Comrades He, Ren, Guan, Liu:

A. Your telegram of the 28th [2] received. You still preserve a great force, with boundless prospects for future development, which is cause for congratulation for the Chinese revolution.

B. A camp school is extremely necessary; the cadres you need must mainly be supplied through this channel. We have drawn a large number of senior cadres from the frontline forces to run the Red University [3] for training, to be stored for future use. Lin Biao is the president, Luo Ruiqing is the dean of education, and Chen Guang, Luo Ronghuan, Zhou Jianping, Liu Yalou, Tan Zheng, Zhou Shidi, Zhou Kun, Yuan Guoping, Peng Xuefeng, and over a hundred division, regiment, and battalion commanders are all studying. The first four months are devoted exclusively to political theory, and the latter four months give equal weight to politics and military affairs. In addition, there is a general course for training company and platoon commanders, with six hundred participants, all outstanding lower-level cadres and soldiers from the Long March. Therefore, we are temporarily unable to supply you with cadres, but we plan to assign a portion to you after graduation.
C. Under the conditions of the Fourth Front Army moving north, as long as your current situation permits, you should strive as far as possible to rest, consolidate, and expand in your present area.

Mao, Zhou, Peng

--- Notes

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Peng Dehuai, Vice Chairman of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission and Commander of the First Front Army of the Red Army, to He Long, General Commander of the Second Front Army of the Red Army; Ren Bishi, Political Commissar; Guan Xiangying, Deputy Political Commissar; and Liu Bocheng, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army and concurrently President of the Red Army University of the Second Front Army.

[2] Refers to the telegram of September 28, 1936, from He Long, Ren Bishi, Guan Xiangying, and Liu Bocheng to Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Peng Dehuai concerning the situation of the Second Front Army of the Red Army. The telegram stated that due to over ten battles, large and small, during the expedition, cadre casualties were considerable, requesting the dispatch of a number of division and regiment-level military and political cadres, and that it had been decided to establish a camp school to train cadres.

[3] Red University refers to the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Red Army University, renamed the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political University in January 1937.