The farmer's own cow's tongue is cut off, and the bread is saved: if the cow is killed and sold, the thief will turn himself in
"The honest person, the expression of the people; the greedy, the thief of the people", this is the Northern Song Dynasty famous minister Bao Zheng has always advocated the official standard, he stooped to practice, set an example by example, with his own behavior to educate future generations, become a model of honesty and honesty as an official, he never bent the law for personal gain, let alone attached to the magnate, he was severe and upright all his life, iron-faced selflessly for the people's lives, was praised by the world as "Bao Qingtian".
Bao Zheng's path as an official also went through several ups and downs, and with his serious attitude of impartial law enforcement, it was inevitable that he would offend the people in the court, but his ability to work could not be ignored by the emperor, which was also the capital for him to be able to serve as a privy councillor, a ceremonial attendant, and the founding marquis of Donghai County. Once the farmer's own cow's tongue was cut, Bao Zheng told him: Kill the cow and sell the meat, and the thief will turn himself in. What kind of legendary case story is This?
He was born as a scholar and resigned from the government because of filial piety
Bao Zheng was born in Hefei, Luzhou, not the son of a rich family, but also not to talk about poverty, he and his parents are dependent on each other, his parents also love him, has been putting him around to teach carefully, and Bao Zheng is also a very contentious son, when he was 28 years old, he was admitted to the jinshi, which can be described as a glory township and became the pride in the eyes of his parents.
The imperial court appointed Bao Zheng as a Zhi County in a certain place in Jiangxi, but Bao Zheng applied for the transfer of an official in a region closer to his hometown of Hefei on the grounds that his parents were old, and Song Renzong was also a Ming Jun, and cherished this talent and approved his application and was granted the title of tax supervisor of Anhui and County. It is reasonable to say that Bao Zheng's request has been satisfied, and Bao Zheng can rest assured that he is an official, but his parents are still reluctant to let him leave, and what is unexpected is that Bao Zheng resigned from the government and went home directly to take care of his parents.
Bao Zheng gave up a great future, and may not be able to realize the wishes of others in his lifetime, but he resigned from the government because of filial piety. A few years later, his parents died one after another, Bao Zheng guarded filial piety in front of his parents' mausoleum, and did not leave for three years, until 1037, when he went to Beijing to listen to the election, and was appointed by the imperial court as Zhi County in Anhui Province, which was already ten years after he first served as Zhi County. Regardless of how Bao Zheng lived in the past ten years of his career, his filial piety alone can be seen that he is a very compassionate and principled person.
Honest and honest, good at judging cases
Bao Zheng has been an official for 25 years, starting from a small Zhixian County, which has also experienced some twists and turns, but he has been honest and honest all his life, never favoritism, he has offended some powerful people, but he has no control over the hands of people, which is also his just and upright capital. As the saying goes, the body is not afraid of the shadow crooked, those corrupt officials can only dare to hate him and dare not speak, and Song Renzong also has great trust in Bao Zheng, and has achieved a generation of Qing officials "Bao Qingtian".
Bao Zheng later became a privy councillor and a ceremonial attendant, which was an important position with real power in the Song Dynasty, which was heavy on literature and light on military force, and Bao Zheng was able to have this official position entirely by virtue of his personal strength, and he was especially good at judging cases, which is why the people often have his various wonderful case judgment stories.
In the process of judging the case, in addition to mastering the laws of the Song Dynasty, Bao Zheng is also good at criminal psychology, things that others can't think of, he will think about the psychology of criminals when committing crimes from the perspective of criminals, others have real evidence, and Bao Zheng's sword takes a bias and directly attacks the key points, easily breaking through the criminal's vigilance psychology.
Thieves steal cow's tongue and harbor evil intentions
When Bao Zheng first took office, he received an old farmer who came to report the crime, and the reason for the report was very strange: the old farmer had a cow in his family, and as a result, the cow was cut off his tongue the night before, and the cruelty of his practice and the evil of his behavior made people feel incredible. It turns out that killing cattle in ancient times was also a crime.
In the Western Zhou "Book of Rites", it is recorded that "the princes do not kill cattle for no reason", and when it came to the Song Dynasty, the Song Penal System clearly stipulated: those who kill cattle and horses, kill the head as the head, steal the cattle and cultivate them, and exile for one and a half years. With such a severe punishment, naturally did not dare to kill cattle without permission. However, the thief did not kill the cow but cut the cow's tongue, which shows that this thief is indeed harboring evil intentions, he cut off the cow's tongue to achieve the purpose of revenge, and perhaps he can enjoy the delicacy by the way, after all, the cow's tongue is also a "big meal".
The old farmer came to report the case mainly to apply for a desire to kill the cow, the cow without a tongue naturally does not live long, rather than sick and dead to sell meat, it is better to take advantage of the health can still sell a good price, as to whether to catch the thief The old farmer has not expected Bao Zheng to be able to solve the case, after all, there is no evidence, how can it be so easy to solve the case? In fact, Bao Zheng's attitude toward him was the same, directly telling him that killing the cattle and selling the meat was exactly the result that the old farmer wanted.
Cattle are slaughtered for meat, and thieves turn themselves in
In ancient times, under normal circumstances, cattle were not allowed to be killed, but some old cattle that were about to die of illness were still allowed to apply to kill and sell meat for money, and cattle like old farmers belonged to special circumstances, and since he had the permission of Zhi County, he could boldly sell meat. However, one thing to note is that after the official allows the killing of cattle, special personnel will be sent to recover cowhide, horn, tendon and other materials, which are military supplies, cowhide can be used as armor, horns and tendons can be used as bowstrings.
After the old farmer killed the cattle, he went to the county to sell meat, his beef was fresh and healthy, and the business was naturally booming, but there was no official servant and other people in his home to recycle cow skin, horn, and tendon. The old farmer thought that Bao Zhengzhi County was negligent, anyway, he had already obtained the consent of Zhi County, and he sold it with peace of mind, but when his meat was not sold out, someone in the county came to report the case, saying that the old farmer had committed suicide by selling meat from cattle.
When Bao Zheng saw what the person who came to report the case said, he asked bluntly: "Why did you cut the cow's tongue of others?" At that time, the reporter panicked and had to tell the truth under bao Zheng's persecution. It turned out that this reporter was a thief, and he had a relationship with the old farmer and had a grudge against the old farmer, so he had the act of cutting the cow's tongue in retaliation. The truth of the case is clear, the thief has been duly punished, so how does Bao Zheng conclude that the thief will come to "turn himself in"?
The Song Dynasty also had a rule for cattle slaughter, that is, those who reported someone committing suicide by committing suicide could get a heavy reward of 50 copper coins, and up to 100 yuan, which was also an additional income for thieves. The reason why Bao Zheng was sure that the person who came to report it must be a thief was that only a thief was familiar with the situation of the old farmer.
Others think that the old farmer can sell beef in broad daylight must have been officially allowed, only the thief will notice that no one goes to the old farmer's house to recover the cowhide, horn, etc., he thinks that the old farmer is a private suicide cow, with its revenge psychology will definitely go to report, so that there is a thief will "turn himself in", it can be said that Bao Zheng's criminal psychology is indeed very good.
brief summary
Bao Zheng broke countless strange cases in his life, so that he was later invented by the world into different versions of stories and novels, "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness" in Which Bao Zheng tried strange cases, peacefully unjustly imprisoned, and wrote Bao Zheng as a god, and in modern times, he also deduced a number of TV series about Bao Zheng, which shows the high prestige and grandeur of Bao Zheng in the folk.
Bao Zheng was an official who broke the law and was a wise and upright person, and he also had strict requirements for future generations in his family training: "Future generations of eunuchs, those who commit crimes of abuse, must not be released to their own families; after death, they must not be buried in the great house." Not from my will, not from my descendants. No wonder that at the time of his death, Emperor Renzong of Song posthumously gave him the nickname "Xiao Su", which is exactly what he is called.
References: "Song Criminal System", "Bao Zheng Family Training"