The "richest man" Xiao Shenyang (1750- 1799) was a minister of the Qing dynasty and a super greedy person. At the age of 22, Xiao Shenyang became the bodyguard of Gan Long. With his handsome and sweet words, he soon became the emperor's confidant and married the princess. Because Xiao Shenyang is good at pandering, he understands and caters to Gan Long's psychology of complacency, exultation, flattery, complacency and self-styled monarch in his later years. He acted according to his own will and was good at collecting money for the emperor to enjoy, so he was particularly prized and became the only confidant and agent of Emperor Ganlong. Small Shenyang, which is in power, can easily get the treasure of the state treasury and dare to collect huge military salaries. 1799 Gan Long died, and the new emperor brought him to justice and executed him in the strong voice of "impeaching Xiao Shenyang" by his ministers. Today, Beijing still has the Little Shenyang Mansion, the Gongwangfu in Houhai, Beijing, which contains a "treasure house". It is said that the gold and silver treasures, celebrity calligraphy and paintings, and Qiu wares copied from here in those years were actually equivalent to 900 million taels of silver (at that time, the court's fiscal revenue was only over 70 million taels of silver a year), and there were only 4,288 gold bricks. According to the current opening price of silver, it is equivalent to RMB 360 billion!

The wealth of Shi Chong and Wang Kai is less than one tenth of that of the gentry! ! ! No rich man or even emperor in ancient and modern times is as rich as he and the gentry. It is said that there are in the palace, in the gentry's house, in the palace, and in the gentry's house! His wealth is much more than the richest man in the world now! Can be described as the first person in ancient and modern times. Why do you say that? The following is a list of Jiaqing Emperor's raids on his home:

List 1 (excerpted from China No.1 Historical Archives "All Cases of Crimes"):

Principal room 13 rooms, 78 rooms; There are seven entrances and thirty-eight rooms in the East Hall. Westinghouse has seven entrances and thirty-three rooms; 52 east and west wing rooms; One Huizhou style room, 62 rooms; A garden, 42 towers; One Qin Ciyuan and sixty-four pavilions; Twelve watchmen at four corners (120 watchmen); 72 ovaries (180 soldiers); There are more than 60 miscellaneous rooms.

One bronze tripod of Han dynasty, thirteen bronze tripods of ancient times and thirteen jade tripods; There are ten Song inkstones and more than 700 Duan inkstones. Twenty tracts; Gu Jian II; Dzmz X, more than 300 in Jason Chung; More than 280 foreign watches; A jade horse (one foot two inches high and four feet long); Eight coral trees (three feet six inches high); More than 60 big east beads (each weighing two or two); 236 strings of pearl bracelets (each string 18 pearls); 1 1 set of pearls and Siu Chu; There are 1, 1 10 gems, 57 coral Siu Chu, 13 compact Siu Chu, 383 small rubies, 280 large rubies and 43 sapphires in Siu Chu. One white jade Guanyin (one foot two inches high), one Hanyu Shouxing (one foot three inches high), eighteen agate arhats (one foot two inches high) and eighteen gold arhats (one foot three inches high); Three hundred and seventy-eight white jade nine ruyi, one hundred and thirty-two jewel coral hat tops, one thousand and ninety-eight jade nine ruyi, one thousand and sixty jade ruyi and two hundred and thirty jade ruyi; White jade ice trays 16, jasper tea bowls 99, jade soup bowls 153, gold plates 32 (* * * 4,288), silver plates 32 (4,288), white jade wine glasses 120, and crystal cups1. 220 red gold spittoons, more than 200 silver spittoons, 43 red gold pots, 56 silver pots, 374 white jade snuff bottles and 276 hanyu snuff bottles; Sixteen carved gold eight-treasure screens, four carved gold eight-treasure beds (with single gauze curtains), thirty-six carved gold eight-treasure kang screens, two carved red silk beds, twenty-four carved gold eight-treasure kang beds, twenty-four jade-inlaid kang tables and sixteen jade-inlaid kang tables; Jade jewelry (more than 28,000 pieces in size), red gold ingot 100 (each piece weighs 1200, and the estimated price is1520,000 silver) and silver ingot 100 (each piece weighs 1200). Yuanbao silver is 9.42 million yuan, silver is 5.832 million yuan, Su Yuanyin is 3154,000 yuan, foreign money is 58,000 yuan (estimated silver is 4,620 yuan), and Qian Zao 1500 strings (converted into silver 1520 yuan); More than 680 kilograms of ginseng (estimated silver 270,000).

Seventy-five pawn shops (32 million RMB), 42 banks (400,000 RMB) and 15 antique shops (302,000 RMB); Two jade warehouses (with an estimated silver of 70 million), four silk warehouses (with an estimated silver of 800,000), two porcelain warehouses (with an estimated silver of 10,000) and two foreign goods warehouses (with five-color denim 800 edition, Yuanyang 115 edition, five-color feather 600 edition and five-color serge 200 edition); Two piggery (Yuan Fox 12, Color Fox 1520, 36,000 miscellaneous foxes and more than 800 minks); Six copper and tin warehouses (* * * 26937 pieces); 6 rare storage rooms, 6 iron pear rosewood storage rooms, and glassware storage rooms 1 piece (* * * more than 800 pieces); 7 13 mink men's wear, more than 650 mink women's wear, 866 miscellaneous men's wear, 437 variegated women's wear, 3,888 cotton single yarn men's wear, 3 188 cotton single yarn women's wear, 54 mink hats, 37 mink robes, 48 mink jackets and mink boots/kloc-0. Two medicinal materials warehouses (estimated at 5200 silver); More than 8,000 hectares of land (estimated at 8 million silver).

Listing 2 (selected from Xue Fucheng's Yong 'an Notes, Volume III, List of Raids and Residential Gardens):

One main room (13 into 72 rooms), one east room (7 into 38 rooms), one Westinghouse (7 into 33 rooms), one Huizhou new house (6 into 22 rooms), one garden (42 balconies), one east side room (52 rooms) and one Qinci Garden (64 balconies) Guangdong inkstone (more than 700), Ding Yu (18), Yan Song (1 1), Pan Yu (28), Gu Jian (10), dzmz (19), and dzmz. Each 12 pearl), pearl 18 string (* * 226 string), pearl bead (18 plate), big ruby (180), small ruby (more than 980), sapphire (size *) Ten coral trees (three feet eight inches high), one white jade goddess of mercy, eighteen white jade arhats (one foot two inches long), eighteen golden arhats (one foot eight inches long), nine white jade ruyi (387), big swallow bowls (99), white jade soup bowls (154) and white jade wine glasses (124). , jade ruyi (more than 120), gold-inlaid elephant chopsticks (500 pairs) and white jade ice trays (25), large ice trays (18), white jade spittoons (more than 300), agate spittoons (more than 100), hanyu spittoons (more than 100), white jade spittoons. Golden carving babao big screen (23), gold-inlaid kang screen (24), gold-inlaid kang bed (20), four seasons single gauze curtain (full), old gold silk bed curtain (6), gold-inlaid babao kang bed (120), gold-inlaid glass kang bed (32) and jinzhu cuibao jewelry (specification * *) 5.82 million red gold ingots (estimated17.029 million silver ingots, 58,000 yen in foreign currency (estimated 40,620 silver ingots), 1055 coins (estimated 1520 silver ingots), 6,800 two ginseng (estimated 1520 silver ingots). Forty-two money houses (Cheben silver is 42 million yuan), thirteen antique shops (Cheben silver is 202,000 yuan), two jade warehouses (estimated silver is 702,000 yuan), two silk warehouses (estimated silver is 802,000 yuan), and two foreign goods warehouses (800 pieces of five-color woolen cloth, 0/00 pieces of Yuanyang/KLOC, and 600 pieces of five-color feather satin). There are more than 800 mink skins and 56,000 miscellaneous skins), a porcelain shop (estimated at 12000 silver), a tin shop (estimated at 64 137 silver), a rare shop 16, six Tieli rosewood shops (more than 8,600 pieces) and a glassware shop. Cotton single yarn men's wear (3208 pieces), cotton single yarn women's wear (1 108 pieces), mink hats (54 pieces), mink headscarves (37 pieces), mink jackets (48 pieces), mink boots (120 pairs), pharmacies (estimated) ...

Listing 3 (from Xue Fucheng's Yong 'an Notes, Volume III, Inspection and Property List):

There are 3000 houses, 8000 hectares of land, 42 silver shops and 75 pawn shops. Red gold sixty-two thousand; Gold ingot 100 ingot, each ingot weighs 1000 Liang (* * * one hundred and two thousand); 56,600 silver ingots, each weighing 100 Liang (* * * 5.66 million Liang); 9 million pieces of silver ingots, 58,000 yuan foreign currency, 150 Wan Wen; Jilin ginseng is more than 600 kilograms; Yuruyi 1200 handle; There are 230 strings of pearls, longan pearls 10, rubies 10, sapphires 40, silver bowls 40 and coral trees 1 1, all of which are more than three feet high. Satin and woolen cloth 14300. There are 3,665,438+10,000 bronzes and tins, 65,438+10,000 precious porcelain, 24 carved kangs with eight treasures of gold, 460 western clocks, 7,000 clothes for the four seasons, 606 family members and 600 women.

From the list of seized property, it can be seen that Xiao Shenyang has long held the Chongwenmen tax clearance and demanded bribes; A large number of land mergers; Open a pawnshop and lend usury; Open coal mines, transport ... he has a lot of money in his pocket. Great wealth made little Shenyang live a luxurious life like an emperor. He built houses in Beijing, Chengde and other places. Little Shenyang built a mansion (now Gongwangfu) next to Shichahai in Beijing, and even built a nanmu building in imitation of Ningshou Palace and a hanging flower door in imitation of the emperor's organizational system during Qianlong. Small Shenyang also built the Book Spring Garden in Haidian, Beijing, which is now the unnamed lake of Peking University.

Small Shenyang not only enjoys the life of concubines, but also dreams of being as beautiful as the emperor after death. He built a huge mausoleum in Jizhou, Hebei Province (now Jixian County), which even surpassed the size of the prince and was called "He Ling" by the people. When Xiao Shenyang was robbed, the tomb was destroyed. When the small Shenyang was robbed, in addition to the real estate gardens everywhere, it also took more than 3 million pieces of silver and 32,000 pieces of gold. More than 65,438+10,000 mu of land and more than 65,438+10,000 rented houses; Pawnshop bank and all kinds of jewelry, clothes, etc. All its property is equivalent to about 6.5438 million taels of silver.

At that time, the annual income of the Qing government was only 780 million yuan. In other words, his property is equivalent to the total tax revenue of the whole Qing dynasty in the past ten years! I believe this number is absolutely unprecedented!

Wu Bingjian, the richest man in business.

Wu Bingjian (1769- 1843) is not well known. He is completely different from the first four. He is the only China person who has become the "first" by virtue of business. Wu Bingjian's father is one of the few China businessmen who are allowed to trade silk and porcelain with foreigners. Wu Bingjian took over his father's business at the age of 20. As a professional businessman, he lent a lot of silver dollars to foreign businessmen in exchange for shipping. His huge wealth came from import and export and banking. At that time, the Qing government closed its doors and only reserved Guangzhou as a foreign trade port. At that time, the "Thirteen Lines" in Guangzhou was the only legal "Special Foreign Trade Zone" in China, and Wu Bingjian was the big boss of the "Thirteen Lines". The monopoly position of foreign trade, coupled with the hard work of hong merchants, made the thirteenth bank prosper rapidly. The annual tariff revenue of the Qing government from the thirteen lines rose from the initial several hundred thousand to one million and two thousand, and the thirteen lines were gradually called "Tianzi Nanku". Therefore, a number of world-class wealthy businessmen were created, including Wu Bingjian, the richest man in the world at that time.

Song Ziwen, the richest man in the Republic of China

Song Ziwen (1894- 197 1), the richest man in the Republic of China, is a typical mixture of officials and businessmen. Song Ziwen was born in a wealthy family and graduated from the Economics Department of Harvard University. With the help of the marriage relationship between the Song family and Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, Song engaged in various financial transactions in front of the big shots of the National Government. Song Ziwen once bought most of his assets in foreign stocks, including the blue chips of General Motors, and made a windfall! He used his privilege to develop bureaucratic capital easily, and he was called "four big families" with Chiang Kai-shek, Kong Xiangxi and Chen Lifu. Before the liberation of the mainland, a lot of property was transferred under Song's name, and his family also opened the Guangdong Bank in the United States. According to the investigation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the property of the Song family is about 600 million dollars.