In the folk Bao Zheng "Bao Qingtian" has become a god-like role like Guan Erye, especially after the rendering of artistic images such as "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" and "Bao Gong Case", it has raised Bao Zheng's image to the level of the "guardian god" of justice. As the lyrics sing: "There is a Bao Qingtian in Kaifeng, and the iron face selflessly distinguishes between loyalty and adultery." "It can be said that Bao Zheng's image has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Bao Zheng was born in the second year of Emperor Zhenzong of Song 's Xianping ( 999 ) , and was admitted to the Imperial Household Examination in the fifth year ( 1027 ) of Emperor Renzong of Song. He was later awarded the title of Dali Commentator and began to serve as the Governor of Jianchang County (present-day Yongxiu, Jiangxi). Because his parents were old, Bao Zheng requested to take up a position near Hefei and be replaced by a tax supervisor in Hezhou (present-day Hexian County, Anhui).
Because his parents wanted him to be by his side, Bao Zheng resigned from all his official positions and accompanied his parents to support his parents. Bao Zheng obeys his parents' arrangements in everything at home, just like a slave, but as long as his parents are happy, Bao Zheng is willing to do anything.
In this way, Bao Zheng supported his parents until his death, and Bao Zheng built a grass lu next to the grave, until the expiration of the period of filial piety, Bao Zheng still clings to his parents and is not far away. But his fellow villagers persuaded Bao Zheng to go out and become an official. Therefore, Bao Zheng began to return to Beijing in the fourth year of Jingyou (1037).
After Bao Zheng returned to Beijing, he was awarded the official position of Zhi County of Tianchang (天長; present-day Anhui). For a long time, Bao Zheng has served as a parent official at the grassroots level, so Bao Zheng can be said to feel empathy for the suffering of the people's livelihood. During his tenure as a county commander, he had adjudicated many cases, many of which were very puzzling, but Bao Zheng was able to quickly sort out the ins and outs of the matter.
For example, once Bao Zheng encountered a rare unsolved case, a villager's "cow tongue" was lost, I believe many people have heard of the loss of cattle, but have not heard of the loss of cattle tongue. So why would a thief steal a cow's tongue?
First of all, we need to understand the status of ancient cattle in the family of peasant names, first of all, in the Western Zhou Dynasty, cattle were animals that were forbidden to be slaughtered. There is a similar record in the "Han Law": "Do not slaughter the few teeth", what does it mean? It is not allowed to slaughter calves. As for why cattle are so precious, a very important reason is the reason why the ancient population was sparsely populated.
Because the sparse population leads to a serious shortage of labor, and the cow is the most important tool of labor, it naturally has a very important position and cannot be wasted casually. And in the Song Dynasty, that is, Bao Zheng's era. Because of the needs of productivity, cattle are naturally more important and cannot be slaughtered at will, otherwise it is equivalent to breaking the law.
In the "History of Song", there is a record like this: "There are thieves who cut the tongue of cattle, and the lord comes to sue, and saves: the first return, kill and kill." Those who have come to find and accuse those who kill cattle privately, they will know: What is the cutting of the cow's tongue and telling it? Thieves are shocked. ”
The story is that Bao Zheng encountered a strange case when he was a county commander in Tianchang County, it was the autumn harvest season, every family was busy harvesting grain in the fields, Bao Zheng was very pleased to see the thriving scene in the county, but suddenly another person came to report the case, saying that the tongue of the family's cattle had been stolen, hoping that Bao Zheng could find the thief who committed the crime for his own master.
After careful questioning, Bao Zheng learned that the cow was not completely dead, but it was already on the verge of dying. Because once the cow has its tongue cut off, it can no longer eat. You can only watch the cow die, and for many farmers, a cow is all the property of the family, and it is difficult for the family to survive when the cow dies.
Bao Zheng thought carefully and felt that things were not so simple. The tongue of this cow must have been killed by the enemy of the other side, but how to lure out the enemy behind the scenes? Bao Zheng thought of a way, that is, to let the farmer go back and cut off the cow's tongue, and then the enemy family would naturally turn themselves in.
I didn't expect that the next day a person really came to report the case, saying that yesterday the farmer name secretly killed the cow, which is illegal, to let Bao Zheng arrest the farmer name yesterday, this thief eyebrow rat eye reporter can never think that Bao Zheng let the farmer name kill the cow. After seeing what Bao Zheng reported, he said angrily: Arrest him for me.
The reporter was puzzled and asked why. Bao Zheng said: How do you know that the cattle owner secretly killed the cattle? The cow's tongue was stolen and it didn't bark at all, so it must have been watching his home all day. As soon as the informant heard that the matter had been exposed, he panicked even more. And When Bao Zheng looked at the other party's appearance, he was even more certain that the cow was killed by this thief. Later, the reporter also admitted that he killed the cow because he had a vendetta against the owner of the cow.