Hu Xueyan (1823-1885), a big capitalist in the late Qing Dynasty.In the early years, a bank account was set up in Hangzhou to manage the bank affairs of the official treasury. In 1861, he transported fire, grain and rice from Shanghai to the Qing army in Hangzhou, but was repelled by the Taiping army.In the following year, he organized the Chang Jie Army for the Qing army in collusion with the French invaders. In 1866, he assisted Zuo Zongtang to establish the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, and also handled the procurement and transportation affairs for Zuo Zongtang, raised military salaries and ordered arms, and borrowed 1,000 domestic and foreign debts. More than 2.5 million taels. Relying on the power of the Hunan Army, he established Fukang Bank in various provinces, opened Qingyutang Pharmacy in Hangzhou, and managed the export silk industry. In 1884, he was squeezed out by foreign merchants and went bankrupt. Taiwanese writer Gao Yang wrote in "One Generation" Hu Xueyan, a wealthy businessman (formerly known as "Hu Xueyan"), describes the legendary experience of Hu Xueyan starting from scratch, buying short and selling short, and finally becoming a generation of wealthy businessmen. It continues the previous book, but it is an independent article. It writes that the Taiping Army occupied Hangzhou, Wang Youling committed suicide, and Hu Xueyan lost his backer , transferred to Zuo Zongtang's sect, and wrote that Hu Xueyan was promoted to officialdom, manipulated the market, and climbed to the pinnacle of his career, but he was facing perilous crises without realizing it; it opened a new page of Hu Xueyan's legend.

The novel is rich in content, with twists and turns, historical events and ups and downs, and human emotions and state of the world, with meticulous attention to detail; however, the description and evaluation of the struggle between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing government are beyond our control when written in the tone of Hu Xueyan. agree. Due to the connection of the stories, for the convenience of reading, when this book was republished, the original "Red Top Merchant", "Bleak Western Market" and "Lighting Tower" were combined into one book as the title.