Yuan Xi stood on top of the Cloud Tower, holding Yuan Shao's handwritten letter, and shouted loudly.
The people in the watchtower who were waiting for death with their eyes closed immediately showed joy on their faces when they heard what Yuan Xi said. Even Hou Shi's eyes shone with light.
Who would want to die if they could survive?
Moreover, Yuan Shao treated the nobles quite generously and had a good reputation. He also sent his son to come in person, which was obviously very sincere. This ignited hope in everyone's hearts.
Gongsun Zan showed contempt on his face: "Things have reached such a stage, why should Yuan be so pretentious?"
The Yun Tower was pushed to a few feet away from the gathering watchtower, and then it stopped. Yuan Xi tied up the silk in his hands, looked at the window, and threw it hard.
The silk flew out of Gongsun Zan's side, fell to the floor, rolled for a distance, and stopped not far from Hou's feet.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Mrs. Hou bit her lip, hugged the baby tightly with one hand, and leaned down to pick up the silk with the other. He hesitantly walked to Gongsun Zan and handed the silk over.
Gongsun Zan snorted coldly and grabbed the silk from Hou's hand. Hou was caught off guard and took a few steps back. The child in his arms was frightened and started crying.
Hou quickly shook the baby. The baby's cries made Gongsun Zan more and more upset. He pulled open the silk and found that there were densely packed words on it, with as many as a thousand words.
He took a brief look and found that Yuan Shao's words were very different from the content of Yuan Shao's previous letter to persuade him to surrender. It was still the same rhetoric.
Yuan Shao said ten reasons in that letter. Gongsun Zan still clearly remembered these reasons. They were so high-sounding that Gongsun Zan could not refute them and was filled with anger.
The first is that the two sides share a common friendship to defeat Dong, the second is that Gongsun Zan, as a prince, often acted arrogantly, the third is that the Yuan family is not responsible for the death of Gongsun Zan's brother, and the fourth is that Gongsun Zan ruined the people and made them miserable.
The fifth is that the outcome of the Battle of Jieqiao was God's will for the Yuan family. The sixth is that Gongsun Zan has become a public enemy of the world. Not only the Han people, but also other ethnic groups have become his enemies.
Of course, the tenth point in the previous letter was written when Yuan Shao was unable to attack Yijing for a long time, and asked for reconciliation with Gongsun Zan and a truce between the two sides to deal with other princes.
At that time, Gongsun Zan felt that he still had the upper hand and dismissed it. But now the conditions of this letter have changed from reconciliation to surrender. After that, the Yuan family will save the lives of Gongsun Zan and his family.
Gongsun Zan was furious. Surrendering might save his life, but in all likelihood, he would be imprisoned in Yecheng for the rest of his life and become the laughing stock of the world.
Yuan Shao will never let him return to the North and make a comeback!
Living like a dog is worse than death!
He turned his head and looked at his sister's body on the ground and his family members who looked expectantly on their faces. He used his fingers to squeeze the silk in his hand into a crumpled ball.
He raised his hand and threw the silk out of the window. The silk stretched and rolled in the air, like a butterfly, drifting away in the wind.
Everyone's faces turned pale when they saw Gongsun Zan slowly pick up the long sword beside him and walk towards his family members.
When a young woman saw Gongsun Zan approaching, she held a five or six-year-old boy in her arms and cried: "Second brother, this is your nephew!"
"You have already killed my eldest sister just now, do you want to kill us again?"
Gongsun Zan raised the sword in his hand high and said coldly: "If you fall into their hands, life will be worse than death!"
The woman shouted: "Everyone heard it just now. The son of Yuan Benchu is here in person. He won't lie to us!"
"Your brother-in-law died at the top of the city a few days ago, so you should leave some blood for him!"
The long knife in Gongsun Zan's hand paused for a moment, then suddenly slashed down when the woman's face showed a look of hope.
The woman fell into a pool of blood while holding the boy, lifeless at the same time.
The family members were immediately in confusion. Mrs. Hou was holding her baby in her arms and sitting on the ground with dull eyes.
Gongsun Zan slashed several times and killed several more people, but his eyes turned to the tied young man.
He pulled him over, put the bloody long knife on the man's neck, pulled him to the window, and laughed wildly: "Yuan Shao is just a hypocritical person!"
"Last time, Yuan Shao and Liu He attacked Yi Jing together. Liu He entered the city, but Yuan Shao took the opportunity to run away, clearly intending to kill someone with a borrowed knife!"
"He Yuan Shao talks so much about benevolence, righteousness and morality, but he covets Youzhou and even the world. He talks nice, but he is actually a deceitful person who steals his reputation!"
Yuan Xi was stunned. He had heard of this young man's name before. He was the son of Liu Yu!
Because of his sensitive identity, he was detained by Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao, and finally surrendered to Yuan Shao, but disappeared when he joined forces with Yuan Shao to attack Yi Jing, and his whereabouts are unknown.
It turned out that he was captured by Gongsun Zan and kept in Yijing City!
Liu He said: "Kill if you want, why talk nonsense!"
He turned to Yuan Xi and said: "I know that I will die today, so please give Yuan Shijun a message. I, Liu He, have never had the will to be independent, and I have made you a villain in vain."
When Yuan Xi heard this, he realized that there was really something going on here!
He suddenly thought that Yuan Shao might actually be able to do something about Liu He's arrest!
Liu Yu had a high prestige in Youzhou during his lifetime. After Liu Yu was killed by Gongsun Zan, his old subordinates Xian Yufu, Qi Zhou, Xian Yuyin and others jointly recommended Yan Rou as Wu Wan Sima.
They summoned Wuwan and Xianbei troops, plus tens of thousands of their own people. Using Liu Yu's son Liu He as the banner, they attacked Zou Dan, the governor of Yuyang under Gongsun Zan, and finally killed him. They continued to fight.
Arrive at Yijing City.
Yuan Xi speculated that Yuan Shao was worried that Liu He would be powerful, so he deliberately ignored Liu He in the last battle of Yijing.
Seeing Gongsun Zan's blade on Liu He's neck, about to stab him with all his strength, Yuan Xi hesitated for a moment.
If Liu He is saved, will it ruin Yuan Shao's affairs and affect his own Youzhou layout?
But if we don’t save...
He couldn't help but turn his head slightly and looked at Zhao Yun aside, finding an extremely complicated expression on his face.
At this moment, he suddenly woke up and shouted: "Help!"
Liu He must be saved!
Otherwise, I am just a hypocritical person who can only say nice things. Who will trust me in the future?
Hearing Yuan Xi's roar, Zhao Yun showed an expression of relief. He pulled the long bow from his back, bent the bow and nocked the arrow, and shot the arrow in an instant!
Not one arrow was shot at Gongsun Zan, but three arrows!
Taishi Ci and Sun Li, who were hiding behind, shot arrows at the same time!
With two pops, Zhao Yun's and Tai Shici's arrows hit Gongsun Zan's right arm holding the sword respectively. Gongsun Zan yelled and the sword fell to the ground.
At this time, Sun Li's arrow was half a beat too slow and hit Gongsun Zan's left shoulder.
Sun Li cursed loudly, "What a bastard, you missed the shot!"
Everyone…….
Gongsun Zan took a few steps back, and finally sat down on the ground weakly. Blood continued to flow from his arms. Liu He took the opportunity to escape.
Yuan Xi thought to himself, looking at the injury, Gongsun Zan could not use the sword with both hands.
He straightened up and said to Gongsun Zan who was sitting on the ground: "Jihou, the situation is over, surrender."
"My father will not lie to you. I will use the reputation of the Yuan family to ensure the safety of Jihou and his family."
In fact, Yuan Xi understood that there were benefits to killing Gongsun Zan, as it was justifiable to avenge Liu Yu, but there was no need to harm his family.
In fact, during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, except for the Sima clan, other great gentry would hardly do such a thing for the sake of reputation.
So when he saw Gongsun Zan killing his family members from Yunlou, he couldn't figure it out. Why did Gongsun Zan think Yuan Shao would eradicate the weeds?
But if the Yuan family falls into Cao Cao's hands, it will be difficult to say.
When Cao Cao captured Yecheng in later generations, there were two records.
"Three Kingdoms" - When the public came to worship Shao's tomb, he burst into tears; he comforted Shao's wife, returned her family's treasures, gave her mixed silk and catkins, and gave her food.
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty" - Cao Cao attacked and slaughtered the city of Ye, and the Yuan family's wives often invaded.
Yuan Shao's wife was Mrs. Liu, and she died a good death probably because she dedicated Zhen Mi to Cao Pi.
The other female relatives of the Yuan family were not so lucky.
The so-called invasion generally means being captured and robbed, just like Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao at Changbanpo in later generations, and his wife and daughter were captured and never seen in the records. They should have been acquired by the Cao family.
By the way, this is not the first time that Cao Cao has done something like this. Liu Bei captured Madam Mi during his previous expedition to the east. From then on, Madam Mi's whereabouts were not found in the history books.
Compared to Lü Bu who secretly attacked Xiapi and captured Liu Bei's youngest son but then returned him, it can be said that Cao Cao did a better job than Lü Bu.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi suddenly understood Gongsun Zan's thoughts. In Gongsun Zan's eyes, the situation between the two sides was already a fight to the death. How could Yuan Shao let his family go?
Therefore, people have very different ideas and it is difficult to understand each other.
Gongsun Zan suddenly burst into laughter. He stared at Zhao Yun closely and shouted: "Zhao Yun, I still misjudged you!"
Zhao Yun took a step forward and said in a deep voice: "Yun has never been sorry to the general. It is the general who has been sorry to Liu Hou!"
Gongsun Zan shouted: "What do you know!"
"Do you understand the hardships of people like me who have climbed up from the bottom?"
Zhao Yun said coldly: "The general is wrong."
"There are many injustices in the world, but some people use them as an excuse to become bandits and harm the people, while some people use their own lives to save the people from fire and water."
"Justice and morality are in the heart of the people, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, high or low. There is a ruler in the human heart."
"In the past, the governor of Zhuo County married his daughter to the general, so that the general could gain power. Now the general wants to kill his wife. Isn't it ungrateful?"
"The Han Dynasty gave the general the favor of making him a marquis, but the general killed the Han Dynasty Zongzheng. Isn't he forgetting his roots?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, "Well said, when did Zhao Yun become so good at reasoning?"
Gongsun Zan's face turned red and white. He stood up unsteadily, and the blood on his arms kept flowing.
Seeing this, Mrs. Hou hurriedly went up to help, but was kicked away by Gongsun Zan, causing both the person and the baby to fall to the ground.
He laughed wildly and said: "Go away, everyone has betrayed me!"
"Bitch, just go and grovel to please Mr. Yuan!"
"But first you have to survive!"
As soon as he stretched out his hand, he knocked the oil lamp beside him to the ground, and the fire suddenly burst into flames and spread to all sides.
Zhao Yun's eyes turned cold and he said to Yuan Xi: "He poured kerosene on the house in advance!