On April 27, 1916, 11 firsts were created in China in the late Qing Dynasty (the first civil joint-stock enterprise steamship investment bureau, the first telegraph bureau China Telegraph General Administration, the first inland river small steamer company, the first bank China Commerce

Bank, the first railway trunk line Beijing-Hankou Railway, the first steel complex Hanyeping Company, the first Normal School Nanyang Public School, the first mining company, the first public library, the first public library

A modern university (Beiyang University Hall and the Red Cross Society of China), was called by Zhang Zhidong, a famous official in the late Qing Dynasty, ""can connect the north and the south, China and foreign countries, and government and business." Sheng Xuanhuai, who was known among the people as the richest man in the late Qing Dynasty,

After a life of mixed success and failure, he was 72 years old. He made his fortune through official business and held huge wealth. In that era of changing dynasties, it was not easy for Sheng Xuanhuai to have a good death and hold on to his wealth.

Miracle. Before his death, Sheng Xuanhuai painstakingly designed a set of inheritance distribution plans in order to preserve the Sheng family's property and wealth to the greatest extent and prevent unfilial descendants from destroying the family and ruining the family's business. Specifically, the Sheng family's industry was not profitable.

It is not allowed to move or divide, and is handed over to specialized agencies. The benefits generated by each industry are divided into two shares. One share is equally distributed to the five grandchildren, and the other share is used as a charity village. According to current parlance, it is family charity.

Fund. However, at the time when Sheng Xuanhuai died, it was still difficult for his will to be finalized in legal form. In short, whether his inheritance distribution plan can be implemented ultimately depends on Sheng Xuanhuai.

Whether the second generation of the wealthy family respects his last wish? Sheng Xuanhuai is known as the "Father of Higher Education" in late Qing China. However, because he was too keen on industry, he was not strict with his sons' traditional education and was not successful. In addition, the Sheng family

Young men and young ladies have been immersed in Shanghai's ten-mile foreign market since childhood, so the rich second generation of the Sheng family either has a strong sense of extravagance and dandyism, or a strong smell of profit-seeking. Sheng Xuanhuai just died.

More than a year later, on June 1, 1917, the rich second generation of the Sheng family completely overturned his inheritance claim. They had been demanding that, at a minimum, all the Sheng family's property should be divided into two, with one share allocated to the five houses.

, and the other was taken care of by Yizhuang. At that time, some people in Shanghai commented that if Mrs. Zhuang, the old lady of the Sheng family, was still alive and could still control the situation, the huge inheritance of the Sheng family would have been divided among the five grandchildren at that time.

Clean. Sheng Xuanhuai not only had a lot of money, but also had many children. In addition to his adopted second son Sheng Heyi, his sixth son Sheng Taiyi, his eighth son Sheng Junyi, and his six married daughters, he was eligible at that time.

The first person who came to divide the inheritance was Sheng Xuanhuai's widow, the second was the five-room children and grandchildren, and the third was the unmarried and famous Seventh Miss Sheng Aiyi and Eighth Miss Sheng Fangyi. Let's take a look at the details of the wealthy family in Shanghai in January 1920.

How was the inheritance divided? First, how much inheritance did Sheng Xuanhuai leave? The first category was the properties in the Shanghai Bund Concession, which were estimated to be worth about 6.686 million taels of silver at that time;

The second category, various real estate properties in the mainland, was estimated to be worth about 984,000 taels of silver at the time; the third category, various stocks, with a total market value of about 5.1 million taels of silver; the fourth category, public equity plus deposits

, with a total value of approximately 355,000 taels of silver; the fifth category, as of January 1920, had a cash balance of approximately 355,000 taels of silver.

The cash balance of more than 350,000 yuan was placed on the " " table", and the five grandchildren divided it up as soon as they reached out. Therefore, the distribution of the inheritance focused on the first four categories of real estate, which required a lot of effort. In order to make the distribution fair and reasonable, no

In response to objections, the Sheng family established a heritage clearance office with a very luxurious lineup - the leader was Li Jingfang, a family friend of the Sheng family, Li Hongzhang's son, followed by Li Jingfang, Sheng Xuanhuai's relatives, former Prime Minister Li Baoqi; Sheng Xuanhuai's close confidant, Fu Xiao'an, chairman of Shanghai Commercial Bank

; Sheng Xuanhuai's brother Sheng Shanhuai; Sheng Xuanhuai's wife and brother Zhuang Lianghua, etc. The inheritance distribution starts with Sheng Xuanhuai's widow taking a portion of the real estate, with a total value of about 700,000 taels of silver, and a monthly interest of 4154.

The total value of the real estate allocated to the concubine Xiao is about 300,000 taels of silver, and the monthly interest is 1,848 taels of silver. The seventh lady Sheng Aiyi and the eighth lady Sheng Fangyi each received 60,000 taels of silver for their dowry. Considering Sheng Xuanhuai's granddaughter.

Sheng Yurong took good care of Sheng Xuanhuai when she was seriously ill, and won Sheng's favor. Therefore, she supported the seventh and eighth ladies, halved their dowry fees, and gave them an inheritance of tens of millions of taels each.

Only 30,000 taels were obtained, which paved the way for Miss Sheng Qi to fight for the inheritance a few years later.

Divide the main part, totaling 11.6 million taels of inheritance, because this part of the inheritance is mainly real estate and stocks. In order to prevent the five grandchildren of the Sheng family from picking and choosing, the big bosses of the inheritance liquidation office finally decided.

I thought of a pretty "excellent" distribution method. What method? The five of you don't choose. Divide these real estates and stocks into five lots according to the current value as much as possible. The five of you will draw lots. Which share you get will count.

Which one? What is quite interesting is that the big guys in the inheritance clearance department also specially named these five lots - benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust. They probably did this.

I hope that the five sons and grandsons of the Sheng family can use these five words to safeguard the family fortune left by Sheng Xuanhuai.