The Weapon of the Nation: a Century-Old Legend of China's Business War (Part 1 and 2)

[Big History + Westernization Movement + Coastal Defense and Fortress Defense + Sino-French War + Steamship Investment Promotion Bureau] The commercial sea in the late Qing Dynasty was in turmoil, and a generation of giant businessmen turned the tide! See how industrial pioneers built the Great Economic Wall in desperate situations! At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Western powers forced the Qing government to open treaty ports, and Western ships monopolized China's shipping. Chinese business gangs gathered in Shanghai and were good at internal fighting, but no one dared to compete with foreigners. Tang Tingshu, a businessman from Guangdong, was angry at the humiliation of his compatriots and urged Li Hongzhang to establish a national shipping company, the Steamship Investment Company. But conservative Zhu Qiang is in charge, and China Merchants Group is on the verge of collapse. Tang Tingshu received the secret help of his close friend Xu Run and borrowed the help of Sheng Xuanhuai, Li Hongzhang's confidant, and finally took charge of the Investment Promotion Bureau. With funds, talents, and foreign companies encircling and suppressing him, Tang Tingshu faced three mountains. Xu Runguang raised Chinese capital to overcome the predicament, but Zheng Guanying, a shipping wizard, was intercepted by Taikoo Matheson. The three major British and American foreign companies launched a fierce price war and even conspired to sink the China Merchants Fortune Star. More than a dozen sailors were martyred. The mother of the victim knelt down and begged to fight to the end, while Tang Tingshu wept and vowed to fight. In court, Xu Runzhi exposed the lies of foreign businessmen. Although he did not severely punish the murderer, he aroused the bloody spirit of the nation. In a desperate situation, Tang Tingshu broke the situation with three arrows: he founded "Renjihe Insurance" to end the hegemony of foreign insurance companies; he teamed up with Zheng Guanying to implement a cunning plan to acquire the American Qichang Bank against the trend, achieving the first case of Chinese businessmen annexing foreign capital in modern times; he used business war to promote awakening, and the Shanghai business gang worked together. Just when Tang Tingshu was about to do something big, Xu Run was exposed for misappropriating huge amounts of public funds, and Tang Tingshu resigned. The conservative minister Weng Tonghe also obstructed the reform in every possible way. However, the fire of industrial salvation has been ignited - from the shipping industry to the textile industry, telegraph industry, and financial industry, the wave of competition is sweeping the earth. Tang Tingshu, Zheng Guanying, Sheng Xuanhuai and many other pioneers built the Great Economic Wall with their own flesh and blood, tearing off a ray of dawn in the gloomy late Qing Dynasty.