li Hongzhang that he was not dedicated to his work and suggested that he be abolished and closed. Sheng Xuanhuai, full of grievances, wrote a letter to defend himself, but was considered by his superiors to be excusing himself. Li Hongzhang, who had high hopes for Sheng Xuanhuai, was also disappointed. Finally, he not only abolished the Mining Bureau, but even made Sheng Xuanhuai pay for the deficit. In order to compensate this string of money 165438+6000, Sheng Xuanhuai finally had to sell his property and became an unfilial son in the eyes of his neighbors.
There are many things to come one by one, so I won't say much here, but it is precisely because of these twists and turns that Sheng Xuanhuai has grown rapidly and can be at home in the business world under any circumstances. From 1870 to 1897, he successively created 1 1 China No.1: the first private joint-stock enterprise, China Merchants; The first telegraph office; First bank; The first railway trunk line, Jing-Han Railway; Hanyeping Company, the first steel joint venture; The first university, Beiyang University Hall (Tianjin University) ... spans shipping, mining, railway, banking and education, and has become a solid backing of the Westernization School, and the assets owned by Shengjia have also soared.
How much money did Sheng Xuanhuai have at that time? The outside world doesn't know, but there are some rumors circulating among the people: he has a son who likes gambling and gambles on 100 house once; His wife's monthly living expenses can reach tens of thousands of taels of silver, while the aristocratic women in the palace at that time were only a few thousand taels at most ... Until Sheng Xuanhuai died, after two and a half years of cleaning, the wealth of the Sheng family was finally counted: 13490 taels of silver, becoming the richest man in China in the late Qing Dynasty.
He crushed Hu Xueyan Sheng Xuanhuai, a businessman with a red top, and quickly became a miracle in the business circles of the Qing Dynasty, with more opponents around him. What I want to talk about here is his wonderful confrontation with Hu Xueyan, a businessman with red top. Before Sheng Xuanhuai, Hu Xueyan was the richest man in the Qing Dynasty with a net worth of more than 22 million yuan. At that time, people praised his fortune in four words. These two people belong to different interest groups. Sheng Xuanhuai is Li Hongzhang's right-hand man, and Hu Xueyan is a faction of Zuo Tang Zong. Zuo Li has deep contradictions, so these two business giants have become sworn enemies. I poke you today, and you poke me tomorrow. Finally, one day, Sheng Xuanhuai seized the opportunity to crush Hu Xueyan.
Yes 1883. France launched a war, and Zuo was sent to the front to fight. It wasn't easy to have Left around before, but it's much easier now that Hu Xueyan is left. Hu Xueyan is mainly engaged in raw silk business. Every year, he buys a lot of raw silk to monopolize the market and then sells it at a high price. The difference between them will make him a lot of money. Sheng Xuanhuai grasped this inside story and began to operate behind the scenes: on the one hand, he bought raw silk everywhere and sold it to businessmen in Hu Xueyan, on the other hand, he contacted businessmen and comprador foreign firms, so that it could not be sold this year. The warehouse is full of raw silk, and Hu Xueyan proudly sits in the plush chair ready to open. Unexpectedly, no one came to the door. At the same time, the bank's dunning came! Because of Hu Xueyan's boldness, he once borrowed * * * 1000000000 from the bank with the guarantee of the provincial capital fee, and he immediately filled in the annual membership fee. At this time, the 802,000 silver he raised for the left March was due, and the bank kept urging him to pay it back, but this year Shanghai Daotai refused to give it. Hu Xueyan sent someone to ask many times, and the platform said that the salary of the association had not come down. In fact, the money has already come down, but the Daotai has received a secret letter from Li Hongzhang, which will be delayed for 20 days!
These short 20 days are enough to destroy Hu Xueyan's wealth in one fell swoop. Raw silk still can't be sold, and the bank is still urging money. As a last resort, Hu Xueyan can only use his own money in Fukang Bank to fill this hole. Unexpectedly, it was not long before news came out that Hu Xueyan was hoarding raw silk and borrowing money from the bank, and Fukang Bank was about to close down. As soon as the news came out, the big customers of Fukang Bank couldn't sit still and went to withdraw money. Fukang Bank was founded by Hu Xueyan after years of hard work. This is his old base. ...
This is the so-called radical, not giving opponents any chance to buffer and fight back! Unfortunately, this time Hu Xueyan just understood, this is someone in the whole him! Behind the scenes is his old rival Sheng Xuanhuai. Hu Xueyan sat in the plush chair, looked at the ceiling in despair and suddenly shouted: Sheng Xuanhuai, I'm not finished with you! Soon, he died of depression.
When the Revolution of 1911 broke out, Li Hongzhang, who was hiding in Qingdao, once commented on Sheng Xuanhuai as follows: Official seal in one hand, abacus in the other, business is business, and both sides have their own resources. He knows his talents and is more aware of his ambitions. After Li Hongzhang's death, Sheng Xuanhuai finally became a senior minister of the Ministry of Postal Services at191(the Ministry of Postal Services, located at 1907, mainly managed postal services, banks and railways), reaching his political peak. Some people say that this official position was actually bought with money from Prince Yi of Qing Dynasty. Yi is an old hand at selling officials and has a good reputation. Every official has a price, and he must pay bribes. At that time, the Minister of Postal Communication was vacant, and the price tag was 300,000 taels of silver. The postmaster is a fat job. Everyone wants to fight, and Sheng Xuanhuai is no exception. Yi certainly knows his own strength and temporarily increases the price: 300,000 others, you have to pay 600,000.
Sheng Xuanhuai, who climbed to the highest point, got carried away. Soon after he became the Minister of Post and Communications, he got a passbook, which read: It is suggested that the road rights of Sichuan-Han and Guangdong-Han railways be nationalized! If Li Hongzhang were still here, he would definitely try to stop Sheng Xuanhuai, but he was already dead. At this moment, Sheng Xuanhuai's heart is full of * * *, and he wants to make good use of his own strength. At that time, the railway was originally owned by the whole people. You can look at Sheng Xuanhuai's abacus. Turned over to the state, but actually in his hands, and then sold to the British, French, German and American banking group, so that you can earn more money from the railway. This incident aroused strong opposition from the masses, and soon the railway protection movement broke out throughout the country. In this context, the epoch-making Revolution of 1911 came, and the Qing Dynasty came to the last moment.
Sheng Xuanhuai became the target of attack by the Qing cabinet. They thought that if it hadn't been for Sheng Xuanhuai's proposal of railway state-owned assets, it wouldn't have caused such a big storm, and a Sheng Xuanhuai trial would have been formally held long ago. As the protagonist, Sheng Xuanhuai was not allowed to be present, nor was he given any chance to explain. He can only wait for the result at home. The conclusion of this trial is written in the Draft of Qing History: It is wrong for the state to declare illegality, ignore the policy of deceiving the monarch, and cling to it, leading to disaster and chaos. Sheng Xuanhuai was fired and never used it again! For this result, he himself has long thought of it, but he still has a lot to say and some key issues have not been explained clearly. He made some corruption mistakes, but he didn't just want to make money on the railway issue. He wants to widen the railway and solve the burden for the people. ...
However, in the face of the imperial edict that will never be used and the anger of the national road protection movement, these explanations are basically in vain. 19110 In June, 67-year-old Sheng Xuanhuai had to flee with his family. Where are you going? Qingdao became his first choice.