Every day he drinks the “treasure” that Tu Hi only dares to use once every half a month

Hoa Than (1750 – 1799) also known as Hoa Khon, alias Tri Trai, alias Gia Nhac Duong, Thap Hot Vien, owner of Luc Da Dinh, was an important official under the reign of King Qianlong. He is known as a famous grand tourer in Chinese history.

Hoa Than is a Manchurian, the Niu Ho Loc tribe belongs to Chinh Hong Ky. When I was young, my family was poor. Because of his cleverness, good argumentation, and powerful appearance, he accidentally caught the eye of Emperor Qianlong, was praised, and gradually promoted, from guard to Vice Governor, to Thi Lang, then to Minister. Ho Ho, Van Hoa Palace of the Great Academician, was promoted to the first rank of the Middle School. After the reign of Qianlong, he assumed the position of Great Minister of Military Affairs, and was the most favored minister of Qianlong.

In 2001, the Wall Street Journal published a list, on which it was written “A thousand years ago, there were 50 richest people in the world. Among them were 6 Chinese people, and one of them was Visited during the reign of King Qianlong of the Qing – Hoa Than dynasty“.

The Chinese call Hoa Than was “the richest man in the world in the 18th century”. According to “Hoa Than’s criminal documents” According to records, after Hoa Than’s assets were confiscated, the total value after conversion was estimated at about 1,100 million taels of silver. Many rumors said that it was equivalent to the amount of money that it took the Qing Dynasty treasury to spend 15 years to collect. get. Assets confiscated from Hoa Than’s house include pure gold, gold sand, and precious metals. In addition, there are 75 pawn shops, a number of drug stores, pawn shops, and many ore mines, pubs, and wine cellars. . He also has more than 80 horse-drawn carriages, specializes in transportation, and a lot of real estate in the capital specifically for rent. In addition, he also participates in many financial, transportation, real estate, and other businesses. services, mineral exploitation, etc. Hoa Than’s wealth is so much that there is a folk legend that “If Qianlong has Hoa Than, what Qianlong doesn’t have doesn’t mean Hoa Than doesn’t exist.”

Indeed, Hoa Than, thanks to Qianlong’s favor, caused chaos in the officialdom. Hoa Than holds great power, does not pay attention to other major matters, only focuses on plunder of wealth. All tributes offered to the emperor had to go through Hoa Than’s hands. First of all, Hoa Than chooses extremely rare and delicate things for himself, and brings the rest to the palace. Emperor Qianlong did not ask anything, no one else dared to report, so Hoa Than became more and more arrogant.

Hoa Than’s daily life is no different from that of Emperor Qianlong. When the Emperor had a meal, there was a eunuch serving him, while Hoa Than had a maid. He also did not eat at the same table with his wife and concubines. Hoa Than sat alone eating at a large table with many different dishes. This “grand tour” absolutely does not allow family members to waste, he requires everyone to eat all the food on the table. Even before the meal, Hoa Than’s concubines had to read a poem about how hard farmers work so they can appreciate the food more.

Hoa Than also made many outrageous requests, such as the maid offering food to her mouth. However, he did not say what he wanted to eat and forced the maid to guess for herself. If that person guesses wrong or accidentally drops food on the floor, they will be fired. When Hoa Than went to take a bath, he needed four people to serve him. One person stood burning incense, the second person held a basin for him to wash his hands, the third person held a towel to dry his hands and the last person held a towel to wipe his body. It can be said that Hoa Than’s life is more luxurious than the emperor’s.

Harmony and wasteful spending

There are historical records that Hoa Than knew how to enjoy himself extremely well, and his extravagance was even better than that of many other famous characters like Queen Mother Tu Hi. Empress Dowager Cixi (November 29, 1835 – November 15, 1908) was the most famous and powerful woman of the Qing Dynasty. This Queen Mother is famous for her luxurious and sophisticated lifestyle. Cixi not only had countless sumptuous gold and silver jewelry in her hands and wore lavish silk and velvet outfits, but her quality of life requirements were also very high. Cixi was almost obsessed with pearls, no matter how precious they were, she wanted to own them.

For most of her life, Empress Dowager Cixi was crazy about pearls. There is information that she also used pearl powder to maintain her beauty. Book “Research on Qing Palace’s medical case” It was recorded that using pearl powder was considered the beauty secret of this powerful Queen Mother.

She used a solution containing a teaspoon of pearl powder with some other herbs to wash her face; Sometimes pearl powder is mixed with warm water to drink to supplement calcium for strong bones. Because at that time, collecting pearls was very difficult and expensive Cixi has a passion for pearl powder and only dares to use it once every half a month.

However, Empress Dowager Cixi’s extravagance was nothing compared to Hoa Than. It turns out that Hoa Than is also someone who cannot live without pearls and loves to use pearl powder to stay healthy. Hoa Than uses pearl powder every day. Every day, at breakfast, Hoa Than will mix pearl powder with water and drink. He believes that pearl powder will help his mind stay clear and his body healthy to work better. The pearls that Hoa Than uses must always be of the best quality. The price of each pearl that Hoa Than owns is up to 8,000 taels of silver (equivalent to 6 million VND/pearl). And every day, Hoa Than will use a few premium pearls to grind into powder to drink.

Through this, we can see that Hoa Than’s level of wasteful spending is truly beyond the imagination of many people. Furthermore, the amount of assets he owns is truly enormous.