Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang to
Peng Dehuai and Others Concerning the
Military Troop Movements of the Chiang and
Guangxi Forces in Central China and
Our Countermeasures

(September 19, 1940)

1. According to information from Xi'an, the three divisions under Li Xianzhou¹
now deployed in the border area between Anhui and Henan are ready to move east
to the assistance of Han.² There are reports that they will cross the Huai River and
advance toward Tangshan. Apart from the 138th Division and part of Li's troops,
seven regiments in all, the Guangxi forces attacking eastern Anhui have now been
strengthened by the addition of the 172nd Division. Tang Enbo's forces³ probably
constitute the general reserves. He is first sending three regiments reorganized to
constitute three reconnaissance detachments, which will advance to Taihe, Fuyang,
and Huangcheng, in eastern Henan and western Anhui, at the beginning of next
month. His main force is undergoing training and consolidation in western Henan,
getting ready to move east. The information from various sources all indicates that
Chiang and the Guangxi forces are determined in their offensive in Central China.⁴

Our source for this letter is *Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan*, Vol. 6, p. 163, where it is reproduced from
a documentary collection published in China in 1982, under the title *Wannan shibian (Ziliao
xuanji)* (Collected materials on the Southern Anhui Incident) (hereafter *Wannan shibian*).
1. Li Xianzhou (1894–1988), a native of Shandong, graduated from the Huangpu Military Academy in the first class of 1924. He was associated with the Anhui faction, which
was influential in Anhui and parts of Henan.
2. The reference is to Han Deqin; for his biography, see the relevant note to the text of
March 29, 1940.
3. Tang Enbo (1899–1954), a native of Zhejiang, studied at the Military Academy in
Japan, and on his return to China became a staff officer in the National Revolutionary
Army. He participated in the "Encirclement and Suppression" campaigns against the Communists during the Jiangxi period and fought against the Japanese at the battle of
Tai'erzhuang. At this time, he was commander of the Thirty-first Group Army in the Hubei-Henan region.
4. As the conflict between the New Fourth Army and Han Deqin was moving toward
crisis in Jiangsu, Mao is here expressing his concern about the possibility that the anti-Communist forces under Li Xianzhou and Tang Enbo might move eastward from Anhui
into Jiangsu, in order to attack the rear of the New Fourth Army and reinforce Han Deqin.
2. With the aim of striking a blow at Li Xianzhou, Peng and Zuo⁵ are expected
to order Yang Dezhi⁶ to lead his forces toward the south and to reach Peng Xuefeng's
area within a month and a half. Chen and Luo⁸ are expected to order the Fifth
Brigade southward immediately, with no further delays, and get to Zhang Aiping's
area within two weeks. Ye and Xiang¹⁰ are expected to lead their forces immediately across the river. They must complete the crossing and reinforce the forces in
eastern Anhui within two weeks.

5. Peng is Peng Dehuai. Zuo is Zuo Quan; as indicated in a note to the text of June 12,
1939, he was at this time deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army.
6. Yang Dezhi (1911-1994), a native of Hunan, had joined the Red Army in 1928,
fought against the Encirclement and Suppression campaigns in Jiangxi and participated in
the Long March. Beginning in early 1939, he established a military base in the border
region known as the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.
7. Regarding Peng and his area, see above, the relevant note to the text of March 21,
1940.
8. Chen and Luo are Chen Guang and Luo Ronghuan; see above, the relevant note to
the text of December 6, 1939, on military work in Shandong.
9. Zhang Aiping (1910–2003), a native of Sichuan, joined the Chinese Communist
Party in 1928 and the Red Army in 1929. He held various regimental-level commands
during the Jiangxi period and participated in the Long March. During the anti-Japanese
war, he was secretary of the Military Commission of the Zhejiang Party Committee, and of
the Henan-Anhui-Jiangsu Party Committee as well as political commissar of the Jiangsu-Anhui Column of the Eighth Route Army.
10. Ye and Xiang are Ye Ting and Xiang Ying. See above, the note to the text of January
29, 1940.