Pay Attention to Utilizing the Contradictions Between Japan and Chiang Kai-shek to Smash the Attacks of the Diehard Forces[1]

(January 13, 1941)

There is intelligence proving that the so-called withdrawal of Japanese troops from the Huainan Railway is entirely a rumor, and that Chiang Kai-shek and the Guangxi clique remain hostile toward the Japanese forces. According to the experience in southeastern Shanxi last spring, after we struck at Zhu Huaibing, just as Chiang Kai-shek was massing large forces and preparing to attack our army in the Taihang Mountains via the Jincheng-Changzhi line, the Japanese forces concentrated their "mopping-up" operations and smashed the various anti-communist armies to pieces. At the same time, the Japanese forces launched offensives in southern Anhui and western Hubei, causing the anti-communist high tide to recede. You can well make use of this kind of experience, but do not slacken your own preparations on this account.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang to Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi.