The back hall of the county guard's house.

Li Xian quickly caught up with Li Li, and then followed Li Li into the study.

After the maidservant served hot tea, Li Li waved them out.

Immediately, without waiting for Li Xian to speak, Li Li opened his mouth: "Third brother, you are here to ask about Fan Yong, right?" Do you think I'm too ruthless and punish him too harshly? ”

"Ugh!" Li Xian was stunned, then nodded and said, "I can't hide anything from my brother, and the younger brother is indeed here for the second brother's business." The younger brother also knew about the battle in the southern suburbs, and the second brother was indeed at fault and should be punished. However, after all, Uncle Fan is the uncle of the second brother and the father-in-law, who raised the second brother to grow up, and Uncle Fan has always taken good care of our brother before his death, and has also funded our soldiers, horses, money and food, and has been kind to us.

Uncle Fan defected, and the second brother was originally well-intentioned, thinking about his brother, but he didn't know that Uncle Fan would surrender by fraud, so he made a big mistake. Now that Uncle Fan is dead, the second brother is grief-stricken, and after burying Uncle Fan, he built a grass hut next to the grave, and kept vigil day and night, which has been more than three months now. Since he returned to Guzang City with Uncle Fan's body for burial, he has been distracted all day long, often sitting in front of Uncle Fan's tombstone in a daze, sitting for a day, not eating or drinking, and now he is haggard and unpresentable. In the long run, the younger brother is worried that his body will collapse, and he is likely to die of depression.

The younger brother pleaded with the elder brother today on behalf of the second brother. The second brother is our sworn brother, and he has long sworn an oath with us, sharing blessings and misfortunes, and sharing life and death. He has always been loyal to his brother, but he does everything his brother orders, and does his best to fulfill his brother's orders. But now he is decadent and has become like this, sitting in a daze all day long, borrowing wine to kill his sorrows. Life is better than death. The younger brother really couldn't stand it, so he begged his brother to let him come back, even if he was allowed to be a pawn in front of the army, it would be regarded as something to do, so that he would not be born without love, and he would be immersed in grief all the time. Brother, little brother, please! ”

After saying the words that had been held in his heart for a long time in one breath, Li Xian's eyes were already red, and his throat became choked.

When Li Xian spoke, Li Li had already picked up the tea cup. After Li Xian finished speaking, the hot tea in his hand was already cold, but he was still held in the air and didn't drink a sip.

What Li Xian said really surprised Li Li. Deeper guilt.

In the battle of the southern suburbs, Fan Chou raised his troops and defected, but he surrendered by fraud. As a result, the soldiers in the rear of the Wuwei Army suffered heavy casualties. So much so that Li Li was extremely annoyed by Fan Chou's stubbornness, so he became murderous. And this killing intent was only his momentary thought, in fact, he did not deliberately send someone to kill Fan Chou. Unexpectedly, Fan Chou could not escape death after all, and was killed by the crossbow array led by Jin Gu, and died a very tragic death.

After the war, Li Li did not pursue Fan Yong's crime of arson. Stronger suppression of the impeachment and dissatisfaction of the generals in the army against Fan Yong. However, when Fan Yong was about to return to Wuwei County with Fan Chou's body for burial, Li Li did not see him, but only asked someone to send a generous burial fee. Five hundred taels of gold and hundreds of white silk, and then Fan Chou was posthumously given the nickname of a miscellaneous general and a townsman.

Before the reorganization of the whole army, Li Li had already booked an official position for Fan Yong, and among the Siping generals, he was the general of Pingxi, and he had already planned his future garrison. It's a pity that Fan Yong left with a grudge, and after returning to Wuwei County, he has not been heard from again, obviously haunted by Fan Chou's death, and his resentment has not disappeared.

For this reason, Li Li was furious with Fan Yong's wayward behavior, and then gave the position of General Pingxi to Guo Yan, and did not arrange Fan Yong's specific position, leaving him idle, and directly letting him return to his hometown to guard filial piety. However, after all, Li Li still cared about Fan Yong's previous military exploits and righteousness, and still gave him the position of a prestige general, ranking as one of the five tiger generals.

In addition, Li Li asked Fan Yong to return to his hometown to guard filial piety, and there was no clear time limit, so there was always room for it. The reason why he did this was to hope that Fan Yong could let go of the resentment in his heart, take a long-term view, not blindly act rashly, and truly grow into a calm and rational general.

As long as Fan Yong can overcome this hurdle, Li Li will use him again, and he will be reused. It's a pity that his good intentions were in vain, Fan Yong went to Wuwei County for more than three months, and he neither returned to the barracks, nor did he have any letters, and he didn't even let anyone bring him a message.

It wasn't until now that Li Xian told about Fan Yong's recent situation that Li Li knew that Fan Yong was so decadent, guarding a tomb all day long, sitting in a daze, and borrowing wine to kill his sorrows.

Suddenly, Li Li had mixed feelings in his heart, not only regretting Fan Yong's brotherhood, but also self-blame, and even more angry with him. After three months, Fan Yong turned into this, which really surprised him.

Facing the expectant and pleading eyes of his younger brother Li Xian, Li Li didn't know how to answer, and he didn't know how to place Fan Yong. This dilemma has not occurred for him for a long time. But today he was stumped, and he still couldn't think of a proper way to deal with it.

Fan Yong's current situation is obviously not suitable for leading troops for three reasons. First, he is emotionally unstable now, and he still can't let go of Fan Chou's death, and no one knows what out of the ordinary things he will do after leading the troops. Second, he never took the initiative to contact Li Li, and there was neither correspondence nor oral communication; This shows that he is dissatisfied with Li Li and has a knot in his heart, so that Li Li is not sure what he is thinking in his heart. Who would dare to reuse such a person with unknown intentions. Third, Li Li and he are sworn brothers, and there is a gap between the brothers, so they can say it openly, so as not to get bigger and bigger. It's a pity that Fan Yong didn't say a word from beginning to end, completely closed himself, and had no intention of talking to Li Li at all. In this way, even though Li Li wanted to dissolve the depression in his heart, he didn't know how to open his mouth and where to start.

The most important thing is that in the matter of Fan Chou's death, Li Li believes that everything he has done has been benevolent. If Fan Yong wasn't his sworn brother, he wouldn't have to be so entangled at all, he would do what he wanted, and if he was a little ruthless, he would let their uncle and nephew go to hell together.

Li Li pondered for a long time with a gloomy face, but he still had no clue, and his heart couldn't help but become irritable. Then he asked Li Xian in a deep voice: "Fan Chou's death is purely his own fault, and he is innocent of his death." Considering that he was kind to me in the past, and he was Fan Yong's uncle, I asked him for a nickname, buried him with the rites of a countryman, and did not investigate the crimes of the Fan family. Am I still sorry for him if I do this?

As for Fan Yong, it is true that he is my sworn brother, and it is true that he was loyal to me before, and I have never forgotten this. However, disobedience on the battlefield and private indulgence of the enemy led to the death of tens of thousands of soldiers of our army. After the war, most of the generals of the whole army were extremely dissatisfied with him, and even dozens of generals jointly impeached him, demanding that he be severely punished and that justice be sought for the dead soldiers. However, remembering his past merits and feelings of righteousness, I forcibly suppressed the discontent of the generals, and instead of dealing with him severely, I did not even go through the motions of questioning him, and gave him the position he deserved, as this never happened. But what did he do to me, after returning to Wuwei County, he was like a stone ox like a sea, and he didn't hear from me, and he didn't even bring me a word. In his heart, is there still me, the righteous brother?

Now you have to intercede for him, yes, then you tell me what to do? Do you want me to go and ask him myself? If that's what you think, then you're going to die sooner! I, Li Li, am not an ungrateful person, what should be done by me, I will definitely do it, there is kindness to repay kindness, there is revenge. However, I was born not to ask for help! ”

After speaking, Li Li put down the teacup in his hand heavily, stood up, slammed open the door with his hands, and walked away.

Li Xian saw that his brother was so angry that he slammed the door and left, and suddenly he stood up involuntarily and opened his mouth wide in a daze, but he was speechless. Then he carefully pondered what his brother had done and his brother's consistent style, and his face gradually became gloomy, and he was quite dissatisfied with Fan Yong. He felt that his brother had indeed done his best to be benevolent and righteous, took care of Fan Yong in every way, and always valued him, and repeatedly promoted him and entrusted him with important tasks. Unexpectedly, as soon as Fan Chou died, Fan Yong actually became like this, unreasonable, and gave up on himself.

"Hey, no matter how wrong Fan Yong is, he is our sworn brother after all! How can this be? After thinking for a long time, Li Xian couldn't help but sigh and walked out of the study with a sad face.

――――――――――――――――

"Ding Dong-Dong!"

In a house less than 200 steps away from the backyard of the county guard's house, a soothing and melodious sound of the piano came out.

This is a large mansion, with two gardens in front and back, a water pavilion on the left and right, and the house style is open and entered, and there are all kinds of pavilions and pavilions. All the buildings in the courtyard are elegantly built, the materials are of high quality, and the decoration is elegant but not luxurious. In the garden, there are flowers in all seasons; In the pool, there is a lotus rockery pond in the west and a narcissus carp pond in the east.

The environment is quiet but not lonely, warm and elegant but not public.

This mansion is only separated by a wall from the back garden of the county watchman's mansion, and compared with the majestic county watchman's mansion, it can only be regarded as a "small jasper", which is extremely inconspicuous.

However, if there is really a person from the backyard of the county guard who comes to "visit the door", then he will definitely find that the guard of this mansion is extremely tight, and it is not inferior to the backyard of the county guard, or even surpassed. If you take a closer look at the posture of these guards, those who practice martial arts can clearly perceive that these guards are all extraordinary in martial arts, powerful in martial arts, and more than 100 guards can resist the attack and killing of thousands of soldiers and horses, and even win in battle, protecting their masters.

In the pavilion of the water pavilion in the east, Li Li sat on the stone bench with a dull expression, looking at the dazzling array of food and fresh fruits on the stone table, but he had no appetite, only the Peiguo wine in front of him was the most in line with his state of mind at this time, drinking by himself, one after another.

Opposite him, a woman of prime age was plucking the guqin with her head slightly lowered, playing a soft, soothing and warm qin song, which made people listen to it and couldn't help but relax their minds and let go of their worries and sorrows.

The fair-skinned and delicate Qianqian jade fingers gently pluck the strings, the sound of the piano is leisurely, the tune is tactful and gentle, and it is refreshing. However, the woman who played the piano kept her bright eyes on Li Li, her eyes were clear and charming, and a trace of joy flashed under her eyes from time to time, fleeting, not easy to be noticed by men.

――――――――――――――――――

Who is plucking the strings, and can book friends guess who this woman is? ―――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......