Order to Wipe Out the Enemy Advancing from
Chongxian to Gaoxingxu'
(August 3, 1931)
1. The units from the forces of Jiang [Guangnai] and Cai [Tingkai] advancing
on Chongxian amount to approximately three regiments. Their advance pickets are in Da'ao, which is on the way to Gaoxing (the pickets in Da'ao have
already marched to Guodoujian Mountain and can be seen from Duoqiu). At
8:00 A.M. today our Thirty-fifth Army made contact with them. According to
reports, the enemy appears disposed to march toward Gaoxing. His goal is to
take Xingguo.
Jiang Dingwen and Zhao Guantao have arrived at Banjing and Quyang and
it appears that they are going to attack Yudu. There are no enemy troops in
Gulonggang, Sanliao, Qingtang, Jiangkou, Nankeng, Junfu, and Liaocun. In
Huangbei there is an independent brigade from Zhao's division. The three divisions from the region of Longgang, under the command of Chen Cheng, Luo
Zhuoying, and Han Deqin. arrived at Futian on August 1. Along the stretch
between Longgang and Shaxi there is only one brigade (three regiments) of Hao
[Mengling]'s division, and some remnants (about six regiments) of Tang
[Fengzhen] and Ouo [Hil8ZOD&]'s two divisions.
Along the line from Donggu to Chongxian are the two divisions of Jiang
[Guangnai] and Cai [Tingkai] (in all, ten regiments; the rest are in Futian.
Xin'an, and Ji'an), Li Yunjie's divisions (six regiments), and one brigade of
Hao's division (three regiments), making a total of around nineteen regiments.
Their aim is to reach Xingguo. One part of their forces has occupied Donggu in
!28
order to assist the enemy troops in Futian to resist the Red Army forces, which
have already arrived in the vicinity of Futian.
2. Our Front Army is determined to destroy the enemy forces advancing from
Chongxian to Gaoxing tomorrow (the 4th).
3. The dispositions for the attack tomorrow (the 4th) are as follows:
After the enemy has entered Gaoxingxu, the Third Army will launch its attack
from the right from its present location (Xinxu). The Twelfth Army will attack
from the left from its present location (Fenglin and Kucun--between Chongxian
and Changjingkou). The Fourth Army will make a frontal assault on the enemy
from its present location (Changjingkou). The Third Army Group and the Seventh Army will form two columns, starting from their present locations. One
column should advance from Xiaoyaoling to the vicinity of Changjingkou. The
other should take the narrow path on the left of Daxiaoyaoling from Shibeiyu
(the road taken by the Twelfth Army today is very good, it divides into two near
the Shibeiyu wooden bridge) to the vicinity of Fenglin and Kucun. The work of
the Third Army Group and the Seventh Army is to serve as the general reserve
forces, and they will participate in the attack on the enemy as required by
circumstances.
4. Today and tomorrow General Headquarters will be located at Huangtuao.
Supplementary notes:
a. If the enemy troops do not enter Gaoxing, our forces will take no action
tomorrow.
b. The Third Army Group and the Seventh Army should set out at 10:00 P.M.
this evening and arrive at their destination by dawn.
Commander-in-Chief
Zhu De
Political Commissar
Mao Zedong

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Moo Zetlongjrmshi wenji, Vol. I, pp. 242-43, where it is
reproduced ftom.hlfl.rhlwenzian, issued in 1942.
I. This order was issued at Laoyingban, a town on the Xingguo-Taihe border. The
places refmed to III'C mostly in northern Xingguo and Ningdu :cUm.

2. The word (.rhao) rendered ”pickets" here is more commonly ltvlslated. as "sentries,"
but in a context referring to troops on the march rather than in camp, ”pickets" or”scouts"
seemmoreappropriatetenns.

3. Jiang Dingwen commanded the Nationalist army's Ninth Division; Zhao Guantao
commanded the Sixth Division.

4. Mao and Zhu were mistaken here; Tang Fengzhen had commanded the division in
question (the Nationalist army's Forty-seventh Division) during the Second Encirclement
Campaign, but it was now commanded by Shangguan Yunxiang.
S. Li Yunjie commll!lded the Nationalist army's Twenty-third Division.