Why did Hu Xueyan, a red top businessman in Qing Dynasty, finally lose?

With Zeng Guofan's smooth March, Nanjing fell, which indicated that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was finally pacified. Although there are still remnants of the Nian army in the Huaihe River basin, the Qing Dynasty has passed the crisis of national subjugation. However, the Qing government was overwhelmed by the erosion situation in the northwest before it could catch its breath. The Muslim riots in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia are getting out of control, and the northwest region is no longer allowed to be ordered by the court. The two regiments to suppress were defeated, and the Duolong A Army of Henan reinforcements was also defeated by the remaining Taiping Army, and Duolong A was killed.

Seeing that the imperial court was unable to quell the chaos, many countries in Central Asia began to covet the northwest of China. In a.d. 1864, Akuba, the general of Central Asia Andijan, invaded Xinjiang, captured eight cities on the south road, and soon occupied Urumqi and Yili on the north road, which he brazenly announced in the sixth year of Tongzhi? Jed Sarkhan State University? . In order to occupy Xinjiang forever, Agubo openly began to collect local taxes in all parts of Xinjiang, and ordered people of all ethnic groups living here to do things according to the custom of Andijan people. Bald round neck? Cutting braids and changing clothes means that Xinjiang is already Andijan's territory. In order to attract foreign aid, Agubo is not far away. Wanli sent messengers to Istanbul to make a pilgrimage to the Ottoman Sultan, requesting knighthood.

(Agubo invaded Xinjiang and the Russians occupied Ili)

At the same time, Russia and Britain, which divided their spheres of influence in Iran, began to intervene in Xinjiang affairs. In July of A.D. 187 1, Russian troops crossed the border and occupied the Jiucheng area of Yili. The establishment of official posts and the opening of the road to trade show that Yili will always be under the jurisdiction of Russia? And hypocritically told the Qing government? On behalf of recovery, expedient An Lushan? . The British also sent messengers to contact Agubo and expressed their willingness to send messengers.

When the situation developed to this situation, the Qing government, in desperation, issued an urgent imperial edict to fight against the Taiping Rebellion. The current governor of Fujian and Zhejiang left for the northwest to fight the Taiping Rebellion. At that time, Zuo was preparing to build the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, and prepared to build a ship by the people of China. After receiving the imperial edict, Zuo recommended Shen Baozhen, the governor of Jiangxi Province, to take charge of Fujian affairs instead of him, and strongly recommended Hu Xueyan to assist in maritime affairs. 187 1 At the beginning of the year, Zuo wrote a special letter to Hu Xueyan during the northwest war. Everything in Fujian Bureau is getting better and better, and the ship doesn't need foreign craftsmen. What's the good news at this time? Your Excellency's initiative is great. ?

(Left was transferred to Shanganping Uprising)

Zuo's army fought against the Hui rebels in the northwest for six years, and finally settled the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu by wiping out the enemy 1000 people and losing 800 people. However, many mobs fled to Xinjiang, took refuge in Agubo regime, and were placed in Turpan and Dihua by Agubo to guard against China's conquest. Zuo reported to the court, explaining the importance of Xinjiang and asking the court to send troops to conquer and recover their homeland. At this time, the Japanese intended to get their hands on Taiwan Province Province, and the southeast coast was in danger. Li Hongzhang therefore predicted? Will there be a war between China and Japan in the next 20 years? .

Crisis occurred simultaneously in the southeast and northwest frontiers. After the war, the imperial court was empty and unable to deal with two wars at the same time. What about the imperial court headed by Li Hongzhang? Sea power faction? What about the left-headed one? Serbian defense? The root cause of the quarrel is to report the project to the court to obtain war funds. At that time, most of the imperial court supported Li Hongzhang? Haiphong? It seems that only Wen Xiang, a college student, and Wang Wenshao, the governor of Hunan, support the Left? Insert defense? Advocates can be called a minority. At the critical moment, Cixi finally adopted Zuo's suggestion and let Zuo lead the army to the west.

(Left Tang Zong regains Xinjiang)

But determined. Where is the money? The Ministry of Internal Affairs has tried its best to collect 2 million taels of silver, which is a drop in the bucket for military expenditure. The Qing dynasty urged the provinces to pay for the reimbursement of military supplies, but the army was slow to move. In desperation, I had to borrow money from foreigners. But the treasury of the Qing dynasty was empty and there was nothing to mortgage. Even if Prince Gong comes forward, foreigners won't borrow it. At this time, Zuo recommended Hu Xueyan to go to Shanghai to consult foreigners about borrowing money, but in a few days, Hu Xueyan didn't even do what Wang Ye did. Hu Xueyan borrowed silver 18700000 from foreigners six times since then. Hu Xueyan played an important role in Zuo Tang Zong's recovery of Xinjiang.

Hu Xueyan: The Rise History of Red Top Merchants in the Late Qing Dynasty

Who is Hu Xueyan? How capable and powerful is he? He not only built the first ship in China, but also accomplished what the monarch never accomplished.

Hu Xueyan was the richest man in China in the late Qing Dynasty and was called "the richest man" by later generations. Red top businessman? . Although he finally made a business mistake and lost everything, Hu Qingyutang, which he founded, has been open until now, reflecting the north and south with the century-old Tongrentang in the north. Because of his outstanding commercial achievements, there is such a saying that it is widely circulated in later generations? Zeng Guofan is a must-read for officials and Hu Xueyan is a must-read for businessmen? .

Such a big man must have been born, right? Not exactly. As the saying goes, if Heaven wants to demote him, he must first suffer his will, strain his bones and muscles, and mess up his actions, so he must be patient and get what he can't do. Hu Xueyan was born in Huli Village, Jixi County, Anhui Province. When he was young, his family was poor and he lived by helping people herd cattle (copied by Zhu Yuanzhang). /kloc-when he was 0/2 years old, his father died of illness. Young Hu Xueyan came to Hangzhou alone, did a lot of chores, and finally arrived? Xinhe bank? When I was an apprentice, I completed my apprenticeship three years later, and I became a formal buddy of the bank. Therefore, Hu Xueyan was born in finance, and his great achievements in the future are actually in the financial field.

(Hu Xueyan 19 years old speculative politics)

/kloc-After the age of 0/9, Hu Xueyan had a unique eye. He sponsored an alternate salt tax ambassador named Wang Youling and gave him 500 silver tickets to help him fill his official position. Therefore, Hu Xueyan was fired. However, this venture capital, let Hu Xueyan have a gold mine contacts for the first time in his life. Wang Youling was ordered to run the Huzhou magistrate after his official tenure, and soon acted as the agent of the Hangzhou magistrate. How can I repay this benefactor? Hu Xueyan gave full play to his financial expertise and acted as the agent of Huzhou Treasury. Hu Xueyan embezzled the financial funds of Huzhou government to do business, started silk business, helped farmers raise silkworms with the financial funds of the government, then bought silk locally and shipped it to Shanghai and Hangzhou for cash, and then returned the money to Zhejiang? Fanku？ You don't need to pay any interest from it. Later, he persuaded Huang Zonghan, the governor of Zhejiang Province, to set up a pharmacy in the form of shares, so that grain delivery agencies in various places (equivalent to postal services) could collect and sell drugs on their behalf, and the pharmacy business started rapidly.

During the war between the Taiping Army and the Qing Army in the south of the Yangtze River, Wang Youling was promoted to the governor of Zhejiang, and he helped Hu Xueyan to establish? Fukang bank? (similar to the current private banks). Later, when the war was urgent, Hu Xueyan took another gamble and went to the military line. Because the road is impassable, a large amount of recruitment funds are deposited in Fukang Qianzhuang. Later, Wang Youling sent him to handle the important tasks of grain machinery and comprehensive grain transportation, and mastered almost half of Zhejiang's wartime finance and economics. This year, Hu Xueyan was 37 years old.

Li Xiucheng led the Taiping Army to travel all over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and attacked Hangzhou. Wang Youling committed suicide after his failure. Hu Xueyan suddenly lost his dependence and went through a period of depression. Soon, Zeng Guofan recommended Zuo to act as an agent for Zhejiang affairs and supervise military affairs. Hu Xueyan knew Zuo through personal relationship. For this Hunan native, he urgently needs someone who knows local finance and economics to help him take care of the rear. 1862, Zuo completely trusted Hu Xueyan and was appointed as the general manager, in charge of the aftermath after the recovery of Zhejiang Province and the money, grain and salary of Zhejiang Province. While helping Zuo arrange his salary, he also made a fortune, thus embarking on the road of being an official and doing business.

(Hu's business empire was formed after Zuo recovered Zhejiang)

1864, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom collapsed, officials, large and small, made a lot of money and deposited their money in banks in Hu Xueyan. Hu Xueyan took these goods as capital, engaged in trade activities and loans, and set up businesses in various places, which made considerable profits. In just a few years, it has accumulated more than 20 million yuan of property and 1 10,000 mu of land. This year, he just turned 40 and became the richest man in China. After Zuo Ping put down the Shannxi-Gansu rebellion, he reported Hu Xueyan's meritorious service, and the court gave him an alternate desk in Jiangxi and a yellow jacket.

Left led troops to explore Xinjiang in the west, lacking food and ordnance, and the court made a lot of preparations without results. Zuo specially wrote to ask Hu Xueyan to borrow money from foreign banks in Shanghai to solve the urgent need of the Western Expedition. Because of Hu Xueyan's experience in contacting foreigners during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he even organized 1000 foreign mercenaries at that time. Often? Assist Zuo to recover Zhejiang. As a result, foreigners bought Hu Xueyan's face, mortgaged the customs revenue of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, and successfully got a loan.

However, although Hu Xueyan's move solved the urgent need of the left, it also offended the report of the Beijing school. Reporting this face can be planted, but in such an emergency, all parties can only applaud. Hu Xueyan also sent a large number of medicinal materials, such as Zhuge San and Hu Dandan, to the left army, thus avoiding the hidden danger of acclimatization. Zuo praised and said:? There is no difference between snow and rocks. .

In less than two years, the left army defeated the invaders in Andijan and wiped out the so-called? Jed Sarkhan State University? Cancer recovered all the lost land in Xinjiang and formally established a province in Xinjiang, which maintained the territorial integrity of China and effectively resisted Russian aggression and expansion. In the later Ili negotiations, Zuo did not realize the compromise made by the Manchu government to Russia (ceded to other places), and claimed to go out and conquer the Russians again. 188 1 year, Hu Xueyan was awarded the title of minister of state for actively assisting Zuo, and was given a yellow jacket with a magenta hat on the official hat, which was given to ride a horse in the Forbidden City. General manager? Four provincial public libraries? . The Qing government also took a fancy to Hu Xueyan's financial management ability and wanted Hu Xueyan to help the court make money. Hu Xueyan's commercial achievement reached its peak here.

Prosperity will decline: the collapse of Hu's commercial empire

As the saying goes, prosperity will decline, and wood show will destroy forest air. Hu Xueyan is so outstanding that it is bound to arouse the envy of all parties. The biggest crisis comes from the infighting in officialdom. Zuo and Li Hongzhang beat each other to death in the court. Because the court provoked checks and balances, it was difficult for Li Hongzhang to directly bring down Zuo, so Li Hongzhang wrote the article here in Hu Xueyan. Because of Zuo's meritorious service, Hu Xueyan is offering help. But how can you beat a rich businessman? In 1883, the Sino-French Vietnam War broke out and Zuo was transferred to the military department. Hu Xueyan was alone, and a plot against Hu's business empire began to be planned.

Li Hongzhang also has a capable assistant, Sheng Xuanhuai, a businessman in southern Anhui. Young Hu Xueyan is a rising star, and his business is doing well. He created many firsts in China industry. Such as post, telegraph, coal mine, railway, etc. He was also a hot financial talent of the Qing government. But later, because this gentleman dominated the state-owned railway, it inspired the Sichuan railway protection movement. The Qing government had no choice but to deploy the Hubei army to suppress it, making Hubei empty and the revolutionary party uprising successful. When the Qing government was under siege, it hated Sheng Xuanhuai, hoping that he wouldn't be arrested and killed, forcing Sheng Xuanhuai to run into the American consulate in the middle of the night to seek asylum. This is beside the point, so let's leave it at that.

(call? Father of Chinese businessmen? Sheng Xuanhuai)

Hu Xueyan has expanded its power at this time. As the richest man in China, he built a long enclosure with infinite scenery all over the country, but he didn't know that the crisis was approaching quietly. 1882, Hu Xueyan opened a Shanghai silk factory and bought a lot of raw silk. He spent 20 million taels trying to monopolize the raw silk trade. This move triggered a foreign boycott, and the first big commercial war broke out in the history of Chinese and foreign enterprises in the past 100 years. Hu Xueyan bought a lot of raw silk at a high price and hoarded millions of tons of goods. Foreign businessmen have no silk to buy and are unwilling to buy raw silk from Hu Xueyan at a high price. Both sides are wasting time to see who can't hold on first. Hu Xueyan's move is indeed another gamble. He won the first two bets. This time, he also believes that he can win the bet.

A large amount of cash is used to hoard goods, and foreign businessmen resist. Hu Xueyan's huge business empire immediately appeared the problem of capital chain. At this time, because the Qing government failed to borrow money in wartime, it was finally borrowed by Hu Xueyan. The loan repayment bank of the Qing government was also shipped to Shanghai Pantai in advance and delivered face to face. In the great commercial war between Hu Xueyan and foreign businessmen, a batch of loans, about 800,000 taels of silver, were due, but the routine delivery went wrong. It is said that Li Hongzhang instructed Shanghai Daotai to delay delivery for more than 20 days, which constituted the guarantor Hu Xueyan's breach of contract. The information of debt collection is like the confidence of financial markets. Once people think that Hu Xueyan has no money, there will be the risk of a bank run.

In desperation, Hu Xueyan immediately sent a telegram to Zuo, asking Zuo to go to court for mediation to solve the urgent need. However, the post office was run by Sheng Xuanhuai, and the telegram didn't reach the left hand. In desperation, Hu Xueyan had to sell his property to make up the silver. This is the news that Sheng Xuanhuai and others are waiting for. There are rumors in the market that Hu Xueyan has insufficient reserves to exchange money. Finally, what Hu Xueyan regarded as a nightmare happened: a decisive storm. The threshold of banks all over Hu Xueyan is broken, but he can't give people a few packets of raw silk, can he?

(Statue of Hu Xueyan)

When the house leaked, it rained all night. At this time, there was a bumper harvest of raw silk in Italy, and the price of raw silk in the market dropped sharply. China and France fought in Vietnam, Taiwan Province Province, and the Silk Road was blocked, so it could not be sold. Bankruptcy storm in Hu Xueyan spread to Beijing. At this time, another official impeached that Hu Xueyan took kickbacks when he borrowed money from foreigners. Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly flew into a rage and even dared to earn money from the imperial court? Black-hearted businessmen are undoubtedly. However, the Qing government still had a lot of silver in the bank in Hu Xueyan, so Cixi sent an unannounced visit to see how much money Hu Xueyan had left and whether it was enough to fill the hole. At the same time, Cixi ordered Zuo to investigate and deal with Hu Xueyan as soon as possible. Although Zuo had dealt with Hu Xueyan for many years, it was difficult to disobey the emperor's orders and investigated several Zhuangzi in Hu Xueyan.

Hu Xueyan has understood that someone is playing a game and wants his life. In the end, he sold raw silk and field property cheaply and tried his best to save Qingyutang. After the death of Zuo Yu 1885 in July, the court's investigation became more and more tight. 1June, 885, 1 1, Hu Xueyan was penniless and died of poverty due to illness. In his will, he advised his descendants: Don't do business? .

In the history of more than 2,000 years, businessmen in China have always been in a subordinate position in politics. The government exercised more control over businessmen, and public opinion discriminated against them. Although this point has improved with the invasion of foreign assets in modern times, it has not been fundamentally changed. Hu Xueyan's business empire, after all, is outside the government system, unlike Sheng Xuanhuai's state-owned assets. The strength of Hu Xueyan meant that the financial lifeline of the Qing government was in private hands. If Xinjiang is recovered, it must be raised by Hu Xueyan. This was unacceptable to the centralized and unified Qing Dynasty. Therefore, if Hu Xueyan can help the Qing Dynasty make money, and the development is not too fast, the Qing Dynasty can still allow him to exist. However, he started a bank, which seriously affected the financial security of the Qing Dynasty. As for the bank opened by the Qiao family later, it only existed because it raised boxer indemnity and gave life to the Qing Dynasty.

Politically speaking, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, with the expansion of the Xiang Army, Empress Dowager Cixi intended to support the Huai Army. As the leader of Xiang army, Zuo has never dealt with Zeng Guofan, so it is difficult to determine that he is not working for the imperial court. Weakening the forces of Xiang army, strengthening the forces of Huai clan, and balancing each other are the techniques to control the Qing dynasty. Therefore, even if Hu Xueyan made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty, he could only sacrifice himself in the face of political trends. Even, the Qing government acquiesced in the collapse of Hu's commercial empire.