Letter to Chen Yi[1]

(August 21, 1944)

All documents are fine. Slight additions and revisions have been made; please reconsider them further. After the documents are recopied and sent off, please retain duplicate copies and deliver them to Li Fuchun to be forwarded to the Secretariat for preservation; they will be useful in the future.

We once learned from a certain friendly army unit that as early as early December 1939,[2] Chiang Kai-shek had already issued orders to his various armies, instructing them not to intercept the first batch of baggage and supplies of the New Fourth Army passing through, but to allow them to pass safely, so that when the New Fourth Army headquarters and main forces passed through, the various armies could mount a coordinated assault and wipe them out in one fell swoop. At the time, many did not believe this, and it was not confirmed until the surprise attack incident occurred.

[1] This is the main content of Mao Zedong's letter to Chen Yi after revising Chen Yi's writings "The Truth About the Southern Anhui Incident" and "The Truth About the Northern Jiangsu Incident." "The Truth About the Southern Anhui Incident" and "The Truth About the Northern Jiangsu Incident" were written by Chen Yi at the request of David D. Barrett.

[2] Should be 1940.