Recently, there have been private letters from readers asking about what kind of pensions the imperial court would give after the death of ancient officials. This is a bit complicated to say, the situation in the dynasties is different, and the imperial history can only be said to be rough, and it is limited to civilian officials.
Before the Sui Dynasty, the pension method lacked a legal system, and only had pension measures of varying degrees for the death of senior officials; after the Tang Dynasty, the degree of legalization of the pension system gradually increased, and at the beginning the pension only involved high- and middle-level officials, and then gradually included low-level officials.
To sum up, the pension methods of each generation mainly include the following contents: giving death officials promotions, promotions, promotions, awards, giving titles, giving funeral expenses and pensions, and other assistance.
The pension system for each generation is roughly as follows:
During the Two Han Dynasties, there were records of death pensions for senior officials, but there were no records of whether middle- and lower-ranking officials had pension methods. For example, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hu Guang, who was the official to the "Three Dukes", died at the age of 82, and the emperor sent the five officials Zhonglang to hold a book of strategy in his hand, announcing that he would give him the seal and ribbon of the Marquis of Anle Township, give him a coffin made by the special official office "Dongyuan", and give it to the "Marquis of Wengong".
Another high-ranking official, Yuan Feng, who had served as a servant and Sikong, after his death, "gave him a coffin specially painted with cinnabar ordered by the emperor, with twenty-six kinds of pearls and jade in his mouth, and gave him the seal ribbon of the che riding general, with the official title of 'Tejin' and the title of Marquis xuanwen."
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there were also records of officials giving death pensions, but basically they were only limited to high-ranking officials, and ordinary middle- and lower-level officials could not get the imperial court's pensions.
By the Tang Dynasty, there were more standardized provisions on the measures for compensating officials for death. The number of one-time pensions was first clarified. The edict of the twelfth year of Zhenyuan said: "From now on, if there are officials of the Wenwu Dynasty who have pawns, from now on, their monthly salaries should be given in full, and it is still more quasi-official to give the Monthly Money as a gift." ”
In ancient times, the death of officials with more than three pins was called "Xue", more than six pins were called "卒", and the people below seven pins and ordinary people were called dead. Therefore, when officials above six pins died in the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court would give a single month's salary and a pension system of supplementary january salary.
If the deceased is an official of three pins or above and a four-pin official of Shangshu Province, a special report is to be made, and the imperial court will hold a memorial service as usual. For those who are high and meritorious, they are generally also posthumously awarded official positions, knighthoods, or scattered ranks, and explicitly give titles to officials with more than three pins.
Finally, for the families of officials who have difficulties in transporting coffins back to their hometowns, the original unit is responsible for sending coffins back to their hometowns. If the original unit cannot send the coffin back to its hometown, it must beat the relevant responsible person with a hundred rods. Such a severe punishment will certainly guarantee the implementation of this measure.
In the Song Dynasty, there were provisions for deceased officials to be added to the ranks, promoted to higher ranks, and given titles, and there were provisions on giving gifts, paying funeral expenses, writing off the "material money" pre-borrowed by the deceased before death, and temporarily lending the official office to the family members of the deceased.
For example, Fan Qian, the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, was a good official who was honest and self-sustaining, and after his death, he "had no spare funds in the family", and before he died, he warned his son not to ask for a nickname for himself, nor to carve a tombstone. When Song Taizu heard this, he was very sad and ordered to give Zhongshu Ling, giving 500 silk horses and 100 stones of corn and wheat. At that time, the procedure for giving the title was first applied for by himself or his descendants, and since Fan Qian's son did not apply, he only gave the official of zhongshu ling, but did not give the title.
In the fifth year of Tiansheng, Emperor Renzong of Song issued an edict stipulating that high- and middle-ranking officials should be given titles after death, and if the family did not apply, the relevant departments should handle it on their behalf. That's fairer.
In addition to spiritual consolation such as adding officials, promoting ranks, and giving courtesy, the Song Dynasty also had some material gifts. The imperial court stipulated that the total value of manpower and material resources required by an official who had received a decree to order his subordinates to handle the funeral shall not exceed 1,000 consecutive years, and if the deceased has meritorious service, he shall not be subject to this limit.
Another example is the write-off of pre-borrowed "material money". The income of officials in the Song Dynasty includes the right money and material money, which is to put it bluntly a variety of subsidies, and when officials have difficulties in life, they can borrow material money in advance. In order to take care of the family difficulties of lower-ranking officials who died, the imperial court came up with such a pension policy.
In addition, after the death of an official, if the family has difficulties in housing, the imperial court can also provide vacant official housing to live in, and live in the deceased for three years before taking it back.
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that when an official died in service, the coffin was sent back to his hometown by a stagecoach. Zou Shiyan, who served as a rebbe attendant during the reign of Emperor Akihito, "died, and the poor could not be buried." A deputy minister of ceremonies was so poor after his death that he could not return to his hometown. Shangshu Lü Zhen reported the incident to the imperial court, and Emperor Xuanzong ordered that the coffin be sent back to his hometown by car and boat from the post. He also issued an edict saying that after the death of the Capital Officials, all would be given to Yi. From then on, it became the system of the Ming Dynasty to send coffins back to their hometowns by public cars and boats.
The Ming Dynasty also implemented a system of giving gifts to senior officials. There are many records of similar examples in the History of the Ming Dynasty: Wu Shan was "summoned to the Nanjing Libu Shangshu" and "gave Shaobao, Yuwenduan" after his death; Lu Shusheng served as the Libu Shangshu, and after retirement, he added the prince Shaobao, and after his death, he "gave the prince Taibao, Yuwending", and so on.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were clearer regulations on the gift of officials and pensions after the death of officials. For example, local officials from the governor of Zhengerpin to the grass-roots minor officials from Jiupin can be given a higher rank after death.
As is the case: after the death of the governor, he gave the prince Shaobao, the inspector gave the right capital Yushi, the envoy gave the cabinet bachelor, the envoy gave the Secretary of the Taichang Temple, the Daoist gave the Secretary of the Guanglu Temple, the prefect gave the Secretary of the Taibu Temple, the Zhixian gave the Prefect, and so on.
In the Qing Dynasty, the death of civilian officials was compensated with two silver, and each grade also had specific standards, including sacrificial silver and burial silver, and a high-ranking official also had a monument silver. For example, one pint offers silver 25 taels, 500 silver burials, and 350 silver steles; two pins, 20 silver offerings, 400 silver burials, and 6 silver and 100 silver burials.