Chapter 258： Chinese richest man in the world

On the second floor, he entered a very spacious office. Under Wu Hongyi's greeting, Xia Yu and others sat on the sofa at the coffee table for a week.

Soon, two young girls in cheongsam brought some cakes and peanut seeds to the crowd, and then the two began to make tea in a tacit understanding, very skillfully.

"Everyone have tea, you are welcome!"

After the tea moisture was good, Wu Hongyi picked up the tea cup and said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, everyone is compatriots. Just treat this as your own home. Feel free to do it!"

Uncle Chang, who was sitting aside, also echoed the Tao, with a very warm attitude.

The two enthusiastic attitudes made Xia Yu feel very good. He nodded and said, "We will not be polite. Don't be surprised when that happens."

"Haha, I will only be happy when I meet strangers!"

Wu Hongyi quickly responded with a smile.

"This dim sum tastes really good, it melts in your mouth, come, let's eat dim sum together.

Xia Yu picked up a piece of mung bean cake and lightly bit it. The soft, soft, melt-in-mouth taste made Xia Yu's eyes brighten, and his face was involuntarily showing enjoyment. After swallowing, he exclaimed.

Hearing Xia Yu's admiration, Uncle Chang's face opened wide and he was very happy.

Li Qian also picked up a piece of mung bean cake, her pink lips slightly opened, her white teeth lightly bite, Shui Lingling's big eyes completed the crescent, and sweetly said: "It's delicious."

"Eat more if it is delicious."

Looking at the beautiful and lovely Li Qian, Uncle Chang's eyes were full of kindness, he said cheerfully.

"Hmm!"

Li Qian smiled and tapped her head, and said obediently. This made Xia Yu couldn't help smiling, and Li Qian was really likable.

While eating and drinking, Xia Yu and Wu Hongyi also chatted.

"Hongyi, when did your family come to England?"

Xia Yu leaned forward slightly and asked.

"Our family has been more than a hundred years old, and our ancestors were in England since 1828."

Wu Hongyi thought for a while and said, his tone was very emotional.

It is 1978, exactly 150 years from 1828!

Calculating the result quickly in my heart, not only Xia Yu was surprised, even Li Qian and others looked at Wu Hongyi in surprise.

"It's been so long! Your family came during the Qing Daoguang reign!"

"Yes, it is recorded in the genealogy."

Wu Hongyi said calmly, seemingly used to the surprise of others.

Suddenly, Xia Yu's heart moved and thought of something.

Why did Wu Hongyi's ancestors come to Britain from the Qing Dynasty and have settled down to the present?

Being able to exist in the UK for 160 years without disappearing is a kind of skill, but considering that in those days, it is not easy to go abroad to work hard!

Wu family? Last name Wu?

Xia Yu's mind turned frantically. Soon, his eyes lit up and he thought of a possibility. He looked straight at Wu Hongyi and blurted out and asked: "Your Wu family is the Wu family of the 13th line?"

Wu Hongyi looked at Xia Yu with an unexpected look. He didn't expect Xia Yu to have such a keen thinking that he could guess it so quickly.

However, this is not a shameful matter. Many Chinese people in Britain know this matter. It can be said to be an open matter. There is no need to hide it. Xia Yu will know it in the future.

So he nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, it's the Wu family, our line comes from the third son of Dunyuan Gong."

Hearing Wu Hongyi's admission, Xia Yu's face was solemn, and Wu Hongyi held his fist solemnly and said, "Disrespect and disrespect!"

Seeing Xia Yu's solemnity, Wu Hongyi shook his head with a wry smile and sighed: "That is the glory of our ancestors. Our children and grandchildren are incompetent, so that the family has fallen into this state."

"No, it is a manifestation of strength to be passed down in the UK forever!"

Xia Yu shook his head immediately.

"Xia Yu, is Dun Yuan Gong very famous?"

Li Qian pulled at Xia Yu's skirt and asked softly.

Xia Yu nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, Hony's ancestors were the world's richest man at the time, and foreigners also recognized it!"

"Yeah! The richest man in the world? So amazing!"

Li Qian covered her small mouth and exclaimed, she couldn't help but looked at Wu Hongyi who was shaking her head and smiling wryly. Obviously Wu Hongyi had also acquiesced.

"You should have heard this name. It is Wu Bingjian, also known as Wu Dunyuan, the founder of Yihehang, one of the thirteen branches of Guangdong."

Xia Yu explained.

Li Qian, who is the head of the 13th line of Guangdong, naturally knows it, and she is even more shocked because of it.

Xiangjiang is separated from Guangdong Province by the sea. Many people from Xiangjiang are from southern Fujian or Guangdong province. Therefore, the legend of the 13th line of Guangdong has been circulating, saying, "Foreign ships are fought by officials and merchants, and the cross gate opens to the two oceans. The saying "Five silks and eight silks are good, thirteen lines of money are piled up" has been passed down by word of mouth, and it has been passed down to this day.

She had learned it when she was studying history. She learned that the tariffs that Guangdong No. 13 Bank paid to the Qing government at that time accounted for 40% of the country's tax revenue.

According to records, in 1822, there was a fire on Shisanxing Street. The fire was fierce and spread for several days. The large amount of property and 40 million taels of cash stored in it were destroyed. After the fire, a strange phenomenon appeared. In the street where the thirteen lines are located, “foreign silver melts into the gutter and grows to one or two miles”.

She also knew that the Thirteen Banks at that time was just a general term. It was not a total of thirteen companies. There were dozens of companies in a long time, and only four companies in a short time. Among them, a group of wealthy people emerged, such as Pan Zhencheng, Pan Youdu, Lu Wenjin, Wu Bingjian, Ye Shanglin, etc.

What Li Qian didn't know was that Wu Bingjian turned out to be the world's richest man at the time.

In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that Wu Bingjian was the richest man in the world at the time. Xia Yu had really known Wu Bingjian in his previous life.

In 1834, the Wu family counted the family property, and it reached 26 million silver dollars. At that time, the wealth of the richest man in the United States was only 8 million silver dollars, less than one-third of Wu Bingjian's!

And the business prodigy Wu Bingjian really created a large consortium.

At that time, Wu Bingjian was the "banker" and the largest creditor of the British East India Company.

In terms of industrial operations, Wu Bingjian not only owns real estate, real estate, tea gardens, shops, etc. in China, but also boldly engages in railroad investment, securities trading, and even insurance business in the United States on the other side of the ocean, making Jardine Matheson a veritable multinational Consortium.

It is a pity that with the state of the time, it was destined that merchants were sheep, and power was supreme; instead of capital controlling the government as in foreign countries.

Therefore, the Wu family suffered heavy losses under the Qing government's repeated cuts .

But when Wu Bingjian realized that something was wrong, he took precautions and sent many of his children overseas early to take care of his own overseas business while also increasing his family's ability to resist risks as much as possible.

Cunning Rabbit Three Caves, nothing more than that!

This really made him do it right, otherwise the possibility of Wu Family being annihilated by the clan really exists!

It’s just that Xia Yu sighed that when he first came to the UK, the first person he met was a member of the Wu family, and he knew for the first time that after 150 years of ups and downs, the Wu family was still in the UK. Standing tall, as to what extent the Wu family has been mixed up now, he will learn more about it later.

However, Xia Yu guessed that the Wu family should have fallen as Wu Hongyi said. Otherwise, although Xiangjiang is far away from Britain, he would not have never heard of the Wu family's name.

Of course, there are other possibilities. For example, the Wu family's business in Xiangjiang does not overlap with Xia Yu, or the Wu family simply has no business in Xiangjiang.