(September 10, 1938)

Nie [Rongzhen] and Song [Shilun], and to Deng [Hua] for transmittal to [Ma]
Mingzhi:¹

1. After a military meeting was held in Eastern Hebei,² a military area and five
military subareas were established, and the persons responsible for each area were
appointed. The commander and deputy commander of the Fourth Military Subarea are Central Committee members. In order to regularize the guerrilla forces in
Eastern Hebei rapidly and get them to adopt the work-style of the Eighth Route
Army, it seems necessary for the troops led by Song and Deng to scatter throughout all the military subareas, in units of regiments or battalions, and merge themselves with the guerrilla forces there to serve as the backbone. It will be better if
the posts of commander and deputy commander of each military subarea are held
both by officers of the Eighth Route Army and by cadres from the local areas. It
would not seem appropriate to have no backbone forces or responsible cadres at
all from the Eighth Route Army in each military subarea. Please consider this and
decide.

2. As soon as each xian is recaptured in Eastern Hebei, interim xian magistrates must be appointed by the headquarters or chosen by the local people. Each
military subarea should immediately appoint special staff to set up a government.
This should not wait. As to the government of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Border
Region, it would be best for us to wait one or two more months, and then officially
establish it.

Our source for this text is Wenxian he yanjiu, no. 3, 1985, p. 12.
1. Ma Mingzhi was at this time the secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee.
2. The reference is to a meeting in mid-August 1938 between the Eighth Route Army
columns of Song and Deng, and the Eastern Hebei United Anti-Japanese Army. On this
occasion it was decided to establish a coordination committee for the military districts in
Hebei, Chahar, Rehe, and Ningdu, in order to unify the command of the armies and the
political work.