At the end of Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos due to the Yellow Turban, Cao Cao was sitting at the court and Sun Quan was in charge of the East Wu. Liu Bei, the pastor of the Han clan in Yuzhou, heard from Xu Shu (a famous strategist during the Three Kingdoms) and Sima Hui (a famous strategist during the Three Kingdoms) that Zhuge Liang was very learned and talented, so he and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei went to Wolonggang in Longzhong (now Xiangyang County in Hubei) with gifts to ask Zhuge Liang to come out and help him work for the country. It so happened that Zhuge Liang was out for the day, so Liu Bei had to go back. Soon after, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei went to ask Zhuge Liang for the second time, braving the heavy snow and wind. It was unexpected that Zhuge Liang had gone out again for a leisurely trip. Zhang Fei was reluctant to come again, but when he saw that Zhuge Liang was not at home, he urged to go back. Liu Bei had to leave a letter expressing his admiration for Zhuge Liang and asking him to come out to help him save the country from a dangerous situation.
After some time, Liu Bei ate vegetarian for three days and was ready to ask Zhuge Liang again. Guan Yu said that Zhuge Liang might have a false name and might not have real talent, so he did not need to go. Zhang Fei, however, advocated that he alone should go to call, and if he did not come, he would use a rope to tie the ground to come. Liu Bei scolded Zhang Fei, and visited Zhuge Liang for the third time with them. When they arrived, Zhuge Liang was sleeping. Liu Bei did not dare to disturb him and stood until Zhuge Liang woke up by himself before sitting down to talk with each other.
When Zhuge Liang saw Liu Bei's desire to work for his country and sincerely asked for his help, he came out to help Liu Bei establish the Shu Han Dynasty.
The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" calls this event, in which Liu Bei personally invited Zhuge Liang three times, the "three visits to Maolu". Zhuge Liang in the famous "out of the division table", also has "the former emperor does not take my humble, indecent self in vain, three times in the hut. The sentence. So when people in later times saw someone go to that person's home several times in person to ask someone he admired to help him, they quoted this line to describe the eagerness and sincerity of the person who asked him. It also means to ask for talent without shame and with an open mind.