The Maoshan Mountains Are Conducive to the New Fourth Army’s Development
(February 15, 1938)
[1]
Xiang and Chen:
We have received all your telegrams.
A. We agree with the principles of action set forth in your telegram of the 14th, striving to concentrate in the border area of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui to develop guerrilla warfare. However, at present, the most favorable region for such development remains the Maoshan Mountains within Jiangsu Province, centered on the Liyang and Lishui areas. By conducting operations against the enemy along the lines connecting Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Danyang, Jintan, Yixing, Changxing, and Guangde, it should be possible to establish a base area and expand the foundations of the Fourth Army. If two detachments are available, at least one should operate in the Maoshan Mountains, while the other would be positioned west of the line running through Wuxing, Guangde, and Xuancheng.
[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong to Xiang Ying, Secretary of the New Fourth Army Branch of the CPC Central Military Commission, and Chen Yi, Deputy Secretary. In October 1937, the Nationalist Government’s Military Commission announced that the Red Army and guerrilla units in fourteen regions across eight southern provinces (excluding the Qiongya Red Army guerrillas in Hainan) would be reorganized into the New Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army. In December, the New Fourth Army headquarters was established. Following instructions from the CPC Central Committee and orders from the New Fourth Army headquarters, the First, Second, and Third Detachments began assembling in Yansi, She County, southern Anhui, in February 1938 for reorganization and training, preparing to advance into the enemy-occupied rear areas of central China to fight the Japanese.
[2] Refers to the telegram sent by Xiang Ying and Chen Yi to the CPC Central Committee on February 14, 1938. The telegram proposed that it would not be advisable for the entire New Fourth Army to assemble in Yansi at this time. Instead, the First Detachment should be dispatched first, while the Second Detachment would remain temporarily in Fujian and Jiangxi, and the Third Detachment would move only after the First had actually arrived. This morning, Ye Ting, accompanied by Chen Yi, went to Jixi to meet Gu Zhutong, requesting that the New Fourth Army not stay in Yansi but extend its operations as far forward as possible to Changhua, Jixi, Xiaofeng, Xuancheng, and Ningguo in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui, adopting guerrilla tactics to strategically support the regular army and undertaking certain mobile missions. Should these requests not be granted, they suggested proceeding directly toward their objectives without gathering in Yansi.

B. A batch of cadres who are about to graduate from the third class of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University should be sent to the Fourth Army; currently, it is truly impossible to transfer them, and we hope you can also send some personnel to receive training there.

Mao Zedong
15th

[1] The Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, commonly known as “Kangda,” was founded on June 1, 1936, in Wakiaobao, northern Shaanxi, initially named the Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese Red Army University. In January 1937, it was renamed the Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and its location was moved to Yan’an. Kangda held a total of eight sessions, and after the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945, the school was officially dissolved.