Modern people believe that there are two main value principles in feudal society, one is "right standard" and the other is "money standard". The "power" mentioned here refers to the monarchical power and clan power under the patriarchal hierarchy; "Money" is the representative of commodity exchange relationship based on private ownership. "Power" is the first and "money" is the second. If only power and money play a game, money will be vulnerable. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, due to the long-term war with Xiongnu, the national treasury could not make ends meet. With the order of the feudal monarch, countless big landlords went bankrupt through the system of "accounting" and "warning", and the wealth of farmers was suddenly transferred to the state or the monarch through the efforts of several generations. The lesson of blood makes people with wealth know the fact that money without power protection is dangerous and it is easy to get money through power. Therefore, they either squeeze into the state power circle through various means and seize economic benefits by mastering power, or exchange wealth for power after possessing wealth, thus stably protecting their economic interests. We call it "power and money trading". In the feudal society for thousands of years, there were many people who got rich by trading power and money, and Hu Xueyan in the late Qing Dynasty was one of them.
Hu Xueyan, people say that he is a wizard of commerce, a helper of officialdom, a leader of the underworld, and a dark horse in the feudal society of China that values agriculture over commerce. This person was born in Jixi 1823, Anhui. He lost his father when he was young and his family was poor. He has been an apprentice in a bank since he was a child. Because of his poor background, Hu Xueyan knew from an early age that to do things depends on friends, and to help others is to help himself. According to various records, Hu Xueyan's first business was to invest in "power": it is said that when Hu Xueyan was about twenty years old, he met a poor scholar named Wang Youling. Wang's father died in Zhejiang, and his wife and children were stranded in Hangzhou because of his clean government. Wang Youling is very talented and ambitious. He has the opportunity to be an official, but he lacks the travel expenses and "capital" to be an official in Beijing. Hu Xueyan didn't know him, but without further ado, he immediately borrowed five hundred and twenty pieces of silver from the bank and gave it to Wang Youling. In this way, although he lost his job, he paved a bright future for himself. Wang Youling became famous in the imperial examination, and then he rose from Liangtai to the magistrate of Hangzhou, and then to the governor of Zhejiang, and became a government official. After becoming an official, Wang Youling felt his kindness and regarded it as the difference between life and death. Hu Xueyan, who was in power, also took advantage of Wang Youling's development in officialdom to open banks, pawnbrokers and pharmacies, dealing in silk and tea, thus making a fortune.
Hu Xueyan became rich because of the war. He actively participated in the war to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the left war to recover Xinjiang. The late Qing government lacked financial resources and was unable to raise and pay huge war expenses, so it could only be solved by large and small officials themselves. Officials can only reach an agreement with businessmen, who use their power to protect their "specific operations" and businessmen provide necessary war expenses to officials. In the early days, he made his fortune by Wang Youling. After Wang Youling died in the war with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hu Xueyan kept close contact with officials such as Dexin and Zuo. He played a great role in the financial planning of the army. Of course, he pocketed his own money and made a fortune. "Ye Yixuan Man Bi" records: "Wen Zuo's public expedition to the west, turned to military provisions, and deeply empowered him. He was recommended by Zhuo after learning from others. Observing the heyday, financial management masterpieces are as rich as an enemy, with assets for half a day. The client borrowed millions of foreign debts. Westerners take their words seriously. " Hu Xueyan and honest officials * * * won the situation as can be seen from the figure below:
Hu Xueyan is supported by red top businessmen and ordinary businessmen.
The secret of Hu Xueyan's success lies in collusion between officials and businessmen, and its dark side complements feudal autocracy. He is very smooth in life. He never wears a top hat, always gives it away, never flatters, and always takes pictures. He is good at finding loopholes in the autocratic system and using them to make a fortune; He is good at discovering the weaknesses of large and small officials and attacking accurately. He used gold and silver to clear the way, get through all kinds of immortals, and then used public funds as private capital to open a bank, and financial resources rolled in. According to records, Hu Xueyan's business is often linked to the national treasury. It is said that Hu Xueyan has opened a bank with branches all over the country, and its reputation has shocked both at home and abroad. The money deposited with him by officials and businessmen is always huge, which further strengthens his momentum. Silkworm cocoons in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have always been the main export products in the Qing Dynasty, which are controlled by foreign businessmen. No one in China can compete with them. Hu Xueyan monopolizes Juqi, and its market value fluctuates, which is beyond the control of foreign capital. "The revenue and expenditure of the national treasury are always there, which is quite urgent." This shows the degree of financial chaos in the Qing Dynasty.
People call Hu Xueyan a "red-crowned merchant" because Hu Xueyan provided military supplies for the Western Expedition. Zuo Xiangqing government wanted to reward him, and Hu Xueyan was named as a four-grade official.
The official seal of the imperial court has an unusual relationship with "Left" and "Left". This is Hu's official protection symbol. Hu Xueyan's success is actually a typical cooperative game between "power standard" and "money standard". Hu Xueyan has two choices: collusion between officials and businessmen and proper management. Powerful officials had the choice of support and obstruction, and whether there were official protection symbols was crucial to the success or failure of Hu Xueyan's commercial kingdom at that time. Hu Xueyan has official protection signs, and Qing government officials support him. In this way, Hu's successful operation benefited the Qing government and its officials. Assuming that the officials in contact with him don't support him, Hu can find other officials through the left big tree to achieve his goal, so for the officials in the way, it will not be worth the candle; Without the official protection symbol, the official support is unknown and he will not be enthusiastic. Hu's business operation will not be so smooth, it is impossible to obtain high monopoly interests, and the corresponding "kickbacks" to officials will be less; Without the support of officials, Hu's business may be tinkering around the edges, or it may be a fiasco, and officials will not get much or even any benefits.
It is precisely because in feudal society, businessmen and officials know that power is always the first, and money is only an accessory to power, which is beneficial to both sides and harmful to both sides, so businessmen spare no effort to curry favor with officials and invest in officials. Officials with power, because of their special status, cannot openly and directly convert their power into money. Therefore, their best way is to trade power and money with businessmen through "agency".
"I try my best to cooperate with your city, and you value your position and cooperate with my city." The monarch has supreme power and most of the wealth of society, and the courtiers have nothing but their own knowledge and wisdom. So the monarch and his subjects are just a simple game, and there is no loyalty to each other.
After the success, Hu Xueyan was charitable, and Wang's Selected Works of Harmony in Zhuang recorded: "I have to report to the director of Xiangyin for the aftermath, first set up a porridge factory, a refugee bureau and a righteous legacy, and then set up a good hall, a school, a medical bureau and a temple to repair places of interest. Policies for medical insurance, death, poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation are all ready. The imperial court has a large army, and the provinces have great disasters. However, this kind of charity is just the usual behavior of nouveau riche. They try to buy people's hearts with small favors, create top-down public opinion protection, and at the same time give more psychological comfort to their ill-gotten gains. One of the characteristics of this kind of giving money is that it is not only suitable for officials, but also for donations to Wang, both for individuals and public utilities. This is actually a power transaction, because most of the property he spent on charity still fell into the pockets of officials. In this way, Hu Xueyan will accelerate to officialdom, and his property will be multiplied.
In the end, however, Hu Xueyan went bankrupt. There are many reasons for bankruptcy, such as profligacy, inability to see the international situation clearly and inability to introduce modern production and management. , but the most important thing is to lose the background. In his later period, Hu Xueyan relied heavily on the Left, thus offending Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and others, and fell into the officialdom struggle involuntarily. After Zuo died, he became a victim of official partition. Throughout his life, he can be described as an official and an official. His frustration can be vividly expressed:
Hu Xueyan's success and downfall were not achieved through normal channels, nor could they be achieved through normal channels. His failure is not simply the failure of his own career, but depends on the system of feudal society. From the picture, we can see that no matter how powerful officials treat businessmen, they are all beneficiaries. From formation to development, and finally to extinction, the status of businessmen in China feudal society has been very low. During the Warring States Period, Guan Zhong divided the Qi people into scholars, farmers, workers and businessmen, and businessmen ranked last. It can be seen that businessmen are the lowest class from the beginning. China has always been a country with small-scale peasant economy as the main body, and "attaching importance to agriculture and restraining business" was the basic national policy of successive dynasties, so the status of businessmen in the whole feudal society has not been fundamentally improved. China officialdom, which has been ruled by Confucianism for a long time, pursues the principle of "learning to be excellent is to be an official". Officials despise businessmen in their bones, but powerful officials have a fanatical desire to extract the wealth of businessmen. Successive dynasties monopolized the industries related to the national economy and people's livelihood, making the feudal economy a freak with mixed dignitaries as their agents, and providing natural soil for the game of cooperation between dignitaries as their agents.
Privileged economy will inevitably bring privileged businessmen. The rise of Hu Xueyan not only shows that the feudal economy is a monster bred by power, but also shows that China lacks a truly independent merchant class. Businessmen are just followers of bureaucrats, and their business activities must operate under the authoritarian system, so there can be no fair competition in the modern sense and no real business prosperity. Hu Xueyan's downfall shows that in feudal society, the wealth gained by power will eventually be swallowed up by the greed of power. Hu Xueyan's society is a society without law. So naturally there is no "law" to protect his property.