The year before last, when Chen Caozhi returned from Ye City, he had given Ran Sheng the renowned Dragon City horse Murong Ke had presented to him. Ran Sheng was powerfully built; the Great White Horse he had won from Zhi Fahan was fine for ordinary riding, but lacked the strength to carry him charging in armor. This renowned Dragon City horse, however, was tall and strong, red all over, and called the Fire Dragon Steed. It ran with extraordinary speed, its streaming mane truly resembling flames flickering and soaring. Ran Sheng ordinarily rode the Great White Horse, switching to the Fire Dragon Steed when charging into battle-
At the Western Command of Gushu, Ran Sheng had become quite friendly with Huan Shiqian and Deng Xia, often wrestling and sparring with them. Both Huan Shiqian and Deng Xia called Ran Sheng a Tiger General: the Western Headquarters had three tigers, not two. Before this Northern Expedition, Deng Xia had encouraged Ran Sheng to win fame in a single battle and earn rewards and rapid promotion. Who could have expected Deng Xia to die at Xiluo Teng's hands beneath Xuchang's walls? In the heavy cavalry battle just now, Ran Sheng had also witnessed the ferocity of this yellow-bearded Xianbei, who had killed dozens of Northern Headquarters heavy cavalrymen and actually broken out of the encirclement. How could Ran Sheng let Xiluo Teng escape like this? He led a troop of cavalry in hot pursuit-
Following Xiluo Teng were Murong Zhu and nine other valiant Yan horsemen. Fu Yan was trapped amid the battling troops, his fate unknown, but there was no time to concern themselves with that now. They could only return to Xingyang as quickly as possible-
One Yan horseman shouted, "General, enemy cavalry are hard on our heels!"
Xiluo