Why did ancient officials return to their hometown after retirement? Wouldn't it be better to stay in Beijing or work?

From ancient times to the present, in the minds of most people in China, there are two lingering cultural complexes: returning home with clothes and returning to the source. ?

First of all, Xiang Yu once had a famous saying about returning home in clothes, such as going home in clothes at night. In fact, it is not only ancient times, but now many people will go to their hometown to build luxury villas after they develop, so that villagers can know that they are not what they used to be, not to mention ancient dignitaries. ?

Of course, for ancient officials, they chose to return home, not simply to show off their political achievements, but also to have more economic benefits.

As we all know, ancient times was a farming society, which was very different from our current commercial society. In the commercial society, for most people, their most important property is the house they own in the city. But in farming society, the most important property is the quantity of land purchased.

Of course, these land can't be bought in cities, because there is no land in cities, so many times, these officials will choose to buy land in their hometown. ?

For these officials, they bought so much land, not for their own cultivation, but for the poor, and they charged the corresponding rent. But the problem is that in ancient times, it was not as convenient as it is now. These officials have to collect land rent, and under normal circumstances they can only collect it in person.

In this context, these officials will naturally tend to choose to return to their own land after retirement, because their property must be guarded by themselves to feel more at ease.

Secondly, regarding the roots of fallen leaves, many people in China think that no matter how good or how bad they are, if they can't be buried in their hometown after death, they will become? Lonely ghosts? . And the ancient clan concept is very strong. Generally, those who can be officials will have great clan power, which will naturally involve entering the ancestral graves and ancestral temples.

As we all know, ancient traffic was underdeveloped and roads were rugged. Usually, it takes half a year to walk from north to south. If officials don't go back to their hometown when they can still walk, I'm afraid it will be difficult to go back to their hometown in case of any unexpected situation. This is very likely to prevent them from entering ancestral graves, and sometimes even ancestral temples. This is obviously unacceptable to those officials who are familiar with Confucius and Mencius.

It is precisely because of this that these officials will choose to return to their hometown as soon as possible after retirement to ensure that they can enter their ancestral graves and ancestral temples in the future. Of course, for these officials, they choose to return to their hometown. In addition to these interests, there is another reason: they can't give up their family ties.

Although many officials will live with their parents, wives and children when they are officials in Beijing or other places, the problem is that most of their relatives still live in their hometown, and even many officials' parents, wives and children have been living in their hometown, so when they retire, they will choose to go back to their hometown to support the elderly and die on the basis of humanity.

Finally, officials choose to leave Beijing after retirement to avoid being involved in right and wrong. After all, Beijing is a huge political whirlpool, and all forces are showing off. If you stay in Beijing, if you are not careful, I am afraid you will be involved, and in the end it may be unexpected trouble. Therefore, officials will naturally tend to choose to run quickly when they can get away with it.