Gao Gong's confidence was not without reason. When he met Yang Bo in Zhending Prefecture last year, old Yang had already told him the truth... The infiltration of Shanxi merchants into the Tatars had reached a very deep level.

How deep was it? Altan Khan's sons had been dragged into the water by them, and the Taijis expressed their hope to establish peace and tribute with the Ming Dynasty. They stopped plundering the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty also opened border trade, and everyone did business happily together.

Even Altan was persuaded by the Shanxi merchants. He led tens of thousands of troops to invade Xuanda every year, sometimes twice a year. Who could stand this? The Han people who had some ability had already moved inland, hiding far away from him. As for the common people who could not leave, they had already been robbed of their homes and there was nothing left to rob.

Besides, the Ming army was not just for show. Although they did not dare to confront Altan Khan's army head-on, they would launch crazy revenge every time they were invaded. In late autumn, when the grasslands were dry and yellow and could be ignited at any time, the Ming army would send light cavalry to penetrate the Tatars' pastures and "burn the wasteland" everywhere, burning all the grass and making it impossible for Altan Khan's cattle and sheep to survive the winter.

Ma Fang, the general of Datong, is a fierce man. He takes advantage of the scattered living conditions of the Mongolian tribes and leads his soldiers to raid the Tatar camps from time to time, setting fire to their tents and killing their people and cattle and sheep. By using tit-for-tat, he wants Altan Khan to also have a taste of being accused of poor protection by the tribes.

In order to give an explanation to the attacked tribe, Altan had to invade the Ming territory more frequently, which in turn caused Ma Fang to burn the land and destroy the tribe more crazily.

The one who couldn't stand this cycle of revenge was actually Altan.

The Ming Dynasty had two capitals and thirteen provinces. Let alone Xuanda, even if the entire Shanxi and northern part of the country were destroyed, what would happen? There were still fertile lands in Jiangnan and Huguang to support the border troops. The people of Altan's tribe were both soldiers and the soldiers were both people. If the people were damaged, the soldiers would be weakened. Even if his family was big and powerful, he couldn't bear it.

Moreover, the grassland was not a monolithic entity. The Oirat in the west and the Wuliangha in the east were all eyeing his Hetao and waiting for the decline of the Tatars. Altan actually had the idea of ​​stopping the mutual harm with the Ming Dynasty, but he had invaded the Ming Dynasty for decades, and his hands were stained with blood. There were at least hundreds of thousands of Ming people who died in his hands. Not to mention the distant past, he slaughtered more than 50,000 people in Shizhou in the first year of Longqing!

The Ming Dynasty was notorious for having hard and smelly stones in its toilets... When Tai Shi Yesen escorted their emperor to the outskirts of Beijing, he dared to fire cannons at his mother. Altan Khan had no confidence that the people of the Ming Dynasty could start a fight with him.

Besides, things on the grassland are never decided by one person. At least half of Altan's descendants are die-hards. In order to avoid the division of the tribe, he never mentioned "peace talks".

As for Gao Gong, the condition for the Shanxi Gang to support him was to negotiate peace with Altan. In order to allow him to overcome all objections and get this done, Old Yang even gave up his position as the Heavenly Official, so Gao Gong had no choice but to get this done despite the criticism.

Of course Gao Gong also agreed to the peace talks, otherwise even if the Shanxi Gang offered him the position of Prime Minister, he would not accept it.

Therefore, after Gao Gong came to power, he transferred his classmate Fang Fengshi from the position of Governor of Liaodong to the position of Governor of Datong, and transferred another classmate, Wang Chonggu, who was also Zhang Siwei's uncle and a pillar of the Jin Party, from the position of Governor-General of Shaanxi to the position of Governor-General of Xuanda, thus increasing the control over the Xuanda front line to the point where he could carry out micro-manipulation.

~~

In addition, Gao Gong also sent a spy to Hetao.

This man's name was Lu Guang, and he was the hero who came to the capital to work on behalf of Xu Jie.

After entering the capital in the spring of the third year of the Longqing reign, the hero Lu and the Xu family made many efforts to help the old man Xu survive the disaster. Unexpectedly, there was a loud noise in the sky, and Gao Gong fell from the sky.

Lord Gao and Lord Xu had a deep hatred for each other, and immediately all those who spoke for Xu Jie retreated, fearing that Gao would mistake them for Xu's party and use them as a sacrifice.

In desperation, Lu Guang bribed another hero with a large sum of money, asking him to give Xu Jie a way out.

Yes, it was the great hero Shao Fang. As the saying goes, if one person succeeds, all his family members will benefit. Moreover, in Gao Gong's eyes, he was his greatest contributor, a true friend who helped him get out of the quagmire and stand on the top again. So he kept Shao Fang in the capital to give him advice, and he listened to his words and trusted him immensely.

The dignitaries soon knew that Gao Ge Lao was as clean as water and did not show favoritism. If they wanted to get things done, they had to go through Shao Da Xia. Therefore, Shao Da Xia, oh no, Mr. Chu Xiu, is now a prime minister's spokesperson with many guests and a great reputation.

Maybe it was because he was a hero, or maybe Shao Fang just liked to challenge the impossible, so he actually led him to see Gao Gong.

Everything was fine at first, but when Gao Gong heard the purpose of Lu Guang's visit, his face suddenly changed color, he scolded Shao Fang for interfering in government affairs, and stood up to leave.

Lü Guang knelt down and cried loudly, and Gao Gong's wife was so moved that she advised him to forgive others. Gao Gong finally gave in and said that he could write a letter to Hai Rui to ask him to let Xu go. But there was a condition, that Lü Guang must secretly go to Hetao to persuade Altan to accept the peace talks.

When Xia Yan supported Zeng Xin's "restoration of the system", Gao Gong was in the Hanlin Academy. He was also a staunch supporter of the "restoration of the system" and was deeply impressed by the famous hero Lu in the capital. He remembered that this man traveled between the Han and Mongolian peoples and was very familiar with the terrain, culture and customs inside and outside the system. He even had dealings with Altan.

Later, by chance, Lu Guang became a retainer of Zeng Xin, the governor-general of the three borders. It was he who presented the restoration plan to Zeng Xin and he also went to Beijing to lobby vigorously.

It must be said that Gao Gong, the Minister of Personnel, really knew how to appoint the right people. The biggest regret of Lu Guang's life was that he eventually resumed the discussion of sleeping with his father, and Yan Song took the opportunity to kill Xia Yan and Zeng Xin. Although it was not his fault, but the result of Jiajing's cowardice and his stubbornness, Lu Guang still felt deeply guilty.

Just when he thought he would regret for the rest of his life, he heard that he had another chance to go to the grassland and complete his unfinished business... Although "re-entry" and "peace talks" are very different, both can bring peace to the border of the Ming Dynasty, make up for many years of regret, and comfort the spirits of Xia Yuanfu and Zeng Butang in heaven.

Although Gao Gong would not give him any appointment or documents before confirming Altan's attitude in order to avoid leaving any handle, Lu Guang accepted the task without hesitation. He left the capital with only two disciples, went out of Datong and entered the vast Chi Lechuan, and found Altan's tribe.

But Altan no longer remembered the "Doctor Lu" who had treated him 20 years ago. After all, the Tumed tribe is now the undisputed overlord of all Mongolian tribes. They kicked the former grassland overlord Chahar tribe to Liaodong, controlling a vast area from north of Xuanda in the east, to Hetao in the west, to the Gobi Desert in the north, and to the Great Wall in the south.

A few years ago, because they could not bear the harassment of Ma Fang, in order to open up pastures far away from Datong, Altan and his children and grandchildren drove the Oirat tribe to Kobdo, conquered Qinghai, and even sent troops to Tibet. How could he meet such a hegemon with 100,000 soldiers under his command whenever he wanted?

As a result, Altan never even met him, but fortunately there was a lack of doctors in the tribe, so he kept him to treat the nobles.

After going through so many things, what Lu Guang had the most was patience. He patiently lived in the Tatar royal court, made friends with Altan's children and grandchildren, and waited for the opportunity to come.

Soon, Lü Guang met Altan's grandson, Bahan Naji, through a guard named Ali Ge whom he had saved. Although Altan had many children and grandchildren, this Bahan Naji was different. He was the only son of Altan's third son, Tiebei Taiji. He became an orphan at the age of three and was raised by his grandmother, Altan's wife, Ikehatun. Therefore, he had the deepest relationship with Hatun and was the most favored one among Altan's grandsons.

Lü Guang wanted to influence Altan through Hannaji, so he kept telling him about the prosperity and countless benefits of the Ming Dynasty. After a year, this young Mongolian nobleman who was ignorant of the world was brainwashed into a spiritual Ming Dynasty man who was loyal to the Celestial Empire. He wanted to tie his hair and wear a robe in the Tatar royal court and dress like a Han man.

Lu Guang tried to persuade him, saying that if he went out dressed like this, he would be asking for trouble. If he really wanted to wear it, he might as well talk to his grandfather and make peace with the Ming Dynasty. Then he could wear whatever he wanted, even if he went to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Hannaji was very excited when he heard this, but he finally said in disappointment: "It's impossible. Grandpa won't listen to me. He just treats me as a little kid."

"..." Lu Guang's eyes went dark when he heard this, and he felt that his work was in vain. Seeing that the mission could not be completed, he wanted to assassinate Altan directly. Of course, that was impossible, as it would lead to a war to the death.

Just when he was in despair, something happened that gave him an idea.

At that time, Behannaji was already married, but his wife was ugly and their marriage was not harmonious. What Behannaji was thinking about was his cousin, Altan Khan's granddaughter, the daughter of Zheheng Aha, the leader of the Oirat Qilagut tribe. The girl was beautiful and was known as the Xishi of the grassland. She was the dream lover of countless Mongolian youths.

Bahan Naji proposed to her again and again, but Zheheng Aha refused. How could a father let his precious daughter be someone else's mistress... Bugu felt offended.

But he did not give up, and begged his grandmother and grandfather to come forward to propose marriage. Altan was a little afraid of his wife, and could not stand Hatun's nagging, so he had to take Han Naji to Ordos in person, and after a lot of soft and hard tactics, he promised to give up the position of Beiji to Zhong Jin, and finally forced Zheheng Aha to agree.

Since she had agreed to the marriage, Zhong Jin went into the tent to meet her grandfather and future husband.

When Han Naji saw the stunningly beautiful and charming Zhong Jin, he felt that all his years of pursuit were worth it. He was so happy that he didn't even know what his last name was.

However, Lu Guang, who came with him, made a surprising discovery - the look in Altan Khan's eyes when he looked at Zhong Jin was very abnormal!

It was definitely not the doting of a grandfather looking at his granddaughter, or the relief of a yeye looking at his granddaughter-in-law, but rather an undisguised desire! He wished he could swallow this charming little beauty into his stomach...

Lu Guang immediately thought of Dong Zhuo and Fengyi Pavilion!