"Retreat to shi, return to the throne" is the situation faced by ancient Chinese officials, especially Beijing officials. In the TV series "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", Liu Yong played the Qianlong Emperor when he was old, asked the old man to return to his hometown, and after obtaining the "grace permission", he hired a small donkey and went straight to his hometown in Shandong.
Once the officials were allowed to pay their orders, most of them would immediately pack up and return to their hometowns. Why don't they stay in their place of office and not stay in the capital to continue their lives?
To shi shi to return to his hometown, the practice of the imperial court
Retirement is an important personnel system in ancient China, common titles are "Zhi Shi", "Zhi Shi", etc., in film and television dramas often see a certain minister apply to the emperor to "tell the old man to return to his hometown", "sick to leave his post", which is the meaning.
The retirement system of ancient officials began in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, was formed during the Han Dynasty, developed during the Tang Dynasty, and matured and improved in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The Tang Dynasty essayist Han Yu said in the "Fuzhi Fu Order" that "retire in residence and write "Fuzhi Fu"" is the earliest word we have seen of "retirement".
In ancient times, most officials, especially court ministers, except for a small number of people who were implicated in political struggles or were ordered to retire due to weakness and incompetence, most of them took the initiative to ask for "returning to their hometowns." When an official makes an application, the emperor will generally approve it.
The retirement age and conditions stipulated by successive dynasties have varied:
The Han Dynasty stipulated that senior officials who were at least 70 years old and had more than 2,000 stones of Feng Lu (now high-ranking officials at the provincial and ministerial levels) could receive one-third of the original Feng Lu as a pension after retirement. Officials under 2,000 stones, after retirement, live on their own
In the Tang Dynasty, the retirement age was still 70 years old, more than three pins (equivalent to the provincial and ministerial level), the treatment after retirement remained unchanged, and occasionally you could go to the court to listen to the government, which belonged to retirement without retreat; above five pins (equivalent to the department and bureau level), half a salary was given after retirement; six pins (equivalent to the county and department level) below, there was no pension, but generally would give some land, at least food and clothing.
The Song Dynasty is known as the golden age of scholars, as long as they are Song officials, they retire at the age of 70, and their treatment remains unchanged after retirement. Moreover, the political treatment is also super high, and the descendants can also make up for the official positions.
The Ming and Qing dynasties were more harsh on officials, stipulating that "all those who are more than sixty civil and military officers are subject to the service", have no pension, but enjoy the right to be exempted from taxes and servitude.
To the officials, the local farewell ceremony will be held, just like the current "veterans discharged", beating gongs and drums, and sending them back to their hometowns. Although the dynasties and dynasties did not explicitly stipulate in the laws that officials should be forced to return to their hometowns, it was customary to return to their hometowns, and most officials had been observing this "unwritten law" and "customary law" as a mandatory code of conduct.
Returning home, nostalgic for the hometown
As the old saying goes: "The birds remember the old forest, and the pond fish think of the old land.". Ancient China was a local society, people's local complexes are far more important than today, and they attach great importance to the place of birth and place of origin, and Fei Xiaotong has a book "Native China" that specifically talks about this issue.
For the ancients, hometown is a particularly close and strong feeling. Before becoming an official, people in their hometown were "born and raised in Si", and their parents, relatives, relatives and friends, and the past were all here.
Officials in the capital or in other places will generally form township friendships with their native origins, or provincial or prefectural and county nationalities, establish guild halls, and recall the identity of the local people.
Ancient officials were all "rogue officials", during their term of office, they had to avoid their hometowns, most of them did not bring their families with them, and some of them only hired a few young children of the same ethnic group as close relatives as cronies, accompanied by each other, and took care of their studies. Unless your parents die and you are "worried", it is difficult for your hometown to take a step. Once you retire, you feel like an arrow.
"Rich and noble do not return to their hometown, such as brocade night walking" for most people as a guideline, falling leaves back to the roots is the most ideal destination for people.
Staying in a foreign country, life is inconvenient
As the saying goes, throwing a brick in beijing can hit the "red top". After retirement, if you still rely on the capital, it is purely to dig a pit for yourself:
Officials have been in the official field for a long time, entangled in all aspects, and there are many branches in all aspects, and only when they return to their hometowns can they get rid of all suspicions. The Spring and Autumn Ram Biography has a cloud: "Zhi Shi, still lu is located in the jun", officials retire, should completely hand over the power at hand to the monarch.
After retirement, you still stay under the eyes of the emperor, although occasionally the monarch can still meet and meet, and the emperor will think that you still want to participate in and interfere in the politics of the dynasty.
Even if you don't want to participate in it yourself, but your former official position and connections are still important resources, it is inevitable to take the initiative or be forced to get involved in the government, once it touches the party disputes and political disputes, one move will be careless and will lose everything, and the late festival will not be guaranteed.
Moreover, even if you don't look at other people's colors, staying in Beijing or abroad, the whole person is uncomfortable:
In the past, the position was high and powerful, everyone admired, each knotted, once retired without actual power, people outside, it is difficult to swing again, flaunting their might, at the beginning there may be people to give you a little thin noodles, after a long time will feel the world is cold, people are disliked, people are white-eyed, think you are in the way.
The most uncomfortable thing is financial constraints. Most officials mainly rely on that little bit of money, even if it is corrupt, in addition to the part left for themselves, a large part also has to honor their superiors and do some official work, which is a big expense. After retirement, without real power, this additional collection is naturally gone, but the official authority can not be unwanted, the spectrum can not be left, ushering in the social is inevitable, and the family is easy to lose.
Moreover, it is still good to settle in the place of office, if it is in the capital, the house price alone is enough for you to have a headache. As a "first-tier city", the housing price in Beijing is bound to be a "first-tier price". The income and expenses of most Beijing officials are not proportional, and renting a house is the choice of the vast majority of Beijing officials. Since you have retired, why should you continue to live a hard life in the capital, it is better to return to your hometown in the third and fourth-tier small cities, the price is not high, the house price is not expensive, live and work in peace, and enjoy it.
Generous treatment, nurturing for years
In ancient China, there was a saying that "the imperial power does not go down to the county", which does not mean that the emperor does not care about the places below the county, but that most of the villages below the county practice autonomy, and the main force of autonomy is the gentry class that is dominated by officials. The emperor and the imperial court indirectly controlled the grass-roots society through the main gentry class of zhishi officials.
Since the Han Dynasty, the central government has ceded a lot of power to the localities, and the official government at or above the county level only controls local finances, taxes, the army, and other major matters, and some of the more trivial affairs are handed over to local self-determination. The reason why the local magnates and clans of the dynasties have been so powerful is essentially the result of a delicate balance between the central and local governments in management.
Don't underestimate this gentry grassroots, to put it bluntly, it is the "earth emperor". Du Fu's poem "When you go in the middle of the day and wrap your head", and the words "patriarch" that we often hear, are the representatives of the squires, who are not official officials, but perform public security, taxation, justice and other duties on behalf of the country, and have rights and interests.
The squires once held power and had appeal and influence in the local area, and the "fu taizun" and "county taiye" generally respected the Zhishi officials, and the Zhishi officials had indirect domination over the grass-roots political power, and could exert political residual heat and constitute the "opposition party" in the imperial court.
Zhishi officials also generally used their former power and influence to win over prefectural and county officials, and used various means to buy good land and houses in the townships to earn benefits for the family and clan. For example, Xu Jie, who once served as the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, retired to his hometown of Songjiang, and his sons ran rampant in the township, purchasing a large amount of land, and the Xu family occupied an area of as much as 240,000.
Returning to the hometown has both economic and political interests, and these tangible and intangible benefits can only be enjoyed when returning to the hometown.
Therefore, retiring home, living comfortably, living moist, staying away from disputes, and being able to exert political residual heat in the local area can be described as a lot of success. No wonder, ancient officials retired and loved to run home.
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