Tran Trinh Trach - The super rich father of Prince Bac Lieu: From poverty to rise

Prince Bo Lieu was born into a wealthy family. But in order to have that huge fortune, his father had to go through days of hard labor and hard work in business to get it...

Bitter childhood

Mr. Tran Trinh Trach (1872 - 1942), father of Prince Bac Lieu Tran Trinh Huy was originally from Minh Huong. His ancestors followed General Tran Thuong Xuyen to Pho Island (Bien Hoa) to stay and settle down. After that, his father ran to Cai Day hamlet (Chau Hung commune, Vinh Loi district, Bac Lieu province) to find emergency land and gave birth here.

The emergency work of Mr. Ze's family did not go well. I was young, I didn't have enough labor to work, so the amount of land was not very large. At the same time, the plague appeared, causing his parents to take the emergency fields pledged to pay for his medical treatment. Then empty-handed turned empty-handed.

Mr. Zech was young, about 10 years old, working for a French family of landowners. Every day, the buffalo herder mowed the grass as a servant only to be paid with leftover rice cups.

Life like that gradually passed for 2 years. In 1881, the French colonial government made a decision that the children of Western Vietnamese must read and speak French. A French language school was opened, but the landowner's son was not interested in learning.

The landowner, despite having French citizenship, still did not want his children to learn French, so every day, "Uncle Hai" was taught the word sage by the monks. Therefore, the best way is to find someone who learns that.

Mr. Ze was targeted. The landowner called him up, handed him some brand new clothes, told him to put them on and go to school. The work of herding buffalo assigned to others.

Holding the clothes in his hands, Mr. Ze cried and begged for it. The landlord threatened you not to go to school, I fired you. With tears in his eyes, Mr. Ze was reluctant to go to school, but who knows, this was the beginning for him to build a career later.

Hired to go to school, Mr. Ze sat in school for many years. Every day the servant rowed a chair to take him to school. As a result, he acquired quite a lot of knowledge, read and spoke French fluently. He graduated from primaire (primary school) and later, he became a civil servant of the administrative court of Bac Lieu province.

It seems that they all have a number of lives. Few would have believed that one day, the buffalo boy Chen Zhengze would become a land clerk at the provincial court and the in-law of a householder.

He married Phan Thi Salt, the fourth daughter of Count Phan Ho Know, who had the most fields in the region and was known as the king of Cochinchina rice.

During his time as a land clerk, knowledgeable in law, and also with capital available from his wife, he in turn collected many lands from unfortunate landowners, including his brothers and sisters-in-law who were bankrupt due to gambling addiction.

He resigned from the provincial administration and returned as a landowner. He continued to buy more land and encroach on salt fields. According to the document, the whole province of Bac Lieu has 13 salt departments, in Mr. Zech's hands there are 11 departments.

His wealth skyrocketed, he won the contract to manage the pawnshop and naturally became a pawnbroker's monopoly in Bac Liao. He launched the initiative to borrow money from the company in Saigon to lend back to the people in Bac Lieu, making Mr. Zech's wealth become known throughout Bac Lieu province. He borrowed money from the state in Saigon at low interest rates, brought it back to Bac Lieu to lend back to the tenants "three fractions of interest" for the difference. Thanks to his experience and acquaintance from his years as a signatory for West, Mr. Zech won the contract to manage Binh Tay Liquor Company, monopolizing alcohol distribution in Bac Lieu.

He invested in the banking sector and became a co-founder of the Bank of Vietnam (in 1927) - the first bank founded and operated by Vietnamese people, of which he was the Chief Chairman. At the same time, he joined the Cochinchina Privy Council and was nicknamed Mr. Zech by the people.

Once he had the money, Tran Trinh Trach built the largest and most luxurious villa in Bac Lieu town designed by a French engineer. All construction materials were shipped from France. The interior decoration equipment is ordered from the US, Italy, and China... In 2003, Bac Lieu Tourism Company invested in renovating the house and put it into cultural and tourism business, making the hotel "Cong Tu Bac Lieu". The room of Prince Bac Lieu in the previous day (room 101) wanted to rent must be booked 7-10 days in advance, because this room is crowded with overseas Vietnamese who want to stay.

The end of wealth has not lasted 3 lifetimes

Throughout his life, he used many tricks to get rich in the land of Bac Liao, so in his old age, Mr. Zech tried to do charity to "accumulate" virtue for his grandchildren.

On special occasions, he tore up all the debts of the planters, distributing rice and money to the poor. Mr. Trach also built the University of Indochina Residence in Hanoi and lobbied for donations to help the French relief fund.

During the high life ceremony in 1943, Mr. Trach asked his son, Prince Bac Lieu, to personally drive a Chevrolet to take him to Saigon, Da Lat and Vung Tau for an "old lie".

In the afternoon after swimming in the beach, Mr. Ze returned to the hotel and felt chills in his body, then fever all night. Ba Huy drove him back to Saigon, but was unable to catch up, dying on the way to the hospital, aged 71.

Of course, with such a huge amount of wealth, his funeral was also a big expensive event, lasting 7 days in Bac Lieu and Cochinchina. Tens of thousands of people followed the hearse from the Big House to Cai Dat commune to bury him. Thus, until he lay down, Mr. Ze was still one of the richest people in Cochinchina at that time.

Mr. Ze had 7 children, 4 daughters, and 3 boys. Of Mr. Trach's 3 sons, Tran Trinh Huy (Ba Huy) is the most educated and brave, chosen by the council as his successor. A choice that made Mr. Ze very proud at that time, but he could not have expected that this son had caused the business he had built so hard to quickly collapse.

Bà Nguyễn Phương Hằng hot trở lại, chồng cũ bị réo tên Bảo Nam21:41:39 13/11/2024Nhiều người đã biết, trước khi kết hôn với ông chủ Đại Nam, bà Nguyễn Phương Hằng từng trải qua 2 đời chồng. Tuy nhiên, vẫn còn những câu chuyện bên lề mà ít ai nắm được.