"This is an anonymous letter, and you're still opening it!"
Heifu pressed Ji Ying's hand that was reaching for the straw rope and scolded him sharply. At the same time, he also noticed that Li Xian had done the same thing as him, but seeing that Heifu had stopped Ji Ying, he retreated silently.
.
"I..." Ji Ying was startled by the two people's reactions. He was stunned for a while, and finally remembered the last old postman's instructions to him, and suddenly he was sweating profusely.
It turns out that the Qin State's laws specifically stipulate that if you receive an anonymous letter, you are not allowed to open it! If you open it and read it, it will violate the law and you will be fined...
If Ji Ying had opened the letter just now, he would have to pay a fine of more than 4,000 yuan. Like the pavilion chief, as a grassroots civil servant, the postman also has a basic salary, but it is only 50 yuan a year.
According to the grain price that will drop after this autumn, which is "forty rice per stone", it would take two years of not eating or drinking to pay for it.
"It's okay, it's okay, otherwise it would be terrible."
Ji Ying wiped his sweat and was thankful, while Hei Fu took the wooden letter in his hand and looked over it with a frown.
Because of Qin's relay-style postal system, the inspections are very strict, and an anonymous letter will basically not be transmitted between multiple locations. Therefore, there is only one possibility for this letter, and that is that someone secretly dropped it in while Ji Ying was delivering the letter.
.
Although Hei Fu didn't know the content inside, it was probably a report letter! He wanted to use the mailer's hand to hand it over to the government.
Despite the strict laws of the Qin State, which encouraged people to report rape, it also made strict regulations on reporting. Once the accusation was untrue or exaggerated, you would face "false accusations and rebellion."
Therefore, the Qin government's attitude towards the anonymous reporting letter is clear: if the reporting in the letter is followed and people are arrested and executed, I am afraid that everyone in the Qin Kingdom will be in danger, so this kind of criticism without paying any price cannot be encouraged.
Anonymous reporting letters will not be accepted! You won’t even be able to take a look at them...
Unless you have captured the person who wrote the letter, you can then open the letter, compare the testimonies, and ask for clarification.
"Ji Ying, do you know who put this in?" Heifu asked.
"How did I know..." Ji Ying was very wronged, "I didn't know there was such a letter in the basket until just now."
"Ting chief, since we haven't caught the person who submitted the letter, we should burn it."
Li Xian, like Heifu, knew about this law. The recommended method of disposal in the law was to "burn it." This thing would be a hot potato if it was left alone. No matter what was written in it, if it was burned, it would be clean.
But Hei Fu seemed to have his own plan. He asked everyone to calm down and asked Dongmen Bao to call Pu Zhang, Xiao Tao and Yu Liang to the main room. As the chief of the pavilion, he wanted to open a
A small town hall meeting...
…
A moment later, all the members of the Huyang Police Station were seated on several straw mats in the small hall.
The robber Dongmen Bao, the father of the pavilion Pu Zhang, the mailman Ji Ying, the pavilion soldiers Li Xian, Yu Liang, Xiao Tao, plus Hei Fu, there are seven people in total.
And on the desk in front of them was the anonymous slip.
"That's just the way it is."
Heifu simply recounted what happened and glanced at the six people.
"As Li Xian said, the law stipulates that if an anonymous letter is submitted and the author cannot be caught, it must not be opened. It is better to burn it."
Everyone nodded, thinking this was the appropriate way to handle it.
Heifu paused for a moment and then said: "But you also need to know that the law also says that if the person who submitted the letter can be captured, the two of them will be rewarded!"
"Reward two concubines?"
Everyone's expressions changed when they heard this, except Li Xian, who had known about this rule.
The so-called concubines refer to male and female slaves, male slaves are ministers and female slaves are concubines.
The Qin State was not an "advanced feudal country that abolished slavery" as promoted in later history textbooks. On the contrary! The laws of this country were very advanced, but in some aspects, they were also quite backward. Qin's slaves and prisoners accounted for
The population ratio is the largest among the seven countries!
For example, in Anlu County, there are male and female prisoners who work for the government, work as slaves, pound rice, and serve hundreds of ministers and concubines. In addition, among the private officials and those with titles, almost every household
Every household has one or two slaves, and many families, such as Li Xian’s family and the local Luyou Li family, even own dozens of slaves...
A large part of these slaves were the surrounding barbarians or prisoners captured in wars. Qin's law stipulated that "the enemy who surrendered will be regarded as vassals." Qin fought with the six kingdoms. The dead were beheaded and the living were taken prisoner. A large part of them became prisoners of war.
As slaves, they flowed into the Qin State. Of course, there were also Qin people who were implicated in crimes and became slaves. In the military merit system, some people rose and some fell, maintaining the balance of this hierarchical pyramid.
The children of concubines were also slaves, which led to an increasing number of slaves in the Qin State. Only slaves who performed meritorious service on the battlefield could redeem themselves and their families from freedom. This was the only way out.
The status of slaves in the Qin State was extremely low. Although the laws of Qin stipulated that slaves could not be killed or abused casually, they could be regarded as property and were allowed to be bought and sold. There was a phenomenon in various parts of the Qin State that "the slaves were set up in the market and the cattle and horses were in the same stalls".
In the city of Anlu County, an adult concubine is worth 4,300 yuan, which is equivalent to a piece of armor or one hundred shi meters. As for the minor concubine, the price is even cheaper, only worth 2,500 yuan.
In other words, two adult concubines, plus a child, can be exchanged for an ox or a good horse. It is true that humans are inferior to animals...
Heifu naturally rejects this kind of system, but now he is just a small pavilion chief. He cannot protect himself under the tide of the times, let alone change the system.
He could only sigh silently and said: "Of course, two concubines, even two female slaves, are not enough for us to divide."
As soon as these words came out, except for the serious Li Xian and the elderly Pu Zhang, the other four people all laughed, especially Ji Ying who laughed the most lewdly. Everyone was a strong-blooded man, so they all understood that, even the little boy
Tao was still a little confused.
"But it's different when it comes to money. Two concubines are equivalent to 8,600 rewards. When the time comes, we can choose not to have concubines but to get rewards!"
Upon hearing such a large amount of money, everyone had different reactions.
Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying, and Xiao Tao were no strangers to this scene, and they looked at each other and smiled.
Pu Zhang's squinted eyes widened, and Yu Liang clenched his fists, licking his lips with his tongue, feeling a little moved.
Only Li Xian had an expressionless face and seemed not to take the money seriously.
Heifu saw the expressions of the six people one by one and said with a smile: "So, I want to try to see if I can catch the anonymous poster. If I can catch it, I will share the reward with everyone in the pavilion.
!”
"Okay! Listen to the director of the pavilion!" Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying, and Xiao Tao are Heifu's best friends and have no objections. The Yuliang family is poor and needs money, so they also support the proposal.
Pu Zhang was the father of the pavilion and did not participate in arresting people. Although he was a little tempted, he finally shook his head and said that he was old and would not participate in the affairs of young people.
Only Li Xian raised his hand to Heifu and said: "Pavilion Chief, the reason why the reward for capturing the anonymous poster is so high, far higher than that of ordinary murderers and thieves, is because it is difficult to determine the whereabouts of the poster. As long as he is not witnessed by anyone,
So, he can just pretend that nothing happened. It's not like murder, where there is a corpse as a clue, and it's not like stealing, where you can find the whereabouts of the property. How should we look for it?"
In Li Xian's view, this matter is very troublesome. If they can open the letter and read the content, they may be able to roughly guess the identity of the person who submitted the letter. But now that the letter cannot be opened, they can only blindly guess and think.
It's so difficult to catch people.
However, this problem did not seem to scare Hei Fu, but he said with confidence: "Otherwise, this matter is difficult to say, but easy to say, but easy!"
