On the Silk Road, in the most chaotic era, how did businessmen avoid disasters?

Gansu Business Memory of a Descendant of Shaanxi Merchants

The Silk Road through Gansu is not only golden road in the eyes of countless business travelers, but also a dangerous road full of dangers. At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, warlords in Gansu fought in melee, and there were many checkpoints and bandits on the ancient Silk Road. Under the chaotic situation of the ancient Silk Road, a descendant of a Shaanxi businessman came from Nanjing with his young son to visit his sick father in Jiuquan, Gansu, thousands of miles away. This man is Liu Wenhai. His difficult trip to the northwest left people with thrilling memories of business travelers on the Silk Road.

Street view of Zhangye in the Republic of China

Liu Wenhai, a native of Weinan, Shaanxi Province, studied in Britain and the United States for ten years. After returning to China, he taught in Southeast University, Northwest University and Northeastern University successively. 1927, after the national government made Nanjing its capital, Liu Wenhai was transferred to the political office. 192865438+In February, Liu Wenhai learned that his father, who was doing business in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, was seriously ill, and resolutely took his son to the west to visit his father in Jiuquan.

Liu Wenhai's trip not only provided a reference for Zhang Henshui and Fan Changjiang's trip to the northwest, but also reserved a lot of information for people to study the business gangs on the Silk Road. Today, let's follow Zhang Zhi and listen to the old stories of business gangs in turbulent times.

Without food, people peel bark to satisfy their hunger.

In recent years, although many people pay attention to the Silk Road, few people pay attention to the business environment on the Silk Road. I come from Shaanxi. Although my father is not a businessman, he knows a lot about Shaanxi businessmen. In recent years, the culture of Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants is widely known with the popularity of film and television dramas, but there are few stories about Shanxi merchants, that is, the so-called Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants. So far, they are little known.

Shaanxi commercial gangs, also known as "dajia in the Western Qin Dynasty" or "Merchants in the Qin Dynasty", have a history of at least 500 years. Historically, Shaanxi commercial gangs have built huge business circles in northwest China, Sichuan, Guizhou, Mongolia and Tibet, centering on Jingyang and Sanyuan. Due to geographical and traffic reasons, and in order to meet the needs of merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, such as Huizhou merchants, Shaanxi merchants often cooperate with Shanxi merchants. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the decline of the country, Shaanxi commercial gangs gradually declined. In this context, Liu Wenhai 1929 acts in the northwest, and we keep the real situation of Shaanxi businessmen.

Gulang longgoubao inn

1928165438+1On October 25th, Liu Wenhai took the train from Pukou to journey to the south and arrived in Xi 'an on the afternoon of February 3rd, 65438. He started his journey to the northwest from here. At this time, the road from Xi 'an to Lanzhou is extremely chaotic, disrepair and inconvenient to pass; Secondly, bandits haunt. On February 6, 65438, when he left An, Song, chairman of Shaanxi Provincial Government, arranged for him to follow the motorcade carrying military supplies to Lanzhou.

Liu Wenhai found Gansu a backward and chaotic place. Even his two partners in Shaanxi left because the road was bitter and cold, but he still walked forward without hesitation. When he arrived in Pingliang, he found that the street view seemed to be in the late Qing Dynasty, and the city guards, Taoist seals and other plaques were still visible.

They climbed over Qijia Mountain and saw the dammed lake left by the earthquake from time to time. These lakes are unfathomable, but the officers in the same field are still talking about it and tearing up all kinds of nonsense. From this point of view, he is very disappointed with Gansu officials. When he arrived at Qingjiang post, he found that the trees on the road had no bark. Only when he asked the passers-by did he know that the bark had been stripped and eaten by the victims.

Later, in the spring of 1934, Zhang Henshui also roamed the northwest. As soon as he entered Gansu, he saw that all the "Zuogongliu" along the road had been cut down, leaving little, and all the bark had been stripped to satisfy his hunger. At that time, Zhang Henshui also wrote a poem on bamboo branches: "You owe a great favor to Zuo, and planted two lines to hang down the sun and green. Peel off the bark and grass and cook it, and fill it with food and soup. "

Trapped in Lanzhou, "poverty alleviation" harms merchants.

On February 30th, 65438, Liu Wenhai arrived in Lanzhou. The next day, he inquired about the news from the people in Shaanxi Business Group, only to know that his father had passed away. On the third day, on the first day of 1929, his family told him that his camel team had been dragged to Lanzhou and asked him to find a way to get it back.

Wuwei jietou

Lazha was the most severe oppression of farmers and businessmen during the Republic of China. Generally, it is unlikely to come back after being pulled off, so many farmers and businessmen are ruined.

In desperation, he took a letter of introduction from the Nanjing National Government and found the chairman of the provincial government, Liu Yufen. Liu was surprised. He didn't seem to know that his subordinates were running errands everywhere. After listening, Liu Yufen immediately said, arrange people to inquire, let him wait patiently. Back in the shop, his camel driver also found him. Liu Wenhai realized that his camel plan had been taken to Qinghai.

Time is pressing. If you want to recover the camel, you can't wait for news. At this time, camels all over the country were mixed together by the national army, and it took three days to find some camels, the number of which was less than half of the original. The result, he how also not happy. However, Shaanxi fellow villagers said that this is already a very special treatment. The township party members said that this was also related to the power and interest struggle between Liu Yufen and Sun Lianzhong (then chairman of Qinghai provincial government), so Liu Yufen used her important position in Nanjing National Government to suppress Sun Lianzhong and gave him a hand. Otherwise, even this half camel can't come back.

Although the camel problem has been solved, the toll has not been settled. His son who traveled west with him is hungry. In desperation, he first took sporadic clothes and prepared to go to the pawnshop to pawn, but no pawnshop accepted it. At the critical moment, a friend surnamed Zhao lent him the 30 yuan (Ocean), which enabled him to continue his westward journey.

Jiayuguan, an interesting foreign tariff

The road from Lanzhou to Jiuquan is relatively easy, at least there are few bandits, but the distance between stations is far, so it is convenient to ride a camel. On February 3rd, Liu Wenhai finally arrived in Jiuquan to deal with family chores.

In his spare time, Liu Wenhai visited the scenic spots in Jiuquan and exchanged views with fellow villagers in Jiuquan. At that time, Jiayuguan had foreign tariffs, which made the merchants miserable. Initially, foreign tariffs were aimed at foreign goods. Jiuquan is located inland, and the Russian caravan will not come here because it is a long way. How can there be foreign tariffs? It turned out that some old people in Jiuquan were arbitrarily levying foreign tariffs on most goods from the west under the banner of running education. Liu Wenhai believes that this practice not only directly affects the livelihood of Jiuquan businessmen, but also aggravates people's embarrassment.

Jiuquan street view

At this time, Jiuquan City is also in danger. On June 1 1, it was the Dragon Boat Festival, and the local garrison launched a mutiny. The Liu family is very influential in Jiuquan. The mutinous soldiers once besieged his house, and Liu Wenhai climbed over the wall and hid in his neighbor's house. Later, Liu Wenhai heard that the mutinous soldiers heard that his family had a good horse, so he came to rob it. When they broke into the house, they were stopped by several veterans. The veterans said that his old man often helped people around him and was a good man. Persuaded by the veteran, the mutinous soldiers dispersed. This reflects the business philosophy of Western Qin merchants, and can get unexpected returns at critical moments.

The seller, Zhang Ye, had a narrow escape.

Liu Wenhai's father left his last words, asking him to transport his body back to his hometown for burial. It is a long way from Jiuquan to Weinan, which is not a simple matter under the traffic conditions at that time. He calculated that the cost on the way would reach as much as 3000 oceans. Such a high cost, even the powerful Liu family can't take it out. In desperation, the two brothers had to raise money separately.

His brother went to Xinjiang and shipped a batch of goods to Jiuquan. Unexpectedly, local officials extorted money and could not enter the city. At this time, it was the end of June, and the weather was hot, making it difficult to store the goods. And the old father's coffin can't wait. In desperation, Liu Wenhai had to take his son and two apprentices and drive to Zhangye to sell goods.

During the Republic of China, street vendors in Wuwei

Soon after I left Jiuquan, my trip went smoothly. However, 20 miles away from the high platform, it encountered a problem. At this time, warlords were fighting endlessly, officials were rampant, business travel was basically stagnant, and even tax card personnel were sitting around all day. Twenty miles away from Gaotai City, a tax collector quietly told him that because the national army fought fiercely with local warlords in Shaanxi many times, it was extremely strict with Shaanxi businessmen and suggested that they make a detour. They had to go to Zhangye on the high platform. He drove the carriage, took risks and dived into Zhangye. In Zhangye, he was an official of the national government, but he was working as a businessman, which led to Zhangye's police questioning him many times. Although Liu Wenhai was ready for this, he still opened a passport (certificate) of Northwest Army in Lanzhou with a letter of introduction from Nanjing National Government, and changed the local protection flag in Jiuquan. Unfortunately, none of this worked. He was not only interrogated, but even suspected to be a spy. In desperation, even the manuscript sent to the southern newspaper was burned. Finally, with the help of enthusiastic people, he survived and was released. The sales campaign failed.

Liu Wenhai had to turn around and return to Jiuquan. Faced with the extremely bad situation in Hexi Corridor, he had to give up and hand it over to his younger brother, ready to return to Nanjing. At first, he planned to return to Nanjing via Xinjiang and India, but later this plan also failed. He had no choice but to go all the way from Hami to Suiyuan, then through Zhangjiakou to Beijing, and finally take a boat to Shanghai and return to Nanjing from Shanghai. His trip to the northwest took one year and two months in the north of China.

Liu Wenhai's personal experience has enabled people today to have a clear understanding of the business travel on the Silk Road in turbulent times, and also retained valuable information of Shaanxi business gangs. Today, his trip to the northwest is a great feat. Unfortunately, there is little information about Liu Wenhai himself, which seems to have been forgotten by history. We also expect more people to provide this information.

Narrator: Zhang Zhi, president of China Painted Pottery Network, was born in Hancheng, Shaanxi.

Original works of Lao Wang in Lanzhou are prohibited from being reproduced in any form without written authorization, and offenders will be prosecuted.