The Dawu Dynasty established the country by force and favored sons over women. Women were regarded as vassals of men, and their status was almost the same as that of domestic animals.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with a father selling his wife and daughter, and a husband selling his daughter-in-law.
All you need to do is report it to the government for record keeping.
On that day, Wang Ergou had only planned to defraud Li Yongnian out of his money, and had no intention of attacking his wife. Later, it was an impromptu idea, and it was impossible to take him to the government to register.
So the written evidence actually doesn't count when you look into it further.
This is one of them.
But the most important thing is actually the second one.
Because the Dawu Dynasty was surrounded by powerful enemies and fought endlessly all year round, there were many bandits in the country, disrupting people's livelihood.
A large number of soldiers are needed to suppress both internally and externally.
However, there are constant battles, and countless soldiers are killed and wounded every year. Ten soldiers often go out and only one returns.
As a result, the number of men is withering and the number of soldiers is insufficient.
There are more girls than boys in the country, and many adult women who want to be married have difficulty getting married, and their families have to pay a lot of taxes every year.
In this way, some poor families who cannot survive will sell older unmarried women to goulan in many cases.
Once a woman falls into the trap, she is completely reduced to a plaything and will never have any children.
So the imperial court issued a decree that all adult women could be reported to the government by their fathers, and the government would record them uniformly. If within three years there was a man of suitable age in the same county who reported to the government, he would be sent to get married.
Any woman who is chosen cannot refuse or run away from the marriage.
Otherwise, it will be considered a serious crime, ranging from being sent to official prostitution to being beheaded in public. Even parents and relatives will be implicated and punished.
As compensation, a woman can be exempted from taxes during these three years. After she successfully marries, the exempted taxes will be paid by her husband's family.
As a result, women are effectively reduced to the private property of their husband's family.
There is no problem for Li Yongnian to sell Leng Xiaorou to Wang Ergou.
The problem lies in the reason for the transaction.
The Dawu Dynasty had a compulsory conscription system, known as the "one-one system" and the "three-one system", where one household had one soldier, and three sons had one soldier.
Therefore, if Li Yongnian wanted to join the army, he didn't need any guidance at all.
If Wang Ergou's remarks were spread, he would be convicted of "slandering the imperial court and defrauding the countryside", and he would have to shed his skin even if he didn't die.
That's why he was so excited and denied it.
It's a pity that Li Yongnian's memory is confused and he knows nothing about the laws and regulations of the Great Wu Dynasty. All he thinks about is Wang Ergou's deception without any proof, but the evidence in his hand is black and white.
If the incident continues, if this guy really goes to the government to complain, Leng Xiaorou will eventually be taken away by him.
But if he gives in at this moment, with his rogue nature, he will definitely become more confident and the lion will open his mouth.
Just when he was hesitating, he heard Wang Ergou say in a cold voice: "Li Yongnian, I have a document in my hand. It is clearly written in white and black on paper. If you refuse to hand over Leng Xiaorou to me, you will have to do it ten times." Compensate me."
"For the sake of my fellow villagers, I won't force you. I can give you another three days. After three days, you can either surrender the person or take the money!"
Hearing this, Li Yongnian's heart moved.
Although three days is short, it can be delayed for a while, and we will think of a solution when the time comes.
So he nodded and said coldly: "Okay, it's only three days, you can go away."
"Okay, I want to see if you hand over the person or the money after three days!"
After making the harsh words, Wang Ergou was about to leave with Chen Chao and Zhang Quandan.
At this moment, a sharp roar suddenly came from the road outside the yard: "Li Yongnian, you bitch dare to sell my sister, I will kill you!"
Li Yongnian followed the sound and saw a tall, beautiful woman who looked somewhat similar to Leng Xiaorou coming towards her angrily.
With a flash of memory in his mind, he realized that the person coming was his second wife, Leng Rushuang, and Leng Xiaorou's biological sister!
As soon as Leng Rushuang entered the courtyard, she saw Wang Ergou and three others there, which further confirmed the rumors she heard at the entrance of the village. She glanced at them and went straight to the kitchen.
Before Li Yongnian realized what she was doing in the kitchen, he saw Leng Rushuang coming out with a kitchen knife.
"You damn bitch, I'll fight you!"
At this moment, she was so angry that she looked like a tigress, her eyes were red and she really wanted to kill someone.
How could Wang, Ergou and the others dare to stop when they saw this? After saying "I'll come back in three days", he ran away and disappeared in a flash.
After Wang Ergou and three others were frightened away, Leng Rushuang turned around and pointed the knife in his hand at Li Yongnian again.
"Beast, do you really want to sell my sister?"
Li Yongnian saw the way she was gnashing her teeth and knew that even if he showed a little hesitation at this time, this woman would really fight him.
He said without hesitation: "That's absolutely not the case!"
"Then why is that beast Wang Ergou here?"
"He...he wanted to deceive me and extort money!"
"really?"
"It's absolutely true. If I lie to you, I'll be struck by thunder!"
Li Yongnian's face was full of vows, but he was secretly bowing in his heart: "For God's sake, I didn't sell this person. It was that damn idiot who did this. I'm going to chop him into pieces."
Seeing that Li Yongnian had sworn, the expression on Leng Rushuang's face softened slightly.
At this moment, Leng Xiaorou, who was still squatting on the ground, suddenly said: "Husband, if you don't sell me, what will happen to the documents in Wang Ergou's hand?"
After hearing this, Leng Rushuang exploded again and roared: "You still dare to lie to me and didn't sell my sister. What happened to the paper?"
Li Yongnian suddenly wanted to cry but had no tears.
Leng Xiaorou, Leng Xiaorou, what do you think you are doing now?
The thought changed again. Sooner or later, Leng Rushuang would find out about selling Leng Xiaorou. Wang Ergou would not let it go. Rather than expose it later, it would be better to make it clear now.
Then he nodded and admitted: "Yes, I did..."
Unexpectedly, before he finished his sentence, Leng Rushuang burst into tears in his eyes and shouted: "I'll kill you, you damn thing!"
Roaring, he raised his knife and slashed directly at Li Yongnian.
Seeing this, Li Yongnian knew that he couldn't explain clearly without controlling Leng Rushuang first, so he had no choice but to take action.
He dodged Leng Rushuang's knife on one side of his body, and at the same time reached out and grabbed her wrist holding the knife, using his strength to pull her forward, pulling her whole body directly into his arms.
Then he wrapped his arms around him and hugged Leng Rushuang tightly from behind.
"Listen to me, I was just confused before, but now I understand, I will never sell Xiaorou to that bastard Wang Ergou under any circumstances!"
"I don't believe it, let me go, and I will die with you today!"
Leng Rushuang would never believe Li Yongnian's words at this moment and struggled and shouted desperately.
After trying several times but unable to break free, she simply opened her mouth and bit Li Yongnian's arm that was holding her. If this bite was serious, she would be able to bite off a piece of meat.
Li Yongnian was immediately horrified. Is this woman a dog?
