Against Zhang Yinwu’s Scheme to Seize the Region North of the Zhengding–Taiyuan Railway[1]

(September 7, 1938)

Nie:

Under the principle of maintaining the unity of military and administrative affairs in the border region, please immediately notify the party headquarters of all counties north of the Zhengding–Taiyuan Railway to mobilize local military and administrative organs and mass organizations to support the border region government and the military district headquarters.

Military and administrative organs in all counties shall, without the endorsement of the border region government and the military district headquarters, refuse to obey orders from any person, and shall be authorized to prohibit any person from carrying out military and political activities of the border region or interfering in military and administrative affairs within their respective areas.

If the Hebei provincial government and Zhang formally negotiate with the border region government to dispatch personnel to operate north of the Zhengding–Taiyuan Railway, they must be accorded courteous treatment and formal negotiations shall be conducted with them.

Mao, Zhu, Wang, Hu

The 7th

[1] This is a telegram from Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang, and Hu Fu (Liu Shaoqi) to Nie Rongzhen, proposing countermeasures against Zhang Yinwu’s scheme to seize Pingshan, Xingtang, Fuping, and other counties in the region north of the Zhengding–Taiyuan Railway within the Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Base Area.