Pan Shicheng took advantage of his identity and contacts to not only engage in salt business, but also undertake arms production and assist in foreign affairs. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Before and after the First Opium War, those foreign merchants of the Thirteen Lines were greatly injured by the Sino-British war, and their lives were not easy, but Pan Shicheng made a fortune by undertaking coastal defense and warships. When Pan Shicheng undertook the military industry and coastal defense, he automatically donated funds to add warships, and donated 80,000 taels of anti-British military salaries at one time, and was praised as "the most effective member of the gentlemen of Guangdong Province". Deng Tingzhen tested the cannon at Shimen and invited him to watch. The governor of Liangguang was hesitant to build the Humen coastal defense project, "afraid of spending tens of thousands of dollars and entrusting it to a useless place", and later turned to Pan Shicheng for advice and funding, so he was very impressed by Pan Shicheng's "anxious public state" and wrote to him to "plan me from time to time". In February of the 21st year of Daoguang (1841), the British army broke through Humen, and Guangzhou was dying. Under the inspiration and drive of Lin Zexu, the patriotic gentry and businessmen in Guangzhou donated money to hire Yong. Pan Shicheng took the initiative to pay Guangyi Bank to recruit 300 brave employees. For this reason, Lin Zexu sent a letter to him, saying, "Your Excellency's donation to defend the city wall is a righteous act", "If the people hired by Guangyi Xing are changed to be funded by the respectful department, they will be uneasy and unreasonable, and they will not be the same as other places, and they will not be able to deal with others." Zite returned Guangyi to the original silver and sent it to the Taiwan government, praying for the return. Sheng Yi has been deeply felt, fortunately do not humble the feelings, and pray for "Yunyun." Pan Shicheng believed that "if you want to control the enemy, you must make its cannons, and if you want to make its cannons, you must first control its ships", so he did not hesitate to hire a foreigner Ren Reis to make mines, build warships, and cast artillery with a high salary of 5,000 taels of silver per month, spending 65,000 taels of silver. The mines produced became a sharp weapon for attacking ships that year, and 20 mines and 400 kilograms of gunpowder were also transported to the Dagukou fortress in Tianjin for exercises. He also compiled and painted the "Attack Ship Mine Diagram" and played it, which was awarded by the proclamation. Due to the preparation of prevention and salary, Pan Shicheng was relied on by the officials of Guangdong and showed his merits to the imperial court many times. Emperor Daoguang repeatedly issued edicts to commend: "The Taoist Pan Shicheng, who has been rewarded with flowers and feathers for repeated times, and added the rank of inspector, how to add rewards should be given to the governor of Liangguang and Guangzhou. Soon, according to the recital, Pan Shicheng was rewarded with the title of political envoy. In the Qing Dynasty, foreign merchants could only be awarded the highest official title of the third grade, and the political envoy was the second rank, and Pan Shicheng was awarded the title for meritorious service, and his status was very prominent.

The imperial court rewarded Pan Shicheng, and then ordered him to be given a substantive position. In the twenty-sixth year of Daoguang (1846), he was successively appointed to the posts of Pingqingjing Road in Gansu Province and Wuyu Road in Guiping in Guangxi, but Pan Shicheng did not want to take office, and all of them stayed in Guangdong through the governor of Guangdong on the grounds of "supervising the unfinished warships of the seven provinces" and "assisting in foreign affairs". In the following year, Emperor Daoguang specially granted Pan Shicheng two Guangxi salt transport envoys, and he insisted on the grounds that his native people were "different numbers" and "non-points" of the salt division of the province, and he was reappointed as the salt transport envoy of Zhejiang, and he also retained on the grounds of "Guangdong East Yiwu Kong Thorn". In addition to resigning as the salt transport envoy of the two provinces due to "non-division", Pan Shicheng also resigned three times and did not leave Guangdong.

At the age of 54, Pan Shicheng accepted the public order to go north to negotiate. The Sino-British Treaty of Nanking signed during the Opium War stipulated that five ports, including Guangzhou and Shanghai, should be opened as treaty ports, and that British merchants "should pay import and export taxes and taxes, and they should agree impartially on the rules." The following year, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Humen with the Aftermath of the Five Ports of Commerce (i.e., the Treaty of Humen), with the Customs Tariff Rules, which set the tax rate for the classification of export goods. Fifteen years later, in the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858) during the Second Opium War, the Qing court, under the threat of the gunboats of the British and French forces approaching Tianjin, signed the Sino-British, Sino-French "Treaty of Tianjin", and later signed the "Regulations on the Aftermath of the Trade Regulations" with Britain, the United States, France and other countries in Shanghai, revising the tariff rules and reducing the tax rate. Pan Shicheng was called to negotiate a trade matter involving Guangzhou, which shows his status as a businessman in the political circles. Since then, he has "returned to the inner gate" and never came back.

Pan Shicheng is known locally as "light on money and good righteousness, and local good deeds are stingy". The first is disaster relief and poverty alleviation. There are often disasters in Guangdong, Pan Shicheng donated funds for disaster relief more than once, and also advocated planting cowpox, suggesting that the government, relatives and friends promote cowpox, and purchase imported pox knives for them to deliver pox seeds. People from all walks of life and patients praised him as "immeasurably meritorious". As for those who need to help the poor, or those who are married or have a lack of medical treatment, he is willing to help generously.

Like many successful Chinese businessmen, Pan Shicheng later built his own luxury estate, Haishan Xianguan. "From the ninth year of Daoguang (1829) to the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866), it lasted for thirty-seven years." This garden was built in Pantang, outside the West Gate of Guangzhou, and was originally called Lixiang Garden, which was for the reason why lychee trees were planted all over the garden. The garden gate hangs a plaque "Haishan Immortal Pavilion", and there is a pair of famous couplets "Famous Mountains on the Sea, Immortal Old Pavilion". The joint and plaque are written by the Governor of Liangguang and Guangzhou. Therefore, this garden is mostly called "Haishan Immortal Hall". Imitate the Jiangnan garden in the park, build Meixuan, Snow Pavilion, small Linglong room, Wenhai Building, etc., the wall surrounds the surroundings, there is a verandah Quxie, along the wall is full of inlaid stone carvings, all are famous since the Jin and Tang Dynasties, the contemporary celebrities are dizzying, such as the tablet gallery.

Pan Shicheng collected a lot of antiques and cultural relics in the Haishan Immortal Museum, including many Song and Yuan versions of ancient books and Han and Jin inscriptions, and his collection of gold and stones, ancient posts, ancient books, and ancient paintings is known as "the first in eastern Guangdong". With its strong Lingnan garden characteristics and unique cultural taste, Haishan Immortal Hall has attracted many famous people. Xian Yuqing, a close friend, said that it was "a moment of ink and poetry, and the meeting of literature and wine is empty".

Due to Pan Shicheng's special status, the Haishan Immortal Pavilion has not only become a place for dignitaries to come and go, and literati to sing, but also to become a diplomatic occasion. As a gentleman and a wealthy businessman, Pan Shicheng assisted the officials in Guangdong in handling foreign affairs and participated in meetings with foreign envoys and negotiations. The Haishan Immortal Pavilion became an informal place for high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty to meet with diplomatic envoys and businessmen from Europe and the United States. The ceremonies for Qi Shan's meeting with Yi Lu, Qi Ying's meeting with the French Consul in Guangzhou, and Yi Huaye, the first U.S. minister to China, presented his credentials to Qi Ying were all held at the museum.

But there is no banquet in the world, and the battle between officialdom and shopping malls is even more fierce and unpredictable. Pan Shicheng was engaged in business as an official gentleman, although he was good at business and had a lot of good deeds, but in his later years, he repeatedly encountered accidents and has been in a slump ever since.

"I heard that he had sold the former residence of Seventeen Fu for thirty-eight thousand taels of silver, which means that he was not good enough to sell his former house. Salt is a profitable business, why it will be so bad that no one knows the reason. Chen Hong said.

"This money, only when it flows around, can it make money," Chen Tingxuan said, "He can be good, disaster relief, road repair, help the court raise soldiers, plus all kinds of apportionment, which one is not cut from the body, no matter how much money he makes, he can't withstand such a toss." I persuaded him to leave the Qing Dynasty and retreat overseas, but he didn't listen, and now it's over. ”

Indeed, Pan Shicheng, who became a red-top businessman, instantly became a popular philanthropist, a chaebol of military development, and a selfless funder of the central government. paving roads, disaster relief, and planting cowpox, Pan Shicheng has to pay; For mine development and ship manufacturing, he had to pay for it, and then transfer it to the Qing government for free or at a small profit; The Qing court raised troops and used the army, and he still had to pay for it. A red in exchange for a tired, which Pan Shicheng did not expect. If paving roads, disaster relief, and the like are to give back to his parents and fellow villagers, and he is still willing to do it, the projects that should have been supported by the government's financial allocation actually let him share the responsibility, which has indeed become an unbearable burden in his life. Pan Shicheng was an official and businessman, but no Qing court official could be surrounded by endless apportionments like him. A red top in exchange for a dumb loss, Pan Shicheng obviously has no more options. He had to cling to his wealth and not leave Guangdong, thus becoming an almost pathological manifestation of this mentality.

Instead of waiting for the money to run out, it is better to find ways to help yourself. Since liquid assets are easily withdrawn, let all assets be "fixed". So this is also the reason why Pan Shi spent a lot of money to build the Haishan Immortal Pavilion.

"Doesn't the Pan family have an ancestral motto: I'd rather be a dog than a businessman. In the current Qing Dynasty, merchants are still regarded as cheap like this, and I think it's better not to go back. Chen Tingxuan sighed, "Lest you end up like him Pan Shicheng." ”

"Not necessarily, my son has inquired in many ways, such as Jin businessman Qiao Zhiyong, Hui businessman Hu Guangyong, and now they are doing well, of course, they must have a big backer in the court." Chen Hong said, "The Pan family now has no one to rely on in the court, and it is because of the current defeat. ”

"Yes! The tree is big and it is easy to enjoy the shade! That Hu Guangyong has developed so fast, and there is not a big tree like Zuo Zongtang! Chen Tingxuan said with emotion, "Ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, are the same truth, your daughter-in-law's maiden family, if it is not for the political dignitaries of various countries, it is difficult to make a career." ”

"Therefore, when we return to our homeland for development, we must also find a big tree." Chen Hong also sighed, "It's just that since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, it has been heavy on agriculture and light on business and cheap labor, unlike the western country, which is headed by industry and commerce. ”

"By the way, Lin Kunyu hasn't written from him for a while?" Chen Tingxuan suddenly remembered Lin Yizhe and asked Chen Hong.

"No, but a while ago, I heard that the Emperor sent a treasure belonging to the Old Summer Palace, which seems to be related to him," Chen Hong said, "I heard that he was impeached by a lot of officials for this, and he almost died, so I am inconvenient to inquire in person, so I have asked Sara to write to Wan'er to inquire about the details, and there will be a reply in the next few days." ”

"Maybe it's for the newspaper he got last time, otherwise the emperor wouldn't have made such a big effort, so that the two countries will be on good terms, and the business opportunities will naturally be unlimited. I heard that Her Majesty also intends to learn from the Emperor," Chen Tingxuan said, "If it wasn't for him last time, how could we make 200 million pounds for nothing." Therefore, you must pay attention to what he commands, and you must not be careless. ”

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