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Why did ancient officials not stay in Kyoto after retirement, and eventually they all retired to their hometown?
Most ancient officials had to return to their hometowns after retirement, both for economic reasons such as "expensive capital" and political factors such as "imperial edict".

1, Beijing Migui's current "Northern Guangzhou" housing price is often disappointing. In fact, in ancient times, housing prices in big cities were too high to afford. Even if the imperial examination was successful, I became a civil servant with a high salary, but I didn't have a deep family background. It is difficult to buy a house in Beijing. What's more, when you become an official, you can't wash yourself. When you go out, you must have an attendant to follow you. In ancient times, there were no hourly workers. These people were "live-in nannies" at that time, so it was obviously not enough to buy a one-bedroom apartment!

It is said that Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, was a "Beijing drifter" when he was young. When I visited my predecessor Gu Kuang in Chang 'an for the first time, the old man reminded him that "the capital is expensive, but it is difficult to live". After reading Bai Juyi's "wildfire never quite consumes them, the spring breeze blows high", I can't help but admire: "Knowing a word makes life easy." It means that if you can write such a poem, you will not be afraid of your Chang 'an, and you can live a good life in this big city.

Bai Juyi did win the imperial examination with his own talent, but he didn't "live in Yi"! At the age of 29, he was admitted to the examination and joined the work at the age of 32. The staff in charge of proofreading red-headed documents in my office earn 16 thousand yuan a month, which is only enough for Bai Juyi to rent several huts in the suburbs of Chang 'an. Saving money, Bai Juyi bought a house in the satellite city of Chang 'an. However, the house is too far away from the unit, so he can only live like a "migratory bird". He makes do with living in the unit on weekdays and goes back to his hometown in Weinan for adjustment on holidays.

In this way, I persisted for three years, and I did well. I got a promotion and my salary went up. Finally, I can afford to rent a house in the city, so I don't have to run around like a "migratory bird". Later, it was released for more than ten years, and the salary was higher and higher. Finally, I saved enough money to buy my first house in Chang 'an at the age of fifty.

Some people may say that Bai Juyi has a small job and low salary, so he can't afford a house. Han Yu, the leader of the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, was not a small official. He was the mayor of the capital and the deputy director of the Central Organization Department. I think his salary is more than one level higher than Bai Juyi's, so I bought a small apartment after working for 30 years. There is a poem to prove it: "When I first came to the capital, I stopped with a pile of books. It took me 30 years to own this house. Whether this house belongs to China or not is my own spare. " "

The salaries of officials in the Song Dynasty were generous in all previous dynasties, but it was still difficult to solve the housing problem of a large family in Beijing. Su Xun, a famous father and son of the Su family, failed to buy a house in Beijing after being an official for more than ten years. Fortunately, the official residence system was implemented at that time, and the government provided housing, but only the right of residence did not have ownership. When Su Zhe and Su Shi went to Beijing to defect to their father, Su Xun asked their son to stay in the official residence. Later, two daughters-in-law also came to Beijing with their children, and the official residence could not live any longer, so they rented a house outside.

Su Shi began to be a civil servant at the age of 26, but his family pressure was too great and he often did charity, so that he never saved enough money to buy a house. My son got married in Kaifeng without a new house, and finally borrowed a friend's house to get married. I am old and want to have a stable residence, but I still don't have enough money. I had to borrow money from my brother Su Zhe to buy my first house.

Although my younger brother Su Zhe is better than my older brother, he still can't buy a house in Kaifeng. By the time I was sixty or seventy, I felt that I had lived half my life and had no place to stand. "I have never had a house, and my son thinks so." Even my son always complains. A cruel, decided to build a house, Kaifeng house can't afford it, so I bought a farther one, so I built a big house in Xuchang, south of Kaifeng. "I have never had three houses in my life, but I am very happy to have one", but I feel that I have exhausted my life savings for the house and blamed myself for "always biting off more than I can chew"!

Although my younger brother Su Zhe is better than my older brother, he still can't buy a house in Kaifeng. By the time I was sixty or seventy, I felt that I had lived half my life and had no place to stand. "I have never had a house, and my son thinks so." Even my son always complains. A cruel, decided to build a house, Kaifeng house can't afford it, so I bought a farther one, so I built a big house in Xuchang, south of Kaifeng. "I have never had three houses in my life, but I am very happy to have one", but I feel that I have exhausted my life savings for the house and blamed myself for "always biting off more than I can chew"!

2, the family has fertile land. We know that if the ancients wanted to pass the imperial examination, they had to study hard for decades, and they could support a person to concentrate on their studies without production. What a family! Many people themselves are the second or even the third generation of officials, such as Bai Juyi, whose grandfather and father are county magistrates; Du Mu's grandfather is the prime minister; Liu Zongyuan was born in a noble family in Liushi, Hedong, and his mother was from Lushi, john young. ...

Generally, these bureaucratic families bought a lot of land in their ancestral houses and lived on Zhuangzi's income. The income of the grange is very expensive. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Wu runs a grange in Ningguo Mansion. According to Jia Zhen's estimation, the annual income is 5,200 yuan, while Jia Zheng's salary from Wupin Yuanwailang is only 820 yuan.

Even if some officials come from poor families, their salaries as officials are enough to support their families. Even if they can't afford to buy a house or land in Beijing, they can still easily buy land in their hometown. Wang Zheng, a poet in the Song Dynasty, once said, "In my opinion, people who return from official tours rarely buy land."

Moreover, in order to prevent family corruption, parents and adult children of officials are not allowed to stay at home. Only a few meritorious ministers need children to take care of them when they are old, and the court will authorize an adult son to take over. In this case, even if you can afford to buy a house in Beijing, you can't enjoy the happiness of being separated from your family. What's the fun of being alone? It is better to return to China!

3. Imperial edicts For the whereabouts of retired officials, all previous dynasties encouraged them to return to their original places, and even made laws to restrict their retirement. Some officials work in a certain place and feel that the local air quality is good, the national quality is high and the educational resources are strong. After retirement, they want to continue living in the local area. However, this is legally impossible. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, it has been expressly stipulated that local government officials at all levels are not allowed to live in their posts for three years after leaving their posts. If you have relatives in the local area, you are not allowed to live after three years, and you will be sentenced to one year in prison for violating the order. This move is to prevent officials released abroad from corrupting in the local area, forming their own influence network and threatening the central government's control over the local area, because it is effective for later dynasties to follow suit!

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the court explicitly prohibited all officials from buying houses in their workplaces. "Ming Law Collection", "Wanli Punishment Regulations" and "Buying a farm house anywhere": "Any official with a department shall not buy a farm house where he meets. Offenders are 50, dismissed, and Tian Zhai is an official. " If you buy a house in violation of the regulations, you will not only be slapped, but also be expelled from public office, and even the house you bought will be confiscated. The Qing dynasty gave various preferential treatments to the flag bearer, but it also prohibited him from buying a house in the place where he worked, and ordered the flag bearer to return to the flag after retirement.

In addition, there was a strict household registration system in ancient times. The royal family has a jade spy, and officials have the status of scholars. When you become a civil servant, you can't change your hukou. Zhang Huan, a famous soldier in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was in charge of the northern border military at the ministerial level and supervised local senior officials. Dong Zhuo, who was all-powerful at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was only Zhang Huan's younger brother. After defeating the nomadic people who invaded the border, the court awarded him 200,000 yuan and made his family an official. Zhang Huan pushed away all the rewards, hoping that the emperor would move his household registration from Yolanda in Dunhuang to Hongnong. "Under the old system, border people were not allowed to move in, and they began to become farmers just because they heard the merits." It shows that it is too difficult to move accounts.

4. Stay away from politics and let retired officials return to their original places, mainly to prevent officials from continuing to interfere in political affairs after leaving office. The Song Dynasty loosely managed the literati, from Renzong to Zongshen, and formed two factions of support and opposition around the two political reforms, and exchanged views in the court every day. After the defeat, many officials did not return home, but gathered in Luoyang, Xijing. For a time, Luoyang bureaucrats gathered, and some people with the same political views formed a political clique under the banner of friends in the literary circle. For example, the Five Old Clubs headed by Du Yan, the Nine Old Clubs organized by Liu Yun, the Tongjia Clubs organized by Wen Yanbo and the Frank Clubs organized by Sima Guang. ...

Before becoming an official, most of these people were in high positions, and their intimate disciples and followers were all over the ruling and opposition parties. Although they left the capital, they gathered in Luoyang, not far from Fengfeng, and paid close attention to the situation in North Korea. They would turn against the wind and stir up the current situation whenever they had the chance! For example, after Song Shenzong's death, the opposition, headed by Sima Guang, quickly found a group of people from various "meetings" in Luoyang, and soon abolished Wang Anshi's new law, and its political power had to arouse the awe of the rulers!

Later, the court learned its lesson. Except for a few officials trusted by the emperor, they were all "given the first capital" for the emperor to discuss. Other officials who have been given official positions, especially those who have lost the trust of the emperor, may have been trying to save face and let you go back to your hometown to be a rich man. But if you stay in Beijing, it will arouse the emperor's deeper suspicion and will be overturned at any time.

Therefore, ministers who have been "made officials" are also very sensible. For example, Yang Tinghe, the cabinet record of Jiajing period in Ming Dynasty, strongly opposed Jiajing's posthumous gift of his biological father as "emperor", which aroused the emperor's antipathy. Yang Tinghe's advice when most needed is least heeded, and he was "tired and tired". At first glance, the emperor was quite sensible. For example, you gave me a seal to protect Yu Yu Post, and he was sent to his hometown with special preferential treatment.

It can be seen that the ancients did not want to live in Beijing after retirement, but just "could not live" or "dared not live" like us. After retirement, the official residence was returned to the court, and he could not afford to buy a house in Beijing. Even if he can afford to buy a house, the emperor sometimes thinks of asking, "Why hasn't XX left?" It may be in big trouble! Instead of being a "black household" in Beijing, it is better to go home and enjoy family happiness!

Many gardens in the south of the Yangtze River are mansions built by ancient officials after retirement. For example, Suzhou Lingering Garden was built by Xu Shitai, the minister of Taibu Temple during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty.