Do you know Dong Xingcheng? Today, the history encyclopedia editor will bring you a detailed introduction.
During the Tang Dynasty, there was a strange person named Dong Xingcheng in Hanoi County, Huaizhou (now part of Qinyang, Henan). He was born with a pair of discerning eyes and was neither an official nor a petty official. He was just an ordinary person, a commoner, but had a special hobby – catching thieves.
Dong Xingcheng was able to accurately determine whether the other party was a thief by observing their words and expressions, reasoning and analyzing. His heroic deeds were highly praised by the local people, who praised him as the “thief catching god”.
The ‘thief catching god’ is not just a name for itself, let’s take a look at Dong Xingcheng’s wonderful story.
The Taiping Guangji records: “Tang Dong Xingcheng was able to plan a thief. One person stole a donkey and a leather bag from Changdian in Heyang. As dawn approached, they arrived in Huaizhou
Dong Xingcheng of the Tang Dynasty was able to infer and capture thieves based on their behavior and signs.
On a certain day in a certain year and month, someone stole a donkey and a leather bag from a pedestrian in Changdian, Heyang Street, Mengzhou City, Henan Province.
At dawn, the thief arrived at the border of Huaizhou.
At this moment, Dong Xingcheng was walking on the street and saw a donkey rider in the distance. As the donkey rider approached, Dong Xingcheng immediately stopped drinking and said, “Stop the thief! Get off the donkey!” – You bold thief, hurry up and get off the donkey!
The donkey rider was startled and covered his chest, muttering to himself: ‘Oh my goodness, my little heart can’t take birds anymore!’! Is this kid someone with a thousand mile eye and a smooth ear? How did he know about Ge Laozi stealing pedestrians?
The donkey rider dared to mutter, “Who are you talking about? Who is it? What happened? Who is the thief? You can’t falsely accuse a good person out of thin air. Be careful, I’ll go to the government and accuse you of false accusations, and you’ll be left with nothing to eat
At this moment, Dong Xingcheng was confident and even more determined that the donkey rider in front of him was a thief. So he shouted loudly again, “Thief! If you don’t get off the donkey yet, confess and be punished obediently, otherwise your death will be very ugly
The donkey rider was startled and urinated by the sudden sound, rolling down from the donkey’s back and admitting to being a thief in front of many onlookers.
The crowd was filled with righteous indignation and stepped forward to angrily rebuke the thief.
At that time, there were no surveillance devices such as mobile phones, WeChat, or cameras. How did Dong Xingcheng “see” the thieves stealing donkeys and leather bags from Heyang Changdian?
The onlookers were also puzzled, so they turned to Dong Xingcheng for advice.
Dong Xingcheng said, “This donkey travels in a hurry, but sweat is not a long journey. People lead their reins far away and are afraid
This person rode the donkey in a hurry, but the sweat on the donkey’s body did not make it long, indicating that the donkey did not run too far.
Speaking of the donkey rider, he risked his life to whip the donkey. You’ve seen anyone whip their own donkey like this, which shows that it’s someone else who doesn’t care about it that tortures the donkey like this.
When he saw someone, he held the reins and urged the donkey to hide to one side. This was clearly a guilty conscience! Everyone suddenly realized.
In a blink of an eye, the donkey owner followed and everything was as he said
After a while, someone rushed over sweating profusely, claiming that their donkey and leather bag had been stolen by thieves. He explained in detail the process of their donkey and leather bag being stolen.
As analyzed by Dong Xingcheng, before dawn, the thief took advantage of the donkey owner’s inattention and secretly took away the donkey, as well as the owner’s leather bag filled with money. He fled in the dark and unexpectedly met Dong Xingcheng, the “thief catching god”, on the way. It was really unlucky and inevitable.
Dong Xingcheng and several passersby made detailed inquiries and confirmed that this person was the owner. After returning the donkey and leather bag to him, the person thanked him deeply and said goodbye before leaving.
Everyone took action one after another, escorting the thief to the government and facing severe legal punishment. The crowd greatly admired Dong Xingcheng’s keen insight in identifying thieves, and this matter quickly spread in Huaizhou City, making Dong Xingcheng famous from then on.
