() It was nearly June, the sun was blazing like a fire, and there were almost no human traces on the roads in Xiliang. But at this time, Ma Yue, under the protection of Wang Feng and others, rushed to the border of Angu County.

Lintao was nearly a hundred miles away, but he still braved the scorching sun and risked being discovered and intercepted by the Qiang people to get here.

The purpose of his coming here was to ask for troops from the Li family, a wealthy family in Longxi. After learning that there might be internal forces in Longxian County, Ma Yue immediately started his previous plan and asked for help from the seven wealthy families. But after a few days,

All these letters asking for help were thrown into the sea, and there was no response at all. In desperation, Ma Yue had no choice but to go and have a talk in person.

In fact, Ma Yue also understood what these wealthy families were worried about. Although the people of Xiliang knew that they had a certain amount of armed force, this was not an open matter after all, and the imperial government could not do anything to them because of this. But once

If they really exposed their own strength, if the imperial court wants to cause trouble for them in the future, it will really give them a handle. Therefore, for the sake of their own safety, it is naturally difficult for them to agree to provide Dong Zhuo with military help.

But even though he knew the matter was difficult, Ma Yue still decided to go and talk to the Li family, hoping to impress them with his words. Because he believed that as long as one family could be persuaded to send troops, it would be easier for the other six families to agree.

, and the Li family is the closest to Lintao, so they can achieve their wishes faster.

On the afternoon of May 23rd, Ma Yue and his party finally came to a Wubao ten miles away from Angu County. This Wubao, which looked to be half the size of a city, was located halfway up the mountain, with more buildings on both sides.

Guarded by an archery tower, it looked like a place that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. However, Ma Yue had no intention of observing this. He just urged his horse to come to the gate of the fortress and revealed his identity to the guards there.

This time, the attitude of the Li family was good. It was not like when Ma Yue went to Linjiawu for the first time, where he was left hanging outside the fort for a long time before he could enter. Soon, there were two people with wide robes and long sleeves, with extraordinary appearance.

The man came out to welcome him. As soon as they met, the two of them took the initiative to salute: "It turns out that Mr. Ma is here. I am waiting too far to welcome you, so please forgive me!"

"You two are so polite." Ma Yue hurriedly stepped forward to return the greeting, but for some reason, when facing these two polite people, he felt that their attitudes were a bit hypocritical.

After they were led into a spacious living room in the castle and sat down, Ma Yue asked about their names and identities. These two people are the leaders of the current generation of the Li family, one named Li Xu

, one named Li Shi, are both sons of the current head of the Li family. And Li He, who had a relationship with Ma Yue back then, is actually Li Shi's son.

"It turns out they are two uncles. You are more polite when you dismount." Ma Yue hurriedly stood up and saluted. He and Li He were considered equals, so there was naturally a generation gap between them. The two did not dare to talk to each other.

, and at the same time, they were also on guard. As the saying goes, people must ask for something if they are polite. This Ma Yue was so polite, which really made them feel uneasy.

After a few words of greetings, Ma Yue got to the point: "I came to Lijiawu this time for two important things. The first one is to commend the Li family for their generosity in the past few days, providing 100,000 dendrobium of grain."

, to help our officers and soldiers quell the chaos. Now that my lord has made a formal report to the imperial court and Marshal Zhang for this contribution, I believe that within a few days, the imperial court's reward will come down."

"These are the things that our Li family should do, and we really don't deserve rewards from the court!" Li Xu laughed hurriedly: "After all, our Li family is also from the Han family. How can we do it when we see the Qiang people running rampant in Xiliang?

Do your best!”

"Uncle Li's words are very true. I, the descendants of the Han family, have taken root in Xiliang for many years. These six counties in Liangzhou are already the territory of my Han family. But now there are Qiang people who dare to invade our borders. We, the descendants of the Han family, should be the guardians of our territory.

Weiguo is going all out!" Ma Yue hurriedly agreed, but deliberately changed what the other party said about doing his best into going all out.

Brother Li Xu could clearly grasp this little trick in his words, but they couldn't object. After all, the other party had a strong sense of justice. So the two of them had to respond vaguely, and then the scene became a little cold.

Come down.

Ma Yue smiled bitterly in his heart, knowing that the other party would not be able to cooperate with him in bringing out the topic he wanted to talk about most, so he had to say it more directly: "This second matter is asking your family for help again."

"Does Mr. Ma still want us to provide food and grass? I'm afraid it will be very difficult. Although our Li family is relatively wealthy, our food reserves are limited after all. We have already provided all the food we can find to the government.

, if we take out the remaining grain, the people like me will suffer from hunger. I hope Master Ma and your Majesty can understand our difficulties." Li Shi immediately put on a look of embarrassment and said.

Ma Yue secretly sighed in his heart, but he said: "I am not here for food, but to ask for troops from your family!" At this point, he can only make it clear.

"Requesting troops?" Li Shi and Li Xu looked at each other: "A few days ago, our family received a letter requesting troops. Is this really sent by Mr. Ma?"

"Exactly. Now that Long County is under siege and the entire Longxi County is in danger, although my lord wants to serve the country, he suffers from the fact that he is weak and unable to compete with the Qiang thieves, so he thought of asking for troops from various families." Ma.

Yue nodded and admitted.

"This... we just thought this was some ignorant liar defrauding us, but we didn't expect it to be true." Li Xu said incredulously: "Although my Li family has a certain amount of wealth, there are also some in the local area.

Reputation, but how can there be any soldiers? Mr. Ma’s behavior is really asking for fish at the end of the tree!"

"That's right. My Li family has always made a living by farming and trading. Even if there are some people in Wubao, they are ordinary merchants and farmers. How can we have soldiers to help the court? We really can't fulfill Mr. Ma's request!"

Li Shi also said.

Ma Yue had already guessed that they would use such words to make recommendations, and said: "These words confuse me. As far as I know, every family in Xiliang has no less than five thousand elites at their disposal. How come the Li family said

Is there no one available?" After saying this, he only glanced at the Li brothers, wanting to see how they performed.

But the expressions of Li Shi and Li Shi were very calm, not showing any signs of surprise: "Where did Mr. Ma get this news? It's really hard to accept. If our Li family really had so many people, the government would still tolerate us."

Are you here? Our Li family is a member of the family, and we are all registered in the government. The population of the entire dock is less than a thousand, so how can we get 5,000 strong men?"

"That's right. Mr. Ma, please don't scare us with such a thing. If the court believes this matter to be true, will our Li family still have a way to survive? Of course, we can also understand that Mr. Ma is eager to calm the chaos, so we believe it.

I don’t take those words of truth seriously, but we do have only a thousand people in Lijiawu, and most of them are old, weak, women and children. If you don’t believe me, you can go and check everywhere in the dock.”

Ma Yue was speechless. He didn't expect that they would push back so cleanly and not admit that they had soldiers at all. It would be too much for him to ask them to send troops to help, and it was impossible for him to really investigate the entire Li family.

Wu, because firstly, this would be a confrontation with them, and secondly, they probably wouldn’t be able to find anything. The Li family had already hidden the person. Thinking of this, Ma Yue couldn’t help but have a look of helplessness on his face.

Come on, he didn't know what to do for a moment.

He couldn't use verbal threats like he did when he asked the Qi family for food last time. Even if he succeeded in borrowing soldiers, would they really dare to use these people? It is very possible for people who are not sincere to help to sneak into the army.

If it has the opposite effect, it would be too much of a loss. Moreover, the Li family's concerns are not unreasonable. Compared with their own family's survival, Ma Yue's previous threats are nothing.

Seeing Ma Yue's helpless look, the Li brothers looked at each other and showed a look of pride. They were indeed controlled by this young man last time and paid a heavy price, but this time they finally managed to

It was to find the place.

However, in order not to make the relationship too tense, Li Shi added: "If Mr. Ma is really short of manpower, we can still contribute. There are more than 400 strong men in our fort, and we can lend them to him this time."

You three hundred..."

Hearing this, Ma Yue smiled bitterly. He originally wanted 3,000 troops, but the other party was only willing to give 300. This is really too...

Just when Ma Yue was still thinking about how to continue to persuade the other party, a cough suddenly came from outside. As soon as the Li brothers heard the sound, they all stood up from their seats and looked at the door respectfully.

Not long after, a trembling old man walked over with the support of two young men.

"I've seen my father! Father, your health has not been well. Why did you come suddenly today?" The two brothers of the Li family asked in surprise. The old man who came suddenly was the head of the Li family, Li You, but

We agreed today that my father would not come to interfere with this matter, so why did he come?

"Young master is Dong Zhongying's staff. Ma...what's the name of Ma?" The old man looked at Ma Yue Road up and down with his cloudy eyes.

"My dear, Ma Yue, I have met Mr. Li!" Ma Yue did not dare to ask for help, but he still bowed politely.

"Oh, Mr. Ma is indeed very handsome. He is much more promising than my descendants. They are already serving the country at a young age." Li You coughed twice more as he spoke, and then continued.

: "Why are you here?"

Ma Yue repeated what he had just said, and then waited quietly for Mrs. Li's response. He vaguely guessed that the appearance of this old man definitely meant that things had turned around, otherwise he would not have had to come out at all.

"How many soldiers do you want?" Li Taigong asked after smiling.

"Three thousand, only three thousand is enough."
Chapter completed!