To Zhu De and Others Telegram

(October 27, 1935)

Zhu, Zhang; Xu, Chen:

(A) Your telegram of the 26th received. Our 1st and 3rd Army Corps, under the direct leadership of individual members of the Central Committee, set out from the Sichuan-Gansu border on September 10. Over a period of forty days, they swept across the entire province of Gansu, covering a journey of over two thousand li, and safely arrived in full in the Northern Shaanxi Soviet Area on October 20. Along the way, they routed Lu Dachang’s 14th Division, Xu Kexiang’s 24th Division, the Fengjun 3rd, 6th, and 7th Cavalry Divisions (these cavalry units have extremely weak combat effectiveness and often collapse at a single blow), and Ma Hongbin’s 35th Division. The total number of prisoners, captured men, horses, rifles, and equipment is statistically over three thousand. They received the warm support of the Hui and Han masses, persevered in and achieved the Party’s strategic tasks. In the Northern Shaanxi Soviet Area, extending west to the Gansu border, east adjacent to the Yellow River, north to the Great Wall, and south to Ganquan and Yao County, it has become the first large Soviet area north of the Long [Yangtze] River. The troops include the 26th and 27th Armies, possess extensive guerrilla forces, and have made progress in mass work. Since joining forces with the 25th Army, they have wiped out one division of the Fengjun, and yesterday they wiped out two regiments of the Fengjun near Ganquan. Our 1st and 3rd Army Corps are now joining forces with Lan [Qi] in a large-scale offensive. (B) Since the time our army approached Northern Shaanxi, Chiang Kai-shek has personally assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of “Bandit Suppression” in Northern Shaanxi, with Zhang Xueliang as his deputy. Apart from one part of Chiang’s and Yang’s forces, the Fengjun have dispatched a total of over forty regiments, which are now encircling our Northern Shaanxi Soviet Area, this being above □□□□. Under the leadership of the Central Committee, we are mobilizing the broad masses of the Soviet Area to coordinate with the actions of the 25th, 26th, and 27th Armies.

Luopu, Zedong, Rongzhen, Fuchun

27th, 15:00 hours