(September 24, 1937)

Zhou [Enlai], Zhu [De], Peng [Dehuai], and Ren [Bishi], and for the information
of Hu Fu [Liu Shaoqi], Yang Shangkun, and Zhu Rui:

1. Zhu and Peng's telegram on deployment, and Zhou's telegram on the situation have been received and noted.
2. We have already ordered Liu's division¹ to get ready to set off. It is appropriate for the route of its advance still to be Houma-Shangche.
3. Now that both Lin's division² and Wang Zhen's unit³ have been used for
combat, the emphasis should be put on the making of deployments by the local
Party as regards the guerrilla war in the Wutai mountain range. The Shanxi local
Party organization at present should do its utmost to make arrangements for waging a guerrilla war in the three major mountain ranges of Heng, Wutai, and Guancen.
The key is the Wutai mountain range, for there they can obtain more assistance
from Yan [Xishan] and Yang [Aiyuan], and in the future they can expand to the
north of the Heng mountain range. Therefore, a leading organ such as the Military-
Political Committee should be established there. Cadres should be selected who
are able to lead the various work of the Party, the government, and the military
independently. It is imperative that work shall proceed immediately to organize
local contingents and mass organizations everywhere. All these dispositions should
be completed within half a month, and initial achievements be recorded. All work
should take as its point of departure the assumption that the enemy has occupied
Taiyuan.

Mao Zedong

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 55-56.
1. The reference is to the 128th Division of the Eighth Route Army, commanded by Liu
Bocheng.
2. The 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, commanded by Lin Biao.
3. The reference is to the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army,
commanded by Wang Zhen.