The back hall of the county magistrate’s mansion.

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

After the maid presented the hot tea, Li Li waved his hand to signal them to go out.

Immediately, without waiting for Li Xian to speak, Li Li spoke: "Third brother, are you here to ask Fan Yong? Do you think I am too ruthless and punish him too much?"

"Uh!" Li Xian was shocked in surprise, and nodded and said, "Nothing can be hidden from my brother. I am really here for my second brother's business. I also know that my second brother is indeed wrong and deserves punishment. However, Uncle Fan is the uncle of his second brother and his adoptive father after all, and raised his second brother. Uncle Fan has always taken good care of our brothers during his lifetime, and has also sponsored us for our soldiers, horses, money and food, which is kind to us.

Uncle Fan turned against him at the time of battle. The second brother was originally kind-hearted and was devoted to his elder brother. He didn't know that Uncle Fan would surrender, which led to a big mistake. Now Uncle Fan is dead, and his second brother was heartbroken. After burying Uncle Fan, he built a thatched cottage next to the tomb, guarding day and night. It has been more than three months since he brought Uncle Fan's body to bury. He has been unpretentious all day long and often sat in front of Uncle Fan's tombstone in a daze. He sat for a day without eating or drinking. Now he is so haggard that he is not as good as ever. In the long run, he is worried that his body will collapse and may end up in depression.

Today, I am pleading with my brother for my second brother. I am our sworn brother, and I have already sworn with us, sharing good fortune and misfortune and living life and death. He has always been loyal to my brother, and he should follow his orders from his brother, and do his best to fulfill his brother's orders. But now he is so decadent that he sits in a daze all day long, drinking to relieve his sorrows. I really can't stand it anymore, so I beg my brother to let him come back. Even if he is letting him be a soldier in the army, it can be considered as letting him do something, so that he will not be in love with nothing and be immersed in grief. Brother, please!”

After saying the words he held in his heart for a long time, Li Xian's eyes were red and his throat became choked.

While Li Xian was talking, Li Li had already picked up the teacup. After Li Xian finished speaking, the hot tea in his hand was already cold, but it was still held in the air and didn't drink a sip.

What Li Xian said really surprised Li Li and felt even more guilty.

In the battle of the southern suburbs, Fan Chou turned against the enemy but surrendered, which caused heavy casualties among the soldiers in the Wuwei Army's rear formation, so Li Li was extremely angry with Fan Chou's stubbornness and became murderous. This murderous 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 in the end, and was shot by the crossbow formation led by Jin Gu, and died extremely tragic.

After the war, Li Li did not pursue Fan Yong's crime of indulging the enemy. He even forced the generals to impeach and dissatisfaction with Fan Yong. However, when Fan Yong was about to take Fan Chou's body back to Wuwei County for burial, Li Li did not see him, but just sent someone a generous burial fee, 500 taels of gold and hundreds of white silk, and then posthumously awarded Fan Chou the posthumous title of General and Township Marquis.

Before the reorganization of the entire army, Li Li had already booked an official position for Fan Yong. Among the Siping Generals, he was General Pingxi and had already planned his future garrison. Unfortunately, Fan Yong left with grudges and returned to Wuwei County, and there was no news anymore. It was obvious that he was resentful of Fan Chou's death and his resentment had not subsided.

For this reason, Li Li was furious about Fan Yong's willful behavior, and then gave Guo Si the position of General Pingxi, but did not arrange Fan Yong's specific position, so he left him idle and directly asked him to return to his hometown to mourn. However, Li Li still cared about Fan Yong's previous military achievements and friendship, and still gave him the position of General, ranking as one of the five tiger generals.

In addition, Li Li asked Fan Yong to return to his hometown to mourn, but there was no clear time limit, so he always left room for room for rest. The reason why he did this was that Fan Yong could let go of the resentment in his heart, look to the long term, and not just act voluntarily, 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 use it again. Unfortunately, his good intentions were in vain. Fan Yong has been in Wuwei County for more than three months, and has neither returned to the military camp nor any letters, nor even a message has been brought to him.

It was not until now that Li Xian talked about Fan Yong's recent situation that Li Li realized that Fan Yong was so depressed that he was so depressed that he guarded a tomb all day long, sitting in a daze, drinking to relieve his sorrow.

Suddenly, Li Li felt mixed feelings, both of whom regretted Fan Yong's brotherhood, and also of self-blame, and angered him for not fighting. Three months later, Fan Yong became like this, which really made him unexpected.

Facing his younger brother Li Xian's eager and begging eyes, Li Li didn't know how to answer, and didn't know how to arrange Fan Yong. This kind of dilemma has not happened for him for a long time. But today he was stumped, and he thought about it but still couldn't think of a proper way to deal with it.

Fan Yong's current situation is obviously not suitable for leading troops, and there are three reasons. First, he is emotionally unstable and still cannot let go of Fan Chou's death. No one knows what extraordinary things he will do after he leads the troops. Second, he never took the initiative to contact Li Li, neither letter nor verbal message. This shows that he is dissatisfied with Li Li, and he has a knot, so that Li Li cannot grasp what he is thinking in his heart. Who dares to use such an unknown person? Third, Li Li and him are sworn brothers, and there is a gap between the brothers, so they can be said openly to prevent the rift from getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately, Fan Yong did not have a single 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 resolve the depression in his heart, he didn't know how to speak, where to start.

The most important thing is that in the death of Fan Chou, Li Li believed that everything he had done was done was done with kindness and righteousness. If Fan Yong was not his sworn brother, he would not have to be so entangled. He would do whatever he should do. With a little cruelty, he would let their uncle and nephew go to hell together.

Li Li pondered for a while with a gloomy face, but he was still clueless, and he couldn't help but feel irritated. Then he asked Li Xian in a deep voice: "Fan Chou's death is purely his own fault, and he has more to die. Considering that he has been kind to me in the past and is Fan Yong's uncle, I asked him for a posthumous title and buried him with the courtesy of the village, and not prosecuted the Fan family. Do I still feel sorry for me if I do this?

As for Fan Yong, it is true that he is my sworn brother. It is true that he was loyal to me before, and I have never forgotten these things. However, disobeying the battlefield and privately banishing the enemy, led to tens of thousands of soldiers in our army's death on the battlefield. After the war, most of the generals of the army were extremely dissatisfied with him, and dozens of generals even jointly submitted memorials to impeach him, demanding severe punishment and strict punishment to seek justice for the dead soldiers. However, thinking of his past contributions and friendship, I forcibly suppressed the dissatisfaction of the generals. Not only did I not deal with him, I even had no pretext for asking him for guilt, but also gave him the position he deserved, and he was given the position he deserved. But how did he treat me? After returning to Wuwei County, he was like a stone bull and a sea, without any news, and he didn't even bring me words. In his heart, is there me, the sworn brother?

Now you want to plead for him, yes, then tell me what to do? Do you want me to beg him personally? If you really think so, then you will die as soon as possible! I, Li Li, are not an ungrateful person, should I do it, I will definitely do it, repay kindness and revenge with revenge. However, I was born to not beg for others!"

After saying that, Li Li put down the teacup in his hand, stood up, threw it open the door, and left with his sleeves.

Li Xian saw that his brother was so angry that he slammed the door and left. He couldn't help but stand up, opened his mouth blankly, but couldn't speak. Then he carefully thought about what his brother did and his brother's usual style, and his face gradually became gloomy and he was quite dissatisfied with Fan Yong. He felt that his brother was indeed doing his best and took good care of Fan Yong in every way. He always valued him very much, and repeatedly promoted him out of order and entrusted him with important tasks. Unexpectedly, when Fan Chou died, Fan Yong became like this, unreasonable and gave up on himself.

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

———————————————

"Dingdong———Dong!"

In a house less than two hundred steps away from the backyard of the county magistrate's mansion, there was a soothing and melodious sound of piano.

This is a large courtyard with two gardens in front and back, and a water pavilion on the left and right. The house style is four, four entrances and there are pavilions and pavilions. All buildings in the courtyard are exquisitely built, with excellent materials and elegant decoration without luxury. In the garden, there are flowers in all seasons; in the pool, the lotus rockery pond is in the west, and the daffodil pond is in the east.

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

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

However, if there are people from the backyard of the county magistrate come to "visit", he will definitely find that the guards of this house are extremely tight, which is not inferior to the backyard of the county magistrate's mansion, and even more than that of the backyard of the county magistrate's mansion. If you carefully observe the figures and auras of these guards, the martial arts practitioners can clearly realize that these guards are all extraordinary in martial arts. Kong Wu is powerful, and more than a hundred guards can withstand the attacks and killings of thousands of soldiers, and even win in battle and protect their masters.

In the pavilion on the east side, 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 had no appetite. Only the Peiguo wine in front of him was most in line with his mood at this time, drinking and drinking one cup after another.

Opposite him, a young woman was slimly lowering her head and stroking the guqin, playing the gentle and soothing and warm zither music. It made people feel relaxed and relieved, and let go of the worries and sorrows in their hearts.

The white and delicate jade fingers gently plucked the strings. The sound of the piano was long and gentle, and the tune was refreshing. However, the woman playing the piano always stared at Li Li with her bright eyes, her eyes were clear and charming, and a hint of joy flashed through her eyes from time to time, which was fleeting and not easy to be noticed by men.

—————————————————

Who is pulling the strings of the piano? Can book lovers guess who this woman is? —————— (To be continued)
Chapter completed!