While speaking, Li Li took a break, then pushed open the door and walked into the inner room to take a shower and change clothes.

After a while, when he came out of the inner room and walked into the dormitory, he saw Zhen sitting alone in the room waiting for him.

"I heard that you are back. I'll come over to see you. It's going well all the way?"

This time, Zhen was abnormal. He did not argue with Li Li or bowed to salute him. Instead, he stood up and handed him a cup of hot tea, and said softly and thoughtfully.

"Well, it's going well." Li Li nodded in surprise, took the teacup, sat next to Zhen, and drank a cup of warm and half of tea in one breath.

He had just come out of the shower and was indeed very thirsty. The warm tea handed over by Zhen was undoubtedly exactly the same as his wish. After a cup of tea, he felt calm all over. Then he smiled and said, "Among the counties of Youzhou, several counties near Jizhou are quite good, with dense populations and prosperous cities, but the counties on the border are a bit unsatisfactory, and even the border borders of our Yongzhou Western Regions are not as good as those of ours. Overall, Youzhou is far from that of Jizhou and cannot be compared.

Zhen nodded with a smile and said with a smile: "Youzhou is located in the border area. Thirty percent of the counties are occupied by the Wuhuan barbarians. The northeast is bordered by the small foreign countries such as Goryeo and Fuyu. The wars are endless all year round, and they are always in wars. Like Liangzhou, Liu Yu, the Youzhou, is a place of long-term war. In addition, Liu Yu, the Youzhou, was generous and kind, and the means were weak, so that the Wuhuan and Xianbei people often plundered the counties and counties and acted recklessly. Some time ago, I heard that the White Horse General Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu were inconsistent, and the conflicts were becoming increasingly intensified. I believe that Youzhou would have another dispute.

Compared with Youzhou, Liangzhou was originally inferior to Youzhou. It was surrounded by barbarian tribes, including Qiang people, Yuezhi and Southern Xiongnu tribes. In recent years, the Xianbei tribes in the western region have even expanded the scope of plunder to Xiliang. However, Wenchang suddenly emerged. He pacified Xiliang in one fell swoop, and hundreds of thousands of troops stationed the border. Before the barbarian tribe could send troops to plunder the Han territory, the Xiliang army under your command took the initiative to send troops to suppress the barbarian tribes. Over the past two years, the Xiliang army has been continuously attacking, which has not only failed to obtain food and Han slaves, but the number of tribes has dropped sharply, and its territory has shrunk step by step, and its strength has been greatly reduced.

As a result, many grassland tribes had to move to the two prefectures of You, which made these two prefectures increasingly depressed. Barbarian cavalry was rampant and bandits were rampant. If this situation continued to develop, it would be expected that in the near future, most of the prefectures of You and You would become the territory of the prefectures of the prefectures of You, Han people, could only continue to move inward and move to other prefectures and counties."

Zhen's words made Li Li feel extremely heavy. But he couldn't help. After all, the tentacles of the Western Liang Army could not reach the Youbing and the two states. They were both restrained by the princes of the Central Plains and the distance was too far away, so they were beyond reach!

It is a pity that the Han vassals and scrambled internally, but no one really focused on pacifying the border and expanding the territory. After all, Xiliang was in a corner. Even if he was determined to wipe out the barbarians and protect the territory of the Han Dynasty, he could not use his strength, so what could he do? Therefore, it is indeed an urgent task to quarrel with the Han Dynasty as soon as possible; otherwise, once the Xiliang army strives to wipe out the barbarians, there will be someone behind him to take the opportunity to stab the knife, and even the foundation of Xiliang will be taken away by others.

This is Li Li's deepest helplessness. Even though he has a passionate heart, he also has the heart of defending the territory of the Han Dynasty and the people. However, he is always bound by the situation in the world, surrounded by the princes, and dare not act rashly, otherwise there will be danger of foundation overturning. Therefore, what he can do now is to wash away the snow in front of his door and keep the frost on others and be in Xiliang. He wants to protect the people of Xiliang from bullying by barbarians. As for other prefectures and counties, he is powerless; he can only hope that the princes who occupy these prefectures and counties can resist the invasion of barbarians and guard the territory of the Han Dynasty and the border people.

As soon as he thought of this, Li Li couldn't help feeling a little depressed. Then he changed the subject and asked softly: "Madam, it's because she is here, right? If the Madam doesn't think I'm an outsider living here, you might as well tell me."

"Wenchang has something in his words, it's so heartless! Ask yourself, when did I think of you as an outsider?" Zhen asked back with an angry face.

"Hahaha!" Li Li didn't expect Zhen to react so strongly, so he grinned and said, "Madam, calm down. I just said this casually and said it, "Madam, don't take it seriously. When I entered the city before, I saw the personal guards under Yuan Shao's tent control the city gate and prohibited the people from entering and leaving. Then I learned from Chen Dao that it was the second young master Yuan who came. Judging from this situation, Yuan Xi's visit is not good! I wonder what the wife plans to deal with it?"

"Hmph, men are all heartless and unscrupulous men!" Zhen pretended to be angry and cut Li Li for a glance, but the expression on her face was particularly charming, as if Li Li had abandoned her at all times.

The shame and anger of a young woman like Zhen made Li Li feel refreshed, and his eyes couldn't help but turn to Zhen's white and plump body, but his peeping movements were very concealed, and Zhen seemed to not notice them at all.

When he heard Li Li talk about the serious matter, Zhen no longer cared about Li Li's mistakes. He looked bullied and said weakly: "Yuan Xi is here to ask for money and grain from my Zhen family. He spoke up for 50,000 stones of grain and grass, 30 million yuan. I didn't agree before. Unexpectedly, he brought troops here this time, and it was obvious that he forced money and grain. If he didn't agree, he would face each other. Although I was the head of the Zhen family, I was a woman after all. I had never seen such a formation. Therefore, I was so scared that I dared not show up. I could only let the clan elders come forward to entertain Yuan Xi and his party. After the banquet ended, I could only bear to say that I was unlucky and gave him all the money and grain. I really don't know that this disaster star has always been caused. My Zhen family is really unfavorable!"

"Hahaha!" Seeing Zhen's look like he was bullied and holding his breath, his voice and emotion were vivid, Li Li couldn't help laughing.

It was not until Zhen Shitian rolled her eyes and waited for him that Li Li stopped laughing and said with a smile: "Madam, don't be angry. It's not worth it for the person like Yuan Xi to be so angry. Isn't it just 50,000 stones of grain and grass and 30 million yuan? It's really not worth mentioning to the Zhen family. Madam is just a waste of money and disasters, just send Yuan Xi and others away, why bother with him? Fang Zheng's Zhen family has a great fortune, what is this little money and grain? What's more, if the mountains and rivers do not change, the face that the Zhen family lost today will be recovered sooner or later. In the future, he will give Yuan Xi some eye drops in front of Yuan Shao, so that he can't finish it. What's the point of taking a kid? "

After hearing Li Li's words, Zhen smiled instead of anger. He asked softly with a smile: "I just said you are a heartless and unscrupulous man?"

"Well, the lady did say it, but I didn't take it to my heart. Lady doesn't have to worry about it." Li Li responded casually.

Zhen's expression suddenly changed, and his eyes stared at Li Li with a burning look. He said word by word: "I only know now that Li Wenchang, you are such a bad person, good-hearted, heart-warrant, heart-warrant, heart-warrant, heart-warrant, heart-warrant, man!"

"Uh?" Li Li woke up in shock and looked at Zhen suspiciously. The two of them immediately looked at each other's eyes and stared at each other's eyes motionlessly.

After a moment, the two of them moved slightly and they looked at each other and smiled: "Hahaha!"

Zhen's pretty face stopped laughing slightly, and her red lips opened softly and said softly: "You are such a smart guy. You can't escape your eyes in anything. Since you know everything, I will ask directly, what do you think I should do? Do you want to lend Yuan Shao money and food?"

"Only by planning everything, you can only be invincible. So what if you borrow it, so what if you don't borrow it? I wonder if your wife thinks about the interests of it?" Li Li asked in a harmonious voice.

Zhen's eyes moved slightly, and a hint of admiration flashed in his eyes. He thought, "As Wenchang said, the little money and grain borrowed by Yuan Shao are indeed not difficult for my Zhen family. It can be sent to his military camp within three days. But this kind of thing can't be repeated again and again. If Yuan Shao tastes the sweetness and borrows money and grain from my Zhen family, sooner or later, it will be a big family that has been bullied by him sooner or later. Therefore, this case cannot be opened and must be firmly resisted. Even if he has a quarrel with Yuan Shao, he will do whatever he wants. After all, Yuan Shao is also a well-known overlord. How can he attack my Zhen family because he cannot borrow grain? Moreover, although my Zhen family does not have many soldiers under Yuan Shao's responsibilities, he is still a big family that has been passed down for nearly two hundred years. How can he not protect himself if he accumulates so much money and grain!

Because of this, I still don’t plan to lend him the amount of money and grain I want. I will lend him up to 20,000 stones of grain and grass and one million coins. Apart from this, I will never give him another grain of grain or a copper coin!”

After hearing this, Li Li sorted out his thoughts and said, "Mrs. When she meets strong, she will be strong, and will be tough and courageous, which makes Wenchang admire him. But does Mrs. think about how to get along with Yuan Shao in the past? After all, the foundation of the Zhen family is still in Jizhou. Today you have wiped out the face of the Yuan father and son. How can you know that Yuan Shao will not wait for an opportunity to take revenge and take the opportunity to cause trouble. Then he uprooted the Zhen family and completely took the Zhen family's large business as his own?"

"Hahaha!" Zhen smiled happily, and his eyes suddenly became softer when he looked at Li Li. No, it should be said that she was as gentle as water. After laughing, she said softly: "Wenchang's ability to say this proves that you are really considering my Zhen clan. I am very grateful for this. Jizhou is indeed Yuan Shao's hand in covering the sky and can let him do whatever he wants, and no family can fight against it. But outside Jizhou, there are many princes who are not afraid of Yuan Shao, and even think about annexing Yuan Shao's Jizhou; such as Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, Yuan Shu of Nanyang and Cao Cao of Yanzhou, and,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Li Wenchang of Xiliang!"

Speaking of this, Zhen's tone paused, and seeing Li Li's expression was no different, she continued, "If Yuan Shao had sent someone to borrow food and wages from me a month ago, maybe I wouldn't hesitate at all, and immediately lent it to him as much as possible. Because I was optimistic about Yuan Shao before, thinking that he was from a family of officials, four generations and three masters, and his family was full of old officials all over the world. He had a credible character and would definitely achieve hegemony in the future. Until today, I suddenly realized that I had misunderstood before, but I didn't expect that I intended to test Yuan Shao's mind and scheming three days ago. Today, he sent Yuan Xi with so many soldiers to threaten me with the Zhen family.

Fortunately, Wenchang reminded me a month ago to transfer my property. I did not reply you positively at that time, but when I got home, I immediately set out to arrange this matter. Half a month ago, I dispatched all my tribe members to move the treasury and grain distributed in Jizhou and Youzhou. As of today, more than 60% of my Zhen family's money and grain have been transferred to a safe place. The remaining 30% of the industry is shops. It cannot be transferred for the time being, so I can only gradually reduce the supply, collect money, keep the shops, and wait for the time being. As for the property of my Zhen family's house, these are things that cannot be moved away. If you can sell it, you can only temporarily leave some tribe members to take care of the house. If you can't keep it, you have no choice but to give up.

So, if Yuan Shao wants to control my Zhen family now, he is afraid he will be too self-righteous. He will get nothing except this ancestral home!"

"Transferring the property? I wonder which princes my wife is optimistic about. I won't miss it again this time, right?" Li Li narrowed his eyes and paid attention to Zhen's expression and asked with a laugh.

Zhen smiled sweetly, and looked at Li Li with meaningful eyes, and said with a smile: "This time the transfer of wealth is undoubtedly a big gamble for my Zhen clan. If the bet is right, the glory of the ancestors of the Zhen clan may be able to continue; if the bet is lost, it will be a loss of money, and the clan members can only go to the ground and run to their own lives! Of course, in order to thank Wenchang for saving his life, I have sent clan members three times this month to escort a large number of grain and goods to Xiliang. I believe they have entered Sili now and their safety is guaranteed."

"Oh? Is it because my wife has obtained the clearance route to be so confident?" Li Li asked in surprise.

Zhen smiled sweetly and said, "That's natural. I have four sons-in-law who hold important positions in the Xiliang Army. Are you still worried about not having a clearance route to pass along the way?"

Li Li nodded happily and said with a smile: "It's true, I'm a little forgetful. Let's not talk about it for now. Just the pass-through guide written by Li Xuan can make the Zhen family caravan unobstructed in Xiliang. If there is Huan Fei's letter, I'm afraid that the Sili garrison will send troops to escort along the way until it arrives at the destination. Hahaha!"

Zhen asked curiously: "Wenchang is not angry at all. Could it be that you are not worried that they will take the opportunity to please me, my future mother-in-law?"

"I'm not worried, and I'm very relieved, I'm happy to see it happening. Because the caravan sent by my wife to send money and food to me in Xiliang, the more the better, the more the better. Anyway, no matter what, I can add a considerable amount of money and food to me in Xiliang, which is beneficial but not harmful. I agree with it! Hahaha!" Li Li smiled calmly.

Zhen continued, "Wenchang has seen someone with a bright mind. I have not misunderstood you. How about you and I will meet the second son of the Yuan family with me? If Yuan Xi doesn't know the times and starts, I will have to protect me!"

Li Li nodded and replied, "It is my honor to be able to rely on my wife, and I am willing to serve you!" After saying that, he and Zhen looked at each other and smiled, and there seemed to be an indescribable tacit understanding between them.

—————————————— (To be continued)
Chapter completed!