For the sake of fairness, Yuan Xi asked Zhao Yun, Pang De, Gao Shun, Gao Ran and others to draw lots, and as a result, Gao Ran was lucky to win the task of attacking Runan. Gao Ran is the most senior reward in the Jizhou army, he is steady, brave in battle, and is one of the four pillars of Hebei during the Yuan Shao period.

Since Yan Liangwen Chou died, Zhang Jaw followed Yuan Xi, Gao Ran is the first general under Yuan Shao, and is deeply loved by the Jizhou Army. Yuan Xi took Gao Ran as the main general, with Ma Dai and Guo Huai as the deputy generals, and led 30,000 troops to attack Runan.

In order to cover Gao Lan's actions, Yuan Xi ordered Yuan Tan, the governor of Qingxu, to lead his troops to attack Shouchun, and he himself led a large army to attack Cao Cao's hometown of Qiaoxian. Cao Cao found out that Yuan Xi's army directly took Qian County, and he didn't dare to be careless, Qian County is the birthplace of the Cao family, which is the son of the Cao family and the Xiahou family, and it is also a gathering place for his own selection of talents, and he personally led the army to support Qian County.

Runan was originally the most prosperous county in the Central Plains, but since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the people of Runan have left their hometowns, the population has withered, and it has become a gathering place for bandits and robbers from all walks of life. There used to be yellow turban thieves Kou Liu Zhi, Zhou Cang, Liao Hua, Zhang Yan and others gathered to make trouble, although Cao Cao sent Xiahou to quell the chaos, but there were still frequent robbers and robbers.

Since Runan is so downtrodden, and there are often bandits and robbers who make trouble, why did Xu Shu suggest that Yuan Xi take Runan? One is that Runan is the birthplace of the Yuan family, which is a chicken rib for Cao Cao, but it is a treasure land for Yuan Xi, and the people of Runan are deeply favored by the Yuan family, and they also think that the Yuan family can ensure their own interests and let Runan develop again. The second is the important geographical location of Runan County, Yuzhou, where Runan County is located, connects Yangzhou, Yanzhou, and Sidi, as long as Runan County is occupied, Shouchun will be isolated, and the Hebei Army will directly threaten Xuchang and attack Xuchang.

Gao Lan, Ma Dai, and Guo Huai led the army to advance towards Runan County, and the army came to Xincai County, and the Xincai guard general was not afraid, but took the initiative to lead thousands of men and horses to resist the reinforcements. Gao Ran saw that General Xin Cai was nearly fifty years old, and persuaded him to surrender: "The old general is old, why don't you come down early, so as not to lose the evening festival!" ”

Although Cai Yang, the general of Xincai, is old, he is a famous general under Cao Jun, who has made a big knife and has been on the battlefield for many years, rarely meeting opponents, and wanted to ask for a stable errand, but he didn't expect that Yuan Jun just attacked Xincai, how could he surrender without a fight, ruining the reputation of a lifetime. Cai Yang said angrily: "Hebei thieves invaded my Central Plains for no reason, and they also spoke wildly, and quickly reported their names, and the old man Cai Yang did not kill the nameless!" ”

Gao Ran saw that Cai Yang refused to surrender, and wanted to go out to fight to take Cai Yang, but he didn't expect Ma Dai to take the lead and say: "General Gao is slow, why do you need a knife to kill chickens, watch me take down this arrogant old man!" Ma Dai reported to his home and came to fight Cai Yang with a gun.

Ma Dai is twenty years old, as a general, the force is naturally not weak, and often under the guidance of Ma Teng, Ma Chao and others, and today he is trained by Zhao Yun, and his marksmanship is very superb, fast and ruthless. Cai Yang has been able to crisscross the Central Plains for many years, and his sword skills are skilled, not in vain, although he is old, his speed and strength have degraded, but it is still more than enough to deal with Ma Dai.

The two fought for more than ten rounds, Ma Dai's arm was numb, and he gradually felt invincible, but he didn't want to admit defeat and fight Cai Yang. Cai Yang became more and more courageous, Ma Dai was so old, it was not easy to fight with him for such a round, and he admired it in his heart, but since it was a decisive battle on the battlefield, there was no reason to be soft-hearted.

Gao Ran saw that Ma Dai couldn't fight Cai Yang, and this veteran was not easy to deal with, so he ordered Guo Huai to help Ma Dai. Cai Yang fought Ma Dai and Guo Huai alone, and he was handy, and there was no sign of defeat, so Gao Ran could only withdraw his troops. Guo Huai offered a plan to Gao Ran and said: "Xincai County has few soldiers, so our army might as well go around the city and attack Runan County directly." Cai Yang must have thought that our army was cowardly, and then chased after him, and I ambushed both sides with General Ma Dai, and killed together, Cai Yang would be defeated. Gao Ran was overjoyed, and took advantage of the darkness to order Ma Dai and Guo Huai to secretly bypass Xincai, choose a hidden place, and ambush on the way to Runan County.

Cai Yang saw that the Yuan army did not attack the city at night, and thought that the Yuan army was afraid of him, so he ordered the soldiers defending the city to step up their guard and wait for tomorrow to fight again. On the second day, the soldiers defending the city came to report that Yuan's army secretly walked around the city. Cai Yang went to the city gate to inspect, sure enough, he secretly said in his heart, Yuan Jun couldn't take Xin Cai, so he wanted to go around the city to take Runan, thinking that he had few soldiers and didn't dare to pursue, I just went the other way, Yuan Jun was defenseless, and it would definitely be defeated. Cai Yang led the army in pursuit, and Gao Ran saw that Cao's army was chasing after him, so he pretended to be invincible and fled in the direction of Runan.

Gao Ran led the army to retreat to a dense forest, Cai Yang didn't know what the plan was, wanted to capture Gao Ran, suddenly the rear army was in chaos, it turned out that Ma Dai and Guo Huai saw that the time was ripe, and the ambush was killed, Cao Jun was defenseless, and the rear army could not resist. Cai Yang wanted to turn around and rescue, Gao Ran came out to fight Cai Yang. Gao Ran and Cai Yang were originally comparable, but Cai Yang was ambushed, and his heart was flustered, so he fought with Gao Ran for a few rounds, and he was cowardly and wanted to retreat, but was shot by Ma Dai with an arrow, Gao Ran caught up, and chopped Cai Yang off his horse with a knife, and a generation of famous generals died.

Seeing that Cai Yang was dead, Cao Jun heard that Yuan Jun treated his captives well, and chose to surrender one after another. Because it was necessary to continue to attack Runan, it was inconvenient to take these two or three thousand prisoners, Gao Lan, Ma Dai, and Guo Huai put these Cao army prisoners back to Runan, so that they could reform themselves and not resist Yuan's army. Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this, thanked Yuan Jun for his grace of not killing, and fled for their lives towards Runan.

Li Tong, the defender of Runan, learned from the fleeing Cao soldiers that Cai Yang, the general of the new Cai, had been killed and that the Yuan army was coming towards Runan, and Li Tong immediately ordered the city gate to be closed and prepared to meet the Yuan army. Li Tongneng was appointed by Cao Cao as the Taishou of Runan, not only because he was strong in martial arts, but also cautious, and he carried out a strict investigation of the Cao army prisoners released by the Yuan army, and caught the Yuan army's spies mixed in the captives.

It turned out that Gao Ran put the Cao army captives back firstly to show the benevolence and righteousness of the Yuan army, and secondly, to let the Yuan army blend into Runan, take the opportunity to make trouble, and help the Yuan army open the gate of Runan. Unexpectedly, General Runan was thoughtful, not only strictly monitoring the Cao Jun who was released, but also finding out the spies. General Li Tong planned and prepared to deliberately light a fire as a signal to open the city gate to lead Yuan's army into the city.

Since Yuan Shu was defeated in the hands of Cao Cao, the Yuan family in Runan has also fallen apart, and many of them have gone north to take refuge in Yuan Shao. There are still some officials of the Yuan family who are still hiding in Runan, waiting for Yuan Xi's arrival. Yuan Ying is one of them, although he is almost fifty years old, but he is deeply favored by Yuan Fengzhi, the old patriarch of the Yuan family, and has been staying in Runan, secretly cultivating the Yuan family's forces, before Zhang Yan, Gan Ning, Zhou Cang and others received his assistance.

Yuan Ying received the news that Yuan's army was attacking Runan, so he sent the children of the Yuan family to take the initiative to contact Gao Lan, the chief general of Yuan's army, saying that he would set fire to the city to attract the attention of the defenders in the city, and then he could take the opportunity to attack the city and seize the city gate. Gao Ran was overjoyed, and ordered the army to surround Runan City, wait for Yuan Ying's signal, and then attack.

No matter how Gao Lan, Ma Dai or Guo Huai urged the battle, Li Tong just couldn't hold out, and only waited for Yuan's army to retreat after all the food. A few days later, he suddenly saw a fire in Runan City, Gao Ran thought that this was a signal from Yuan Ying to himself, and ordered the army to attack Runan immediately.

Or Guo Huai was more cautious, and asked the envoy sent by Yuan Ying: "Has Steward Yuan agreed on when to set fire to the incident?" The messenger said truthfully: "Yuan Lao did not explain, only said that when the time is right, he will set fires." Guo Huai nodded, and said to Gao Lan: "It's better to be careful, it's better to have me and Ma Dai go to attack, General Gao is outside to answer me, if there is no ambush, the army will enter." ”

Gao Ran nodded, agreed to Guo Huai's request, and ordered Guo Huai and Ma Dai to attack Runan, and carefully prevent Li Tong's sneak attack. Perhaps it was the fire in Runan City, and the guards focused on extinguishing the fire, and Guo Huai and Ma Dai broke through the city gate without much effort.

The two were overjoyed, and when they were about to go to the place where the fire started to arrest Li Tong, the archers of the Cao army who were ambushed on both sides fired a strafing shot, and the Yuan army suffered numerous casualties. At this time, Li Tong led the army to kill, Guo Huai and Ma Dai fought and retreated, and Yuan's army was defeated. Fortunately, Gao Ran responded outside, rescued Guo Huai and Ma Dai, and returned to the camp.

It turned out that this time it was Li Tong's plan to lure the enemy, he didn't know Yuan Ying's plan, but only based on Yuan's conspiracy. In the past few days, Li Tong has been guarding tightly, Yuan Ying has no chance to start, and suddenly there is a fire, the fire is very big, this must be a conspiracy. Yuan Ying could only be secretly anxious, unable to inform Gao Ran, so he decided to give it a go and sent his subordinates to set fire everywhere to attract Li Tong's attention.

When Yuan's army retreated back to the barracks, Ma Dai saw that Runan City was on fire here, and hurriedly informed Gao Ran. Guo Huai was overjoyed and said: "General Gao, this should be the signal of Steward Yuan, Li Tong won a game tonight, and now that he sees the fire in Runan City, he will definitely deal with the fire and arrest the widow of the Yuan family, thinking that our army will not attack again tonight, this is a great opportunity for our army." Although Gao Ran was defeated for a while, he also felt that Guo Huai's guess was very reasonable, and he couldn't let go of the Yuan clan in Runan, so he personally led the army to attack the city again.