Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 156
"There are so many cows, it seems that Brother Ma, your business is really profitable."

Luo Cheng looked at so many cows in the newly built cowshed, and smiled at Ma Lao.

Liu Sanniang said, "Brother, you don't know how profitable it is to butcher a cow. You can buy a cow for only three or four thousand yuan, but you can get two or three hundred catties of meat by slaughtering it. Do you know how much beef is sold for a catty now?" ? Fifty coins! A cow can be sold for [-] to [-] yuan!"

"Not only that, beef alone can sell for [-] to [-] yuan, and then there are cowhide horns and tendons, which are also good things." Luo Cheng asked with a smile.

Ma Liansheng said, "It's a good thing, but the government is strictly controlling it, so it's not easy to sell it. We brothers are worried that we won't be able to find a buyer."

"I do know one person, and he has connections. If you want, Brother Ma, I can bring him to see him someday."

When Ma Liansheng heard that there was still a way out, he immediately said happily, "Then I would like to thank this brother. If the matter is resolved, I will definitely benefit from you later."

"It's easy to say, brother Ma, I really envy you. You can find such a good business. Just selling meat is four or five times the profit. Even if you slaughter one head this day, you can earn no less than [-] yuan. It's more profitable than robbery."

"It seems so, but how can there really be so much profit. You have to manage everywhere, otherwise the business will not be stable." Ma Liansheng also said with some pride.

"I have a question. Official private cattle and horses are all registered in a special register. The cattle have a cattle account. Who owns the cattle, what color they are, and how old they are are all registered. Brother Ma, where are you from? How can we buy so many cows?"

Ma Liansheng laughed, "Snakes have snake ways, rats have mouse ways, there is always a way."

Luo Cheng already understood that this guy's so-called connection was nothing more than stealing.The Sui Dynasty paid great attention to farming cattle, and the government specially set up a cattle account to register the number of farming cattle.When a cow gives birth to a calf, it must be registered, and when a cow dies, it must be written off.

And even if the cow dies of old age, sickness, it is not allowed to slaughter privately, and it has to be reported to the official for slaughter.

Therefore, it can be said that a cow's account controls the cow very tightly.Occasionally slaughtering a cow privately and bribing the people in the yamen can make it through, but if you say slaughtering every day, it will be difficult.

Seeing that Ma Liansheng was unwilling to say more about this, Luo Cheng changed the subject and said that he would go to see the cowhide, horns and tendons in his house, saying that he wanted to see the quantity and condition, so that he could tell his friend when the time came.Ma Liansheng felt refreshed when he heard about it, and immediately brought Luo Cheng and the others to a woodshed in the corner of the courtyard.

There are a lot of straws piled up there to feed the cows. When you open the door and walk in, you can smell a strong fishy smell.Get closer, but there are a lot of cowhide, horns and tendons.

These things have been simply processed, roughly counted, there are at least hundreds of cowhide.

This means that although the Ma brothers have not been in the cattle slaughter business for a long time, they have already slaughtered hundreds of cattle.

This is really a major case, not to mention anything else, just these cowhide can make these brothers beheaded.

Cowhide, horns and tendons have always been military supplies under the control of the imperial court. They are important materials used to make armor and bows. Common people are forbidden to own them. After the cattle are usually killed, these must be handed over and cannot be kept privately.

Not to mention private transactions.

The Ma brothers have just started this cattle slaughter business, and the beef is easy to sell, but there is no way to get the cowhide and the like, so they can only be roughly processed and piled up here for the time being.

"There are a lot of them, but they haven't been handled properly, and the quality is a bit poor."

"We don't understand either, we just deal with it casually."

"It's a pity, the quality is not enough, and the price is much worse." Luo Cheng also pretended to be a pity.

"As long as you help us find a market, brother, we are willing to have a lower price."

After confirming the news they needed, Luo Cheng and the others didn't stay long, and asked Sanniang to leave some deposit, and then they left.

After leaving the village gate, I walked out for a while.

The brigade of county soldiers over there is on standby.

"Fifth brother, have you checked it out?" Du Fuwei stepped forward and asked.

"Well, I have basically found out that the Ma family brothers are bold enough. They not only slaughtered cattle privately, but also stole farm cattle and slaughtered them. They stole a lot. His family has accumulated hundreds of cow hides, which is enough to prove that They slaughtered hundreds of cows privately, and there are more than a dozen cows locked up in his cowshed, so it is certain that they were all stolen."

"You can start."

Du Fuwei drew his machete at once, and said excitedly, "Damn it, catch a big fish."

"Fifth brother, one thing I don't understand is that this Ma family brother stole so many cattle, why didn't he hear any report?"

"It is estimated that it was stolen in a foreign county."

"Go ahead!"

Du Fuwei immediately waved to his brother, "Follow me!"

In Daye Law and Stable Library, the law clearly stipulates that the slaughter of cattle can be divided into murder, manslaughter, and robbery. The basic circumstances are different, and each has corresponding legal consequences.

Just like killing officials and stealing cattle and horses, it will take a year and a half in vain, and compensation for economic losses will be required.

If you kill your own cattle and horses for a reason, you will be in vain.

It is the cattle and horses of relatives who are slaughtered, which is the same as killing one's own cattle and horses.

But if it's just a manslaughter, don't sit down and pay for it at a reduced price.

And if the official is killed by stealing cattle and horses, it will take at least two and a half years.The reason is that horses and cattle are used by the army, so they are different from other animals.

Stealing and slaughtering a cow would result in two and a half years in prison plus compensation, which was already a heavy punishment in the Sui Dynasty.You know, after Sui Liguo revised the law, many corporal punishments were abolished, and many punishments were reduced.

Take the prison sentence as an example, the minimum is half a year, the maximum is three years, and there are five grades in total.

Imprisonment is the deprivation of personal freedom, and at the same time forced labor, which is equivalent to a labor camp prisoner.The maximum time for a labor camp prisoner is only three years, which seems to be very light, but the conditions of the ancient people in prison were poor, with poor food and clothing, and the labor intensity was heavy, and they would die after a long time.What's more, in fact, the ancients did not sit in prison for long.

The imperial court will amnesty the world at every turn, and on average, it will be amnesty once a year and a half. Therefore, the general sentence of imprisonment is often less than two years, and the pardon goes home before it expires.

But there are also some crimes that are unforgivable. The first is treason and other heinous felonies, which cannot be pardoned.

In addition, there are several other crimes, although they are not among the most heinous, they are also unforgivable crimes.

This is murder and arson, armed robbery, slaughtering cattle to make money, and co-creating poison.

Illegal slaughter of farm cattle and private casting of copper coins are included in the list of unforgivable acts like murder, arson, drug production and robbery.Even if the sentence is not severe, it will take a few years to sit honestly for a few years, and don't even think about getting out one day early.

Of course, if the Ma brothers not only steal and kill farm cattle, but also in large numbers, it will be serious if the circumstances are particularly bad.If the sentence was severer, it would be enough to beheaded, even if it was light, it would at least be an exile, which is much more serious than a prison sentence, even if you travel a thousand miles, you will never come back.

(End of this chapter)