The Wall Street Journal of the United States once ranked the 5 richest people in the world in the last thousand years. Among them, there are five people in China who entered the list. These world's richest people are extremely rich in their time. Their identities are different, some are high-ranking and some are poor. Even Shen Wansan, who is known as the "richest man in the Ming Dynasty", is only ranked last. It can be seen that its wealth threshold is high, and the family on the list is thick!
The fifth Shen Wansan
When it comes to Shen Wansan, I believe many people are familiar with it. Shen Wansan can be said to be synonymous with the God of Wealth. So how rich is Shen Wansan, who is known as the "richest man in the Ming Dynasty"? According to the Ming History, Shen Wansan's property was converted into more than 2 billion taels of silver. One tael of silver is equivalent to the purchasing power of RMB in 26 yuan now, 2 * 26 = 52 billion RMB. There was so much money at that time, even now it can be called the richest man in the world!
the fourth Wu Bingjian
It was in 1834 that China became the richest man in the world. The man's surname is Wu, and his name is Bingjian. At that time, according to his family's estimation, his assets had reached a shocking 26 million taels of silver, while the wealth of the richest man in the United States at that time was only 7 million taels of silver.
The way Wu Bingjian started his business was strikingly similar to that of most ancient merchants. They already had a very thick liquidity in their hands, and then they bought a lot of fixed assets such as land, real estate and shops, which was actually the so-called landlord in ancient times. But he is not limited to this. He is a business wizard, and he also turned his silver dollar into "capital". He went to the United States to invest in railway, securities and insurance business. This layout also made Jardine Matheson once a world-class multinational consortium. At that time, Wu Bingjian, who was extremely rich, had another identity as the largest creditor of the East India Company.
The third Song Ziwen
When it comes to Song Ziwen, some people may feel strange, but when it comes to his two sisters, they are quite famous. Yes, Song Ziwen is Soong Ching Ling and Song Meiling's own brother. Song Ziwen, a "uncle of the two dynasties", served as the finance minister of the Republic of China for a long time by virtue of his special status, during which he monopolized the US military aid to China. Its wealth was second to none at that time.
Later, Song Ziwen abandoned politics and went into business, and successively established China Construction Bank Company, China Bank, etc., and by virtue of the economic committee under his control, he continued to infiltrate, control and merge the national industry and commerce and financial industry, creating an economic empire of bureaucratic comprador groups with the Song family as the core at an alarming speed. In 1939, in a secret investigation report of Japanese agents on the deposits of senior officials, it was pointed out that Song Ziwen's deposits in foreign banks, Chase National Bank and Citibank in Shanghai amounted to $7 million. At the same time, the news that Song Ziwen was the "richest man in the world" spread like wildfire.
The second Liu Jin
The Wall Street Journal is still very objective. The reason why it selected Liu Jin as the richest man at that time was exactly the same as that of He Shen, all of which came from corruption and money. Liu Jin was a legendary figure, a mysterious eunuch and the richest eunuch in the Ming Dynasty.
According to records, Liu Jin was born in Xingping, Shaanxi Province, whose real name was Tan. At the age of 6, she was adopted by eunuch Liu Shun, and then she became a eunuch and changed her surname to Liu. Liu Jin was promoted many times when he served the prince of the dynasty, and finally climbed to the position of eunuch in the hand of Si Li Jian. He knows how to read and listen, and at the same time he knows how to please people. After Zhu Houzhao, a Ming Wuzong, took the throne, Liu Jin presented games such as eagle dog, song and dance, and wrestling to the emperor almost every day. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also pays more attention to Liu Jin.
Liu Jin has great authority in the DPRK. It can be said that Liu Jin is the most powerful person except Zhu Houzhao, the current emperor. Even in the end, there was a title of "establishing emperor" among the people, which showed that its authority was monstrous! After the downfall of Liu Jin, his property was found to have nearly 6.82 million gold and 146 million silver. In fact, the silver in the treasury of the Ming Dynasty was only 17 million to 4 million silver. This wealth was equivalent to the national treasury income of the Ming Dynasty for more than 1 years.
The first corrupt official in He Shen
He Shen, a great corrupt official during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, was selected as the first world-class rich man in The Wall Street Journal. During his official career, He Shen was particularly fond of money. Every year, when local officials presented gold and silver treasures to Qianlong, they also prepared another one for He Shen. At that time, there was a saying that if there was any treasure that the palace didn't have, it might be in the adult's house. His deeds have long been known to women and children broadcast by major film and television dramas. I won't go into details here, except to say that the property acquired by Jiaqing when he copied his home was equivalent to the sum of the national fiscal revenue in the 18 years of Qianlong's prosperity. No wonder there was a folk saying at that time that "He Shen fell and Jiaqing had enough to eat".
According to the records, the list of property seized in He Shen is as follows:
1. Cash assets: 1. Red gold (24K): 58, taels of gold in stock, 2,5 taels of gold in the building, 1 gold ingots (1, taels each), 26 kilograms of a gold pagoda, and 26, taels of gold in the wall, making a total of 186,9 taels < There are 5, silver ingots (1, taels each) in the building, totaling 6,556, taels
3, 5,83, Jingguo (silver), 3,15, Su Guo (silver)
4, and 58, taels of silver
2. Property: 1. A garden, a pavilion. In total, there are 2,17 properties in He Shen.
3. Real estate: 8, hectares of land, accounting for 8, mu
4. Enterprises: 1. There are 1 pawn shops, with 82, RMB, 1 bank names and 62, RMB
5. Jade wares: 1. There are 13 jade ding. Height 2 feet 5 inches 2, Jade Pan 2 pieces 3, Jade Ruyi 13 handles 4, Jade Ruyi 116 handles 5, Jade Snuff Bottles 48 pieces 6, Jade Head 13 pieces 7, Jade Bowl 13 tables, Jade Bottles 3-I won't go into details one by one because there are too many lists
6. Jewelry: 1. Pearl bracelets 23 strings. Weight: 28 kg 4, 8 pieces of small ruby, 4 pieces of sapphire, 6 pieces of ruby, 9 pieces of ruby
7. Others: 1. 72 tables of silver bowls, 5 pairs of silver chopsticks, 2 pairs of gold chopsticks, 6 gold spoons, 38 silver spoons, 2 pieces of carved gold babbles, 1 bottles of gold, 46 golden bells, and carved gold babbles.