In early January 1946, the Kuomintang army attempted to seize the strategic town of Shaobo (now part of Jiangdu District, Yangzhou) in the central part of Jiangsu Province before the armistice agreement officially entered into force.
If the enemy were to capture Shaobo, it would pose a direct threat to the command organs of our Central China Field Army stationed in Huaiyin, and would also have a great impact on the mobilization and assembly of our army in the central Soviet Union.
Under such circumstances, Commander Su Yu of Huaye asked Zhang Yanlong, commander of the Fifth Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Soviet Union, to lead his troops to resolutely resist the enemy and smash their plot.
On January 10, the commanders and fighters of the Fifth Regiment were desperately rushing to repair the fortifications, and the 108th Brigade of the Enemy's 25th Division, led by the famous Kuomintang general Huang Botao, was killed in a fierce manner.
The 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment of Huaye took the lead in fighting the enemy near the Six Gates south of the Shaobo section of the canal embankment.
Huang Botao was very cunning, and ordered one unit of troops to launch a fierce attack on our army from the front, and then sent another force to sneak across the canal and detour back to the flank rear of the fifth company to attack.
In the face of an enemy several times their own, the commanders and fighters of the Second Battalion fought extremely bravely and tenaciously, relying on the favorable terrain around them, fighting hard with the enemy army for days and days, firmly holding their positions, but also paying a considerable price of casualties.
Among them, a platoon led by Cheng Xianggao, the commander of the fifth company' deputy company, all died heroically in this bloody battle.
At the critical moment, Zhang Yanlong personally ran to the forefront to command the battle, led his troops to reinforcements, and repelled the enemy who was already close to our army's position.
In the next contest between the two sides, the enemy continued to increase its troops and constantly launched a fierce attack in different ways, but it was still unable to conquer the positions guarded by HuaYe's soldiers.
The enemy commander was so mad that he came up with another method--ordering a group of Japanese troops who had surrendered to the Kuomintang in Yangzhou to form a "death squad" and force them to rush to the position of the second battalion of the Fifth Regiment.
Objectively speaking, this group of Japanese troops is well-trained, and the structure is relatively complete, and its combat effectiveness is far above that of the Kuomintang soldiers. Although they surrendered in Yangzhou and temporarily fought for the Kuomintang as a helpless move by the situation, some people forced themselves to fight with guns behind their butts, and they had to fight desperately.
When Zhang Yanlong saw that this Japanese army was attacking fiercely at the forward command post and was in a state of anxiety, he found that there was suddenly a strange scene on the position of the fourth company of the second battalion of our army.
I saw about thirty soldiers, each wielding a long pole and a large knife in both hands, roaring angrily and rushing towards the Japanese "death squad" that had rushed to the front of the position.
Zhang Yanlong fixed his eyes on it, these long pole knives were actually the famous Green Dragon Crescent Knives in the Story of the Three Kingdoms!
This knife shape is very peculiar, the knife edge is streamlined, the back of the knife is jagged, there are barbs, the knife body is generally inlaid with the pattern of the dragon swallowing the moon, and the length of the knife shaft is about five or six feet.
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Guan Yunchang, who is known as the "Martial Saint" by the people, is precisely with this unique weapon to pass five levels and slash six generals, leaving behind many popular heroic legends.
However, whether in ancient times or in modern times, very few people actually used the Green Dragon Crescent Moon Knife in actual combat. Some historians have even examined that Guan Yunchang's weapon in history was not the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, but a straight-stabbing weapon such as a spear and a halberd.
So the question is, why did more than thirty warriors suddenly appear on the battlefield armed with the Green Dragon Crescent Blade rushing towards the Japanese army?
It turned out that this batch of Guan Gong big knives still had some coming.
It was in November 1945 that Zhao Yunxiang, commander of the Fourth Army of the Second Front of the Wang puppet Nationalist Government, led his troops to lead an uprising in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, becoming the first general to revolt in the Central China Theater.
It is said that Zhao Yunxiang greatly respected Guan Yunchang's bravery and loyalty, and once ordered the elaborate creation of hundreds of Green Dragon Crescent Knives, so that one of his cavalry companies would carry out horse combat training with this large knife every day.
However, although the Green Dragon Crescent Knife is very famous, first, the blade is too long, and the weight is too heavy, and it is not suitable for use in actual combat. Especially for those thin warriors, fighting with a heavy knife cannot exert its power at all, but has become a great burden.
After Zhao Yunxiang's uprising, the pseudo-Fourth Army was reorganized into the Fourth Army for the Liberation of Central China, and the Green Dragon Crescent Knives were discarded and thrown into the corner of an arsenal.
One day, these large knives were accidentally discovered by Xun Yikang, an instructor of the Second Battalion of the Fifth Regiment of the Second Brigade of Central China, who also admired Guan Yunchang, and when he saw so many Green Dragon Crescent Knives, he was immediately ecstatic, so he asked the relevant leaders to go back for the training of the troops.
Xun Yi resisted and asked the warriors to saw off the long poles of these large knives, making them lighter and easier to use.
He also specially selected dozens of soldiers with tall arms and lengths from the second battalion and four companies to form a "big knife team" to conduct actual combat training with the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and unexpectedly found that the effect was surprisingly good.
This kind of large knife not only wields a roaring wind, but also has a large attack range, which is in line with the saying of "one inch long, one inch strong".
When the Japanese army formed a "death squad" and rushed toward our army's position, Xun Yikang immediately transferred the second battalion and four companies he had left as a reserve to the position, and let the "big knife team" jump out of the trench carrying the green dragon crescent knife to fight the enemy in close combat.
Incredibly, when the Japanese "death squad" saw our soldiers jumping out of the trenches with the polished and shining Green Dragon Crescent Knife in their hands, they were frightened one by one, and their faces showed a look of shock and fear, and they turned around and retreated backwards!
The members of the "Big Knife Squad" saw that the enemy was so frightened, their morale was even higher, their confidence was greater, they roared and pursued the enemy, and it took only a few minutes to defeat this Japanese "death squad".
Xun Yi resisted this situation and immediately ordered the whole battalion to counterattack in a big way, and the shouts of the soldiers resounded through the clouds, completely crushing the enemy and finally achieving a comprehensive victory in the defense of Shaobo.
After the war, Xun Yikang personally interrogated the prisoners, and only then did he figure out the reason why the Japanese army's "death squad" was about to collapse.
It turned out that Japan, which has a long history with China, also admired guan Yunchang, a famous general of the Three Kingdoms, and both ordinary people and rich merchants often went to the Guandi Temple to worship Guan Yunchang. In this way, of course, they were also very familiar with and in awe of Guan Yunchang's unique weapon, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
In the Japanese army units that revere "Bushido," many soldiers revere Guan Yunchang as gods, so when they saw our army's "big sword team" wielding such an unpopular weapon as the Green Dragon Crescent Knife, they had a strong sense of fear, and it was this fear that made them collapse in front of the battle.