Chapter 27 The second section is hardworking, simple and simple

Diligence, as a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, should also be another important connotation in the spirit of businessmen.Hard work has been praised by thinkers since ancient times.Mozi said: "If you are strong, you will be rich, if you are not strong, you will be poor" (strength means strong labor), "Those who rely on their strength will live, and those who do not rely on their strength will not live."Han Fei said: "The one who is extravagant and lazy is poor, and the one who is thrifty is rich." Diligence and frugality are more clearly stated as the way to get rich.Sima Qian has a very good summary in "Historical Records: Huo Zhi Biography": "Without wealth and strength, little wits, and only time to fight for time", this is the trilogy of businessmen's fortune, especially under the condition of meager capital To do business can only rely on hard work, which is the entrepreneurial spirit that a successful businessman must maintain.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many businessmen with such spirit.

Doing business requires labor in all aspects of sales, storage, and processing, especially hard work in transportation.Due to the fact that "living in Jiajia is small" and the profits of merchants are generous, commercial labor is mainly spent on long-distance trafficking in trade and relocation.There are many examples of hard work among Huizhou merchants who started from long-distance trafficking.For example, some merchants "diligently accumulate... Lingnan and Saibei, who are well versed in the hardships of cold and heat; Thinking of labor" (Ming Hui Shang Wang Wenyi [ting Ting]), "It is not bitter to travel hundreds of miles a day."Some people "would like to wear cows and wear clothes, whether they have a place to live or not... Food and clothing are worse than people, but they have to work hard to make a career in the wind and rain" (Wang Keyue, a Huizhou merchant in the Qing Dynasty).They all run the business by themselves, do not stay at home, and leave the work to the assistants and hired workers.Even if you don't go out, you will be troubled and anxious about planning, dispatching, operation, and management.

Jinbang merchants, also known as Huizhou merchants, showed extraordinary hard work.While Huizhou merchants were mainly operating along the river, along the river (canal), and in southeast cities and towns, Shanxi merchants found a different way and quietly opened up trade in the northwest, Mongolia, and even Tsarist Russia.They took the west entrance, crossed the grasslands, crossed the desert, and embarked on a trade route thousands of miles long.Summer is scorching hot, with scorching sun above the head, burning sand on the feet, and no water source for several days; cold wind howling in winter, sometimes freezing and dying on the way;That's it, through complicated and difficult journeys and hard work, Shanxi merchants in China have opened up a "tea road" that does not let the "Silk Road" be more beautiful than before; crown.

Simply relying on the exploitation of other people's labor and enjoying the benefits of the hands-free shopkeeper will not make a fortune, even if you are rich, you will not be stable.At that time, Bai Gui "shared the same pains and joys as the servants". He worked tirelessly, led himself, and participated in some commercial labor; "Cheng Jia" also inherited Bai Gui's spirit.If you want to be rich for a long time, and get richer for a long time, you can't make it without being honest.If you don't rely on hard work and hard work, the wealth that erupts from crooked ways is like a bubble that bursts in an instant and cannot last.

Connected with hard work, frugality is also an important part of a businessman's spirit.Diligence increases income, frugality saves expenditure, and diligence and frugality can lead to wealth gain; otherwise, using it unscrupulously is like leaking a leak, which will lead to loss of financial resources. It can be seen that thrift is very important, and both diligence and thrift cannot be neglected. In traditional Chinese culture, diligence and thrift are the oldest admonitions: "Be diligent in the state, and be thrifty at home". "If you don't work hard, you won't get rich," has become a businessman's proverb.Especially Shanxi merchants, "the vulgarity favors diligence and thrift";Diligence and thrift work together, especially in business.

As early as the pre-Qin period, apart from the fact that luxury was a policy under specific conditions, which used the expansion of consumption to promote production, ease stagnation, and arrange employment (see "Guanzi·Luxury Chapter"), most scholars affirmed "thrifty" and denied "thrifty". extravagant".Confucius said: "Rites are better than extravagance, and frugality is better." Mozi said: "Frugality leads to prosperity, and prostitution leads to perish." Guanzi said: "It is urgent for the country to judge the amount, save clothes, save money, and prohibit extravagance. Also." Advocating frugality is the consensus of ancient thinkers, especially Confucianism's advocating frugality has a greater influence on later generations.

Businessmen often have two mentalities after they get rich: one is extravagant and extravagant, the other is frugal and self-reserved. Successful businessmen should belong to the latter type.Sima Qian praised Bai Gui in "Biography of Huo Zhi Biography" for "being able to reduce food and drink, endure appetite, and save clothes"; ".Accordingly, frugality should be regarded as one of the important contents of the businessman's spirit.The thrifty virtues of the great merchants in ancient times that Tai Shigong admired were also evident in the well-managed merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially Shanxi merchants, who can be called the best example of frugality.

In Shanxi, "the people have no other hobbies, they are simple and simple, the middle-class families are still fighting for their salaries, and the palace walls and clothing of those who accumulate thousands of dollars are poor." (Zhang Han's "Song Window Dream Language" Chinese language) The local chronicles of the Qing Dynasty also said that Shanxi "The people are simple in nature, they like to be frugal", "the local customs are simple", "the customs are simple", "the non-trade is for business, that is, they specialize in farming, and they never ask for any undivided wealth."Shanxi people's advocating frugality is not only influenced by the thought of advocating frugality in traditional culture, but also has its historical tradition: "The frugality of Jin customs has been natural since ancient times." , Jue vulgar, diligent and thrifty, so the use is only enough", this is the reason for geography.The thrifty fashion caused by various reasons is extremely strong, and it is almost the "nature" of Shanxi businessmen.

Since Shanxi merchants generally pay attention to frugality, their capital accumulation is relatively fast.As the "Jin Lu" says, Shanxi merchants "have a family of hundreds of gold, no cloth hat in summer, a family of thousands of gold, no long clothes in winter; a family of ten thousand gold, no food and taste...so their residence is strange and able to forgive." , It means being able to gather wealth and accumulate capital.Ming Dynasty Xie Zhaozhe once said: "Where rich families rule the roost, Jiangnan will push Xin'an (Hui merchants), and Jiangbei will push Shanyou (Shan merchants). Shanyou or salt or silk, or reselling, or cellar millet, other Wealthier than Xin'an." The reason is that "Xin'an is extravagant but Shanyou is frugal" ("Wuzazu").Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty said: "The Jin style is more frugal, and accumulation is easier to be spared." Historical facts show that frugality is closely related to whether businessmen can maintain and expand their capital accumulation and whether business can further develop.

Thrift can make things happen, extravagance can ruin business.It is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal.From the comparison and transformation of thrift and extravagance, it can be confirmed that Confucius said that it is better to be frugal than extravagant.