Assist the New Fourth Army in Establishing
Anti-Japanese Base Areas in Eastern Anhui,
North of the Huai, and in Northern Jiangsu
(March 21, 1940)

Zhu [De], Peng [Dehuai], and Yang [Shangkun], and for the information of Chen,
Luo, Xu, Zhu, Liu, Deng,¹ Peng,² Hu, and Xiang:³

Concerning assistance to the New Fourth Army:
1. Chairman Li Pinxian of Anhui, under instructions from a certain quarter, is
adopting a completely reactionary policy. He engages in a resolute attack on the
New Fourth Army in eastern Anhui and north of the Huai, in an attempt to eliminate completely the units under Zhang Yunyi,⁴ Peng Xuefeng, and others, sever
the lines of communications between our New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route
Army, and put our New Fourth Army south of the Yangzi in a position in which its
retreat is cut off. Under such circumstances, our Eighth Route Army has the urgent

This telegram was drafted by Mao for the Military Affairs Commission. Our source is Mao
Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 532-33, where it is reproduced from Mao's original manuscript, preserved in the Central Archives.
task of firmly and rapidly assisting the New Fourth Army, smashing the reactionary attacks by Li Pinxian, establishing a democratic anti-Japanese base area in
eastern Anhui, north of the Huai, and in northern Jiangsu, and consolidating the
line of communications between the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army.
2. Apart from the specific deployments on which Zhu and Peng have been asked
to make decisions quickly, we now inform you as follows regarding the overall
situation in that area.
a. Li Pinxian has been bought off by a certain quarter. In going to Anhui this
time, he was given full powers by a certain quarter to adopt completely anti-Communist policies.
b. After arriving in Anhui, Li immediately reorganized the provincial government and disbanded all progressive organizations. More than three thousand student trainees who refused to accept repression willingly came to the
New Fourth Army in batches. Not a single xian is free of incidents of arrests
and executions. The Anhui regime has now already become extremely anti-Communist.
c. In order to liquidate the New Fourth Army by force, Li Pinxian, besides transferring two divisions to eastern Anhui and north of the Huai, is also bringing
an army from northern Hubei. Its 172nd Division is now moving from western Hubei to western Anhui.
d. Between March 4 and 7, Director Li Benyi of the Administrative Office of
North Anhui, in obedience to Li Pinxian's orders, led a force of more than
two thousand men to make a three-pronged attack on our New Fourth Army
stationed in south Dingyuan and the command center on the north side of the
[Yangzi] river, with the purpose of eliminating that command center and killing comrades Hu Fu and Zhang Yunyi. As a result of resolute counterattacks
waged by the various routes of our forces, his forces were defeated. Several
hundred guns were seized, and several hundred captives were taken.
e. A unit from the Guizhou forces, and other units from various forces, with a
total strength of six regiments, have reached a certain place in eastern Anhui.
A brigade from their 183rd Division, which was originally attacking north of
the Huai, is now reportedly turning in the direction of eastern Anhui.
f. Our New Fourth Army in eastern Anhui now already has nine regiments totaling approximately fifteen thousand men. Because these forces neglected
in the past the task of establishing base areas, even in the dozen or so xian
north of the Yangzi, south of the Huai River, east of the Huainan railroad, and
west of the Grand Canal in which our forces are active, these places are still
occupied by diehard anti-Communist régimes and their anti-Communist armed
forces. But in the past two weeks, that is, after defeating the attack in three
columns by Li Benyi, we have begun to eliminate resolutely the anti-Communist factions, and to establish anti-Japanese democratic governments. We
have also captured many arms in anticommunist localities, so as to cope even
more resolutely with Li Pinxian's massive attacks.


g. In the area north of the Huai River, since Li Pinxian sent forces to attack
Military Affairs Commission

--- Notes

1. Chen is Chen Guang, Luo is Luo Ronghuan, and Xu is Xu Xiangqian. (For biographies of these three, see the relevant notes to "Views on Military Work in Shandong," December 6, 1939.) Zhu is Zhu Rui (see the relevant note to the text of March 19, 1939). Liu
and Deng are Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, who were, respectively, commander and
political commissar of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

2. Peng is Peng Xuefeng (see above the note to the text of January 28, 1940). At this
time, the territory of the Sixth Detachment, which he commanded, was the main corridor of
communications and reinforcements from the north.

3. Hu is Hu Fu (Liu Shaoqi); Xiang is Xiang Ying.

4. Zhang Yunyi (1892-1974), a native of Guangdong, participated in the 1911 Revolution as a member of the Tongmenghui. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1926,
occupied various military posts during the period of the Jiangxi Soviet Republic, and participated in the Long March. At this time, he was chief of staff of the New Fourth Army, and
commander of the New Fourth Army's North Yangzi Command, comprising the Fourth,
Fifth, and Sixth Detachments in Anhui and Jiangsu, north of the Yangzi River.


Commissioner Shen Zijin⁵ of the intermediate faction, a unit of reinforcement from the Guizhou forces has been sent and is now advancing. There are
already fourteen regiments in our forces led by Peng Xuefeng, which are
preparing to defend themselves. We also have there already some democratic anti-Japanese governments, which are more consolidated than those in
eastern Anhui.
h. The feelings of the popular masses in favor of resisting Japan and opposing
the diehards in the areas of eastern Anhui and north of the Huai are very
intense. Neither the Guizhou armies nor the local troops among Li Pinxian's
attacking forces have consolidated their positions, but the New Fourth Army
is also a recent creation. Hence they need to be assisted by the Eighth Route
Army, for only thus will they be able to defeat thoroughly the advancing
forces and consolidate this extremely important strategic region for resisting
Japan.