Why is there a family in Henan that has been breeding for 400 years, and 12 generations are all rich?

It is said that wealth exceeds three generations to become a noble, but it is often difficult to escape the tragic fate of wealth exceeding three generations. Even the most prominent royal family in history ruled a dynasty for at most 300 years. However, there is a family that has been rich 12 generations for more than 400 years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was named "Kang Million" by Empress Dowager Cixi.

The Kang family first settled in Luohe, Kangdian Town, Gongxian County during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. In order to solve the livelihood problem at home, the ancestors of the Kang family decided to open a small restaurant on the bank of the Luohe River. Due to proper management and honest management, their fame grew bigger and bigger, and later they gradually developed into a well-known inn. However, this is not the richest time for the Kang family. It was during the period of Kang Shaojing, the sixth generation descendant of the Kang family, that he really began to get rich.

Although Kang Shaojing was born in a merchant family, he chose to study as an official. Later, he became famous and worked in Yicheng, Weichuan. Because of the clear government affairs, he was promoted to the ambassador of Dongchang Prefecture in Shandong Province, and held important positions in local land and water transportation, salt industry and taxation. As we all know, these positions are "fat jobs", and officials with a little active mind can make a lot of money. Kang Shaojing himself had an idea. Salt industry was very developed in Ming Dynasty. Unlike the previous salt industry, it was all in the hands of the court. In the Ming Dynasty, officials and businessmen were supervised, so Kang Shaojing put his family on the road of salt merchants.

Not only the salt industry prevailed in the Qing Dynasty, but also the White Lotus Sect. When the court suppressed the Bailian religion, the Kang family opened the way with silver and obtained a ten-year military supply order related to cloth, which was related to the court. It's not as pure as it used to be. It can be said that Master Kang was really business-minded, and then he set his sights on shipbuilding. At that time, the closed-door policy had not reached the worst period, and the Kang family had begun to rely on these industries to develop into a "million-family family". Kang Yingkui, the master of this period, is also an important figure in Kang Million Family. He fully carried out the family instructions of the Kang family, paid for disaster relief many times, supported the people and carried forward the Kang family.

In the embryonic stage of capitalism, the Kang family also circled a lot of land. Through the unremitting efforts of generations of Kang family, the inn has become a huge manor with an area of more than 240 mu, 19 pieces, integrating agriculture, politics and commerce. In the heyday of the Kang family, the owner of the Kang family could meet all the needs of life without leaving home.

1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi fled with Emperor Guangxu. When she passed Kangdian Town on her way back to Beijing, Kang Hongyou, the shopkeeper of Kangjiada, who was known as the "first person of Henan merchants" at that time, donated one million and two hundred yuan to the Qing government. Empress Dowager Cixi said, "I didn't expect that there were millions of property in this ravine." Later, Empress Dowager Cixi named Kang as "Kang Million", and later Kang Million Manor became Kang Million Manor.

From then on, the court noticed the wealth of the Kang family, so whenever the court paid compensation for the deficit of the national treasury, the Kang family began to "donate" to the court, and the wealth accumulated by more than a dozen generations gradually dissipated and became a thing of the past.

Therefore, if it is not passive consumption of wealth, the Kang family may continue to have money. Why did the Kang family last for more than 400 years? It is because of the four family precepts left by predecessors: "Leave more than enough, use it skillfully, and return to nature;" Leave more than enough to repay the court; Leave more, leave more money to return to the people; Leave more than enough, endless blessings to repay future generations. "

It means: "leave room, don't give all skills back to the creator;" Leave room, don't return the salary to the court; Leave room, don't return all the property to the people; Leave room, don't leave all the blessings to future generations. "It is precisely because the Kang family has been passed down from generation to generation that they all follow this commandment. After earning enough money, they will distribute wealth to the people and accumulate blessings for future generations. But because of this, they were overwhelmed by the court, which can be said to be a blessing or a curse.