After a late autumn rain, a cold wind began to blow on the Huangpu River. Just after dawn, in front of the government office of Shanghai Road, 62-year-old Hu Xueyan was sitting in a luxurious carriage wearing a silk robe, a coat and a mink coat, his beard was a little white, but his face was fat, his complexion was ruddy, his eyes were bright, and he showed the shrewdness of a businessman.

Hu Xueyan came to the Shanghai Provincial Government with dozens of carriages, and the carriages behind them were full of boxes, which were used to hold 800,000 taels of silver for the "Western Expedition Loan". The carriage was followed by more than 100 guards with rifles, ready to escort the money to the foreign bank to settle the bill.

Shanghai Daoist Shao Youlian wore a new Yunyan official uniform, and came out to greet Hu Xueyan with a smile as usual, and saluted: "The lower official greets Master Hu." ”

As a businessman, Hu Xueyan was given a second-grade top and a yellow coat, he preferred others to give him an official salute, calling him Lord Hu, so he bowed his hand and said: "Lord Shao, we are old friends, you don't have to be polite." Hurry up and send someone to pretend to be the 800,000 taels of silver, the foreigners are still waiting. You also know that foreign devils are shrewd, if you send an hour late, maybe they will charge more interest. ”

Shao Youlian looked apologetic: "Master Hu, I'm really embarrassed." Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang provinces are snowing heavily, the road is far and slippery, and the assistance (repayment) of these three provinces has not yet been delivered to the prefecture. ”

When Hu Xueyan heard this, he was a little angry: "What? Paying off foreigners' loans can be related to the national system, and if you don't do it well, you can't drag it out for a day! And the three provinces you mentioned are all big contributors! ”

Shao Youlian said: "I also just received the news, I didn't have time to tell me, I'm really sorry to let Master Hu run for nothing." ”

Hu Xueyan said: "What do you say about this?" ”

Shao Youlian said: "Otherwise, Lord Hu will give me two graces, and Xiaguan has some friends in Shanghai, so I will hurry up and raise enough money to pay in advance." ”

Hu Xueyan didn't realize that this was Shao Youlian's delaying plan, and said: "This method is feasible, you hurry up and make up the 800,000 taels of salary, and once it arrives, you will notify me by telegram immediately." ”

Shao Youlian said: "This is natural, the lower officials will do it." ”

Shao Youlian turned around and went back to the mansion to report to Sheng Xuanhuai, who was drinking tea in the living room.

Sheng Xuanhuai immediately ordered people to go to various foreign banks to keep an eye on him, and once Hu Xueyan repaid the loan today, he would come back immediately to tell him. Sheng Xuanhuai, who controlled the national telegraph system, also asked the telegraph company in Shanghai to prepare to connect 20 provinces, waiting for his orders.

Sure enough, at noon, Hu Xueyan, who was very reputable, did not know that Sheng Xuanhuai had laid a net of heaven and earth, and first transferred 800,000 taels of cash from Fukang Qianzhuang near Shanghai to repay the loans of various foreign banks for the westward expedition.

When Sheng Xuanhuai received the tip, a smile of victory appeared on his face, and he immediately notified the telegraph company to send a report to all the provinces that had opened Fukang Qianzhuang: "Hu Xueyan sold raw silk and went bankrupt." At the same time, he sent a telegram to his friends in the officialdom and the generals of the Huai Army, asking them to quickly take people to Fukang Qianzhuang to withdraw the deposits.

Since the Qing army captured Zhejiang, the big and small generals plundered no matter how big or small, all stored in Hu Xueyan's Fukang money village, assets of more than one million taels, Sheng Xuanhuai's telegram was sent, it was not trivial, that night Hangzhou, Yanjing, Shanghai to Fukang money village to withdraw money people lined up, Zhenjiang, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Hunan, Hubei and other places in front of the Fukang branch to withdraw money people also burst out.

The cash silver of the Hangzhou headquarters of Fukang Qian Zhuang had just been spent 600,000 taels, and it was gradually insufficient, Hu Xueyan began to feel that something was wrong, but it was too late, no matter how the guys from his money bank explained, he put the gold bars in stock on the counter to indicate that Boss Hu was not short of money, and the depositors who withdrew the money insisted that they must get the silver tonight, otherwise they would smash the money bank.

Who is Hu Xueyan, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is black and white, who is afraid of the hard, and immediately asked the government to send troops to maintain order on the spot. This was a stupid move, and the officers and soldiers came forward to backfire, which further increased the panic of the withdrawals, and determined that Fukang Qianzhuang had no money.

Good things don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles, panic began to spread like a plague in Suzhou and Hangzhou, the common people also saw that the squire landlord went to Fukang Qianzhuang to withdraw money, and also joined the team to withdraw money, thousands of people flocked to Fukang Qianzhuang like a tide, Hu Xueyan couldn't hold it, so he had to take the method of letting the guy slow down the speed of giving money, he quickly sent people to Shanghai Daofu to collect money, but he soon received a news that shocked him, Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang Province's co-pay actually arrived in Shanghai as early as possible, but Shao Youlian pressed and did not give.

Hu Xueyan was so angry that he put on the yellow coat given by the emperor, and took more than 100 people with lucky guns to the Shanghai Provincial Government to collect debts again, but Shao Youlian closed the door and disappeared. After all, Shanghai is not the ground of the two rivers under the jurisdiction of Zuo Zongtang, and it is an international metropolis, Hu Xueyan could not really let his family attack the government, otherwise ten Zuo Zongtang would not be able to save his head, and Hu Xueyan had to return empty.

Overnight, Hangzhou's Fukang Qianzhuang closed, which immediately triggered an avalanche effect, and all branches across the country were run at the same time, and the Fukang branches in Beijing, Zhenjiang, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Hunan, Hubei and other places collapsed like dominoes.

The next day, Hu Xueyan visited the friends of the ticket number in Shanghai, when the love is not enough, the money can be made up, when the money is not enough, these friends are left with "hehe", take the day's "declaration" to Hu Xueyan to see, "The newspaper has said, you are bankrupt, our family is small, and there is nothing we can do", Hu Xueyan sighed "A group of dogs behind the rich, no money is difficult to walk in society", went home, and quickly sold Hu Qingyutang's Chinese medicine hall at a low price, but this is tantamount to a drop in the bucket for the huge team of money.

Hu Xueyan's raw silk money has not arrived, the investment and loans can not be recovered for a while, the Kaiping Coal Mine and the steamship China Merchants these "cattle stocks" bought that year, are now "bears" to the bottom, Kaiping Coal Mine stock price from the opening of 260 taels began to dive, first fell to 70 taels, then fell to 29 taels, China Merchants shares also fell from 200 taels to 34 taels, no different from junk stocks, was deeply trapped, can not change cash, Hu Xueyan had to go to Ningbo in person, hard to persuade the local creditors to tolerate the time limit, but at this time, The rumors spread everywhere, and the people who took deposits gathered in the tide, and Hu Xueyan wanted to cry without tears, and he was desperate.

On the night of the third day, Hu Xueyan gritted his teeth, stripped off all the clothes of his fourth concubine, wrapped them in silk, and carried them to Shao Youlian's mansion like a concubine who sent the emperor to bed. This concubine is the most favored one of Hu Xueyan's "Twelve Concubines of Jinling", and she used to be a famous actor in Shanghai. This beauty trick really worked, Shao Youlian finally opened the back door of the mansion and took Hu Xueyan's concubine in.

However, Shao Youlian didn't make him dizzy, he went to the official guest house to ask Song Xiaofei for instructions, and asked what to do with this beauty? She didn't have any clothes on, so it was not good to send them back.

Song Xiaofei said: "Master Shao is a smart person, you can choose for yourself, you can exercise overnight if you want; Or wait until the day after tomorrow, and she will be your person for the rest of her life. ”

Shanghainese people are generally very shrewd, Shao Youlian has been in Shanghai for a while, of course he is not stupid, and after a night of ideological struggle, he chose the latter. Because this decision was quite difficult, Shao Youlian sent the beauty out of the house the next morning, causing a big misunderstanding, and Hu Xueyan's family members were fighting with the officers and soldiers of Shanghai Road!

After three days, Hu Xueyan's situation worsened, he had an HSBC debt of 500,000 taels of silver that had to be repaid, he thought of a way to tear down the east wall to make up the west wall, and then went to a foreign bank to borrow money, but Sheng Xuanhuai's friend Xi Zhengfu, although he did not leave a big name in history, but a giant figure with an invisible avenue. Xi Zhengfu is from Dongting Dongshan, there is a circle of financial contacts known as the "Dongting Mountain Gang", Xi Zhengfu not only monopolized the comprador position of HSBC, but also arranged other children of the Xi family into other foreign banks, Shanghai has opened more than 20 foreign banks, Xi Shi has taken over 13 of the foreign banks comprador seats, Hu Xueyan hit a wall everywhere, a sense of foreboding, crying to Zuo Zongtang: "I have experienced countless ups and downs in my life, but this time the market is too bad, foreigners are too powerful, I don't know how to get out." ”

However, what is more powerful than the foreigners is those Qing bureaucrats in the capital, Li Hongzhang has not yet spoken, and the princes who have saved a huge amount of money in Fukang Qianzhuang will see that the Qianzhuang is about to collapse, so they are red-eyed, and they have run to the Empress Dowager Cixi to cry, the businessmen see the profit and forget their righteousness, the Qianzhuang is turbulent, and the people are not happy. So Emperor Guangxu issued a holy decree: "Now that the Fukang business is closed, and the public funds and deposits in various places are very large, the Jiangxi alternate Dao Hu Guangyong of the business is dismissed first, that is, Zuo Zongtang proposed that the member be strictly investigated, and ordered the public and private funds owed to various places to be quickly cleared up one by one, and if they dare to delay and fail to pay, they will be severely punished."

Empress Dowager Cixi asked Zuo Zongtang to put Hu Xueyan strictly to death, I don't know if it was to give him face or deliberately angry with him, Zuo Zongtang received the news, and immediately sat down on the chair, he knew that after investigating Hu Xueyan, his old bottom would inevitably be exposed, and his reputation would be ruined, but now to save Hu Xueyan, it is not enough to sell his entire family industry, Zuo Zongtang is an old man in his seventies after all, he was hit by this, he couldn't afford to get sick, and he died of illness before he checked Hu Xueyan.

As soon as Zuo Zongtang died, of course Li Hongzhang had to throw off his arms and continue to investigate Hu Xueyan. Song Xiaofei and Sheng Xuanhuai led the Qing soldiers to seize the Yanjing branch of Fukang Qianzhuang first, and when they were cleared, it was shocking: only one branch in Yanjing, and the public and private arrears found were as high as 12 million taels! Those princes and generals are also Chinese people, and the people's money is hard-earned money, and they can't be ignored, so Cixi ordered Hu Xueyan's house to pay off debts, seized all his mansions and money houses, and even his twelve aunts, all those who could sell for money were sold, the richest man in the Qing Dynasty, in just a few dozen days, really went bankrupt, and the family business accumulated for 30 years was ruined!

This is not over, Yan Jingming, the head of the household department, saved a large amount of pension in Fukang Qianzhuang, this time the loss was huge, he couldn't swallow the evil anger in his heart, and he was unkind to the Empress Dowager Cixi, and wanted to hand over Hu Xueyan to the criminal department for punishment and correct the law of the country", as a result, the Qing soldiers who arrested Hu Xueyan had not yet arrived in Hangzhou, Hu Xueyan was depressed and fell ill first, and died of illness.

In the winter of that year, Yanjing City was particularly cold, and there was snow for three days, Song Xiaofei read in front of the window of Yuan's mansion, thinking that Hu Xueyan, the richest man in the Qing Dynasty, had gone to heaven and hell in just a few days. Just wanted to call the child to sweep, the wind came and went.

Rong Rong read the last sentence "I don't know if the wind comes and goes", and laughed out loud, praising Song Xiaofei's poetry "Ethereal than Wang Wei, clumsy than Mengde".