Nanxun Xiaolianzhuang

The owner of Lianzhuang---Liu Yong

Xiaolianzhuang is the most beautiful place in Nanxun. It was originally the family temple and garden of Liu Yong, the "first of the four elephants", Guanglu doctor of Qing Dynasty. Legend has it that the Lotus Villa built in Huzhou got its name because its owner admired the calligrapher and painter Zhao Mengzhaoye of the Yuan Dynasty.

Some people estimate that Liu Yong’s family fortune reached 20 million taels of silver in the 1890s. What is this concept? At that time, the annual income of the Qing government was 70 million taels of silver.

In 1885, when Tongfenggong Liu Yong was 59 years old, he began to build the private manor "Xiaolianzhuang". He planned to build a ten-acre lotus pond in the manor and build several pavilions beside the pond. The pavilion allows you to enjoy lotuses, fish and enjoy your old age in peace when the weather is nice and sunny.

At this time, Liu Yong ranked first among the "Four Elephants" in Nanxun. Perhaps, he hoped to recall his life while quietly facing the lotus pond. Perhaps, he would think, there is nothing you can't do in this life, as long as your heart is big enough.

At this time, Liu Yong was no longer the young apprentice of the cotton silk cloth shop. He was 15 years old that year. Due to his poor family, Liu Yong worked as a helper in Buzhuang. He worked from early in the morning to late at night, doing everything from the kitchen to the bathhouse, but he could only get ten cents for snack money after a hard day's work. Even though he was like his master, he was The annual salary of the butler in the store is only a hundred cents (one thousand cents is one cent).

For Liu Yong, who always wanted to start his own business, the daily salary of ten cents was not enough. He began to consider developing into the silk industry.

Nanxun, the most beautiful mountain in Tianmu, enjoys the beauty of Tiao River in Taihu Lake. All the spiritual energy is condensed into strands of silk, which is soft and pliable, with crystal-clear texture, and is famous far and wide. At that time, "European countries opened commercial ports in Shanghai and purchased Hu silk on a large scale, exporting 80,000 to 90,000 bales a year. Those who were in the silk industry made too much profit." All this was seen by Liu Yong, and he couldn't help but be moved by it. If you want to start your own business, starting with silk is a shortcut.

So, in 1842, 16-year-old Liu Yong "jumped" to work as a clerk in Tan Dechang Silk Industry. The benefits at the Silk Shop were much higher than those at the Cotton and Silk Clothing Store. Not only was he "ten yuan of foreign silver per year for meals," but at the end of the year, Boss Tan even "paid six yuan of foreign silver" to Liu Yong because of his diligence and ability.

(The years have changed several times, the world has gone through several vicissitudes, and the ten-acre lotus pond has experienced a hundred years of turmoil. Today, when we wander on the shore, admiring its beauty and admiring the owner’s wealth, there are Several people can imagine that Liu Yong was just such an inconspicuous poor boy before he became a tycoon. This shows how far a person's heart can go)

Liu Yong enters. When Tan Dechang Silk Shop was a boy, he had already made plans to start his own business in the future. Because he was smart and eager to learn, in just four years, he "expanded everything and saw the crux of the matter without waiting for instructions", fully understood the secrets of silk industry management, and mastered the rules of business.

In 1846, the first month of the year was the New Year, and every household was busy bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. Liu Yong's heart also surged with the idea of ??starting a new life. He felt that the time was ripe to start his own business. So he bid farewell to Tan Dechang Silk Shop, spent all his savings and opened a small silk shop called "Liu Hengshun".

It was here that the richest "Xiang" in Nanxun began to sprout.

Following the twists and turns of the waterway to the north, we paddled on the oar for three days and three nights, crossing the stone bridges one after another, and arrived at Shiliupu, Shanghai.

This is the first time Liu Yong went to Shanghai to inquire about silk prices. Previously, his small silk shop purchased silk every day and immediately sold it to Da Guangzhuang, a businessman from Guangdong, after closing time to make a small profit. price difference.

The life was originally comfortable, but in the spring of this year, the spring silk was particularly good and abundant. Guangzhuang teamed up with several big silk shops to deliberately lower the price of Jilihu silk, and business was seeing a decline. Going to lose money.

Is it possible to sail the boat and sell the silk directly to Shanghai? Liu Yong suddenly had such an idea, and then suppressed it - no funds, no big ship, can he go like this recklessly?

Liu Yong’s wife Shen, on the other hand, has another opinion: “It doesn’t matter if we don’t have capital, we can start from a young age and accumulate slowly. If we don’t have a big silk boat, even if we rent a farm boat or a sailing boat, we have to give it a try. . ”

Yes, you have to give it a try. Instead of waiting for death, why not give it a try? Didn't the little boy who was an apprentice from childhood also come here like this? It worked then, why not now?

Liu Yong rowed his oar, traveled day and night, and followed the twists and turns of the waterway to reach Shiliupu, Shanghai.

Shanghai Shiliupu is full of all kinds of large ships, some from Europe and some from America. Liu Yong's boat seems to be particularly shabby, and his heart is heavy.

Liu Yong rocked the boat, twisting and turning in the gaps of the big ship before landing. As soon as I landed, I couldn't wait to inquire about the price of silk.

“Each tael of silk silk is sold for 2 taels of silver.” The silk shop clerk’s voice quoted loudly.

"Two taels? Seriously?" Liu Yong was shocked. You must know that Ji Lisi's income was only 7 cents per tael. The price quoted by the silk shop clerk was three times the purchase price. ah.

Liu Yong was overjoyed and hurriedly sold all the shiny silk he brought in exchange for the same shiny silver.

This spring, Liu Yong's business was particularly prosperous relying on his own silk boat.

Other silk shops saw that the business of Liu Hengshun Silk Shop was so good, and they came to inquire about it.

Liu Yong is an extraordinary and generous person, and he tells his peers in detail how he made a fortune. Everyone followed suit, and soon the winding waterway leading to Shanghai was filled with silk boats from every household. Snow-white silk from Jili Lake was shipped out, and snow-white silver from Shanghai was shipped in. Perhaps from that time on, Nanxun gradually became a treasure land even richer and more prosperous than Shanghai.

(Now, standing on the stone bridge engraved with the traces of time, looking at the long water and the long road, the sound of the swaying oars seems to be faintly heard in my ears. .

The roaring sound has penetrated the dust of history, soaked through hundreds of years, and continues to this day. Today, businessmen in Hu are doing business in Europe, America, and all over the world. They should still be holding such a "oar" in their hands)

Along the ten acres of lotus ponds in Xiaolian Village, passing through corridors and pavilions. , turned around and raised his eyes, two tall and solemn archways were in front of him.

The two gray archways are 10 meters high and can be reached as far as the eye can see. One of the archways has the four characters "Be kind and generous" written on it.

Elderly people in the small town of Nanxun all know that this archway was built in 1893. It was specially approved by the Qing Emperor in order to commend the Liu family's tradition of "charity and charity".

It was 1863. Through his hard work and intelligence, Liu Yong had started from the silk industry to the salt industry, and his family was very rich.

At the turn of summer and autumn that year, it was the "autumn tiger" and the weather was very hot. Liu Yong went to Yanzhou to manage the salt tea business. Along the way, he saw that the people were ravaged by bandits and thieves, and their houses and fields were destroyed and devastated everywhere. So it was decided to use the business capital from this trip to "relieve the victims, give medicine, bury them, adopt the exiled people, and redeem the orphans and widows."

He traveled dozens of miles a day to provide relief, despite being fumigated by filthy odors in the scorching heat, and became seriously ill. During his illness, he still told his friends to continue to provide relief, but he almost died.

It was 1889. Floods hit Zhejiang, especially Huzhou, and thousands of people were affected. Upon seeing this, Liu Yong took out tens of thousands of silver and purchased 10,000 meters and 10,000 stones from Wuhu, Anhui Province to provide relief to the victims.

A once-in-a-century disaster was finally resolved with Liu Yong’s generous support.

In order to promote good deeds and help the countryside in the long term, Liu Yong also took out tens of thousands of silver dollars and borrowed them to earn interest. He used the interest every year to buy rice to help disasters, which was called "Love Rice".

Liu Yong is charitable and generous to others, but his own life is simple and indifferent. He often said that a wealthy home is like a human body with plump skin. People with plump skin look healthy, but if the yang energy is too strong, it will damage the internal organs. He is well aware that too much wealth can easily enslave people's temperament and suffer its consequences, so he compares his disaster relief activities to treating his own illness:

"I spend thousands of gold every year to give to others, and I don't ask for it." Blessing, it is a cure for my illness. The way of heaven and earth is that the accumulation of energy must be released. I will not wait for it to be released, but I will release it myself first. I will punish those who have swollen skin and know their illness early. . ”

Liu Yong, who never forgot his roots when he got rich, won the love of his neighbors. When Liu Yong died, people from far and near heard about it and expressed their condolences and cried.

(The gray archway records Liu Yong’s life of indifference to wealth. In his life, he made endless money. The snow-white silver coins have disappeared with history. This The archway has been standing here for hundreds of years, and it will continue to stand tall. What is it that can last forever? Standing under the archway, many people are thinking.)

Note 1: Tongzhi in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Guangxu period, a wealthy class that made a fortune in the silk industry appeared in Nanxun, an ancient water town in Huzhou, Zhejiang. At that time, people used the sizes of three animal shapes to indicate the amount of their property, and gradually formed the "Four Symbols" Eight cows and seventy-two golden dogs" proverb. There are different opinions among the people about how much their wealth is. Liu Yong ranked first among the "Four Elephants" at that time. It is said that the Liu family's property reached 20 million taels at its peak.