The glory of Shanxi merchants in the early years objectively benefited from the changes of policies in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early Ming Dynasty, Jiubian (nine military regions) was established to guard the northern frontier defense. More than 800,000 troops and more than 300,000 war horses have put great pressure on the government. In the third year of Hongwu, the system of "grain for salt" was implemented, and Shanxi was located on the main road between the Central Plains and Mongolia. Shanxi people who have a tradition of doing business since ancient times naturally adapted to this need and went to frontier towns to develop trade. In the middle of Ming Dynasty, East and West Horse Markets were opened in Liaodong and Zhangjiakou respectively, which played an important role in promoting the transformation of Shanxi merchants from salt industry to diversified management. Therefore, the activities of Shanxi merchants have enjoyed a high reputation in the whole country by the Ming Dynasty, and there are many records in historical documents. Amin Wang Shixing once pointed out: "Pingyang, Ze and merchants are the best in the world, and they are not rich unless they are hundreds of thousands" (Volume III of Guangzhiyi)-referring to the situation at the end of the 16th century. As can be seen from here, it is ridiculous for Mr. Zhou to say that he found some treasures left by the defeated army in Li Zicheng, which made the "Shanxi Bank" develop. Even if it is really lost, is it just the Shanxi merchants who founded the "Shanxi Bank"? People who regard money as their life can hardly achieve anything even if they pick it up.
1690, when Kangxi put down the rebellion in galdan, Fan Yubin, a Shanxi merchant, made a contribution to grain transportation and was awarded the second-class official title, gaining the privilege of trading with Mongolia and Russia, further opening up the northwest market for Shanxi merchants. At this time, it goes without saying that the wealth of Shanxi merchants has greatly increased. It can be said that in the early Qing Dynasty, the financial capital of Shanxi merchants gradually formed, which not only monopolized the trade and capital dispatch in northern China, but also crossed the mainland, and Shanxi merchants were called "western gangs". In the Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants opened up international trade routes with Shanxi and Hebei as the hubs, the Great Wall in the north, Gobi in Mongolia, Kulun, Qikatu, Siberia in Russia, and Petersburg and Moscow in the hinterland of Europe. This is another international trade route on land after the decline of the ancient Silk Road in China. (Cross-Strait Relations, No.4, 2006) In this way, Shanxi merchants, with their honesty, wisdom and perseverance, completed the primitive accumulation of capital very early, laying a solid financial foundation for the future glory of "Shanxi Draft Bank".
Before the appearance of the draft number, businessmen had to pay in cash when they went out to trade, and it was not only expensive but also unsafe to make money in other places by transporting cash home by escort agencies. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing years of Qing Dynasty, Shanxi businessman Lei Lvtai operated "Xiyucheng Pigment Village" and set up branches in Beijing, Tianjin, Sichuan and other places, so someone gave money to Xiyu components in Beijing, and the manager wrote to General, and then withdrew money from General Pingyao to realize foreign exchange. At first, this kind of long-distance communication was limited to friends and relatives. Later, Lei Lvtai thought it was a way to make money, so he founded Rishengchang, and his business developed from simple exchange to absorbing deposits and lending, and his business was booming. With the experience of "Rishengchang", Shanxi businessmen have invested in banks, thus forming a financial industry covering the whole country and integrating the whole world in Shanxi. /kloc-More than 0/00 years ago, Shanxi merchants created such brilliant achievements. Compared with those coal bosses who only know how to sell their ancestors' resources and try their best to show off, they can't help but feel sorry for "the gentleman's kindness was cut in V". From the birth of Rishengchang, the first bank in 1823, to the decline of the bank after the Revolution of 1911, the bank received more than one billion taels of silver. Surprisingly, there has never been an incident of internal personnel escaping, corruption or fraud. In modern China, all major banks are implementing modern enterprise management system, and there are a large number of moths, and employees often transfer money to escape. How can our ancestors create such a great miracle in that dark, decadent and backward feudal society? In addition to Shanxi people's honesty and trustworthiness, it also depends on strict internal management, but this management is effective because Shanxi merchants creatively implemented an effective incentive mechanism-the sharing system in the form of stock system. The sharing system means that all employees share the company bonus.
The staff at the ticket office are well paid. This treatment is divided into two parts. First, the supply system is implemented. All employees eat and live at the ticket number. Local employees can go home on holiday, and overseas employees have different holidays according to the distance. Travel expenses for food, clothing, use, accommodation and overseas employees during the period of the ticket number were borne by the ticket number, and the supply standard at that time was quite high. The second is income, which is divided into two items. 1. The annual salary for supporting the family (called "Jin Xin" in the ticket number) is around 70 taels for 70% of employees, and the highest salary is 100 taels. In addition, it is the stock system-dividends. Shares are only divided into profit and loss, that is, only rights have no risk, and dividends are very considerable. The big shopkeepers in each bank can get 1 1,000 taels of silver every four years, and shopkeepers and middle managers everywhere can also get 56,000 taels of silver every four years. At that time, a county magistrate with seven products, including Yang Lianyin, earned a total income of 1.050 taels a year, and only 4,200 taels in four years, while the middle-level staff in the ticket warehouse only surpassed the county magistrate in dividends, not including the annual free supply and Jin Xin. This effective incentive mechanism not only enables the strict management system to be implemented, but also makes employees willing to pay everything for the bank. Even when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, the general manager asked them to leave as soon as possible, they still kept their posts and reduced the losses of the bank. More importantly, the ticket number attracted the best talents in Shanxi at that time and created a social atmosphere of "everything is inferior and business is the highest". At that time, the order of Shanxi people's job selection was "once in the bank, twice as an official in the yamen, and only three people studied and took part in the imperial examination". People express their social identity and status not by what kind of reputation they have, but by how many shares they have in the bank. (Chinese and Foreign Digest, No.5, 2006)
From this point of view, it seems that Shanxi merchants 100 years ago understood the essence of modern enterprise management, and it is not surprising that "Shanxi draft bank" can be brilliant for a while. However, Mr. Zhou Zhisi's description of the glory of Shanxi merchants in this article is not only unfair and biased, but also insults and defiles our ancestors. If they knew about it, they would definitely protest loudly.