Chapter 21 Section 5 Xianyang Palace of Emperors, Ministers and Soldiers

Within ten days, there was no sound from the Six Kingdoms, and Bai Qi just ordered the troops from outside Hangu Pass to return to Lantian Camp. The news of the victory had already spread like wildfire, and the government and the people of Qin State were jubilant.People from all counties flocked to the Dajun Road on the north bank of the Weishui River. Bamboo baskets were filled with steamed rice balls or bean rice balls, and clay pots were filled with cold bean soup to quench the heat and thirst, or green Huo Cai soup with smiling faces. Yingying scrambled to be the first to stuff them into the hands of the soldiers, always watching the dark and strong juniors carry two rice balls and drink a few mouthfuls of soup before giving up.The simple scene of "eat the pot of pulp to welcome the master" mentioned by the old Mencius was vividly swayed on the Weishui ancient road.In a short distance of more than 400 miles, Bai Qi's army actually walked for four days before arriving at the Lantian camp.

Mi Rong, the general of Lantian who was also in charge of Lord Huayang, had made a special trip to greet him 30 miles away from the camp, and read out the imperial edict of the King of Qin: "On the day when Bai Qi was in command, the army was stationed in Lantian, and Lord Huayang rewarded him on the spot! Bai Qi led thousands of men All the generals above the senior level will be beheaded and those who have meritorious service above the tenth rank will go straight to Xianyang to receive their rewards!" Bai Qi obeyed the order and handed over the army to Lord Huayang, and led more than a thousand meritorious officers and men to Xianyang slowly.

Passing by Liyang, Prime Minister Wei Xun made a special trip to greet him at the pavilion outside the city of Liyang.Ten bullock carts were full of Qinfeng wine, and the big pottery bowls and urns were lined up half a mile long!Bai Qi flew over from a distance, and Wei Xun laughed loudly: "Bai Qi, great hero! You have given old Qin a face! Come on, let's drink three bowls in a row before talking!" Bai Qi drank without saying a word After drinking three bowls, he looked at Wei Xie and bowed solemnly: "If the prime minister has worked so hard, how dare Bai Qi take credit for it? On behalf of the soldiers of the three armies, I have respected the prime minister for three bowls."

Wei Xun was originally in Liyang, supervising the transportation of food and supplies for the army, leading the eastern county magistrates to requisition vehicles non-stop, and urging the counties to make all kinds of sauced meat biscuits. It is dark, thin and bearded, and it is no different from the soldiers who returned from the expedition.That day Wei Xun was counting grain and grass outside the city of Liyang when the scouts from Hangu Pass flew over. As soon as Wei Xun read the victory report, he jumped into the car and shouted with joy: "The Qin army has won a great victory—! Destroy the enemy!" More than 300,000——!" After two roars, he laughed and fell under the grain truck!The tense heartstrings were finally loosened——Bai Qi's victory over Wei Xun was really unusual for Wei Xun. Not only was Bai Qi the general that Wei Xun tried to protect, but more importantly, with Bai Qi as a general, the position of Wei Xun's prime minister was almost equal. Unshakable!Wei Xun admired Bai Qi, and Bai Qi respected Wei Xun as a prime minister who was unapologetic, vaguely, both sides cited each other as confidants.Now that he said something in vain, he shared his hard work with the soldiers, Wei Xun was actually very moved: "I appreciate the general's words! Look, I will do it!" With one word, the three bowls were ready Drink it in one gulp.

"General, please abandon your horse and get on the carriage." After drinking heavily, Wei Xun pointed to a shining carriage outside the stone pavilion and said with a smile, "This is a six-foot carriage specially sent by the Queen Mother. drive!" In a panic, Bai Qi's black face suddenly turned red: "The empress dowager's gift is like a king's favor, and I dare not resign. However, the prime minister would never dare to be a driver. The prime minister knows that Bai Qi..." Suddenly, it was not appropriate When he spoke, his face turned red. Wei Xie laughed for a while: "It's just the same four characters: nothing is evil!" He waved his big hand, "It's a small matter, you can do whatever you want. If there are such cramps in the future, the old man will stand in your way. Come on, Get in the car!" The Prime Minister drove Bai Qi into Xianyang in person, which was naturally a special honor for Bai Qi from the Empress Dowager Xuan and King Qin Zhao.Since it is a king's order, it cannot be canceled at will, but Wei Xun is brave enough to act and never sticks to the law. Not only did he readily agree to Bai Qi, but he also admitted that he would stand in the way of Bai Qi in the future. It is difficult for ordinary ministers to do it.

Bai Qi knew it clearly, he cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Thank you, Prime Minister." He felt relieved immediately, handed over the horse to the guards, and boarded the six-foot cart.Bai Qi is not a rich and famous person, but also a weak official enlisted in the army. He has never driven such a luxurious car alone.But relying on his familiarity with the chariot which was much bulkier than the chariot, he still drove the chariot neatly onto the Weishui Avenue.Wei Xie, who was catching up with a fast horse and a light car, smiled and said: "Bai Qi, this time you have made great achievements in the world, can you come to two more levels?" It’s better to be more solid at the first level.” Wei Xie laughed loudly: “Okay! I’ll listen to you, it’s better to go level by level, and I’ll just block it.”

With light vehicles and fast horses, Xianyang City is in sight at noon.Nearly ten miles away from the suburban pavilion, I saw cars driving brilliantly outside the pavilion, flags and guards of honor standing between the roads, which was a full three miles long.Wei Xun laughed loudly and said, "Bai Qi, the King of Qin led a hundred officials to welcome you, you have a great reputation." Bai Qi stopped the car and said in a low voice, "Prime Minister, how do you deal with this?" Wei Xun After saying a few words in a low voice, Bai Qi turned back and ordered in a loud voice: "All generals, get off your horses and go straight and horizontal! Follow me to see the King of Qin!" After saying that, he jumped out of the chariot and led a row of ten soldiers in full armor to be majestic and mighty It is much more comfortable to enter the red carpet-paved ceremonial corridor than to drive a cart.Wei Xiejin's car slowly moved to the rear, and he was extremely isolated and prominent.

The young King Qin Zhao had already led all the ministers to wait solemnly for more than half an hour. When he saw a group of soldiers coming from Bai Qi, he walked out of the stone pavilion excitedly to welcome them.Bai Qi's group of soldiers clasped their hands together and said loudly: "See King Qin!" King Qin Zhao laughed and supported Bai Qi, and at the same time waved to the soldiers in the back row: "Soldiers, you have worked hard!" The soldiers shouted in unison: "Long live the King of Qin!" King Qin Zhao waved his hand to Chang Shi behind him: "Give all the officers and soldiers old wine, each with three nobles!" Bai Qi gave an order: "Space three feet apart, and spread out to receive rewards!"

With just a few sounds of swish swish swish, the small formation of hundreds of verticals and tens of horizontals spread out uniformly and evenly, no more, no less, just distributed in the center of the corridor.Just this simple action attracted admiration from the courtiers under the pavilion.It is an ancient tradition for the class teacher to give wine, but the degree of complexity varies from country to country.Courtesy of the Qin State was never in vain, and as soon as King Qin Zhao issued an order, more than a hundred ministers from the court filed into the corridor of ceremonial guards from under the pavilion, and more than 200 maids carrying the nobles with copper plates also flew out with the team of ministers, divided into two groups. There is an endless stream of wine in rotation.King Qin Zhao took the wine title brought by the maid with both hands, and bowed deeply to Bai Qi: "The Great Qin Great Wall is the general. This king thanked the general on behalf of the queen mother and the subjects of the court and the people. The general please be this noble!" Putting on his soft armor, he quickly bowed deeply: "Bai Qi thanked the Queen Mother, and thanked my king." After receiving the Duke, he drank it all in one gulp.

After the king of Qin gave wine to Bai Qi, the ministers immediately began to give wine to the scattered soldiers.The military laws of the Qin army were extremely strict, and alcohol was strictly prohibited in the barracks. The generals and soldiers would only drink once after a victory, usually for half a year or a few months.A group of soldiers with a low drinking capacity and the three nobles, the pawn commander, the commander, and the centurion, were flushed and hot, and some of them were staggering and fell down. Wei Xun next to him was bright-eyed, and immediately ordered loudly: "A group of maids, immediately help the dizzy soldiers into the chariot!"Wei Xuan was furious, and he drew his sword and shouted: "They are all warriors who killed the enemy and bathed in blood on the battlefield, what can you do!" King Qin Zhao's eyes flashed and he said sharply: "The prime minister respects the soldiers, and you will be ordered immediately!" Maid They were horrified, and they all said in unison: "I would like to obey the prime minister's order!" Immediately, in groups of two, they helped the dizzy soldiers onto a row of black chariots with curtains outside the pavilion.Wei Xie laughed loudly: "That's it. If you don't respect the soldiers who cultivate and fight, how can there be a state of Qin?" After laughing, he raised a baron and waved to the soldiers standing neatly, "Whoever gets drunk today will be the king of Qin." The old man is walking around. Come on, the old man pays respects to the younger generation! Do it!" It was gurgling and drinking dry.The soldiers of the Qin army already felt the prime minister's love for the army from the details of the delicious sauced meat, fresh military rations, and endless weapons and armor. The story of "grain", seeing Wei Xie in person today, I feel that this prime minister has a military style, so I admire and like him instinctively.Seeing the prime minister toast now, he stood up and shouted: "Long live the prime minister!" and drank all together.

Qin Zhaowang clapped his palms and said with a smile: "Okay! Let's welcome the ceremony in the suburbs, and the soldiers will go back to the palace for a banquet." After saying that, he took Bai Qi's arms and said, "Come! You and I entered the city together." Seeing the monarch, Bai Qi couldn't help but say Feeling that it would be a disappointment to say goodbye at this time, he was helplessly led by King Qin Zhao into the spacious king's chariot, and entered Xianyang amidst the cheers of Jiadao people. That night, Xianyang Palace held a grand celebration banquet.All the soldiers entered the table, but the minister of rites led Bai Qi to the table between King Qin Zhao and Queen Mother Xuan.Bai Qi was terrified, so he bowed deeply to the Empress Dowager Xuan: "It is the duty of a general to lead the army to kill the enemy. Although I have little merit, I dare not sit with the Queen Mother." The Empress Dowager Xuan said with a smile: "Bai Qi, The old Qin people don’t pay much attention to it, it’s just convenient to talk, why are you so rigid?” Next to him, Wei Xie laughed: “The general doesn’t know, but the queen mother misses you the most and wants to talk to you more. Come on, sit down Here I am, I will sit on the right hand." After finishing speaking, he stood up and pulled Bai Qi over to sit on the lower left seat of Empress Dowager Xuan, but he strode to King Qin Zhao's lower right seat where Bai Qi should be seated today.Bai Qi's face was still flushed, but he couldn't say anything, so he sat down. Empress Dowager Xuan laughed softly: "Bai Qi, King Qin wants to grant you the title of Daliang Zao and general, I think it's a good thing." Apparently, this was the Empress Dowager Xuan's announcement in advance, and she was afraid that it would be inappropriate to refuse when Bai arrived.At this time, Bai Qi only needed to say "Thank you, Queen Mother", and Daliang made the general and he did it logically.But Bai Qi was very uneasy, and he cupped his hands and said with emotion: "The achievements of the First World War are in such a high position, and it is not good for the army. I hope the Queen Mother will forgive me." The Queen Mother smiled and said: "Okay, I understand." King Qin Zhao, who was three feet away, clapped his hands, "The feast is on." King Qin Zhao nodded, and then ordered the Minister of Rites: "The banquet is on." The Minister of Rituals stood on the six-foot-high king's steps and shouted loudly: "The celebration banquet begins, and the bells and drums are dancing—" The etiquette of the Qin people has always been simple. Since the Warring States period, large-scale celebrations have never started with music and dance.But this big victory outside the river is the first big victory of the new generation, it is really unusual, the Empress Dowager Xuan, Wei Xun and King Qin Zhao are all highly rewarded, so there is this unprecedented celebration of bells, drums, music and dance.Even so, the bells and drums are not the bells and small drums of the banquet music and dance in the Central Plains, but the big bells and drums of the Bell Tower and Drum Tower of Xianyang Palace.But as soon as the order from the main hall came out, the sound of "bells, drums and music dance" was transmitted directly to the gate of Xianyang Palace in a long line of high-pitched voices from the servants.The big bells and drums in the square outside the hall suddenly rolled away like spring thunder, followed by the sound of bells and drums from the four gate towers of Xianyang, and the entire Xianyang people shouted: "Great victory outside the river! Long live the Great Qin!" In the main hall Although it was awe-inspiring, everyone was very moved when they heard the continuous sound that seemed to come from outside the sky. Bai Qi and more than a thousand soldiers couldn't help shouting in unison: "Jiu Lao Qin! Let's go to the national calamity together!" The bells and drums fell, and the music started loudly, and a girl in a linen skirt and holding a mulberry basket floated lightly into the red felt in the center of the hall, spread out leisurely, and danced with the basket, singing a song familiar to everyone in the Qin army. "No Clothes" like a military song: With the singing, the soldiers' eyes filled with tears.This song sings about the steadfast friendship of the strong men—don’t say that I have no clothes, I will wear a cloth robe with you; if the country wants to raise troops to fight, sharpen my spear and go to the battlefield with you!Whenever the battle line is silent, whenever the evening exercises are over, and whenever the smoke rises, this generous and majestic singing will sound in the barracks. Often you sing to me and I sing to you, and one battalion sings to that battalion. One battalion sang to this battalion, and the singing set the whole barracks on fire.The minor rifts between the soldiers melted away in the majestic singing of bloody unity.Now, this song is suddenly sung by a woman, it is exciting, tactful, faithful and sad, giving rise to a strong feeling of living and dying with the person you love, how can the soldiers not be moved?All of a sudden, the soldiers in the palace began humming involuntarily, and some soldiers burst into tears amidst the singing. The singing fell silent, but the sobbing of the soldiers could not be suppressed and could be heard clearly.The Empress Dowager Xuan stood up slowly, with tears in her eyes, she walked up to the soldiers who were crying at their desks and said with a smile, "Young students, look up, you will have a sweet girl." Turning around and beckoning to the black crowd of meritorious soldiers, "You, don't worry. King Qin will not let meritorious warriors be desolate and lonely men. The government then issued an edict: Anyone who joins the army and accidentally falls in love with a woman will be punished by all counties. It is necessary to deliberately match, so that young and strong soldiers can have wives and homes, old people can enjoy the joy of mulberry, and everyone can have the queen of the Great Qin Dynasty! If there are widowed and lonely soldiers in any county, the county magistrate will immediately depose them and punish them!" "Long live the Empress Dowager!" When the Empress Dowager Xuan finished speaking, more than a thousand soldiers roared at the top of their lungs. "It's good for you to be happy." The Empress Dowager Xuan suddenly withdrew her smile, "I just have one thing to say: The Great Qin Kingdom can't chill the hearts of the soldiers, and whoever makes the hearts of the soldiers cold, I will be the first to spare him!" She smiled leisurely again, "Okay Now, listen to King Qin's rewards for you." The minister of ceremonies shouted loudly: "Announce the edict of reward——!" The imperial edict was read out by Chang Shi. The first title was Bai Qishao Shangzao and he was promoted to a national captain. The meritorious generals and soldiers below the commander are promoted the most. Generally speaking, every three ranks of decapitation is a rank of rank, but the actual positions in the army are only promoted by one rank.The titles of several commanders are almost only two ranks lower than the titles of Wang Ling and other generals. The "Military Meritorious Law" promulgated by Shang Yang at the beginning stipulated that beheading is one level, and promotion is one level.With the strengthening of the Qin State, the increase of military power and the increasing battles, this kind of military merit promotion order had to change. Although it was still rewarded for meritorious service, it generally became one level for every three or five levels of decapitation.Of course, everyone in the army knows about this change, but they are still eager to fight and make meritorious service. The fundamental reason is that the Qin law is fair and there is no discrimination of family background. !Even if he is a son of a powerful minister and royal family, without military merits, he is still an old soldier.With such a decree, who is not striving to be the first? As soon as the reward edict was read today, the soldiers did not cheer, they all stood upright in the main hall in awe, but no one spoke.Empress Dowager Xuan smiled and said: "Look, your face is dark, is your title low? If you have something to say, I will make the decision for you." "Report to the Empress Dowager!" The outspoken Wang Yan cupped his hands, "Following Bai Qi is a pleasure to fight! The officers and men in the army invite Bai Qi to be the general!" As soon as the words fell, the whole group burst into a loud voice: "We all invite Bai Qi to be the general. !" "Let me tell you," the Empress Dowager Xuan laughed very loudly, "I think the prime minister will tell you about this matter, do you trust him?" "Trust the prime minister!" All the soldiers said in unison. Wei Xun laughed loudly and stood up: "Let me tell you, the King of Qin and the Queen Mother can't be blamed for this matter! The original edict was drafted by Bai Qi, named Daliang Zao, and promoted to general. But Bai Qi has an old problem. Don’t you know? He is a stubborn bull! He wants to come level by level, and he wants to advance and retreat with you. It makes sense for the old man to think about it, so he persuaded the King of Qin and the Queen Mother to let him be the captain of the country. Bai Qi, tell me more gone." Bai Qi stood up with a blushing face: "Soldiers, don't talk about this matter anymore. Is the title and official position a hot-blooded man who cares about it? Jiu Jiu Lao Qin, let's go to the national disaster together! Forgot?" "Jiu Jiu Lao Qin, let's go to the national calamity together!" The soldiers roared in unison. "I have one more thing to say." The Empress Dowager Xuan smiled, "Although Bai Qi is a national lieutenant, he is a national lieutenant in the permanent army. The military administration of the Guowei Mansion is also managed by the Prime Minister's Mansion. How is it?" ?” "Thank you, Empress Dowager! Thank you, King Qin! Thank you, Prime Minister!" The soldiers finally thanked three times happily, and it was considered a deal. A feast did not end until midnight.Bai Qi was about to leave with the soldiers, but the Queen Mother waved: "Bai Qi, you come." Bai Qi took two steps quickly: "Please order from the Queen Mother." You? It's time to go back to see the teacher. I heard that the old man is sick, and it's not serious." Bai Qi's heart sank, and he was stunned for a moment and said: "Thank you, Queen Mother, Bai Qi returned to Mei County overnight." The Empress Dowager Xuan said with concern: "Don't worry, the county magistrate Mei will come to you if there is something important." Bai Qi cupped his hands and said: "I will leave." Then he left in a hurry.The Empress Dowager Xuan looked at Bai Qi's back, and softly said to Jingyang Lord Ying Xian next to her, "Take a few people to Mei County and secretly protect Bai Qi. If there is a funeral, report back immediately!" Ying Xian agreed with "Hi!" With a sound, he also strode away in a hurry. After a few hasty instructions to several generals, at the end of the third watch and the fourth watch, Bai Qi flew out of the west gate of Xianyang.