It is not surprising that Zuo Guangdou has such an idea. Almost every civil official, when faced with such a situation, will immediately think of the disaster to the north, instigating Xu Xingxia and the nomads outside the Saiwai to meet you to the death. In their opinion, no matter how strong Xu Xingxia's combat power is, it is not easy to eliminate those nomads. If the two sides fight and both lose, the final benefit will definitely be the Ming Dynasty.

In the long history of the Chinese nation, there is almost no nomadic people who were wiped out by the Central Plains Dynasty. Note that it is annihilation, not defeat. The Xiongnu were not, neither were the Xianbei, neither were the Turks, and the Tatars were not people. These nomads were all exterminated by the emerging nomads. It seems that the Xiongnu were exterminated by the Xianbei people, and the Xianbei people were exterminated by the Turks. Of course, they were defeated by the Central Plains Dynasty and their strength was seriously damaged, which is also an important reason.

It seems that the Turks during the Tang Dynasty were once very powerful, and even Tang Taizong Li Shimin had to negotiate peace with them for a time. However, after the unremitting blows of Li Jing and others, the strength of the Turks continued to weaken. By the time of Emperor Tang Ming, the strength of the Turks had been reduced to the bottom. Emperor Tang Ming repeatedly sent large armies to assault, and finally scattered all the Turks. As a whole, the Turkic people ceased to exist. On the corpses of the Turkic people rose were many ethnic minorities such as the Huanggas, the Hui, the Dangxiang, and the Khitan.

The current Tatars, quite a bit of the momentum of the original Turks, the area controlled by them is also quite vast, the number of cavalry is also quite large, and they also go south from time to time to harass the border areas of the Ming Dynasty, which makes the Ming Dynasty feel quite annoyed, but helpless. The strong period of the Ming Dynasty was far less than that of the Tang Dynasty. From the founding of the Ming Dynasty to the change of Tumubao, only 80 years have passed. After the Tumubao Incident, the Ming army completely lost the initiative in foreign wars, and has always been passive defense.

Later, even passive defense became unfeasible. Tatar invasions have become almost the norm. By the time of Jiajing, the Tatars gave the Ming Dynasty another great shock, that is, the siege of Jingshi. In the Longqing period and the early Wanli period, due to the emergence of Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang and other cattle people, the situation in the important town of the nine sides was slightly better. However, after the deaths of Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang and others, the situation began to deteriorate again.

As the prefect of Ningxia Town, Zuo Guangdou knows very well what kind of attitude Ningxia Town had in the face of the Tatars in the past. And now, what kind of attitude does the white-clothed army have when they control Ningxia Town. The contrast is indeed too great. So that those who are as determined as the left light fighter cannot but be moved. After all, as long as you are human, you don't want to be bullied by adults, do you? It would be better if it could be bullied in reverse.

Xu Xingxia is now a typical example of being able to bully Tartars in turn. The Tatar Kylgin tribe, which had been harassing Ningxia Town before, was completely wiped out by Xu Xingxia. And Mo Yuegen, the Tatar arrow god who has always silenced the military households in Ningxia Town, cannot take advantage of Xu Xingxia in the slightest. And Lin Dan Khan, who had 50,000 iron lance cavalry, also suffered a big loss in front of Xu Xingxia, and had to roll back in disgrace.

Zuo Guangdou said: "I don't know if I can work for adults?" ”

Xu Xingxia looked at Zuo Guangdou for half a minute. Zuo Guangdou actually wants to work for himself? Did I hear me right? When Xu Xingxia first started, he suspected that he had a problem with his ears. He didn't even hide it in the slightest, rubbing his ears vigorously. A famous cattle man in history actually took the initiative to apply to work for himself? Xu Xingxia felt that his Wang Ba's qi was too strong, and it was simply a change of life.

However, Xu Xingxia quickly understood. Zuo Guangdou must have done this with a purpose. In fact, the arrival of Zuo Guangdou does not seem to have any real benefits for him. The development of the white-clothed army does not seem to need people like Zuo Guangdou. At the very least, it is not needed in the territory of Ningxia Town. If he was doing things in Ningxia Town, Xu Xingxia would really be a little uneasy. In case he has an eyebrow with the imperial court, he will become Mr. Dongguo.

Moreover, Zuo Guangdou may have another purpose for "taking refuge", that is, trying to influence himself through his personal charm. It can be seen that Zuo Guangdou is a very confident person. Generally speaking, people who are overconfident will overestimate their abilities. He may think that he has not read a book and does not understand the big truth, so he will do such a stupid thing as rebellion and rebellion. Perhaps, after his education, he will never rebel again.

To be honest, from the perspective of the imperial court, it would be really good if Xu Xingxia didn't rebel. He eliminated those foreign people for the Ming Dynasty, he sat in the northwest for the Ming Dynasty, and he continued to expand the territory and plunder wealth for the Ming Dynasty. Where can I find such a good thing? If Zuo Guangdou really does this, his credit will be greater than that of the first assistant of the cabinet.

With such a huge temptation, it is no wonder that Zuo Guangdou will put down his body and try to get close to him. His purpose in doing this is definitely for the sake of the imperial court. Perhaps, in his opinion, reforming himself is the quickest, most fundamental and most effective way to quell the rebellion. Therefore, his loyalty to the court can be seen by heaven and earth, and can be expressed by the moon. Even if he is temporarily suspected by the imperial court, he will eventually clear his name and become an iron-clad loyal minister, and it is inevitable that he will be famous in history and will be remembered for eternity.

However, Xu Xingxia is not afraid of Zuo Guangdou creating resistance for himself. To say that he must have bones. But if he has great ability, it is not necessarily. When it comes to the ability to govern the government, Zuo Guangdou is not as good as Zhu Xieyuan and Huang Kezhang. In all fairness, if it weren't for the hostile position, Huang Kezhang and Zhu Xieyuan would be good masters of governance.

What is Zuo Guangdou's greatest ability? On his resume, there seem to be only two things. One is the investigation of the case, that is, the case of the fraud den of the Ministry of Officials. One is to build water conservancy. Zuo Guangdou does have a set of water conservancy projects. His first ability is not needed for the time being. But it's his second skill, which seems to be very useful.

Xu Xingxia said quietly: "Then you come to make a record for me to join the army?" ”

In the official positions of the Ming Dynasty, there was no such title as recording the title of joining the army, which was only available in the Tang Dynasty. In the feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty, it was a very important job to record and join the army. In fact, there is no clear authority for this position, and everything is arranged according to the needs of the Jiedu envoys. Xu Xingxia felt that such an official position was simply designed for Zuo Guangdou.

Zuo Guangdou naturally understood Xu Xingxia's thoughts, and it turned out that he wanted to give himself an idle position. However, it doesn't matter if you are idle. As long as he can get close to Xu Xingxia, he will have a chance to influence Xu Xingxia. He has a strong sense of confidence in this. He bowed and said cautiously, "Your subordinates obey." ”

Xu Xingxia smiled secretly in his heart, thinking, if you want to get close to me and influence me, you have to cooperate with me. I'll give you no chance to meet me in person, and see how you influence me. You can't pester me all day. He said with a smile: "Very good, one of the big things I want to do now is to develop the Bayannur grassland, I don't know if Lord Zuo is interested?" ”

Zuo Guangdou understood that Xu Xingxia deliberately threw himself into the Bayannur grassland to refrigerate and deliberately avoided himself. He had to admit that he underestimated Xu Xingxia again. This little fox, really cunning, seems to have guessed his purpose. However, he is also very happy to be able to develop the Bayannur grassland. This is also a real achievement.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty has never included the Bayannur grassland and the Elechuan plain, which is a regret for many people with lofty ideals. The upper banks of the Yellow River are actually very fertile. In addition to the Ningxia Plain, there is also the top horizontal of the "several" shape, which is the area originally controlled by the Tatars and Mongols.

For a long time, in the Ming court, many people advocated that all the Hetao Plain should be recovered in order to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Xia Yan, the head of the cabinet during the Jiajing period, was the most resolute of them. At the beginning, Xia Yan actively advocated sending troops to recover the Elechuan Plain, and Emperor Jiajing once agreed. But later, he repented. As a result, this matter was not half completed in the end. The Bayannur Grassland and the Elechuan Plain were still under the control of the Ming court.

Some time ago, the imperial court decided to aid Lin Dan Khan, and it did not necessarily mean to recover the Elechuan Plain. At that time, in order to curry favor with the Ming Dynasty, he obtained 50,000 sets of cavalry equipment, and Lin Dan Khan also vaguely said that at the right time, he could return the Elechuan Plain to the Ming Dynasty. In fact, he just said it casually and coaxed the Ming Dynasty up and down, and then there was no follow-up. This is also the reason why the imperial court is unwilling to continue to aid him.

You kid don't believe in your words, how can we still believe you? However, after all, the Elechuan Plain was in the hands of Lin Dan Khan, and the Ming Dynasty was also powerless. It is absolutely impossible to send troops to attack, whether there is so much money and food to spend is one aspect, and whether or not you can beat Lin Dan Khan is another aspect. Lin Dan Khan got 50,000 sets of cavalry equipment, like a tiger with wings, where is the Ming army still Lin Dan Khan's opponent? In case of defeat, the consequences are even more serious.

Now, what so many people can't do, Xu Xingxia has done. The Bayannur steppe, which had been occupied by the Tatars for two or three hundred years, was actually snatched back by the white-clothed army. This is indeed a great joy. If he can build the Bayannur grassland, his merits can almost be tied with Xu Xingxia. No matter what later generations say about him, in the history books, he can't fail to mention his Zuo Guangdou name.

Now that the Bayannur grassland has been taken, will the Eilechuan Plain be far away? Zuo Guangdou deeply believed in Xu Xingxia's ability. It seems that he Zuo Guangdou is about to become the first envoy of the Ming Dynasty to the outside world. So, at the end of October of the forty-fifth year of Wanli, Zuo Guangdou embarked on the road to Bayannur grassland with full hope and longing.

(To be continued)