Text | Edited by Zhang Qingfeng
"The young and the old man left home, the local accent has not changed, the sideburns have declined, the children do not know each other, and they smile and ask where the guests come from."
This is the Tang Dynasty poet He Zhizhang's emotion when he resigned in his later years, and he said goodbye to his hometown for a long time. But in fact, this is a true portrayal of many ancient officials.
In ancient times, once an official, especially in the capital, if you didn't have enough money to settle down in the capital, you would have to face the pain of being separated from your family.
And in ancient times, transportation was not developed, and officials did not say that they could go home when they went home, unless their parents died, then they needed to go home and keep filial piety for three years.
In modern times, the retirement age is generally not more than 60 years old, but in ancient times, officials generally did not retire until they were 70 years old.
After retirement, most of the officials also have some money and may be able to buy a small house in the capital, but few do so, and most of them choose to "go back to their hometown." ”
I still remember that after Liu Luoguo applied to the emperor for resignation, he hurriedly found a little donkey and rode back to his hometown.
In fact, if you can live in the capital all the time, whether it is the conditions or other places, it is better than your hometown, but why do you have to travel thousands of miles to return to your hometown when the official retires?
Actually, there's a lot to learn about it.
In the ancient retirement system, fallen leaves need to be returned to their roots
Literally, the words "falling leaves return to their roots" refer to the leaves falling and falling to the roots of the trees, but in fact, the deeper meaning is that people want to return to their hometowns.
This is also the consistent thinking of ancient people, and it has been extended to the present, and many modern officials will choose to return to their hometown to enjoy their old age after retirement.
In ancient times, "retirement" was not called "retirement", but "to Shi", which means to hand over, so Shi is also the meaning of official position.
Taken together, it means resigning from an official position.
There is no clear record of when the retirement system originated, but from the ancient books, it has been recorded in the Zhou Dynasty: "The doctor is seventy and becomes a scholar".
Therefore, it can also be judged that after the rise of dynasties, the rudiments of the retirement system also appeared.
In ancient times, most of the officials rarely resigned on their own initiative to go home, most of them went home because of illness, and some of them made significant contributions to the country and were deeply liked by the emperor, and even returned to their hometowns until they died.
During the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods, there was no official retirement age, after all, the patriarchal system was practiced at that time, and most of the people in the family inherited it, so it was up to you to decide when to retire.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, due to the independence of each country, each country had its own regulations, and in the Qi State at that time, it was stipulated that people, people over the age of 30 must guard the border towns, and only those over the age of 70 could retire.
After the Qin and Han dynasties, the retirement system also changed, and soldiers could retire at the age of 50, while officials needed to be around 60 years old.
And after retirement, the government also gives a certain amount of protection, and the government allocates pensions and other benefits to ensure their normal life after retirement.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, it can be said that the retirement system was perfected, but in the Tang Dynasty, the retirement system was mainly aimed at officials, but the Song Dynasty was different.
In the Song Dynasty, not only officials could retire, but also scholars, merchants, etc., could retire, and after the officials retired, they could choose to move to other places and enjoy government pensions.
But after coming to the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a saying that the pension retirement time was also judged according to the merits and contributions of officials.
The Ming Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty were somewhat similar, but in the Qing Dynasty there was also an encouragement for political officials to engage in some business activities in order to ensure a living after retirement.
In the traditional concept of the ancients, they must return to their homeland after death, and the same is true after resigning.
If a person does not choose to return to his hometown, then a person who lives in a foreign country and dies will be bullied by other ghosts when he reaches the underworld, of course, this is only what ancient people thought.
But once a person chooses to return to his hometown, then this does not happen.
And in the whole environment of ancient times, Confucian culture is more valued, if a person fails to return to the roots, then the spiritual position can not enter the ancestral hall of the family, and will always be adrift alone.
Compared to today, many young people will choose to settle in the place where they work when they work outside the home, which rarely happened in ancient times.
Either way, they will choose to return to their hometowns.
Of course, this is only one of the reasons, and some people also consider staying away from officialdom.
Protect yourself wisely and avoid the suspicion of the emperor
As the saying goes: "Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, and officialdom is like the battlefield", whether in ancient or modern times, this sentence has a very profound meaning.
The existence of power means that there will be wars, open and secret battles, and we often see the distribution of officials in the court in TV dramas.
The most obvious is that when competing for official positions, "standing in line" has become a very important thing, which is a matter of life and death.
Since ancient times, it has been inevitable that the high-ranking and powerful will be suspicious, afraid that the officials they trust the most will betray them, and this is indeed what happened.
When the power of some officials becomes greater and greater, the emperor's suspicion will also increase, and some newcomers may not care, but for some old officials who can resign and return to their hometowns immediately, they are always looking forward to returning to their hometowns.
Not only the emperor, after all, is in the officialdom, it is inevitable to offend some people, if you have no rights after retirement, and live in the capital, then I don't know when it will lead to death.
Historically, some emperors wanted some retired officials to stay away from them, so that there were no hidden risks.
For officials, living in the capital may be monitored all the time, but it is better to return to their hometown to reunite with their families, live happily as a family, and get their pensions, so why not?
And choosing to return to the old man is also good for a country, that is, to rebuild officialdom.
Rebuilding the political ecology
If a person has been an official in one place for a long time, over time, there will be collusion between the upper and lower levels, and even the imperial examination system cannot avoid corruption, which is not conducive to the development of the country.
And if this official chooses to stay away from the capital, this will be alleviated a lot, of course, this is not absolute, some officials in order to maintain their status, will also install their own people to approach others.
Generally speaking, when an old official leaves, a younger new official will be produced through the imperial examination to take over, which is conducive to rebuilding the ecology of officialdom to a certain extent.
Write at the end
This is not only what officials in ancient times hoped to do, but also what many officials hope to do now, because it is often easier said than done!
It is very difficult to achieve fame just by doing this, but many people are reluctant to return to their hometowns like this, so sometimes retirement is voluntary, but sometimes it is forced.
But in general, it is a blessing to be able to go home safely to retire, and many people may not have this opportunity!