In the early hit TV series "No.1 in the World", there was a wealthy businessman named Wan 3 thousand. This man is rich, as rich as an enemy, and even a mysterious figure who can't see the dragon's tail. Even the imperial court depends on his strength. The prototype of 33,000 was a businessman in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, and his wealth was famous in the history of China. The Asian Wall Street Journal once counted the top ten richest people in China's history. They are Shang Shengtao and Zhu Gong Fan Li in the Spring and Autumn Period, Lv Buwei, a big businessman in the Warring States Period, Deng Tong, a favorite of Emperor Wendi in the Western Han Dynasty, Liang Ji, a domineering general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shi Chong Genghis Khan Shen Wansan in the Ming Dynasty, Liu Jin, a notorious eunuch, Xiao Shenyang, a corrupt official in the Qing Dynasty, and Song Ziwen in the Republic of China.
Portrait of Zhang Wansan
Shen Wansan is a character. Let's look at the others on the list. They all rely on the strength of others, such as collusion between officials and businessmen, or they are the rulers and actual controllers of the world. Shen Wansan is the only one who started from scratch and even broke through the class restrictions by himself. Shen Wansan's life course is a legendary road. Chen of Kunshan Cultural Management Association said in the article "The Rise and Fall of Shen Wansan, the Rich Man in the Early Ming Dynasty" published in the Seminar on Economic History of Ming Dynasty: Shen Wansan's prosperity began with his hard work. "Its predecessor started from the bow crop ... the great father is rich, and the inheritance is for; "Being a man, being a handsome son", that is to say, Shen Wansan became rich by reclaiming wasteland, and he had the foundation of his career.
Shen Wansan is known as a sage of Chinese businessmen.
Not only is the entrepreneurial foundation he accumulated, but Shen Wansan can also get angel investment. He was sponsored by the wealth force Lu and went up a storey still higher. On the one hand, Shen Wansan continued to open farmland houses and engage in his real estate projects; On the other hand, he attaches importance to commodity trade. When he was in Zhouzhuang, he used Baiyanjiang (Dongjiang) to connect the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal for trade. Here, he can transport the grain from the land of fish and rice in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the hinterland by water, and earn high profits from it. At the same time, Shen Wansan also carried out international trade and took all its business abroad.
The God of Wealth Temple with Shen Wansan as the background.
With real estate projects and trade activities, with the support of other people's capital injection, Shen Wansan quickly became the richest man in the south of the Yangtze River, with "assets of one million and land all over the world". Zhouzhuang has also changed from a backward mountain village to a town. When people look at Shen Wansan's success, they all say that he has a cornucopia, from which the stone can be turned into gold, which is inexhaustible. This shows how terrible Shen Wansan's wealth is.
Shen Wansan sculpture
It's a pity that Shen Wansan is on the wrong side. At that time, when the Yuan Dynasty was in troubled times, Shen Wansan developed trade in Suzhou. In order to get convenience, he funded the local Zhang Shicheng to develop its own power. Their relationship was so good that Zhang Shicheng erected a monument for Shen Wansan. But in the end, Zhang Shicheng lost to Zhu Yuanzhang, and Shen Wansan was afraid. In order to prevent Zhu Yuanzhang from killing him, he specially funded Zhu Yuanzhang's construction in Nanjing, and one third of the funds were paid by Shen Wansan. When Zhu Yuanzhang was happy, he didn't blame him for helping Zhang Shicheng, but let his two sons be officials.
Shen Wansan could have rested easy. Unexpectedly, he took a wrong step and ruined the whole situation: Shen Wansan helped Zhu Yuanzhang build a third of Nanjing, but he wanted to reward the army with superfluous action. Zhu Yuanzhang joked: "I have millions of troops, so you can spread around?" Shen Wansan also proudly said: "I hope that each army will give one or two gold." Unexpectedly, this angered Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and said, "If a man dares to reward the emperor's army, he is an absolute rabble and should be killed." Soon after, Shen Wansan was exiled by Zhu Yuanzhang and spent the rest of his life in Yunnan.