Han official!

Chapter 83 Anti-Counterfeiting
Han Dynasty law: If a thief kills someone, and those who conspired with him, they shall all be executed in public. If the thief does not kill the person, he shall be tattooed and imprisoned for a day and a spring.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, the murderer and his accomplices would be sentenced to beheading and public execution.

If the attempted murder failed, the principal offender and the accomplice would be tattooed on their faces and then sent to the city to be punished by pounding rice.

Ting Zuo's wife only helped dig the pit, and she will not be given a lighter punishment just because she is an accomplice.

In the face of the crime of murder.

Treat equally.

Ting Zuo's wife and son were sent to the East Market of the Nine Markets of Chang'an.

Beheaded and thrown into the public square.

It is even possible that his head will be hanged in public.

Although both beheading and hanging the head in the market took place in the East Market.

The latter is more serious.

Beheading and hanging the head in the market means chopping off the head and not burying it. The head is hung in the East Market.

"it is good!"

Ting Zuo's expression shifted from gloomy to bright. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "You, the official, can forge the letters between Wan Zimeng and Jin Shuzuo. However, Chief Guo needs to swear an oath: once the horse smuggling incident is over, Chief Guo will let you and your family leave the courtyard and not kill them."

Guo Jie of Chen County was well-known for his integrity.

He was from Chang'an and had heard that Guo Jie spared the knight who had killed his nephew for the sake of loyalty and trustworthiness.

Since Guo Jie came to Chang'an, every time he was ordered to purge the powerful, he did not take a single gold piece for himself, but gave it all to the guards under his command.

This made Guo Jie's reputation for being trustworthy and loyal even more famous.

As long as Guo Jie makes a vow.

Ting Zuo had no worries and immediately forged the letters between Wan Zimeng and Jin Shuzuo.

"it is good."

Guo answered and glanced at the corpse of the slave concubine beside the pestle. He turned to look at Tingzuo with a hint of ridicule, "As long as you forge a letter, I will let your family leave the house and will not kill you inside. With the testimony of several of my brothers, Tingzuo can forge the letter without worry."

Ha ha.

I only said that I did not kill your family in the house.

Wait until your family walks out the door.

It’s not my fault.

"call--"

Ting Zuo breathed a sigh of relief. With the trustworthy Guo Jie's personal promise, the whole family finally had a way out: "The clerk will go to the accompanying room and get the wooden tablets, writing brush and ink used to forge the letter. Then write it and give it to Ting Zuo Guo."

He staggered to his feet, barely stood up by holding on to the treadle, and then held on to the earthen wall of the kitchen, walking step by step towards the auxiliary room.

Ting Zuo walked into the concubine's room, took off the soap-colored cap, threw aside the crown that was covered with blood and mud, and tore a roll of silk and carefully wrapped it around her bun.

All daily text carriers are divided into two types: bamboo slips and silk.

The one made of bamboo is called Jian.

Those made of wood are called du.

Silk is a silk fabric and is rarely used.

Even dukes and nobles rarely used silk to write.

Often, only the documents exchanged between the government (central government) and the vassal states with the surname Liu were written on silk and used to deliver various official documents.

When the Ting Zuo came out of the side room where the bamboo slips were stored, he held a letter in his hand and respectfully handed it to Guo Jie: "Tingzhang Guo, this letter was forged by a clerk according to Wan Zimeng's custom of writing letters. It is about the smuggling of horses. Not only would it be difficult for outsiders, but even Wan Zimeng himself would find it difficult to distinguish. He might even mistakenly think that he wrote it and simply forgot it."

He handed over the letter, feeling bitter in his heart, wondering how he had provoked such a vicious man like Guo Jie.

Ting Zuo couldn't help but curse inwardly, saying that Wan Zimeng was engaged in private horse trafficking, and all the benefits of his promotion to the position of Ba Ling Wei fell into Wan Zimeng's hands.

He is busy all over the place, but nothing comes of it.

Yi Zong nearly knocked his head off. It was very painful for him.

Tingzuo was hoping that Guo Jie would arrest Wan Zimeng so that the position of Liushi Banner Chief would be vacant.

If he puts in some effort, he might be able to become the flag chief.

"good."

Guo Jie took out the bamboo slips he had prepared in advance, compared them, and nodded with satisfaction. "The contents of the letter do appear to be written by Wan Zimeng himself. Before I came here, I asked Yi Zong to bring me a copy of the slip that Wan Zimeng delivered to the official temple in Chang'an last month. The handwriting is identical, and the writing style and habits are the same. You didn't deceive me."

Tingzuo was shocked.

He secretly thought that Guo Jie was really cautious in his work.

He actually prepared Wan Zimeng's bamboo slips in advance to compare the handwriting and writing habits.

Fortunately, I have never been petty.

Otherwise, Yi Zong would take him to the toilet and continue to beat him.

Ting Zuo shuddered all over. Whenever he thought of what happened to Hunxuan, he felt a chill all over his body and couldn't help shuddering.

"Guo Guotingzhang."

Ting Zuo chuckled, his legs trembling. "When should we let the official and his family go? We've already forged the letter. All we need to do is send the letter to the Chang'an official temple and call in the thieves to arrest Wan Zimeng, who illegally sold horses to Huainan. Shouldn't we let the official go?"

"Not urgent."

Guo Jie picked up a hoe and threw it to Ting Zuo's wife and son. "Although she was a slave concubine, she must be buried in peace. You two, mother and son, must atone for the evil deeds you have committed. Wrap her in a reed mat and bury her in the pit."

The concubine was buried.

The same cannot be said for this beastly mother and son; their bodies will be left exposed in the wilderness and whipped by their bullied neighbors.

Guo Jie just found someone to bury his concubine.

There was no thought of letting the beastly mother and child go.

However, the beastly mother and son misinterpreted the intention and thought that letting them go would even help cover up the crime.

Little did they know that they were just using the beastly mother and son as slaves to do heavy work.

The deputy was overjoyed: "Captain Guo, please quickly go to the main room and take a seat. The clerks will immediately bring wine and meat to feast you and several other senior officials. It's already dinner time (9:00-9:45), so please eat first before leaving."

Guo Jie pulled him over to tread the pestle and sat on the mortar.

The mortar and pestle is a stone pit, in which corn is placed and used to pound rice.

"Not urgent."

Guo Jie took out the basket hanging on the saddle of Stanley and prepared steamed cakes in advance.

There is no guarantee that there will be fighting next, so you need to maintain sufficient physical strength at all times.

Guo Jie was cautious and thorough in his work. He prepared food and drinks in advance to prevent the men from being hungry and weakening their strength.

He took a steamed bun wrapped with scallions and salted meat, and threw it to Zhang Qian, Wei Guang, Yi Zong and others in turn. He also asked his brother-in-law Yi Zong to give two to Mang Tong, and he ate the last one.

Several people were eating steamed buns wrapped with scallion paste, and they enjoyed it very much, as if they were eating yokan.

Tingzuo's son was drooling at the sight.

Guo Jie pointed at the assistant minister and said, "Go and forge another certificate, detailing how Wan Zimeng and Jin Shuzuo colluded with each other and the profit they had through the sale of Hexi horses. Remember to add the special seal of the certificate."

The contracts used for transactions in the Han Dynasty had already formed a complete anti-counterfeiting mark.

The purpose is to avoid counterfeiting.

Contracts are marked to prevent counterfeiting and tampering, usually by engraving the edges of the contract.

The different amounts of transactions between the two parties are represented by teeth of different shapes.

For example, the notches in the shape of Σ represent five thousand or one thousand, ┐ represents one hundred, ∠ represents fifty, > represents ten, and – represents one.

(End of this chapter)