Directive on the Issue of Expanding the Army[1]

(January 30, 1940)

The principle of expanding the army by three hundred thousand this year is quite correct, but in terms of specific allocation, the main portion should be placed in areas where there are rifles. In our opinion, north of the old Yellow River, the principle should be to provide for attrition and to collect leftover rifles.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong and Wang Jiaxiang to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and Yang Shangkun on the issue of expanding the army.