Deterrence

The case was actually quite simple.

A from Village B lost a cow, only to find it again with C from Village D. A went to question C. C said, 'Would the cow reply to your call?' A said, 'There was a mark on the cow's body.' Then, C simply asked his fellow villagers to beat A out. A was not only bruised and swollen but also broke a leg.

As a result, a large fight between Village B and Village D began.

In the poor and uncivilized area, such village-wide fights were nothing unusual.

For cows, for water sources, for land, for women, or for grudges accumulated through all kinds of trivia, two villages might be fighting hard, each dropping a few dead bodies. It was rather a common practice.