In December 1940, Tao Yong, commander of the Third Column of the New Fourth Army's Northern Jiangsu Command (who became a founding lieutenant general in 1955), led the main force to fight in the area of Caodian Town (present-day northeast of Baoying County, Jiangsu).
When Han Deloitte, the leader of the Kuomintang diehards and chairman of Jiangsu Province, learned of this news, he decided to take advantage of the situation and launch a shameful sneak attack on the three columns stationed in the port.
The recalcitrant troops who were ordered to sneak into the New Fourth Army, in addition to the troops of Xu Chengde, commander of the Jiangsu Guerrilla Sixth Column, also included the Jiangsu Security First Brigade. The brigade commander Zhan Changyou was originally neutral to the New Fourth Army, but under the coercion and inducement of Han Deloitte, he also gave up his original position and decided to join the battle group of "encircling and suppressing" the New Fourth Army.
When the rear is empty, the base camp is about to be besieged by the enemy, and this situation is undoubtedly extremely critical for the three columns!
Fortunately, when the enemy had just begun to dispatch troops, their plot had already been grasped by the internal personnel of the New Fourth Army troops stationed in the enemy camp, and Tao Yong was quickly reported.
Although Tao Yong was a battle-hardened General, he was still surprised to learn of this situation: the Three Columns had been operating painstakingly in the central Soviet Region for so long, and once the digging headquarters was destroyed by the enemy, the consequences would be unimaginable!
For Han Deqin, he dreamed of destroying the New Fourth Army, which gave him a headache, and firmly controlled the whole territory of Jiangsu in his hands. Now the perfect opportunity is at hand, and he doesn't want to miss it anyway.
In his heart, he made a wishful calculation: with zhan Changyou's help, it could be said that it was easy to destroy the empty three-column base camp.
But what he did not expect at all was that the original "ten to nine stable" situation soon underwent major changes.
This morning, on the street of Matang Town, where the First Kuomintang Security Brigade was stationed, a surprising scene suddenly appeared, only to see a strange object galloping in the billowing yellow dust, which was as fast as a galloping horse, and in the blink of an eye, it had already arrived at the gate of the brigade headquarters of the First Security Brigade.
The sentry standing at the door was startled and fixed his eyes on it, only to find that it was a motorcycle speeding up, and there was a man sitting on it.
"Who?" The sentry exclaimed.
The people who came did not stop at all, and Lang Sheng replied: "Tao Yong, commander of the Third Column of the New Fourth Army!" ”
The sentry was astonished: What? How dare the commander of the New Fourth Army break into this place?
Before he could return to his senses, Tao Yong had already rushed in from the gate on a motorcycle.
The sentry saw this and shouted at the courtyard, "Tao Yong is coming!" Tao Yong is here! ”
The people inside heard the shouting so urgently, they all thought that there was some emergency, they ran out to check, some heard the two words "Tao Yong", knew that this was a famous general of the New Fourth Army, and hurriedly took guns and called people in the house, and for a time the whole compound became a pot of porridge.
Tao Yong smiled slightly, parked his motorcycle in a corner of the courtyard without hurrying, sorted out his military uniform, and then walked into the hall with great enthusiasm.
Zhan Changyou heard the chaos outside, and also quickly ran out to check the situation, but he did not expect to meet Tao Yong, who was striding towards the meteor, and said in surprise: "Tao... Commander Tao... It turned out to be you..."
"That's right!" Tao Yong sneered, "Now the whole country is calling for unity and resistance, I didn't expect that the Nationalist army would not fight the Japanese, but actually wanted to besiege the New Fourth Army, you Brigade Commander Zhan also has a share, I Tao Mou simply sent it to the door!" ”
Tao Yong went straight in without bending the corner, which caught Zhan Changyou a little off guard and stammered, "This... Han...... Han Deloitte repeatedly forced each other, Zhan Mou, as a subordinate, could not disobey the order, it was really helpless! ”
"If the surname Han continues like this, sooner or later he will have to defect to the Japanese as traitors, so why don't you Brigadier Zhan also obey the order?" Tao Yong stared at Zhan Changyou and said.
Zhan Changyou held his chest up: "Zhan Mou is not a traitor in any case!" ”
"Then Brigadier Zhan is willing to be shot by Han Deloitte?" Tao Yong said, "Have you forgotten that when your Security First Brigade was first eaten by Xu Chengde, and then forced by Han Deloitte to fight the New Fourth Army, and lost another regiment?" ”
As soon as he mentioned these old accounts that were secretly rectified by Han Deloitte, Zhan Changyou was angry.
Tao Yong took the opportunity to remind him that Han Deloitte's letting the First Security Brigade participate in the siege of the New Fourth Army this time was nothing more than killing people with a knife, and Zhan Changyou's final fate could only be to become the "Light Rod Commander".
Zhan Changyou woke up like a dream, slapped the table "in the air" and scolded Han Deloitte, and then expressed his desire to "unite and resist" with the New Fourth Army.
Tao Yong immediately pointed out that as long as the 1st Security Brigade moved westward and gave way to a road, the Third Column of the New Fourth Army would launch a counterattack to the Shigang area and eliminate Xu Chengde's troops.
Zhan Changyou knew that the three columns had triumphantly passed from Caodian, and while some of their troops were returning to the division to dig the harbor and rescue the base camp, another group of people was moving closer to Xu Chengde's troops. He thought to himself: Fortunately, he did not make an enemy of the New Fourth Army, otherwise there would be no good fruit to eat.
After the two sides reached an agreement, Tao Yong bid farewell to Zhan Changyou, stepped back on the motorcycle, and sped away with billowing smoke.
In fact, Tao Yong's motorcycle was captured and repaired from the Japanese army, and the entire New Fourth Army unit could only be driven by Tao Yong, who was good at studying new things. He rode into the enemy camp alone this time, and successfully persuaded Zhan Changyou to relieve a major threat for the three columns, and could concentrate on dealing with Xu Chengde.
Interestingly, the gasoline in the fuel tank of the motorcycle was just enough for Tao Yong to drive to Zhan Changyou's headquarters and then back to the third column station.
In the history of our army, there have been many cases of the main generals in the army who have braved the dangers and single-handedly entered the tiger's den, but there is only one case like General Tao Yong driving a motorcycle and rushing into the enemy's headquarters, which can be called a miracle in the army.
Reference historical materials: "Legend of Tao Yong", "Record of the Conquest of the New Fourth Army", etc