Secretary of the Front Committee Mao Zedong

Order to the First Army Group of the Red Army
to Advance on Xiaohe and to Continue to
Attack Zhangjiafang

(August 20, 1930, at Wenjiashi)

1. The enemy’s situation is as reported today by the staff office.
2. To achieve the objective of wiping out He Jian’s forces, the army group
has decided to continue the attack on the enemy in Zhangjiafang (Chen
Guanzhong’s independent Seventh Brigade 1), and to advance toward Xiaohe
(70 li) tomorrow morning (the 21st).
3. The Third Army will advance along the right route, and it should set out
from the present location at 3:00 A.M. tomorrow and progress toward Xiaohe via
Baimazhou, Jiaobanchong, Yaowangmiao, Caipaiao, Xiaokeng, Lishu’ao, and
Hechang, encamping at Xiaohe upon arrival.
4. The rest should advance along the left route and progress toward Xiaohe
via Qingjiang, Sunjiaduan, and Pendou, in the following order:
a. The Twelfth Army is to allocate enough troops as a vanguard, and the
entire army should complete its departure from here promptly at 3:30
A.M. tomorrow.
b. General Headquarters, the espionage team of General Headquarters, the
Revolutionary Military Commission, the Revolutionary Military Com-mission’s espionage company and transportation team, as well as [those in
charge of] the baggage of the units directly attached to General Head-quarters should all get up at 2:30 tomorrow morning, and assemble at
3:30 at the eastern end of this city for departure (everyone carrying his
lunch).
c. The Fourth Army is to dispatch the rear guard. Its vanguard unit should set
out at 4:30 A.M. tomorrow and advance following the baggage of the units
directly attached to General Headquarters.

Our source for this order is Jiangxi dangshi ziliao, Vol. 6, pp. 83–84. No earlier source is
available to us.
1. Chen Guanzhong (1897–1949) was a native of Hunan. As indicated, he was at this
time the commander of the Guomindang’s Seventh Independent Brigade.
3. Wu Zhonghao (1905–1930), a native of Hunan, had joined the Chinese Communist
Party in 1924. In 1927, he had participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and had
followed Mao up the Jinggangshan. In 1930 he was commander of the Twenty-first
Western Fujian Red Army.