Introduction:
On September 13, 2025, in WeChat Moments, I saw a picture of Mr. Chen Xiaoming, a master of Sichuan beautiful image media, recording "Sichuan and Shaanxi Family One Family", and the content was "Travel to Langzhong of Sichuan and Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce". Coordinate "Nanchong City Tiangongyuan". These entrepreneurs from the Sichuan-Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce gathered in Langzhong to conduct business inspections and cultural exchanges. This seemingly ordinary circle of friends news.
But it is like a bond of time and space, instantly pulling our eyes back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties more than 300 years ago. At that time, it was a group of Shaanxi merchants who were like them who went south to Sichuan along the ancient Shu Road and wrote a passage from the merchant to the general on the land of Langzhong, Baoning Mansion, North Sichuan Town, to welcome the generals at the current Weide Archway.
The legend of achievements in the world--this is the first stop after the Shaanxi Shang Mengshun, Meng Yuanheng, and his descendants Meng Yingrui were promoted from soldiers to generals. After success and fame, they guarded Chuanbei Town, and connected with Qin Province to Jingxiang, and assisted the five generals to station in Langzhong for seven years.
History goes back to 350 years ago, that is, in the autumn of 1675 AD, a group of old merchants in Shaanxi and Sichuan merchants in Langzhong, Baoning Mansion. In the autumn of the city of Langzhong, they also made an appointment to visit Langzhong Panlong Mountain, Tiangongyuan, Jinding Temple, Changqing Temple and Langzhong to go to the city.
Returning to Jingsanyuan, Shaanxi, a large number of Shaanxi businessmen took root in Langzhong in 1679, and they continued to develop and settle down in Langzhong. To this day, people who were doing business in Shaanxi can still be seen everywhere in Langzhong.
The rare "Mengmen Three Generals and Two Imperial Shangs" in historical history and the construction of Shaanxi and Shanxi business descendants in Langzhong and other geographical architectural coordinates.
Keeping pace with the times, it has made some famous historical celebrities and generals known to me. They are Meng Shun, a merchant from Sichuan and Shaanxi Province/Meng Yuanheng/Father and Son First-rank Da Shang; Meng Shun named Meng Shanyu/Meng Yuanheng/Meng Yingrui Sanyuan General; third-rank general Jiang Yingbi; famous calligrapher and painter Li Hanping/General Li Wenmi and father and son; red merchant industrialist Zhang Jizhong, etc., who have influenced Langzhong's history, culture and commerce development for more than 300 years.
They all have one thing in common, from Shaanxi merchants to Langzhong, travel, investment, settlement, and raising future generations, building unparalleled achievements, and reputations throughout the world and Sichuan and Shaanxi, and building Shaanxi Guild Halls has become an eternal historical memory.
1. A thrill of hard work: Shaanxi merchants enter Sichuan and lay the foundation for Langzhong
1. Time background: In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Sichuan experienced wars, its population declined sharply, and its economy declined. The Qing government implemented the immigration policy of "Filling Sichuan with Huguang", which attracted a large number of people from other provinces to enter Sichuan to reclaim and do business. Shaanxi businessmen (Shaanxi businessmen) are one of the famous business gangs in Chinese history. They keenly seized this opportunity and went south to Sichuan to find new business opportunities.
2. The journey of the Meng family father and son: In the 14th year of the Kangxi reign (1675 AD), Shaanxi merchant Meng Shun (the founder of the family) and his son Meng Yuanheng embarked on the journey to enter Sichuan, just like many Shaanxi merchants at that time. One of their destinations is Langzhong, the important town in northern Sichuan, known as the "Langyuan Fairyland".
· Why is it Langzhong? Langzhong is located in the middle of the Jialing River. It is a key water and land linking Shaanxi and Gansu with the southwest. It has been a commercial distribution center since ancient times. For Shaanxi merchants who mainly operate salt, tea, cloth and medicinal materials, this is an ideal base for setting up font sizes and carrying out trade.
· Tourism Investment and Immigration Settlement: The Montessors' father and son, relying on the unique spirit of "heavy wealth and trustworthiness lecture notes" of Shaanxi merchants, invested, traveled, and started businesses in Langzhong. Mengshun is likely to have participated in the trade of bulk commodities such as salt (an important place of Sichuan salt). They have gained a foothold here.
In the 18th year of Kangxi (1679), Meng Shun and his wife Wang led the education of Meng Yuanheng, the eldest son Meng Yuanheng, who had just turned 20 years old, immigrated to Langzhong, Sichuan and finally settled in Beimenjing Lane, Langzhong, 20 meters northeast of Weide Archway, completing the transformation from "customer merchants" to "sitting merchants" and even "local gentry".
3. Raise descendants: Qianlong Zaiyuan, who has been operating in Langzhong for more than 40 years, has gone through the tofu industry, catering industry, and inn industry, and has successfully completed the logistics support of the West Expedition, laying a solid foundation for the growth of future generations. Meng Yingrui, the son of Meng Yuanheng, was born and raised on this wealthy and opportunity-filled land. Langzhong not only gave him generous living conditions, but also gave him a broad vision and a deep emotional connection with Sichuan and Shaanxi.
2. Shang Rong's transformation: Meng Yingrui's rare rise and unparalleled achievements
The Montessori family has truly reached its peak and achieved the leap from merchants to generals. The key figure is the third generation Meng Yingrui.
1. Opportunity comes: Beacons in the northwest. From the late Kangxi to the early Yongzheng period, the Junggar tribe in the northwest repeatedly rebelled, and the Qing court used troops many times. When a large army is expeditioning, logistics support is the key to determining the outcome. The court urgently needed talents with the ability, resources and familiarity with the situation in the northwest and southwest to raise food, grass and military supplies.
2. Give full play to the advantages: the true nature of the imperial merchants, Meng Yingrui, as a descendant of the Shaanxi merchants who grew up in Langzhong, perfectly inherited the family's business genes and network:
· Financial Strength: The family's deep financial resources are the basis for supporting huge logistics tasks.
· Organizational ability: The efficient organization, scheduling and logistics management capabilities of merchant Meng Shun/Meng Yuanheng and his son are just suitable for military supplies.
· Regional advantages: Meng Yingruita has the northern background of Shaanxi merchants and the local resources of Sichuan, and can effectively allocate materials from Sichuan and Shaanxi (such as Sichuan's grain, Shaanxi's horses, etc.).
Meng Shun/Meng Yuanheng and his son were appointed as "important responsibility" by the court, and were mainly responsible for the logistics support work of the Western Expedition Army. This work seems to be not fighting on the front line, but it is actually crucial and can be called "the nerves and bloodline of war." Meng Yingrui formed the first Manchu and Han suicide squad in the history of northern Sichuan in just six hours, and won the battle to determine the world.
3. Feng Jiang Yuman: Because he made great achievements in the logistics work of "The Battle of the Qing Dynasty's Stable War" in the 59th year of Kangxi's rebellion, Meng Yingrui was highly appreciated by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. He broke through the traditional class barriers and was awarded military posts by exception. He was promoted from a soldier to a general, and was waiting for the imperial edict in the Langzhong Defense Zone in northern Sichuan.
Meng Yingrui was actually appointed as a deputy general of northern Sichuan from a second-rank high-ranking military officer. The ancestor of Sichuan and Shaanxi merchants, Meng Shun, was named Meng Shanyu/his father Meng Yuanheng, was awarded the title of General of the Knights for logistics support in the Western Expedition and Meng Yingrui's military merits. He enjoyed the treatment of a governor. In just one year, he achieved an amazing transformation from a "merchant" to a "general", and became a well-known figure in Sichuan and Shaanxi.
This legend of "Three Generals and Two Imperial Shangs", the Meng family produced three generals and two great merchants of the imperial Shangs. It is a rare example of merchants closely combining with the destiny of the country, empowering their wisdom and strength to help pacify the world and gain extremely high political status.
III. Eternal memory: the establishment of the Shaanxi Guild Hall
After succeeding and fame, Meng Yingrui's descendant Meng Xian, while building the Yuanrong Temple, Meng Family Official Vegetable Garden, Meng Family Manor, and Shaanxi Business colleagues in Sichuan did not forget the root. In order to contact the friendship between fellow villagers, demonstrate the glory of Shaanxi businessmen, and provide assistance to Shaanxi businessmen who entered Sichuan, in the first year of Qianlong, they and Shaanxi businessmen and their descendants invested in building a large-scale Shaanxi Association in Langzhong, also known as the Xiqin Association. It marks that Shaanxi businessmen are a symbol of integrity and loyalty and a spiritual idol of Shanxi Shaanxi business gang.
· Architectural significance: The guild hall is not only a geographical indication, but also a spiritual symbol. It witnessed the glorious history of Shaanxi merchants in Langzhong and is a physical monument to the legend of the Mon family and the rise of culture of many Shaanxi merchants.
· Cultural bonds: 350 years later, when members of the modern Sichuan-Shaanxi Chamber of Commerce walked into Langzhong and saw the still preserved Shaanxi Guild Hall (or ruins), they felt this commercial spirit, inheritance of rural friendship and historical heaviness that spanned time and space. The journey to Langzhong in the circle of friends has been given a deeper cultural root-seeking significance.
