Reply Telegram to the 359th Brigade of
the 120th Division of the Eighth Route
Army
(March 31, 1945)
That same day we sent a telegram to the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party and to Comrade Mao Zedong to inform them of the good news.
In addition, we reported our plan for the next step. On March 31 we received a
telegram in reply from Comrade Mao Zedong. The text of the telegram follows:
The telegram that you have taken over Pingjiang and that the people have
welcomed you was received today, and we are very pleased! I agree with your
plan of working in northern Hunan for a while to build base areas that will
connect the north and the south (including Congyang, Tongcheng, Pingjiang,
Liuyang, Yueyang, Xiangyin, Changsha, and Xiangtan) and then to continue
marching to the south. However, you should pay attention to your tactics. Do not
attack the diehard troops voluntarily. Wait until they attack you and then strike;
take a stand of self-defense.
Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 7, p. 252, where it is reproduced from Wang
Shoudao, Yi Nanzheng (Recollections of the Southern Campaign) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1981). Wang
Shoudao was at this time political commissar of the Hunan People’s Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army.