In this winter day, even in the pavilion, I don't feel cold.
Hu Jin was kneeling down in front of a wooden table with Feng Quji, talking quietly.
As the servant came to report, both of them couldn't help but smile.
"The boy is finally here!"
Hu Jin said with a smile and stood up slowly.
Feng Quji also nodded. After standing up, he looked at the corridor beside the courtyard and into the mansion.
"When I was in Xianyang, I had been looking forward to meeting this young General Bai, and finally I got my wish."
Feng Quji also had a smile on his face.
It didn't take long.
Under the gazes of Hu Jin and Feng Quji, they saw a young man dressed in commoner clothes and wearing a Qin sword, and entered their field of vision.
Bai Yan asked Master Xu to wait in the courtyard and then entered Liang Nei.
Just after entering the pavilion, Bai Yan looked at Hu Jin, an old man in his fifties or sixties.
"Bai Yan, meet General Hu!"
However, Bai Yan was not in a hurry, after all, he had not been introduced yet, so he first made a hand-in-hand ceremony with Hu Jin.
After Hu Jin returned the gift, he introduced him to Bai Yan.
"Bai Yan, this is the governor of the county, Feng Quji, Master Feng!"
Hu Jin said to Bai Yan.
When Bai Yan heard this, he quickly turned around and faced the gray-haired old man in front of him seriously. He raised his hands and bowed seriously.
"Bai Yan, meet Governor Feng!"
Bai Yan cupped his hands and said.
Feng Quji also took a step back very seriously, faced Bai Yan, and returned the salute with his hands.
Speaking of which, in this era, the best thing is etiquette. As long as there is some status, under Zhou etiquette, unless there is a quarrel, even if the two parties quarrel, they will be polite and arguing at the same time.
This was especially obvious during the debate in Jixia Academy.
Although Bai Yan is the city guard now, when he first met and bowed his hands in greeting, he was already over fifty years old, and as the county guard, Feng Quji would still return the gift seriously and would not neglect the etiquette at all.
From the beginning to the end, the term "the collapse of rituals and the collapse of music" refers to the words and deeds of the princes of various countries towards the Zhou Dynasty. It is a metaphor, and it does not really mean that there is no need for etiquette.
In terms of etiquette, it is related to a person's reputation and future. From ancient times to the present, the more status a person has, the more he cares about it. Even the king is the same. Even if the other person is useless, he will not say that he is neglectful in etiquette.
Because after the etiquette, there is the word "come here because of its fame".
"I have admired the name of General Bai for a long time. When I was ill in Xianyang, I often heard that old guy Yao Jia said that he was young and promising. Even Meng Zhongcheng was full of praises. When I saw him today, he was indeed different from ordinary people!"
After Feng Quji and Bai Yan finished their ceremony, he put down his hands and expressed his feelings to Bai Yan.
"Master Feng is ridiculous, Bai Yan is just a kid, Bai Yan should be the one who has admired Master Feng for a long time."
Bai Yan didn't dare to be careless after hearing Feng Quji's compliment.
Not only because Feng Quji was older than him and had a higher position, but more importantly, he knew that it would be the old man in front of him who would be equal to Li Siping after the unification of Qin.
"Sir, please!"
After Bai Yan finished speaking, he took the lead in making a gesture of invitation to Feng Quji.
Bai Yan's behavior surprised Hu Jin on the side. You must know that when he first met Bai Yan, Bai Yan had never taken the initiative to get close to him in front of so many generals.
"please!"
When Feng Quji saw Bai Yan's enthusiasm, he didn't refuse and signaled with a smile.
But then Feng Quji saw Hu Jin's appearance and was a little confused.
"General Hu, what is this?"
Feng Quji asked puzzledly.
Facing Feng Quji's inquiry, Hu Jin shook his head.
"This is the first time that Hu Jin has seen this boy so enthusiastic. Even when he was annihilating Han, this boy had never had such an expression when he saw General Teng and me and other generals."
Hu Jin explained to Feng Quji, and then looked at Bai Yan.
In the Qin Kingdom, General Teng was better than Feng Quji. No matter in terms of status, ability, or the king's trust in him, he was superior to Feng Quji.
But at that time, this kid was not that enthusiastic.
When he saw Feng Quji today, Bai Yan's behavior really surprised him.
"oh?"
When Feng Quji heard this, his slightly wrinkled face was full of surprise. Then he looked at Bai Yan, stroked his long beard and smiled.
Bai Yan smiled sheepishly and didn't explain much.
It cannot be said that it is because he knows that the old man in front of him will be the Mount Tai of Qin in the future.
If some words are not said out loud, people will make assumptions out of thin air.
Inside the pavilion.
The three of them took their seats and got down.
At this time, Hu Jin took the lead in looking at Bai Yan.
"You don't have to worry about today's incident! The people behind the scenes are just worried about you taking power, so they resort to petty tactics."
Hu Jin said.
Feng Quji also nodded aside. No matter how the people in the city talked about it, no one doubted Bai Yan from the beginning to the end.
This shows how deeply the people of Shangjun trust Bai Yan.
Although Bai Yan ordered to move to a city, he still gained the trust of the people of the county.
As Hu Jin said, Bai Yan was a blessing in disguise!
It can be said that Bai Yan is now in the hearts of the people. Unless they see Bai Yan doing something treacherous and unethical, these methods will not affect Bai Yan's reputation at all.
They say people are ignorant and can easily be taken advantage of.
But precisely because of this, the people are also the most honest. Once they trust an official, they will believe it, especially Bai Yan's previous actions.
"But before this matter was investigated, did it reach Xianyang?"
Bai Yan thought for a while and decided to ask his doubts in front of Feng Quji.
This was an expression of Bai Yan's attitude, and he was also the first to be honest with Feng Quji. According to Bai Yan's character, he was so unprepared when they first met. A large part of the reason was that General Hu Jin spoke first.
Bai Yan knew that if General Hu Jin had not trusted Feng Quji, he would never discuss this matter with him right now.
After all, who would talk about something involving one of their own in front of someone they don't trust?
"I know what you are worried about, kid!"
Hu Jin frowned slightly after listening to Bai Yan's words, and then looked at Bai Yan: "Actually, I am also worried about this, because now in Xianyang, hundreds of officials are still arguing over the matter."
Hu Jin shook his head.
His words made Bai Yan frown slightly, but soon, he thought of something.
"The burning of the city?"
Bai Yan opened his mouth and said.
In fact, Bai Yan had worried about this before, but he didn't expect that it would actually happen!
Bai Yan knew clearly that even though he saved a whole city of people because of his actions, in the eyes of many civil servants who had never been on the battlefield, what he burned was Gao Nu, one of the three major cities in the county.
More importantly, there is another person not far from Shangjun.
"Um!"
Hu Jin nodded: "There is something I haven't told you yet. When the Xiongnu and Yueshi went south, the army led by Meng Tian was only a day or two away from Gaonu, but we didn't know this at the time!"
"Right now, there is a debate everywhere in Xianyang. After you moved the people, you should have led your cavalry back to the Yinshan Pass instead of burning the city. In this way, when Meng Tian's reinforcements arrived, Gao Nu could survive, and the Qin State did not need to waste national power, waste people and money.
Rebuild Kaonu.”
Hu Jin spoke.
If Meng Tian hadn't happened to be leading an army not far away, no one would have said a word about Bai Yan's move to burn the city.
But the appearance of Meng Tian gave things another possibility, a hypothesis.
In the eyes of some officials, even if Bai Yan didn't know it at the time, as long as Bai Yan had led his army to retreat and returned to the pass to defend with other defenders, Gaonu would have been completely saved from being burned, and Qin would not have suffered such huge losses.
Therefore, some officials in the court have been debating whether Bai Yan's burning of the city was a wise move or a wrong decision.
The former has great merits, while the latter has merits and demerits.
But fortunately, no matter that possibility, it will not affect Bai Yan.
"This matter has not yet been decided! Even if what happened today, you don't have to worry about it. Meng Zhongcheng has been speaking for you since he returned to Xianyang. No matter what the outcome is, you will definitely have the general."
Hu Jin looked at Bai Yan's expression and said softly.
"Um!"
After hearing what Hu Jin said, Bai Yan didn't feel any anger.
Unlike General Hu Jin, Bai Yan knew about Meng Tian, and he had a premonition that this day would come.
In the eyes of those officials who have never been on the battlefield, they will not consider right or wrong, nor will they consider whether Shangjun can hold on to the 150,000 Yueshi and Xiongnu troops and defend the pass until General Mengtian's army arrives.
In the eyes of those officials, there were only pros and cons, and they only thought that if Bai Yan had not ordered the burning of the city, if it had been another general, he would have led his army to retreat. Then according to the development of things, the result would be completely different.
Gaonu is a big city, and it is worth the loss of 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and some civilians. Once the reinforcements arrive, the crisis will naturally be overcome, and Gaonu can be saved.
Therefore, Bai Yan's decision-making ultimately led to Gao Nu being burned by fire. The right and wrong are open to debate.
Inside the pavilion.
Feng Quji listened to Hu Jin's words, and then looked at Bai Yan.
When he was in the Xianyang court, he saw with his own eyes that the entire court was going through twists and turns because of Bai Yan's incident.
When news of the burning of the city finally reached the Qin court, the whole court was in a commotion, and all the officials were stunned.
After all, it was the first time for all the officials to see Burning City.
now.
Unlike Hu Jin, Feng Quji saw it more clearly. He knew that in the final analysis, the reason why the matter has been debated without resolution until now is because Bai Yan made a start.
If the reward given to Bai Yan for burning the city is too high, both the king and other important officials will be worried about one thing.
That is whether other city guards will imitate Bai Yan in the future and burn down cities and enemies.
"By the way, General, Master Feng! Bai Yan has brought two things over, and I would like to ask you two to take a look."
Bai Yan suddenly looked at Hu Jin and Feng Quji, stood up, raised his hands and said, no longer worrying about burning the city.
He burned the city in vain, and left it to the civil and military officials in Xianyang to debate his merits and demerits.
When the general is out, he Bai Yan is only responsible for killing the enemy and making meritorious deeds!
What's more, it's a foreign race that invaded from the south!
"oh?"
Hear Bai Yan's words.
Feng Quji and Hu Jin looked at each other, both curious as to what Bai Yan, who should be busy in Gaonu, would bring when he came to Yuzhong City today.
Behind those officials who argued about Bai Yan's burning of the city, there was a shadow of Mi Qi among them, but he did not stand up openly.
The Gaonu that Mi Qi captured and burned by Bai Yan was Qin's city, not the enemy's!
Unlike when Bai Qi flooded Yan City, Yan City belongs to the Chu Kingdom and belongs to the enemy!