Is “The novel fictionalizes that Gao Lan was stabbed to death by Zhao Yun in the Battle of Runan; in official history, after Gao Lan surrendered to Cao Cao, there is no record of him being killed.” true?
In official history, it is recorded that Gao Lan surrendered to Cao Cao together with Zhang He during the Battle of Guandu: "Yuan Shao's generals Zhang He and Gao Lan burned the siege engines and surrendered, and Yuan Shao then abandoned his army and fled" (Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Biographies of Xun Yu, Xun You, and Jia Xu). After that, there is no record of his death in battle in official history. However, in Chapter 31 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is fictionalized that when Liu Bei was defeated at Runan, Gao Lan was ordered to pursue and forced Liu Bei to contemplate suicide, but then Zhao Yun suddenly arrived and "a general charged into the formation; as his spear rose, Gao Lan fell off his horse," stabbing him to death.
Fictional cause of death
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