In this situation, abandoning the city and fleeing, although it is a shame, but at least it is worry-free to save his life.

But before leaving, he still wanted to make sure whether this Xiangyang City was guarded, and if he couldn't hold it, he decided to escape.

But Li Yan's answer made Liu Biao hesitate again.

"Lord, the enemy army is only 20,000, if you can raise thousands of soldiers and horses for me, I am ninety percent sure that I can hold Xiangyang City, and there is no problem in holding on until the reinforcements from Changsha arrive."

After Li Yan had just besieged the city with Tai Shici, he was not too sure, but after seeing Liu Zheng's strength was nothing more than that, his confidence increased greatly, if Liu Biao could give him more manpower, then Li Yan would naturally be much more sure.

And he didn't say that he could hold it 100%, but humbly said a ninety percent.

However, even though it was only ninety percent, Liu Biao was a little surprised, he originally thought that this Xiangyang City would be difficult to hold, but now it seems that Li Yan also seems to have some certainty.

He immediately replied to Li Yan.

"As long as you can stay in Xiangyang City, when this time the matter is over, I will play the court and promote you to a partial general."

Don't look at it as just a partial general, it is the lowest-level general position in the general system, but it is personally granted by the emperor, and it is not comparable to the official position in the county at all, it is a real general position, which is much higher than the current position of Li Yan as a lieutenant of Xiangyang.

When Li Yan heard this, he immediately showed joy on his face, and immediately agreed.

"Thank you for your appreciation."

"Don't be in a hurry to thank you, this will only be done until you hold Xiangyang and end this crisis."

Liu Biao didn't tell Li Yanduo that there were still 20,000 enemy troops outside the city, and he was also nervous, and now he was thinking about going to the city as soon as possible to recruit soldiers to assist in the defense.

After briefly appeasing Li Yan, Liu Biao hurriedly went downstairs.

To recruit Xiang Yong, Liu Biao certainly knows where to recruit the fastest, that is, the private soldiers among the wealthy families.

In Xiangyang City, although there are more than 100,000 people, but among these hundreds of thousands of people, there are not many people who have served as soldiers, almost all of them are some farmers and traders, these people, even if they are gathered, the role of assisting in defense is not great, at most they are carrying and carrying things, and those who really want to go to the battlefield still need soldiers.

And the soldiers and horses of the imperial court have been sent out, Liu Biao wants to recruit soldiers, the biggest possibility is to go to the homes of those big families, ask them to ask for private soldiers, in the hands of these big families, which people do not raise hundreds of private soldiers themselves, in the troubled times, it is common to raise private soldiers and die, among the larger families, there are even thousands of private soldiers, even if it is a small family, it is not a problem to raise dozens of people.

On the surface, these private soldiers are only relying on some peasants of the big family, but most of the time, they are used as soldiers, as long as the private soldiers under the big families in the city can be gathered, thousands of people, it is still very easy to recruit.

Of course, it doesn't mean that if he Liu Biao comes forward, those big families will hand over their lives at all, but Liu Biao is confident that those big families who are close to him will still sell him a little thin noodles, and they will give him some manpower.

And the first one he chose was the Cai family, the largest family in Jingzhou.

The Cai family, after all, is the largest family in Xiangyang, and Cai Mao is his loyal supporter, as long as he comes forward, Liu Biao believes that the Cai family will definitely not save his face, at least send a few hundred private soldiers, it should still be okay.

Liu Biao came to participate, Cai Mao was not there, it was Cai He who greeted Liu Biao, Cai He is also a member of the Cai family, and Cai Zhong has a general relationship, and Cai Mao is relatively close, since the last time Cai Zhong offended Cai Mao, Cai Mao left the family, and the Cai family is generally Cai He is in charge.

"Lord Governor, what kind of wind blew you over, you didn't go out to greet you, and I hope to forgive your sins."

Liu Biao came in a hurry, and without letting his subordinates report, he came in directly, making Cai He lose his etiquette and hurriedly apologize to Liu Biao.

Liu Biao came here to ask for the Cai family, so naturally he would not be concerned about such a trivial matter, so he waved his hand and directly signaled Cai He not to mind.

Then he went straight to the point and talked to Cai He about his intention this time.

"Cai He, do you know what happened to the horn that was sounded today?"

Cai He's face changed slightly, the information of their Cai family is actually quite good, and the news of the enemy's siege has reached Cai He's ears through some subordinates, but Cai He still doesn't know who the besieged people are.

When Liu Biao asked, Cai He didn't know how to answer, so he could only hesitate and shake his head.

"It's not very clear, Lord Governor, I hope to solve my doubts."

Liu Biao didn't say much, and immediately briefly described what happened outside the city today to Cai He, and directly told Cai He that the person who attacked the city was Liu Zheng from Jiaozhou.

The description made Cai He's face pale with fright.

After all, Cai He knew the connection between Cai Mao and Liu Zheng, and he was now stunned, not knowing whether Liu Biao was asking for the crime or what he was doing.

When Liu Biao opened his mouth and said that he wanted to borrow troops, Cai He's face softened a little.

"The situation in Xiangyang City, you also know, in order to support your eldest brother, I also transferred 20,000 soldiers and horses from Nanjun, and now there are only 5,000 defenders in the entire Xiangyang, and now in order to defend Xiangyang, I have to come forward to find you to seconded some soldiers, and when I defend Xiangyang this time, I will be rewarded for meritorious deeds."

Liu Biao said sincerely, looked at Cai He, and waited for Cai He's answer.

Cai He was a little embarrassed, it was easy to say other things, but Cai He really had no way to call the shots when it came to the matter of private soldiers, because most of the private soldiers were Cai Mao's personal soldiers, Cai Mao went to Changsha and took away most of the Cai family's private soldiers, and the people who stayed in Xiangyang were only two or three hundred.

These two or three hundred people, that is, the usual caretakers, really want Cai He to hand over these people, even if he agrees, Liu Biao will feel that this is humiliating him.

So after Cai He smiled awkwardly, he could only answer truthfully.

"Lord Zhou Mu, it's not that my Cai family is unwilling to support you in defending Xiangyang City, it's just that most of my Cai family's private soldiers have been taken to Changsha County by my eldest brother, and there are not many people left in Xiangyang."

Before Cai He finished speaking, Liu Biao vaguely felt bad when he heard this tone, and his face immediately fell.

"If Lord Zhou Mu really needs manpower, our Cai family can muster up two hundred people at most."