Chapter 183 ends here

The fire spread quickly in the watchtower, and Gongsun Zan's family members cried and shouted. Some wanted to put out the fire, and some wanted to escape down the stairs.

Gongsun Zan was like a madman. He opened his arms, blocked the stairs, and shouted, "No one is allowed to leave!"

"I, Gongsun Bogui, will die here today, and I will never bow to the Yuan family!"

Tian Yu looked at what was happening in the watchtower and wanted to stand up and speak several times, but in the end, he suddenly realized that everything was meaningless.

Gongsun Zan has become like this, what else can I do?

The fire was growing bigger and bigger. Some people were on fire and rolled on the ground wailing. The rest of the people were crying and shouting. The wooden floor and walls also began to burn.

Hou sat in the corner holding the swaddling baby with a dull look in her eyes. She seemed to have lost all her strength.

Liu He wanted to escape downstairs by bypassing Gongsun Zan, but Gongsun Zan kicked him down and he was unable to get up.

Yuan Xi loudly ordered the soldiers below to push the Yun Tower closer, from several dozen feet to ten feet. The bottom of the Watchtower collided with the bottom of the Yun Tower, and the top could no longer get closer.

Yuan Xi shouted to Liu He, "Hurry up and jump over here!"

Liu He struggled to sit up and failed to stand up.

Yuan Xi shouted, "Marquis Ji!"

"If you let Liu He go, I will protect your family's safety in front of my father!"

Gongsun Zan's family had already despaired, but after hearing Yuan Xi's promise, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed, crying and begging Gongsun Zan to spare their lives.

Gongsun Zan's face was ferocious, and he roared, "Don't even think about bewitching me!"

"Yuan Shao is a hypocrite, and so are you!"

"None of you can be trusted!"

Yuan Xi saw that the fire had spread and had already burned the outer wall of the watchtower. The stairs also began to burn. The thick smoke billowed and made everyone cough. He sighed in his heart. He had tried his best this time, but there was really no other way.

At this moment, a man walked up the stairs of the watchtower step by step, braving the flames.

Gongsun Zan, who was blocking the stairs, took a look and found that it was Tian Kai, carrying a wooden board more than ten feet long on his shoulder.

He roared, "Tian Kai, are you going to betray me too?"

Tian Kai's body was on fire and the stairs under his feet were shaky. He took a few quick steps and went up to the top floor. The stairs under his feet shook a few times and then collapsed.

When everyone saw this, they became even more desperate, and Gongsun Zan burst into laughter.

Tian Kai walked to the wall and stepped on it.

The wooden wall was already badly burned, and Tian Kai's kick immediately created a big hole in it.

However, Tian Kai stuck the wooden board at the edge of the watchtower and pushed the other end towards the Yun Tower, and the board fell over.

He yelled, "Catch it!"

Yuan Xi and others just woke up as if from a dream, and hurriedly caught one end of the wooden board and put it down.

This piece of wood was placed between the watchtower and the cloud tower, forming a wooden bridge!

Yuan Xi was overjoyed and shouted to Liu He, "Come here quickly!"

Liu He took a deep breath, stood up suddenly, took a few steps forward, and stepped onto the wooden board.

The wind was so strong at high altitude that his clothes rustled and his body tilted, almost falling off the board.

Liu He's face turned pale, but he did not stop at all. He crouched down and walked quickly. In a blink of an eye, he walked across the wooden bridge and was pulled into the Yun Tower by Zhao Yun.

Gongsun Zan wanted to stop him, but was stopped by Tian Kai. He was furious and said, "Tian Kai, how dare you collaborate with the enemy!"

"Are you a spy?"

"Do you want to surrender to the Yuan family?"

Tian Kai sighed: "If he dies, the general's family will not survive!"

Gongsun Zan was furious: "I am about to die, why should they live!"

"You have a way out, but I, how can I have a way out?"

Seeing his family members rushing towards the wooden board, he became furious and picked up the ring-handled sword that had fallen on the ground with both hands. The blood spurted out from the wounds on his arms again due to the force.

He roared and slashed the woman's vest as she stepped onto the wooden board.

The woman screamed and fell off the wooden board. Her body tumbled in the air for more than ten feet and then collided heavily with the ground, breaking into an unrecognizable form.

Everyone present cried out in unison. They all rushed onto the wooden planks and dashed towards the Yunlou desperately. Several of them slipped and fell.

Gongsun Zan followed up with another swing of the knife, but Tian Kai blocked it. The knife chopped into his shoulder and blood gushed out, but Tian Kai remained calm.

Gongsun Zan said angrily: "Tian Kai, why did you want to ruin my business!"

Tian Kai stretched out his hand and grasped the blade: "General, you made a mistake. Now that things have come to this, at least this last time, don't make the same mistake again."

Gongsun Zan shouted, "How dare you teach me!"

Tian Kai saw that most of the people had fled, except for Hou who was still in a daze in the corner, so he said, "Madam, take the children and leave quickly."

Hou finally woke up from her dream and stood up with the help of the wall.

Gongsun Zan tried to stop him, but Tian Kai tightly grasped the blade, blood flowing down, and shouted, "Marquis Ji!"

"Just let the lady and the children go!"

"At least there is still a possibility of survival, which is better than having no hope at all!"

Gongsun Zan was about to raise his knife to chop Hou, but after hearing Tian Kai's words, he was stunned.

He murmured, "At least there is still hope."

"At least there is still hope?"

He looked up to the sky and laughed: "It's too late!"

He turned the long knife and stabbed it into his chest with a "swish". After a moment, he fell to the ground and died, with his eyes still wide open.

Hou screamed loudly, knelt on the ground, and cried bitterly over Gongsun Zan's body.

Everyone on Yuan Xi's side felt sad. The era of a great hero came to an end.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, and Tian Kai said, "Madam, it's time to leave."

Hou shook her head sadly and said, "Now that he's dead, should I stay in this world and be cursed by others?"

Tian Kai pointed to Hou's arms and said, "Madam, do you want this child to be buried here as well?"

Hou was stunned. She wiped her tears, hugged the child tightly in her arms, and slowly stood up.

She held the child in her arms and walked laboriously to the front of the wooden board. A strong wind blew and made her body stagger.

Her face was pale. The wooden board was too narrow and she didn't dare to walk across it even though she was holding the child!

Seeing this, Yuan Xi said, "The lives of my wife and the child depend on me."

Tian Kai also said from behind: "If you can't get through, you will die."

Hou started crying again: "Why do you all want to force me?"

"Why do you force me too?"

Seeing that Hou was still hesitating in front of the wooden board, Yuan Xi said, "Madam, the Marquis of Ji is gone. Whether he lives or dies depends on your decision."

He stepped onto the template, took two steps forward, stretched out his hand, and said, "Madam, General Tian sacrificed his life to give you and your son a chance to survive. Are you going to waste it like this?"

Zhao Yun and Sun Li were shocked and quickly grabbed Yuan Xi's other hand.

My lord is too self-destructive. What if he falls down?

Yuan Xi was actually a little scared, but now he has come to his senses. If Liu He and the mother and son of the Hou family could survive, it would be of great help to his future plans for Youzhou!

Otherwise he would have just stood by and watched.

Hou heard Tian Kai say behind her: "Madam, let's go."

"The general is dead, Madam, there is no need for you to be buried with the Gongsun family."

After hearing this, Hou gritted her teeth, rushed onto the wooden board with the swaddling clothes in her arms, and ran wildly with her head down.

The wooden board was shaking, so Tian Kai stepped forward and pressed it down hard.

Hou didn't know how many steps she had run before a strong wind blew and she felt her body suddenly lose balance and was about to fall.

She was closing her eyes and waiting to die when she suddenly felt someone grabbing her wrist. Then she quickly took two steps and stood in the cloud tower.

She slowly opened her eyes and made sure she had walked over safely. Only then did she feel her legs go weak and she collapsed to the ground.

Tian Kai looked at Hou's back and recalled that more than ten years ago, when he met Gongsun Zan, Hou was still a newly married young girl who loved to smile at everyone.

So many years have passed.

Tian Yu grabbed the board and shouted to Tian Kai, "Hurry up and crawl over here!"

The fire had swept through the top of the lookout tower, the walls, the roof, the floor, Tian Kai and the wooden board in his hand.

Tian Kai loosened the wooden board and watched it fall in the air with flames. He stood up with all his strength and said to Tian Yu, "I'm tired. You still have a long way to go."

The flames spread from his body.

Hou came back to her senses at this time, her lips trembling as she stared blankly at the flames beginning to engulf Tian Kai's body.

Tian Kai turned to Yuan Xi and said, "Young Master is very impressive, but it's a pity that the battle in Qingzhou was not enough for us."

"I hope you will treat Guo Rang well."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi bowed deeply and said, "I will keep Brother Tian's words in mind."

"Brother is a hero of the time. It is Xi's greatest regret that he cannot work with you."

Tian Kai laughed and walked to sit beside Gongsun Zan's body. "My lord, you think too highly of me. I will take my leave now."

"I'm a little reluctant. Who will win in the end..."

The fire consumed his body.

The Yun Tower was slowly pushed open by Yuan's soldiers, moving farther and farther away from the Watchtower.

Yuan Xi stood on the edge of the cloud tower. The blazing watchtower in the distance was like a candle. Tian Kai sat upright, his charred body like a wick, illuminating the entire sky.

He shouted, "Brother Tian, ​​have a safe journey!"

Tian Yu fell to his knees with a thud, lowered his head deeply and buried it in his arms.

Yuan Shao stood at the city gate and saw that the only remaining watchtower in Yijing, the tallest one, collapsed in flames.

All his advisers and generals came forward to congratulate him.

Yuan Shao felt a little emotional. His biggest enemy over the years had finally been defeated by him.

Whether Gongsun Zan died or surrendered, he would no longer pose any threat to him.

This result was somewhat unexpected to Yuan Shao, because Yuan Shao had expected that he would need another three years of preparation to cut off Gongsun Zan's roots in Youzhou before he could be sure of winning the decisive battle with Gongsun Zan.

Moreover, he had to let the surrounding princes restrain each other so that he could send troops with confidence.

However, something unexpected happened before that. The surrounding princes were either seriously injured or unable to take care of themselves, which created an excellent opportunity for him to send troops.

This is more or less inseparable from Yuan Xi's promotion. Yuan Shao even speculated that Yuan Xi had done many unknown things in places he didn't know.

This son has given me so many unexpected surprises.

He began to hesitate. Should he really adopt Yuan Xi?

Yuan Xi has great ambitions. Now that he is under the name of his own branch, he can still use the family to restrain him to some extent. If he leaves himself, will his two brothers be able to suppress him in the future?

Thinking of the previous experience of fighting between himself and Yuan Shu after he was adopted, Yuan Shao became hesitant.

But even if I was not adopted at that time, would I be willing to live a mediocre life?

The watchtower collapsed with a loud bang amid the soldiers' astonishment. Gongsun Zan's soldiers no longer had the will to resist and surrendered one after another.

The bricks and tiles of the watchtower piled up into a mound, like a grave, burying Gongsun Zan's body and his ambitions.

The overlord who once dominated the four northern states and occupied half of the world, was buried in just a little more soil when he died.