"Borrowed food? This year is not a disaster year, Brother Wenyuan, what are you borrowing food for? Xue Ju asked curiously after listening to Li Wenyuan's words.

"Brother Xue doesn't know, didn't I recover the three county mansions again, now my territory is bigger than before, and there are more people than before, but now I am facing a mess left by Li Liang. In order to fight with me, he forcibly robbed the people of grain for military rations, so that although I have now taken over these three counties, the people are short of food, and now that the season of cultivation has passed, I am now facing a large part of the food shortage. As the parent official of the people, I can't turn a blind eye to these problems, so I'm not here to ask for Brother Xue's head. Li Wenyuan made it clear to Xue Ju about the difficulties he was facing.

"The grain in my hands is a little rich, and I have already received the grain that Brother Wenyuan promised to return when he borrowed grain from me last time. Brother, your credit is naturally not a problem, but I don't know how big your gap is this time? Xue Ju nodded and said to Li Wenyuan.

"It takes about 200,000 stones." Li Wenyuan told Xue Ju the numbers he already had in his heart.

"Only 200,000 stones? Even if there are few people in the Western Regions, the amount of food seems to be a little insufficient. Could it be that Brother Wenyuan, you still see me, and deliberately lower the amount? After Xue Ju heard the figures reported by Li Wenyuan, he was amazed and said.

"Brother Xue, you are thinking too much again. I can't meet anyone with you, who are we with whom. The 200,000 stone I am talking to you is indeed 200,000 stone, and there is neither exaggeration nor depression. In Guazhou, I seized a batch of Li Rail's military rations, although Li Rail sent people to burn them, but fortunately, most of the military rations were still retained in time to put them out. Coupled with the investigation and public trial of Li Liang's henchmen in the three county capitals during this time, as well as the treatment of those rice merchants who inflated the price of rice and tried to hoard goods, a large amount of grain was obtained, so the current grain gap is only 200,000 stone. Li Wenyuan saw that Xue Ju thought he was out with him, and hurriedly explained.

"Oh, I see. These merchants who take advantage of the war of the army to gather grain and raise the price of rice are really hateful, and the Wenyuan brothers can have such decisive means and deal with this group of merchants ruthlessly, it is really a blessing for the people. But then again, brother, I'm also the one who wants to start the army. At this time, although there is food, if you take out 200,000 stones at once, I am afraid it will be difficult to explain. Why don't we do this, let's sign an alliance agreement here, and I will give you 200,000 stone of grain in exchange for providing me with a safe rear within two years. With this paper agreement, the 200,000 stone grain is no longer a problem. Brother Wenyuan, how about you take a look? After Xue Ju heard Li Wenyuan's explanation, he lowered his head and thought for a while. Thinking about the need to give a reasonable explanation to the group of people behind him, he proposed such a compromise plan.

"I understand, Brother Xue, this is to do a paper article with me."

"Brother Wen Yuan, I don't want to do this either. We're under a low eave, so we have to bow our heads. They took out money and food so that I could recruit troops and buy horses, and we are short of people now, and we must have an explanation for taking other people's food. But Brother Wenyuan, if you don't want to sign this alliance agreement openly, brother, I won't force you. There are still 70,000 or 80,000 stone of grain in my own manor, although I can't fill your gap, but a small half is still enough. We're brothers, no matter what, I can't watch you stand by and watch you in trouble. ”

"Brother Xue, you're worried a lot, aren't you just an alliance agreement all the time, what if you sign it?"

"Good! Since Brother Wenyuan, you are willing to sign this alliance agreement, then brother and I naturally can't treat you badly. I also know that compared to my brother, your Western Regions can be regarded as a big business, although there is a lot of food, but the annual consumption is also a lot. Why don't I give you another suggestion, after you took away Lao Jin's group of people from my territory, now my brother and I are very short of weapons and materials here. ”

Li Wenyuan knew that the group of people in Lao Jin that Xue Ju was talking about were the craftsmen of the gold shopkeeper that he took away from Jincheng. Digging into the corners of people's walls, and now they are being exposed to people's faces. Li Wenyuan also scratched his head a little embarrassed and said: "At that time, I didn't know that these people were used by your brother after you left to make trouble, I just saw that these people had good craftsmanship, but they were doing some work that was not related to the wind and horses, and I felt that it was a pity to be a little embarrassed, so I gave them a chance to choose and let themselves become craftsmen again." ”

After Xue Ju heard Li Wenyuan's words, he waved his hand and said, "Brother didn't blame you, even if these people are given to me, I can't support these craftsmen." Before I came to you, I also let my men come to see them, and they are indeed much better than the life they had in my golden city. As I mentioned earlier, I'm short of weapons and supplies right now. Therefore, you don't have to return the 200,000 stone grain Brother Wenyuan, if you have surplus weapons on hand, we can barter. You use the surplus supplies on hand to pay for the 200,000 stone of grain. It's no one's business, this deal is just to help my brother. ”

"The weapons and materials in Brother Xue's mouth should not be the ordinary spears and guns and Mingguang heavy armor of our Great Sui, but the Modao armor that wants to shine in our army." Li Wenyuan heard Xue Ju's words, and immediately understood Xue Ju's intention. Everything I said before was to buy Mo Dao heavy armor and Mo Dao from myself to form the Mo Dao soldiers by himself.

Xue Ju saw that Li Wenyuan had revealed his true intention this time, so he said with a smile: "Haha, I'm not afraid of Brother Wenyuan's jokes." Brother, I really came here for the matter of this Mo sword soldier, you must know that your Mo sword soldier can defeat the Turkic cavalry head-on The fact has long been spread in the Central Plains, and there are people in the Central Plains who want to copy your Mo sword soldier, but unfortunately it is always the point. Either the Mo knife created could not withstand the cavalry charge at all, or the cost was too high to equip the troops on a large scale. So the reason why I came to Dunhuang from Jincheng to find you is here, how about it? Willing to cut his love and give his brother a batch of Modao equipment. ”

"Five hundred sets of equipment without swords. Brother, when you got into trouble, I gave all these 500 sets of equipment for the Mo Sword Soldiers on time. ”

(End of chapter)