I think you want to modify the api::article.article 's create() function logic. and you can add a new customize controller. here is the docs: Backend customization - Controllers - Strapi Developer Docs and there are example in docs.
// path: ./src/api/article/controllers/article.js
const { createCoreController } = require('@strapi/strapi').factories;
module.exports = createCoreController('api::article.article', ({ strapi }) => ({
async create(ctx) {
console.log(ctx)
// you own create logic code here
// find related article count of ctx.state.user.id, if > N then return message
}
})
)
Hope it can help you