Chapter 32 Figures in corporate history: the death of the owner

In October 1999, Yu Zuomin, who was released on medical parole, died in loneliness at the age of 70. This staunch peasant entrepreneur did not wait for the "rehabilitation" he had been longing for until his death. In the winter of 7 years ago, the manager of Daqiuzhuang Wanquan Company, known as the "No. 1 Village in the World", died of illness. During the audit, it was found that there might be corruption, so Daqiuzhuang sent 4 people to inspect the company's salesman Wei Fuhe.Wei was illegally detained and beaten to death on December 13.After the incident, the "Old Man" Yu Zuomin decided to cover up the perpetrator. When the procuratorial department sent personnel to Daqiuzhuang to collect evidence, he was illegally detained for 13 hours. Afterwards, relevant authorities in Tianjin mobilized 400 heavily armed police to block the road leading to Daqiu. Yu Zuomin ordered all the workers in more than 100 factories in the village to go on strike. Tens of thousands of farmers from the village and other villages held sticks and steel pipes to guard the intersections of the small village. They confronted the armed police and claimed that "once the police enter the village , we must work hard.” In April, Yu Zuomin was arrested. On August 27, the Tianjin Court sentenced Yu Zuomin to 20 years in prison for five crimes of harboring, obstructing official duties, bribery, illegal detention and illegal control. His son, Daqiuzhuang Yu Shaozheng, No. 2 in the Communist Party of China, was sentenced to ten years in prison at the same time.

In the two years before the incident, Yu Zuomin had been proud of himself.Daqiuzhuang under his leadership has changed from a beggar village on the saline-alkali land in North China to the richest village in the country. The New York Times reported: "Daqiuzhuang is actually a big company. There are 4,400 people in this village, but there are 16 Mercedes-Benz cars. In 1990, the per capita income was 3,400 US dollars, which was 10 times the national average income. In 1992, the industrial output value of Daqiuzhuang was said to have reached 4 billion yuan." Become "China's No. 1 Farmer Entrepreneur".On March 1 of this year, Yu Zuomin wrote an article "Messages for the Spring Festival" in the "Economic Daily". He wrote: "The biggest contribution of Daqiuzhuang is to give Chinese farmers a face."

In his heart, Yu Zuomin never felt that he had made any mistakes.When Daqiu Village was in its heyday, there were three times more migrant workers than the villagers. Of course, how to control it became a problem. Although the villagers who beat people to death were more serious, their starting point was to "develop the economy of Daqiu Village". Yes, of course he, the old man, should come forward to carry it.Just three years before the Weifuhe incident, there was also a case of beating and maiming. The criminal was arrested and sentenced. Yu Zuomin called on the whole village to raise donations for the prisoner. He first gave 100,000 yuan, and then ordered 200,000 He raised a family of criminals, because, "these guys are in prison for Daqiuzhuang."

He didn't even think about the consequences of the confrontation with 400 armed police officers. At that time, Daqiuzhuang had secretly hidden 15 automatic rifles, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and also had a shotgun factory. What would happen if the guns went off? History chooses Yu Zuomin as a representative of an era, which naturally has its reasons.The owner, who grew out of the saline-alkali soil, has always had a natural domineering and stubborn energy. Around 1979, he needed to raise 100,000 yuan to set up a rolling mill, and he had to borrow 50,000 yuan from other villages. Some people in the village objected. Later, he said, "Daqiuzhuang has no collective wisdom, and without me, Yu Zuomin, Daqiuzhuang would not be what it is today." The villagers fought against them, and members of the investigation team said to him: "You have done nothing wrong, so you are not afraid of ghosts knocking on your door." ?” Under his leadership, every day old men came to question the inspection team with sticks, “We just had a good few days, and you came here, why didn’t you come when we were starving?” There are also young men Come to "bombing", "We have been single for many years. We just found a partner, and you broke up as soon as you came. If this daughter-in-law can't find you, you will be responsible!" Zhuang couldn't live anymore, so he had to move to the countryside.This became his most flamboyant early act of reform, and 12 years later, he fell precipitously due to the same rebelliousness.

Zhang Jianwei, a well-known reporter who has been in contact with Yu Zuomin many times, once commented, "He is the best farmer I have ever met who is good at using government policies to achieve his own goals. His entire history of making a fortune is actually a series of stories of cleverly dealing with the government. "Daqiuzhuang started by running a steel rolling mill. In steel, an industry monopolized by state-owned capital, the source of steel and the sale of steel pipes are all related to large state-owned enterprises. A visitor once described, " The more than 20 rolling mills and steel pipe factories in Daqiuzhuang are not large in scale, and the equipment is also very old. The most enviable thing is the large amount of scrap steel piled up in the yard. Comparable skills and strong relationships are absolutely impossible to get." Yu Zuomin is the head of Daqiuzhuang, and he has always considered himself a "politician". When it came to the business situation, he would wave his hand impatiently and say, "Go ask the factory, I don't care about these things." Yu Zuomin thought that he was in charge of the politics of Daqiuzhuang. He was like a bright and ostentatious big umbrella, Strictly covering Daqiuzhuang.Every day, he sits in the courtyard of his own villa with two big dogs at the door, waiting for groups of people to come to "learn scriptures" with great respect.

Yu Zuomin is known as a "peasant language master". His most famous jingle is, "Look down at the money and look up at the money. Only when you look at the money can you look forward." , irrigate farmers' fields", "Where wealth comes, there must be talent, and talent must come", "Technology is a true Buddha, whoever worships will benefit", "The poorer the left, the poorer the left, the poorer the more left, the more left the more Poor" and so on, are also widely circulated.After Deng Xiaoping's southern tour, he asked every household in Daqiu Village to hang a six-character red banner: "Hello, Comrade Xiaoping." He also told a long article for the newspaper: "We understand, we are relieved, we have "Leaving the Heart and Backbone", the local character of its writing and the freshness and simplicity of its words are really touching.

Yu Zuomin often regards himself as a representative of Chinese farmers, and every time he talks to officials and reporters, his opening remarks are: "I am a farmer". This is the starting point of his words and the identity he is most proud of.When going out for a meeting, even if he is sitting on the sofa, Yu Zuomin sits cross-legged, does not take off his leather shoes, smokes without flicking ash, and lets it fall on the high-end carpet. He regards this as a kind of "peasant quality".In this extremely dazzling way, he tried to prove that farmers who have just emerged from the arable land will still be the main force of modern commercial China.It is precisely because of this extreme and straightforward personality that he is loved by some people.

In 1991, he bought 16 Mercedes-Benz cars at one go. Whenever senior officials from other places or overseas media reporters came to visit, he would send Mercedes-Benz cars out of the village to greet them. I was overwhelmed by the style of Chinese farmers.He himself rode a Mercedes-Benz 600 sedan, which was very rare in China at that time. According to media reports, this became "a symbol of daring to contend with the official position." Just because there were too many such specious "symbols", in the end, Yu Zuomin also regarded himself as a "symbol"-an infringement on him is an infringement on Chinese farmers.

In 1992, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized some foreign envoys to visit Daqiuzhuang. He announced on a whim that Daqiuzhuang would send strong young men to study abroad. Zhuang's 100 smartest boys get married and give birth to the best offspring.These words were believed to be true by reporters and published in newspapers, which made those who have "national pride" talk about it for a while.These performances by Yu Zuomin remind people that this is the land where the Boxers were born. Yu Zuomin's arrogance became unstoppable later on. He would compete with state councilors whose salary was higher, and ministers whose belts were more expensive. He said to a retired cadre, "You led the poor to overthrow the rich. People, I lead the poor to become rich." He proudly asked a central department leader: "How do you think my office is better than the one in Zhongnanhai?" Even if the party branch meeting failed, he said flatly, "If you agree to join the party, don't raise your hand, if you don't agree, raise your hand." Under his round eyes, all the party members were silent, and he immediately announced: "Approved. Once, a Hong Kong reporter asked him, "Some people say you are the emperor of the land here..." Yu didn't wait for him to finish, and replied with a smile, "I went to the word 'tu' to be the emperor."

In May 1992, when Tianjin elected a party representative to attend the 14th National Congress, Yu Zuomin unexpectedly lost his name to Sun Shan. He immediately began distributing an "Open Letter" to the press, which listed ten items: "...Article 5, we declare that From the point of view, from now on, we will not participate in the election of party representatives and people's congress representatives, otherwise it will affect other candidates; Article 6, when the main ministries and commissions of Tianjin come, we must first be enthusiastic and second, respect, but we must have an ID card to prevent bad people Take advantage of loopholes;...Article 8, our cadres and workers must stand up to the three chaos, and are not allowed to investigate randomly;...Article 10, we must be clear, and we must be confused. Only when we are clear and confused can we accomplish great things." Solitude, resentment, resentment , The air of opposition overflows on the paper.It is conceivable that his relationship with the local government is hostile.

Daqiuzhuang is located in Jinghai County, a suburb of Tianjin. After Yu Zuomin's accident, many people still rushed to visit.Many years later, walking in this declining village, you can still smell the lingering breath of Yu Zuomin everywhere.This person's face was thin, with yellowish muscles, and his face was full of ravines. A pair of unusually thick eyebrows hung high on a pair of shrewd thin eyes. The eyeballs were large and black, and the whites of the eyes were hardly visible.Standing in the courtyard where he used to live, you seem to feel that he is still sitting cross-legged in it, with a bowl of steaming stick porridge next to him, and two big dogs squatting at the door.