文 | Wang Bo · Ten o'clock invites the author
In Qiaojiabao Village, Qixian County, Shanxi, there is a majestic building like a palace. It is the home of generations of Shanxi merchants and the filming location for many famous film and television works today. This is the Qiaojia Compound .
What is so unique about a residential house that makes people love it so much?
In the 1990s, Zhang Yimou's movie "Raise the Red Lantern" allowed us to see the symmetrical beauty of this compound.
In 2006, the TV series "Qiao Family Courtyard", which is well-known at home and abroad, was filmed here. The courtyard attracted tourists from all over the world because of the protagonist.
When I visited the Qiao Family Courtyard, there was a plaque on the gate, engraved with the four words "Blessed Plant Langhuan", which was inscribed by Cixi Lafayette. Each word was worth twenty-five thousand taels of silver, and it was placed on four Word value is 20 million.
There is also a pair on the door, which is also worth 20 million.
The first couplet: virtuous descendants will lead to a great clan.
Second line: Brothers are harmonious, the family is rich.
This was the title given by Li Hongzhang, the then Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang.
This 40 million was just a drop in the bucket for Qiao Zhiyong, the owner of the compound at that time.
Qiao Zhiyong, who is extremely wealthy, is the leader of Shanxi merchants and a winner in life.
Today, if we don’t read Qiao Zhiyong, we won’t know what a businessman is, let alone the benevolence and righteousness of a scholar who leveraged capital in the turbulent late Qing Dynasty.
turning the tide and showing true character
In 11818, Qiao Zhiyong was born in the Qiao family compound. He was a famous merchant family and a typical rich third generation.
When he was young, his parents died successively, and Qiao Zhiyong was raised by his elder brother and sister-in-law.
The family's industry is managed by the eldest brother Qiao Zhiguang. Qiao Zhiyong didn't like doing business. He devoted himself to reading poems and songs, obtaining fame, and embarking on an official career. He hoped to become a literati and poet like Li Bai and Du Fu.
When he was seventeen years old, Qiao Zhiyong took part in the Taiyuan Provincial Examination with full confidence, intending to win the first prize in one fell swoop, become a Jinshi, and be admitted to the Imperial Academy to realize his life ideal.
But a bad news came, completely shattering his dream.
My elder brother Qiao Zhiguang was so angry that his sorghum-dominated business in Baotou failed. He couldn't afford to fall ill and passed away.
Qiao Zhiyong was heartbroken. As a man, he must take over the family's mess and revitalize the business to be worthy of the efforts of three generations of his grandfather and brother.
When the poet's chivalrous pride meets the businessman's shrewd calculation, it will definitely cause shock in China.
His grandfather started his business at the west entrance. Most of the Qiao family’s stores are in Baotou. Qiao Zhiyong understands that stabilizing the business in Baotou is the key.
In 11838, Qiao Zhiyong went north to Baotou and discovered a strange phenomenon.
The talented clerk wants to resign, but the incompetent shopkeeper is unwilling to leave. Qiao Zhiyong felt very sorry for talents. He found out the situation, fought against all opinions, and said three words: "It must change."
Qiao Zhiyong made drastic reforms and proposed the "top body stock".
means: a boy enters the store as an apprentice. After three years, if he passes the test, he becomes a full employee.
After ten years of hard work, if you have excellent grades and make no mistakes, you will get one or two cents of stock, also called "stem stock."
Such shares cannot be bought and sold, and can only participate in dividends. As long as an employee performs well, the stock he gets will increase with his working age, and the Qiao family can support him for a lifetime.
Once this system of motivating employees was implemented, new and old employees took reassurance and regarded Qiao's business as their own career.
The guys from "Qiao's Group" had shares. After hearing about it, other Shanxi merchants also jumped ship to join "Qiao's Group".
Today’s Huawei Group CEO Ren Zhengfei “learned from” Qiao Zhiyong and allowed all employees to hold shares.
Qiao Zhiyong stabilized his own employees, attracted foreign talents, and relied on Qiao's family's accumulated reputation for integrity over the years to get loans to revive his business in Baotou.
Later, on the basis of "Fusheng Gong" and "Fusheng Quan", Qiao Zhiyong invested another 60,000 taels of silver to open Fu-brand pawnshops, grain shops, money shops and other industries.
later expanded its business to Hohhot and other places, operating daily necessities, furs, hotels, etc., a business network all over the northwest, developed and expanded with the efforts of the "Qiao Group".
Only if you are willing to hold an umbrella for others will others be willing to protect you from the wind and rain.
If doing business can win people’s hearts, why can’t it be the same as being a human being?
Clearing the tea road was another important decision made by Qiao Zhiyong. This was a risky move, and if it failed, he would lose his life.
At that time, there was the Nian Army in the north and the Taiping Army in the south. They fought for years and the tea road was interrupted.
Tea farmers move a maza every day, sit in front of their homes and look north, expecting tea merchants to appear.
just do it.
Qiao Zhiyong set out from the Qiao Family Courtyard and spent three months crossing the Yangtze River and taking the Han River to transport tea from the south back to Qixian County, Shanxi Province.
Afterwards, he went north to Kyaktu and reached the Sino-Russian border, where he signed a long-term trade contract with Russian businessmen. At this point, the tea road that had been blocked for many years from Wuyi Mountain in the south to Kyaktu in the north was opened.
Qiao Zhiyong took desperate risks and saved thousands of tea farmers and cleared trade routes.
Today's Shunfeng Express is also doing the job of clearing trade routes and allowing express delivery to fly around.
Only when a person sees far enough can he go far enough.
Those who plan for big things must lay out the overall situation. For the game of life, the first thing we must learn is not the skills, but the layout.
How did Qiao Zhiyong's situation be set up?
Pattern determines life
Ji Ran, a Chinese economist in the Spring and Autumn Period, once said: "The speed of currency circulation must be like clouds and flowing water, so that the world's goods can flow quickly."
For more than two thousand years, how to make coins circulate quickly has been a problem. No one has ever solved it.
Businessmen still carry their money while walking on the trade road, which is very dangerous and inconvenient. If they encounter bandits or rebels, they will lose their money and lose their lives.
Qiao Zhiyong felt the same and kept thinking about this matter.
In the winter of 11862, there had just been a heavy snowfall in Shanxi.
When Qiao Zhiyong wore a fox fur robe and drove a carriage to Pingyao to exchange money, the answer to this question was found.
Rishengchang is engaged in the business of turning silver into banknotes and banknotes into silver, cleverly solving the embarrassment of carrying money to do business.
But the boss of Rishengchang is short-sighted and only does business with a few large merchants and has very few branches across the country.
Qiao Zhiyong realized the broad prospects of ticket number and hoped that one day he could "connect the world". In Jack Ma's words, "make it easy to do business in the world."
Someone around him advised him: "The sharp weapons of the country cannot be shown to others. "
Someone else said: "It takes a mountain of gold to run a nationwide ticket account, and now the Qiao family simply doesn't have enough money."
Qiao Zhiyong couldn't stop what Qiao Zhiyong was sure of, even ten cows couldn't do it. He said: "It's too boring to do business with money. .”
Knowing clearly that there is a tiger in the mountain, he prefers to travel to the mountain.
With the great determination to create the "Qing Dynasty UnionPay", Qiao Zhiyong went to full strength and opened two ticket numbers: Dade Tong and Dade Feng.
The two major bank accounts are in full swing, allowing all merchants to realize the dream of "remittance from different places". As long as they carry a small money order, they can travel all over the world.
Even if the money order is robbed by bandits on the road, if there is no password, the money cannot be exchanged in the ticket number. Later generations have verified that in the history of the Qiao family's ticket numbers, there was not a single case of wrong redemption, and the ticket number business was carried out to the extreme.
The big layout, big vision and big feelings have allowed the "Qiao Group" ticket business to quickly expand to more than 20 cities across the country. The Qiao family's capital ranks first in the province, and its ranking across the country has skyrocketed.
experienced a run on his peers, a blockade by the imperial court, many years of ups and downs, and a lot of bloodshed. Only then did Qiao Zhiyong finally achieve the goal of "connecting the world with goods, connecting the world with goods."
This is the pattern. Without the pattern, where would the overall situation come from?
Qiao Zhiyong traveled south and north, leading Shanxi merchants to dominate the entire late Qing Dynasty. In addition to the structure, it is also inseparable from his discovery and reuse of talents.
Use talents eclectically
Qiao Zhiyong is a Bole who has a keen eye for recognizing talents.
In 11881, Yan Weifan, the shopkeeper of "Wei Changhou" in Pingyao, was squeezed out and decided to return to his hometown in Shanxi to find another job.
Qiao Zhiyong heard that this person was very talented, so he sent two groups of people with eight sedans to wait at possible intersections. After waiting for eight days, Yan Weifan finally appeared.
Qiao Zhiyong's son explained his intention, and Yan Weifan was moved to tears.
But he insisted not to get on the sedan, so they gave in and put a hat in the sedan to take his place. Yan Weifan and Qiao Zhiyong's son rode side by side.
After returning to Qixian , Qiao Zhiyong gave him warm hospitality and immediately appointed Yan Weifan as the shopkeeper of Dade Heng Bank.
As Zhou Yang said: "Talents are rare and difficult to know, so we must cherish talents and employ people without doubt."
Thirty-six-year-old Yan Weifan is grateful for Qiao Zhiyong's kindness and is willing to work hard and do the same thing. .
Yan Weifan relied on his extraordinary talents. In the next twenty-six years, the dividends per share of the Dade Heng bank account were between 8,000 and 10,000 taels of silver, which contributed to the business development of "Qiao Group" Make great contributions.
Qiao Zhiyong’s approach to employing talents is eclectic.
Ma Gongfu was originally a young man in Fusheng Gongfu. Once he went to Qiao's house to report on his work, which was very organized and insightful. Qiao Zhiyong, a talented and strategist, was promoted to be the chief shopkeeper of Fu Sheng Gong, leaving a classic proverb to the Baotou business community, "Ma Gong rose to the top in one step.""
There are also Gao Yu who is known as the "Second Governor", and China's first bank president Jia Jiying . These great talents are all business elites discovered and cultivated by Qiao Zhiyong.
Qiao Zhiyong gathered talents, made a successful business, and made himself rich and everyone else
Worry about the world first
ht. ml0The wealth accumulated by businessmen through hard work should be used to live a luxurious life, or to fund the country and repay society. A hundred years ago, Qiao Zhiyong gave the best answer.
Zuo ZongtangReconquer the New World. During the Xinjiang period, there were two people responsible for raising military expenses: Hu Xueyan and Qiao Zhiyong.
After Hu Xueyan raised military expenses in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he was sent to the front line by Qiao Zhiyong's ticket number to ensure the expenses of the army. When military expenses were tight, he had to ask Qiao Zhiyong. Home ticket number loan htm. l2
It can be said that Qiao Zhiyong contributed a lot to Zuo Zongtang’s military medal for recovering Xinjiang.
It was precisely because of this contribution that Zuo Zongtang specially awarded the honor when he returned to Beijing to serve as Minister of Military and Aircraft. Passed by Qixian County and visited Qiao Zhiyong.
Before leaving, he left a couplet to the Qiao family: Harm others to restore justice, and gain moral integrity.
When Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang established "Beiyang Water". When he was "Master", he heard that Shanxi merchants were the most wealthy in the world, so he sent people to collect donations from Shanxi merchants.
Qiao Zhiyong took the lead in donating 100,000 taels of silver to buy a warship. Li Hongzhang remembered this generous and patriotic Shanxi merchant.
In order to express his gratitude, Li Zhongtang personally wrote a couplet and sent it to Qixian County. It is the couplet that is now on the gate of the Qiao family compound.
As Li Zhongtang said, the children of the Qiao family abide by the family rules and work conscientiously. , diligence and simplicity, the family business is so prosperous.
Being charitable and charitable is also a family tradition of the Qiao family.
877, the third year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, there was no rain in Shanxi and Shaanxi for more than a hundred days, and all the crops died of drought.
9-year-old Qiao Zhiyong went out in a carriage and looked at the countless victims, feeling extremely sad.
He jumped out of the carriage, comforted the victims, and said to the servant: "Go home and bring ten big pots to cook porridge to save people."
Qiao Zhiyong let The cost of every room in the house has been reduced, so that he cannot eat more than a few meals of meat throughout the month. However, he has only one requirement for building a porridge tent for disaster relief: "The chopsticks can't be inserted in."
The victims spread word of mouth that the Qiao family's Porridge, chopsticks inserted into it will not fall over.
Those victims who had not had enough to eat all year round had enough to eat in front of Qiao's porridge shed in the year of the disaster.
This is true even for outsiders, and even more so for fellow villagers in the same village.
Those who were sick and couldn't afford medicine, or whose parents died and couldn't afford a coffin, he sent people to send dozens of taels of silver to help them tide over the difficulties.
Qiao Zhiyong, who is as wealthy as his country, is patriotic and caring for his people, diligent and thrifty, treats others fairly and is willing to help others.
As a human being, it is really rare to be able to do this in business.
remain innocent in the world
When faced with a national crisis, Qiao Zhiyong donated generously without hesitation.
In the late spring of 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked the Forbidden City in one fell swoop. Cixi fled in panic with the 28-year-old Emperor Guangxu and ran all the way to Shanxi.
The "Dadetong" ticket office headquarters was requisitioned by the imperial court as a temporary palace.
Seeing the down-and-out Cixi and others, the salesman Jia Jiying, a young man, slammed the table at a seminar where Shanxi officials convened wealthy businessmen to "borrow money" and promised to lend the court one hundred thousand taels of silver.
Jia Jiying's boss Yan Weifan praised him for his good work: "A king will emerge in five hundred years, but Jia Jiying will not be born in a thousand years."
When Yan Weifan truthfully reported the matter to "Chairman" Qiao Zhiyong, Qiao Zhiyong laughed heartily: "This person can be reused."
Benevolence is seen in great difficulties, but benevolence and talent are seen.
It is true that heroes see the same thing and feel sympathy for each other.
Later, Jia Jiying became China's first bank president.
After the Eight-Power Allied Forces retreated, Cixi returned to the capital. In order to thank Qiao Zhiyong, she was given a plaque with the words "Blessed Plant Langhuan", which also brought greater business to the "Qiao Group" business name.
If the country is not strong and the nation is humiliated, what is the use of being rich?
The Qing Dynasty is almost at its end. The iron hoofs of foreign powers are trampling on the land of China, and the people are living in dire straits.
In his later years, Qiao Zhiyong owned a fortune of 20 million taels of silver, but lived an extremely difficult life.
Just like what the gray-haired Qiao Zhiyong said to the mirror in the TV series "Qiao Family Courtyard":
"If I could follow my own path, I wouldn't be a Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, or Wang Wei."
"When I think about it, I When I think about my whole life being ruined and gone forever, I feel like there is a ghost's hand strangling my neck. It won't let go and makes you choke. "
"Passionate, My courage was wasted, like a ray of sunshine falling into the abyss. "
He completed the eighty-nine years of his life with anger and sadness.
Maybe he is really not suitable to be a businessman, but his life has taught us a truth:
Only by being conscientious and honest can you win.
May we be clothed in brilliance, have perseverance in our hearts, go on the road with integrity, and have a glorious journey.
Author | Wang Bo, a freelance writer, delivers positive energy and writes a beautiful life.
anchor | Su Nian Jinshi, WeChat public account: Su Nian Jinshi FM.
pictures | "Qiao Family Courtyard" stills
