Of old of the fiefs which the Son of Heaven caused to be conferred
on the feudal lords, there were [parts] called "designated
lands."[2]
A feudal lords of a hundred li reserved thirty li, one of
seventy li reserved twenty li, one of fifty li reserved ten li. Their
successors, though they should be guilty of a crime and dispossessed,
[were not dispossessed of their "designated lands,"][3]
so that their descendants, if worthy, might preserve these lands,
generation after generation using [the income from them] to make
sacrifices to the prince [of their line] who first received the fief.
This is what is called "reviving states that have been extinguished
and restoring families whose line of succession has been broken."[4]
The Shu [ching] says,[5]
"Now when I offer the [great] sacrifices
to my predecessors, your forefathers are present to share [in
them]."
