February 22, 1936  To General Fu Cunhuai in Suiyuan:  Your Excellency has been conducting a lone and valiant anti-Japanese struggle, achieving repeated victories; the Japanese-puppet forces have not been able to advance a single step beyond their entrenched positions. Upon receipt of these reports, the entire nation has erupted in jubilation. Your heroic resistance has restored honor to the Chinese nation and to the Chinese military, placing you on a par with the Nineteenth Route Army. As for those who, like bandits, devote themselves solely to the slaughter of their own countrymen, they ought to be so ashamed as to die!  Recently, we have learned that a small coterie of traitorous collaborators is attempting to use a certain powerful figure as an instrument, professing to fight the Japanese under the guise of patriotism while in reality seeking to control your patriotic actions. We are firmly convinced that, guided by a profound sense of national duty, you will be able to win over all reasonable elements, not only thwarting the schemes of these traitors but also turning the tide toward greater unity of the anti-Japanese forces.  The Red Army has long been resolved to resist Japan and aid Suiyuan. Yet, regrettably, a handful of traitorous collaborators still persistently trumpet the absurd slogan that “anti-Japanese resistance must first suppress the Communists,” urging certain local warlords to launch attacks against the Red Army in order to weaken our defensive capabilities and thereby comply with Japanese imperialist demands to eradicate the Chinese anti-Japanese movement. The anti-Japanese people and the Red Army swear to devote all our strength to combating such shameless scoundrels, striving tirelessly for the great cause of national liberation. Meanwhile, the lofty ideals upheld by the Chinese people and by every man of true spirit in the armed forces shall never fall into decline but will ever shine more brightly. We are confident that our present efforts to end the civil war, unite in resisting Japan, and save the nation will serve as a distant yet heartfelt support for your noble anti-Japanese undertaking. With a single incense stick we offer our prayers for your victory, and we hope this message may reach every officer and soldier of your esteemed army.  Mao Zedong Zhu De  Dated the 21st day   Red China, Issue 312, Year 5, November 32, 1936

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 5, pp. 25-26, where it is
reproduced from Hongse Zhonghua, no. 312 (November 23, 1936). We have supplied a
few of the missing characters in the former source from the latter.