(April 3, 1936, 8:30 P.M.)

6. As regards communication between the front and the rear, we plan to open
two ferry points to the north of Yongheguan and Sanjiaozhen. The First Army
Group is in charge of the south side and the Fifteenth Army Group is in charge
of the north side. This should be carried out in one week's time.

[Peng] Dehuai [Mao] Zedong

To Vice-Chairman Zhou [Enlai], and to be transmitted to Lin [Biao] and Nie
[Rongzhen], Xu [Haidong] and Cheng [Zihua], Liu [Zhidan] and Song
[Renqiong], Song [Shilun], and Xiao [Jingguang]:

1. Because of changes in the enemy's situation, it is ordered that the First Army
Group not go to southeastern Shanxi for the time being, but that it start moving
tomorrow to the Puxian area for concentrated training, and prepare for battle. For a
certain period of time after that, we and the First Army Group together will take on
the tasks of turning this area Red and destroying the blockade line.
2. The Fifteenth Army Group is now on the border between Fen and Lin.¹
From tomorrow it will be ordered to move gradually southward to the area of
Linxian, Lishi, and Zhongyang, vigorously expand the Red Army, and turn the
area Red.
3. It has been decided to order the Twenty-eighth Army to operate together
with the Fifteenth Army Group for a while and fight some small battles so that it
may be tempered and expanded to 2,000 men, after which it will be ordered to
cross over to the west, depending on the needs west of the river.
4. You are urgently requested to organize the Thirty-first Army immediately
on the basis of the independent regiments and battalions in northern Shaanxi, and
station it in the area around Shen[mu], Fu[gu], Mi[zhi], and Jia[xian].
5. In order to deal with the attacks by Zhang [Xueliang] and Yang
[Hucheng], all April recruits into the Red Army through the expansion campaign
in northern Shaanxi and Shaanxi-Gansu are to be organized into the Twenty-ninth Army and the Thirty-first Army.² There should be a new plan for expanding the Red Army. Our opinion is that the numbers do not have to be large, but
we must try to meet our goals.

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 508-9.
1. The editors of the Junshi wenji suspect that "Fen and Lin" is a misprint for "Xing
and Lin," meaning Xingxian and Linxian in Shanxi.
2. The Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission planned to organize the
Thirty-first Army on the basis of local Red Army and guerrilla forces from Shenmu and
Fugu, but the plan never came to fruition. In August 1936 these troops became the
Independent Second Division.