On July 15, the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu's reign, the magistrate of Gongxian County (today's Gongyi) in Henan Province received an order that the Empress Dowager Cixi and Guangxu's royal chariot would arrive in Gongxian soon, and asked the local government to make arrangeme

On July 15, the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu's reign, the magistrate of Gongxian County, Henan Province (today's Gongyi) received an order that Empress Dowager Cixi and the emperor of Guangxu would arrive in Gong County soon, so that the local government could make arrangements to pick them up. Driving matters.

This made the county magistrate very worried, because he heard that the magistrate of Ji County, which belonged to the same province, had hanged himself in despair because he was unable to raise enough money to take over and could not bear to plunder the people's wealth anymore.

Gongxian County was not a wealthy place to begin with. According to the county system of the Qing Dynasty, Gongxian County was classified as a simple one, and the annual taxes paid to the treasury were only more than 30,000 taels. For such a poor county to have to pay for the reception of thousands of people from the two palaces and their delegation, the yamen decided that they had no money to spend.

And like the magistrate of Ji County, the magistrate of Gong County was also a good official who loved the people like a son. However, he was much luckier than the magistrate of Ji County. Not only did he not hang himself, but because of his good reception, he was promoted by Cixi Reuse. So how did the magistrate of Gongxian County create a miracle when a clever woman could not make a living without rice? Speaking of this, we have to mention a super rich man in Gong County. His name is Kang Jiande.

The Kang family in Gong County is as famous as the Qiao family, Wang family in Shanxi, Bao family and Hu family in Huizhou, all of whom were the most famous super wealthy businessmen in the Qing Dynasty. According to the Kang family genealogy records, the Kang family's ancestral home is Hongdong, Shanxi, and they moved to Gong County during the great wave of immigration during the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty.

This family was already very wealthy in the Ming Dynasty. By the time of the sixth generation Kang Shaojing, he took advantage of his previous official positions in local water and land transportation, salt industry, taxation, etc. to organize the family's children to transport Henan's grain, cotton, etc. to Shandong, and also He began to make a fortune by transporting salt and seafood from Shandong to Henan.

The heyday of the Kang family was still in the Qing Dynasty. During the Kangxi period, the Kang family took advantage of water transportation, feudal towns and other information to resolutely change the traditional custom of doing business in Luohe , sailing on the big river, and opened up a Shandong base. "Kang Dayong first , and later there was Lanshui City", which expanded the Kang family's economic sphere of influence from the Central Plains to the vast areas in southern Shandong and the areas along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.

After the White Lotus Rebellion broke out in the Jiaqing Dynasty, the Kang family bribed generals Lebao and others of the Qing Dynasty's million-strong army to supply cotton and cloth to the entire army. They made a fortune for ten years and opened up Sanyuan , Jingyang , Fuping cotton base.

After several generations of struggle, the Kang family has been extensively involved in shipping trade, operating salt industry, timber, grain, cotton, silk, banks, medicinal materials, etc., and established a huge business empire, becoming the richest country in the three provinces of Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi. The prosperous situation of this prominent family lasted for more than 400 years and 12 generations.

Until now, the folk song "A horse running a thousand miles will not eat other people's grass, and a man walking a thousand miles will only see Kang's fields" is still circulated in the local area, which is enough to illustrate the wealth of the Kang family. A wealthy family like

will naturally spend money to donate some fake titles like other wealthy businessmen. But the Kang family knew that as a businessman, they were ranked at the bottom of the four people, and their status was not high no matter how much money they had. However, they never dreamed that this situation would be completely changed by the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the special year of and the return of the two palaces to , a special honor would inadvertently fall on the heads of the Kang family.

As early as when the Empress Dowager Cixi issued the edict to return to Luan in Xi'an, the magistrate of Gong County was already ready to pick him up. The county magistrate's office mobilized the local gentry and people to rush to build a temporary palace for Cixi. Although it was not magnificent, it was quite decent, waiting for Cixi's arrival.

Unfortunately, God was not kind, and Gong County suffered a major flood that had not been seen in decades this summer. The flood not only washed away countless houses and fields, but also destroyed the palace. Seeing that the Holy Emperor is about to enter Gong County, the magistrate's Yamen has been depleted of finances, let alone rebuilding the palace, and even the most basic supply has become a problem. How can the magistrate not be worried?

The county magistrate definitely did not want to see such a thing as hanging himself, so he shamelessly came to the Kang family and asked Kang Jiande, the head of the Kang family at the time, for help and let him fund the construction of the palace.

Kang Jiande had a lot of money. Faced with such a rare opportunity, he readily agreed, promising to build a palace by himself and covering all the expenses for the pick-up.

The wealthy Kang family not only spent huge sums of money to build the palace, but also renovated the official roads along the way. The rebuilt palace was larger and more magnificent than the original one. When Empress Dowager Cixi came to Gongxian County, she saw this luxurious and comfortable palace and repeatedly praised the local officials for the good job they did.

Since the Kang family accepted this errand, they decided to send the Buddha to the West. In order to express their loyalty to the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Kang family donated another 1 million taels of silver to the court. After Cixi heard about the Kang family's feats, she decided to summon Kang Jiande in person.

In order to repay Cixi's kindness, Kang Jiande gave another carefully prepared gift during the audience. He asked a famous gold shop master in Kaifeng City to create a map of the Imperial Qing Dynasty, which was decorated with gold. It formed mountains and hills, and used pearls to form rivers. A luminous pearl was inlaid on the landmark of Beijing, symbolizing "unification of the country."

This great gift opened Cixi's eyes so much that she couldn't help but blurt out: "I didn't know there were millionaires here!" Soon, the imperial court gave the Kang family a gold plaque with the words "China's first Fukang million", and from then on the Kang family had "Kang Bai". Thousands of people" is the name.

Gong County did a good job in receiving the job this time, and Cixi was very satisfied. It is said that when she left Gong County, she specially ordered the sedan curtain to be opened, so that the people kneeling along the way could see her honor. Not to mention, this is the first time Cixi has come from Xi'an. This is a great honor for the people of Gong County.