And as the empire's western expedition is about to begin, the army officers, whether they are senior generals or ordinary officers, whether they are civilian officers or officers who are the sons of powerful men, are all showing their talents.
The reason is just to be transferred to the northwest to serve!
In order to participate in the Western Expedition and gain military exploits, those who can go to the front-line main force should go to the front-line main force. If they cannot go to the front-line main force, then they should go to the second-line force.
If even the second-line troops cannot go, many people will grit their teeth and even the third-line reserve troops such as the garrison division in the northwest region are willing to go.
So many people are trying their best to be transferred to the northwest frontline troops. Under this background, even among the younger generation of Army officers, Bi Zhian, who is already somewhat famous and is also a son of an aristocrat, has to travel everywhere.
, just looking for an opportunity to lead on the front line.
Bi Zhian also held a position in the Northwest before, but later entered the Imperial Academy. He graduated last year and stayed in the Privy Council Staff Department as a staff officer.
He is already an army major and has also attended the Royal Academy. His future is naturally not too bad. As long as he is not unlucky enough to die on the front line or encounter some other accident, given his age and background, he can just follow the steps.
Even with enough qualifications, one can become a colonel.
However, if you just rely on seniority, becoming an Army colonel before retiring is almost the end of the line.
It's just that if you retire as an Army colonel, you might as well directly apply for retirement at the age of thirty-four and then enter the political field.
Many aristocratic children with average military talents are like this. They apply for military academies to join the army when they are young, and then join the army more than ten years later. If they do not see the hope of being promoted to generals, they often do not die, but will
Choose to stop losses in time and retire from politics when you are in your thirties or forties.
However, noble children who hope to become generals often go to great lengths to stay in the army and then strive to achieve meritorious service.
The same is true for Bi Zhi'an. You said he has the hope of becoming a general. Now he is not too young, but he is still an army major. During the same period in the martial arts school, his promotion speed was not fast. At most, he was ranked in the third place.
About thirty years ago.
There were about 200 people in his infantry department at the same time. He was promoted to Army Major in his thirtieth year. Compared with ordinary people, he was naturally dissatisfied, but he only caught the tail.
You have to know that during his same period, there was a major general, a brigadier general, and quite a few colonels and lieutenant colonels.
With his current promotion speed, there is actually no hope of becoming a general officer.
But if you say he has no hope of becoming a general, he does have a little hope.
After all, he is not too old now, and he has also attended the Royal Academy, so his future promotion path will be smoother.
And more importantly, he has a classmate and old boss with great energy. This person is Ying Yikang, the youngest Army Major General in the Army in the past ten years.
When he fought in Beihai Province, he fought under Ying Yikang. Later, he was promoted by Ying Yikang and transferred to the northwest region. After accumulating military merit, he got the opportunity to enter the Imperial Academy without taking the exam. You really let him rely on it
If he has the ability to take the Imperial Academy exam, he won’t be able to pass it!
If he can continue to maintain a good relationship with Ying Yikang, he will have a great chance of becoming a general in the future.
Therefore, he was not willing to retire from active service midway and then go into politics like other aristocratic officers who were unable to climb up. He preferred to stay in the army.
This time, the northwest side was making great fanfare and preparing for the Western Expedition, and Bi Zhian would not miss this opportunity.
In March of the 28th year of Xuanping's reign in Jinling, the rain began to increase, which meant that summer would soon usher in. Similarly, it also meant that the weather in the northwest would gradually improve.
Every summer and autumn, the Tang Army troops stationed in the northwest go on expeditions to the Western Regions. However, this kind of expedition in previous years was more like training zippers. The Tatars all know this habit of the Tang Army. When the ice and snow comes,
When it melts, these Tatars will evacuate from the area near the front line of Jiayuguan and retreat further west.
It was just to avoid the Tang Army’s annual troop training!
But many people know that this year’s Western Expedition is different!
In previous years, the Western Expedition was just for military training, but this year's Western Expedition is truly aimed at conquering the Western Region as its strategic goal.
It is said that since last year, the Holy Emperor has held many imperial strategic meetings, and the senior generals of the Privy Council have frequently discussed the issue of the Western Expedition.
As a staff member of the Privy Council Staff Department, Bi Zhi'an knew even more clearly that this year's Western Expedition was not a small battle, but a major one.
It is not even limited to military operations, but the civil service system in the rear will follow up in time, because after the Tang Dynasty sent troops to the Western Regions, it never thought of withdrawing its troops.
The battle was approaching, and Bi Zhian knew that if he didn't take action, he might miss this battle.
On March 16, Bi Zhian rode a horse to a community in the old city.
Guards soldiers stand guard at the entrances and exits of this community, checking and registering visitors who want to enter.
Naturally, the people living in this high-end community are not ordinary people. They are either rich or noble. Most of the people living here are military and political officials. The person he is looking for is Major General Ying Yikang, the most eye-catching general among the new generation of the army.
, just live here.
Bi Zhi'an is an active-duty army major, but it is still not easy to enter here. As soon as he arrived at the door, he was stopped by guards. After notifying Ying Yikang, Ying Yikang sent an attendant to pick him up.
Under the leadership of the attendant, Bi Zhi'an entered the community. Although he was not here, he couldn't help but take a second look when he came here again.
The residences in this community are not magnificent, they are just two- and three-story small buildings. In terms of scale and luxury, their Bi family residences are better than this one.
Although these small buildings are inconspicuous, you must know that next door to this community is a large central institution.
From here, you can go to the Privy Council Building or other ministry office buildings. You don't need to ride a horse or a car in many cases. You can just walk there.
So even though this place is not very eye-catching, the people who live here are the real rich and powerful!
In fact, this community is, to a certain extent, a dormitory for military and political officials serving in Gyeonggi Province. This community directly belongs to the Royal Assets Section, and every small villa in it is a royal asset.
Because the office buildings of many central agencies of the Tang Dynasty were located around the imperial palace, but the mansions of many powerful people were generally located in the suburbs, because only the suburbs had so many places for these powerful people to build large-scale buildings.
’s luxurious mansion.
However, the distance was long and it was inconvenient to travel to and from work, so Li Xuan specially set aside a place and built many small buildings for the temporary residence of military and political officials.
The people who are qualified to apply to live here are all high-level military and political officials, and everyone here has more power than the Bi family.
The power of their Bi family comes from Bi's father. Although Bi's father also held the rank of Army Major General, he also received the noble title of Baron.
However, Bi's father was forced to retire from active service very early due to the defeat in the internal struggle of the army, and his past personal connections were gradually forgotten.
In the eyes of ordinary people, their Bi family is a noble family and a member of the powerful class.
But Bi Zhian knew very well that the Bi family was at the bottom of the powerful class at best.
However, the real powerful people live in this society, and they are all military generals and ministers.
After entering the community, Bi Zhian took a look, but did not dare to inquire. After all, if you were a little unruly in a place like this, you would probably be controlled as a dangerous person.
Along the way, he stopped in front of a two-story building about a quarter of an hour later. The building's construction area was estimated to be only more than a hundred square meters. Even with the courtyard, it was not that big. Such a small building
, it’s totally inconspicuous when placed outside.
He, Bi Zhian, had purchased a house some time ago to house a woman he was hooking up with. Its scale and style were better than this one.
But he knew better that to apply for such an independent small building, one must be at least a powerful major general or a high-ranking official at the rank of minister.
Even an ordinary army major general is expected to be able to rent a small independent building here as a place to stay in Gyeonggi.
In fact, most officials working in central agencies in Gyeonggi, especially middle- and low-level officials, live in uniformly constructed dormitories in the surrounding area, usually with more than three floors, and even five or six-story cement buildings.
The steel-reinforced building is square and can house four or more households on one floor.
Naturally, these dormitories were also built by the Royal Assets Department, because most of the land around the palace, except for the office buildings of those institutions, belongs to the royal family. Officials naturally have to pay rent when renting, but it is higher than the market price.
It's much cheaper, and it can be regarded as a small benefit given to them personally by Li Xuan.
After all, life in Jinling City is not easy, and housing prices are expensive, especially the private buildings around the palace. The official system of the Tang Dynasty adopts a rotation system. It is often difficult for an official to serve in the same place for too long.
The shorter one is three years, the longer one is five years, and then they will be transferred.
It is not worth the large sums of money spent by these middle and low-level officials to purchase mansions just for a few years.
It's just the same. If the government doesn't solve the accommodation problem, many officials will have to spend several hours commuting every day.
It is rumored that there is news from high-level officials that they are planning to move some institutions out of town instead of gathering around the palace, but this is just talk, and it is not yet known when the actual implementation will take place.
Bi Zhi'an followed the attendant into the small building and waited in the living room on the first floor.
Naturally, someone brought him tea later, but before he could take a sip of tea, he heard footsteps on the wooden stairs. He raised his head and looked in, and saw Ying Yikang coming down.
Immediately, Ying Yikang put down his tea cup and saluted: "I have seen the director in this humble position!"
Ying Yikang waved his hand: "I have told you so many times, you and I are classmates, there is no need to be as polite as outsiders!"
Bi Zhi'an said yes, but secretly said in his heart, although you and I are classmates, we live in the same sky and on the same earth. This is not polite.
Also, one is the Director of the Strategy Department of the Privy Council Staff Department, and the other is just an ordinary staff officer in the Privy Council. This status gap is so big that people ignore their relationship as classmates.