Operational Order to the Red Army[1]

(April 3, 1936)

The main forces of the First Red Army Corps and the Eighty-First Division shall gradually shift to the area of Pu County and Daning, concentrate for training, and prepare for combat, and subsequently, in coordination with the Thirtieth Red Army and other units, seize the Yellow River ferry crossing at Yongheguan; the main forces of the Fifteenth Red Army Corps and the Twenty-Eighth Red Army shall gradually shift southward, expand the army and conduct mass work in the areas of Lin County, Lishi, and Zhongyang, and subsequently seize the Yellow River ferry crossing north of Sanjiao Town; the main forces of the Thirtieth Red Army and other units shall pin down the enemy in the area of Xian County and Lingshi, while a portion of the troops shall destroy enemy strongholds along the Yellow River west of Yonghe to safeguard rear-area transportation.

[1] This is an operational order issued to the Red Army in April 1936 after Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai discovered that Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan were amassing forces to blockade the Yellow River ferry crossings with the intention of encircling and annihilating the Red Army separately in the area east of the Yellow River.