To Peng Dehuai and Others[1]

(December 23, 1939)

Zhao Chengshou, Commander-in-Chief of the 7th Group Army of the Jin Army, has already transferred troops to attack the 4th Column of the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Dare-to-Die Corps. Armed conflict in northwestern Shanxi is unavoidable. We should adopt the following policy: As soon as the old Shanxi army opens hostilities, the New Army should concentrate all its forces to wage an active mobile war, first annihilating one of its columns and then destroying the others one by one. The slogan for the New Army’s counteroffensive should be: Support Yan, Punish the Traitors, and Down with the Collaborators. The Eighth Route Army must resolutely support and assist the New Army.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang to Peng Dehuai, Peng Shaohui, and Luo Guibo concerning the policy to be adopted in the southwestern Shanxi incident.