Why did the ancient officials not stay in the local area after retirement, but asked the emperor to resign and return home
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Author: Feiyang
Editor: Lilith
In many film and television dramas, it is often seen that a certain official writes to the emperor to request the old man to return to his hometown, and after the emperor's permission, he drags his family and his mouth to his hometown, or retires and is not used by the emperor, and often asks the emperor to resign and return home. For example, when Wang Yi wanted 600,000 troops to destroy Chu, Qin Shi Huang felt that he was old and his courage became smaller, and Wang Chong knew that the Later Qin King did not treat him very much, so he told the old man to return home on the grounds that he wanted to take care of the elderly. Why did these noble ministers in ancient times return to their homelands after resigning after retirement or other reasons? Is it that life in big cities is not as good as in the countryside, or has it been struggling in the city for many years without a house of their own?
The retirement of ancient officials is called "Zhishi", also called "Zhizhi", "Zhizheng", and the ancient retirement system on the mainland has appeared in the Zhou Dynasty. Qu Li said, "The doctor is seventy and gives things." It means that retirement at the age of seventy formed a system in the Han Dynasty, and the subsequent Tang, Song, Yuan and other dynasties basically followed the provisions of retirement at the age of seventy, and the Ming and Qing dynasties advanced the retirement age to 60 years old, becoming the prototype of today's retirement system. Although there is a retirement system, but not to reach the retirement age can immediately retire, but also depends on the emperor's meaning, as the saying goes, "the king wants his subjects to die, and the ministers cannot not die." "The emperor does not let you retire, you have to work until you die, Guo Shoujing of the Yuan Dynasty, who has reached the age of antiquity, but his resignation has not been approved many times, and he finally died in office at the age of eighty-six.
Figure 1 Wang Tao in the "Five Elders of Suiyang", as well as the text of the Ministry of Rites and Ceremonies to Wang Lianba, depicting the happy life of the "old cadres" of the Song Dynasty
The ancients have a very heavy concept of "leaves fall back to their roots", the ancients believed that people in the yang world will bully people, and ghosts in the netherworld will also bully each other, if a person dies alone outside, the soul will definitely be bullied by other ghosts, but once back to the hometown is not afraid, which is why the ancient corpse transportation has endured, if the body cannot be found, it will set up an altar to summon spirits. Ancient Confucian culture, Confucianism emphasizes the equal importance of self-cultivation and family governance, attaches great importance to the concept of family, after a person is born, he will enter the family tree, and after death, he will be buried in the ancestral grave of the family, once he dies outside, the spiritual seat cannot enter the family ancestral hall. The so-called "tree is tall, and the leaves fall back to the roots." "No matter how tall a tree grows, when its leaves wither, it will eventually return to the place where it was born --- the soil.
Ancient officials went out to the world when they were young, and when they were old, they should also return to their birthplace, as strong as Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, who also said, "Wealth does not return to my hometown, like clothes and clothes walking at night." "Mo said that the ancients are like this, and modern people also hope to be young to make money abroad, and return to their hometown to enjoy their old age when they are old, which is a hometown complex. Then there is filial piety, in Confucian culture, filial piety is the core, the filial piety of the ancients is famous, such as Zeng Shen's finger pain, Dong Yong sold his body to bury his father story is widely spread It is not difficult to understand, if there are still elderly parents and relatives in their hometown, they will return to their hometown anyway.
Figure 2 Xiang Yu (232 BC-202 BC), name, character feather
The saying that officialdom is like a battlefield is true at all times, there will be struggles when there is power, and there are only a handful of officials who can protect their lives in officialdom! Even if you can avoid it for a while, you can't avoid it for a lifetime. Above the imperial court, officials tend to be divided into two factions, especially in the battle for the throne, when it is necessary to stand in line, standing in the wrong team will lose the official position, and the heavy will take the life of the whole family.
In addition, there are many people who will inevitably offend for many years as officials, and they have no power after retirement, maybe they will be cut off one day without knowing, especially some of the interest disputes involved during the period of being officials, in case they are exposed one day, "the city gate caught fire and the pond fish" is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, the emperor Laozi is not happy, and he will kill you when he retires, and the companion is like a tiger, stay away from the emperor, maybe the emperor thinks that you are no longer involved in political affairs, the emperor will more or less remember your previous merits, and will no longer pursue it.
Figure 3 Ming Dynasty officials
Why did the emperor divide some princes or kings with different surnames into different places, and strictly ordered that they could not return to the capital without an edict, that is, to prevent these princes and princes from colluding with the court ministers to threaten the imperial power, the emperor's art is the most unfathomable, one moment is still working for the country, the next second it may be on the guillotine.
Most of the emperors are suspicious by nature, and the Son of Heaven is an official at his feet, naturally he is worried, to exaggerate, he does not dare to speak loudly, especially when he encounters a "perverted" master like Zhu Yuanzhang, he set up a brocade guard, and always monitors the surrounding ministers, many officials are eager to stay away from the capital, so they do not return to their hometown after retirement to stay here to be monitored? If you say the wrong thing, it will reach the emperor's ears if you are not careful, and with the emperor's suspicion, you will think that you are still greedy for power, and it will be difficult to get out at that time. Therefore, in order to avoid suspicion, returning to the old man is the most decent way to leave the place of right and wrong in the capital, firstly, the emperor is satisfied, and secondly, he can also get some rewards, so why not.
Figure 4 "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" depicts the scene of the official Han Xizai's family setting up a night banquet and singing and music
Although ancient officials have a retirement system, but the protection after retirement is not very in place, especially before the Tang Dynasty, during the reign, the place where they lived was the mansion provided by the imperial court, equivalent to today's government dormitory, but they can live during their tenure, and after retirement, the imperial court is to take back to the next official to live. Some officials with great official positions and merits can obtain mansions rewarded by the emperor. Han Dynasty officials can only receive one-third of the Qilu after retirement when they reach more than 2,000 stones, which is lower than it, and there is no guaranteed treatment, and if they do not get enough "oil and water" during their tenure, they can only return to their hometown to retire. Although Tang Dynasty officials did not have a fortune, they got some fields after retirement, which were hereditary and a good welfare, and some officials used their income during their official years to buy land in their hometowns, and returned to their hometowns to retire after retirement.
Most of the ancient officials relied on the imperial examination to enter the career path, read poetry books, and in ancient times there was a saying of "hanging the car to the shi", many officials hoped to enjoy their old age, study knowledge, and hope to exert their residual enthusiasm, return to their hometown to become a wise man, and repay the cultivation of their hometown.
Reference: "Liturgy. Qu Li