During the Northern Song Dynasty, a farmer's family was cut off the tongue of a cattle and was sentenced to prison. Bao Zheng used a clever trick, not only to help him catch the murderer, but also to make a lot of money.
What's going on?
At that time, Bao Zheng had just taken office. One morning, as soon as he got up, he heard the sound of the drums, and he hurriedly dressed and washed up and ascended to the church, only to see a person kneeling under the hall.
Bao Zheng asked solemnly, "Who is coming, and what is the complaint?" ”
The man was a little nervous, and said, "The little man is a farmer nearby, and I have raised and raised a cultivating cow at home, but yesterday the little man found that the cow's tongue and tongue were cut by whom." When the farmer said this, he actually wiped his tears.
You know, the farming cattle of the farming era are very precious. In the Song Dynasty, there was a code that stipulated that "anyone who kills cattle without incident shall be sentenced.". With the medical conditions at that time, the cow's tongue was cut, and although it could not die at present, it could not stop the bleeding, nor could it eat grass, and sooner or later it was also a death.
The farmer was afraid that he would go to jail for this, so he came to report the crime early in the morning.
Bao Zheng had some headaches after listening, and there were too few clues. He took a closer look at the farmer and found that his sadness and nervousness did not seem to be pretending, which ruled out the suspicion of his own crime, and he had no motive for committing the crime, that is, someone wanted to frame him.
Thinking about this clearly, Bao Zheng had a good idea. He pondered for a moment and asked the farmer, "Are you sure no one saw the cow's tongue when it was cut?" ”
The farmer replied, "Immediately after I found out, I asked the neighbors if they had seen strangers come to my house, and they all said they hadn't seen it." ”
"Did anyone know when you came to report the crime?" Bao Zheng asked again.
The farmer thought for a moment and said, "I got up early this morning and rushed over, and no one should have seen it." ”
"That's easy to do." Bao Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You go back and secretly kill your cattle, and then take them to the market to sell the beef." ”
"Ah!" When the farmer heard this, he was taken aback: "The little man does not understand!" ”
Bao Zheng said, "And believe me, do as I say, and you will soon catch the murderer who cut the cow's tongue!" ”
Although the farmer was still a question mark in his stomach, he also had confidence in his heart when he looked at Bao Zheng's confident look.
After returning home, although he was very distressed about his cow, he thought that even if he did not kill it now, it would still die in a few days, and it would be better to kill it now, find the murderer, and avenge it.
In this way, the farmer killed the cattle, cut the beef into pieces, and took it to the market to sell.
Because cultivated cattle were protected by law in the Song Dynasty and could not be killed, few people sold beef. Scarce things were more expensive, and the farmer's beef was soon sold out, earning a large amount of silver.
Early the next morning, another man came to Kaifeng to report the crime. The incident he told happened to be the farmer who killed cattle and sold beef yesterday.
Bao Zheng listened to him finish, sneered, and then ordered him to be arrested.
The man was horrified and hurriedly asked, "I don't know what the villain did?" ”
Bao Zheng slapped the shocked tangmu and scolded loudly: "You people, you cut off the tongue of other people's cattle, and now you are coming to accuse others of guilt, it is simply bold!" ”
Although the man was very flustered, he still defended: "The little man did not cut his cow's tongue, please ask the big old man to be clear!" ”
Bao Zheng said angrily, "The cow's tongue has been cut and it can't make any sound, and the farmer secretly killed the cow in private, how do you know that the cow was killed by him, not by old age and illness?" ”
As soon as the man heard this, he knew that he was in the middle of the plan, and he could not argue with a hundred words, and his body was weak, and he collapsed to the ground.
So why did this man frame the farmer?
It turned out that the two families had always had disputes because of the problem of cultivating land, and the man was very resentful of the farmer. One day, when he saw that there was no one in the farmer's house, only a cultivating cow tied to the courtyard, he became evil and secretly cut off the cow's tongue, hoping to go to the official palace to accuse the farmer of killing cattle after the cow bled and died.
Yesterday, when he saw the farmer selling beef, he knew that the cattle were dead, and he was overjoyed, so he immediately ran to report to the officials, but he did not know that people were waiting for him to throw himself into the net.
From this small case, it can be seen that Bao Zheng is indeed worthy of the name! What do you think of this?