Hu Xueyan, whose name is Guangyong and whose courtesy name is Xueyan, was born in Jixi, Anhui Province. He rose from a student boy who swept the floor and poured pots into water in a bank to become a second-rank official, wearing a red hat. A generation of wealthy businessmen wearing yellow jackets and possessing tens of millions of taels of silver are quite legendary. In his memorial to the court, Minister of Military and Aircraft Zuo Zongtang called him an "unique merchant man" and the only businessman wearing a red hat in the late Qing Dynasty.

People say that wealth cannot last more than three generations, but such a legendary man ended miserably in his later years before being passed on to the next generation. His life was like a shooting star, shining but short. So how brilliant is he? How does it end? How to bury them?

1. Brilliant Life: When doing business, you must learn from Hu Xueyan, and when you are an official, you must learn from Zeng Guofan. This is a popular saying among the people. It can be seen from this that generally, Hu Xueyan's journey to the peak of his life can be divided into two periods.

The first period is the development period relying on He Guiqing and Wang Youling. When he was young, he helped the down-and-out Wang Youling to embark on an official career. He was willing to lose his job. Unexpectedly, this good man rose to the top and became the first step in Hu Xueyan's career. From then on, Hu Xueyan used his superhuman vision, extraordinary courage and painstaking management. , gradually formed an interest group integrating government and business in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, taking the first important step in life.

The second period is the peak period of relying on Zuo Zongtang. After Wang Youling's death, Hu Xueyan found a new backer, Zuo Zongtang. When Zuo Zongtang was a dazzling pearl in the late Qing government and had great potential to regain the country and revive the imperial court, Hu Xueyan slowly walked into his vision. Hu Xueyan successively raised various loans, funds, and grain for Zuo Zongtang to help him set up shipyards and military factories. Especially when Zuo Zongtang led troops to regain Xinjiang, Hu Xueyan raised grain and grass for him. It was precisely because of this strong logistics Guarantee, Zuo Zongtang can successfully regain Xinjiang. And because of his good relationship with Zuo Zongtang, he later became the target of Li Hongzhang's group. Li Hongzhang's goal was to "defeat Zuo first and Hu".

2. Dismal ending

Zuo Zongtang regained Xinjiang, made great achievements, was granted the title of Marquis and Prime Minister, and became a popular figure in the Qing court. Some people will definitely feel uncomfortable when a person stands out, not to mention Zuo Zongtang's upright temperament and quick talk, which naturally offended many people. In the feudal court at that time, Li Hongzhang's interest group regarded Zuo Zongtang as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh.

As we all know, Hu Xueyan’s fortune is inseparable from Zuo Zongtang. The two of them can be said to be inseparable. In order to defeat him, Li Hongzhang first targeted Hu Xueyan's previous military loan for Zuo Zongtang. Because these loans needed to be guaranteed by the country's copper tax, when the crisis broke out, Li Hongzhang ordered Shao Youlian to delay the payment of copper taxes for 20 days, but the foreign merchants would not delay collecting interest. In desperation, Hu Xueyan advanced the interest himself. Secondly, he persuaded the Qing government to take back the deposits of Fukang Bank and ordered Sheng Xuanhuai to publicize the insolvency of Fukang Bank.

Li Hongzhang took advantage of the situation, coupled with the departure of his backer Zuo Zongtang at this time, Hu Xueyan's own frustration in the market, failed to monopolize raw silk, suffered heavy losses, and his commercial building collapsed in an instant.

Hu Xueyan also knew that there was nothing he could do to save his life at this time, so he finally chose to dismiss his more than a dozen beautiful wives and concubines, and then sell off his mansion to pay off his debts. He also handed over all the commercial banks and banks he founded to the court, including the famous Hu Qingyutang.

At that time, all his accounts still had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. After submitting the accounts of Hu Qingyutang and others to the court, he claimed that he was too old to continue running the business, so he retired and returned home with his family.

3. Corner-cut burial

After Hu Xueyan took his family back to his hometown, he was depressed and lived for two years before closing his eyes. In his last days, he told his family that he should keep everything simple after his death. He would only wear a shroud and buy a coffin. And during the days when he was to be laid to rest, if there was a man wearing an iron hat at the door, he would put it on the coffin. Cut off a corner of the shroud you are wearing and give it to him, and don't say much about the rest.

The man wearing the iron hat was sent by the tomb robbers in advance to find out information. When there is a funeral for a wealthy family, they will do a spy in advance to see if there are many burial objects.

Hu Xueyan lived a life of prosperity and wealth, but now he died in abject depression. Naturally, he did not want to be disturbed after his death, so he gave a corner of his shroud to the tomb robbers. The spy saw how simple the shroud was and understood that there wouldn't be much gain, so he gave up the idea of ??robbing the tomb.

Looking at Mr. Hu Xueyan’s life, it took thirty years to go from nothing to something, and from something to nothing in just a moment, which is very sad.