There is a Beiyang warlord who is famous for his greed and contempt, and he claims to be the "reincarnation of the white tiger spirit", his son has an unspeakable disease, and his daughter-in-law is obsessed with participating in the "black light ball" all day long, but after he is rich, he does not forget his hometown father, and he can be called the Republic of China's version of "Director Qi".
The warlord we are talking about today is called Wang Zhanyuan, who served as the overseer of Hubei in the early years of the Republic of China and the history of the two lakes patrol, was the direct general of the Beiyang warlords, and one of the twenty-four generals in the early years of the Republic of China.
01
Wang Zhanyuan was born in 1861 into a poor peasant family in Guantao County, when China was in shambles, and he spent his seventh place in poverty as a child.
Due to the difficult situation, his father's income from working as a part-time worker for local landlords and selling cotton thread in the market was not enough to support the family, so Wang Zhanyuan, who was not yet 10 years old, and his brother could only beg along the streets.
In this extremely difficult environment, he signed up for Liu Mingchuan's troops of the Huai Army in order to have enough to eat, and was stationed in a small station with the Huai Army to practice.
During this period, Wang Zhanyuan was deeply valued, and because he showed a side that surpassed ordinary people on the battlefield, he was able to be sent to the first phase of the Beiyang Military Academy for further study.
This experience should have had a profound impact on the later Wang Zhanyuan, after all, his classmates were Cao Kun and Li Chun, who were bulls in modern history.
02
In 1911, Wang Zhanyuan was awarded the title of deputy commander of the army, and his official residence was secondary, which was another favor of fate for him.
Later, with the establishment of the Republic of China, with the destruction or defeat of the new army of the Qing court, and Yuan Shikai's conspiracy to become emperor, Wang Zhanyuan also entered the fast lane of promotion to knighthood.
Although Yuan Shikai's good times did not last long, Wang Zhanyuan was mixed into a prince with his own territory. After Li Yuanhong succeeded to the presidency in 1916, Wang Zhanyuan entered the most favorable climax of his life.
During his tenure as the overseer of Hubei, Wang Zhanyuan no longer suppressed his desire for wealth, and immediately began to loot the people's fat and ointment and deduct military salaries.
He has accumulated huge wealth by operating a copper industry, setting up a military uniform factory, speculating in gold, and investing in enterprises, and the enterprises he runs involve many industries such as finance, minerals, textiles, grain, and electric power, and he has successively purchased large amounts of real estate in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, and Baoding.
03
Wang Zhanyuan was a very business-minded man, and he knew that blind expropriation and extortion would arouse public resentment, so he easily made huge profits by monopolizing military equipment. In Tianjin alone, Wang Zhanyuan's real estate has accumulated more than 3,000 rooms.
In addition, Wang Zhanyuan is also very good at investing in gold speculation. Although his martial arts are ordinary and his literary talents are mediocre, he is much better than ordinary warlords in terms of investment.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the price of gold and silver in the international market fluctuated greatly, especially in the short term.
After regarding gold as an important investment and reserve asset, Wang Zhanyuan controlled its fluctuations with time and market changes through the "Qianfeng" silver account opened in Hankou, selling silver when the price of gold was high and hoarding a large amount when the price of gold was low.
Subsequently, considering that the economies of the capitalist countries in Europe and the United States were affected by inflation and soaring prices, he once again accurately predicted the market highs and made a lot of wealth by controlling the export and import of gold.
04
In addition to huge investments in banks such as China, Communications, Salt Industry, and Jincheng, Wang Zhanyuan is also very good at achieving a skyrocketing fortune by buying land and land.
From 1918 to 1920, the hardest-hit areas were concentrated in the counties of Zhili, Henan, and Shandong provinces, and the counties suffered severe droughts for many years, causing the people of the five northern provinces to suffer great suffering.
Wang Zhanyuan took advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune, at this time many people did not hesitate to sell their houses and land in order to have enough to eat, and he only needed to use a very low price to obtain land in Wu'an, Cixian, Daming, Baixiang, Cheng'an and other places.
In China, a society with thousands of years of agrarian culture, when hungry people fled in all directions, some people starved to death without even receiving a single relief food. In order to bury their deceased loved ones, family members also have to sell their property at a low price.
Even at such a desperate moment, Wang Zhanyuan was making money by earning the difference in land prices, and such a crazy accumulation of wealth made him suffer from a long-term storm of public opinion.
05
It's a pity that Wang Zhanyuan did all the calculations, and he couldn't calculate that his baby son was a "wealth boy". The patrol of the two lakes made Wang Zhanyuan's son nicknamed "Wang Sangongzi", and the extent to which he squandered money was also staggering.
Although the limbs of the "Third Prince of Wang" are defective, there are many rumors of pleasure in spending all day drinking, and even in Pingjin at that time, there were still many noble ladies and celebrities who secretly communicated with them.
It is reported that when Wang Sangongzi's father purchased and even built a large number of commercial and private houses in various parts of North China, he wasted his time on the gambling table, and when he used up all the money he brought with him, he would not leave the gambling table.
For those celebrities and ladies, "Wang Sangongzi" is a rare dance partner, although his legs and feet are not good, but he is very generous, so he is very popular with girls.
The wife of "Wang Sangongzi" is also a good-looking figure, and is regarded as one of the "Four King Kongs" of the beauties in the Pingjin social circle.
However, the union of the two people is basically not emotional, and his wife often participates in naked balls where Chinese and foreign men and women gather.
With such a pair of unconscious sons and daughters-in-law, Wang Zhanyuan can also be said to be exhausted.
06
Having said that, Wang Zhanyuan still treated his relatives and fellow villagers very favorably, not only giving them a lot of material help during the war and famine. Probably because of his childhood experience, anyone who comes to him will not be disappointed and run away.
After he became the overseer of Hubei and became a prince, he continued to subsidize his poor relatives who came to him, and gave them money to open restaurants and do business, and provided good food and drink, helping many people to survive the famine.
During his tenure, there were many shops in the streets and alleys of Hubei Province with the character "Chun", which was due to Wang Zhanyuan's character "Zichun", who was known for his obsession with money greed.
Many people who want to tie up with Wang Zhanyuan will love the house and Wu, and go to the shops opened by his relatives to consume, not only to ensure that his relatives can rely on their own support to gain a firm foothold in Hubei, but also Wang Zhanyuan, as the boss behind the scenes, can also take a cut from it.
In the eyes of the old family, Wang Zhanyuan is also affectionate, righteous, and grateful, not only allowing many poor people to make a fortune by their own efforts, but also helping his hometown to build bridges and pave roads, run schools and cultivate aspirations, so that many students take him as their goal.
In September 1934, at the age of seventy-four, Wang Zhanyuan died in Tianjin, and his proud business empire soon fell apart.
As a warlord, he was very lucky not to die on the battlefield or in a power struggle, and his later life was very nourishing, compared to the warlords of his time, he had a good ending.
However, his happiness was based on the suffering of ordinary people, and the tens of millions of fortunes he had accumulated were eventually lost by his sons.