The way I've heard this legend was that the king of Qin enticed the king of Shu to take the statues by making it appear they could defecate gold. At night, he w

The way I've heard this legend was that the king of Qin enticed the king of Shu to take the statues by making it appear they could defecate gold. At night, he would have servants drop gold around their hinds, and in the morning he would coincidentally take Shu ambassadors on a walk near the statues. That's how the news got to the Shu king about these miraculous gold-pooping cows.