Strive to Reach Wuling by the End of the
Year and Join Forces with Wang Zhen’s
Troops
(July 22, 1945)
Comrades [Zhang] Qilong and [Wen] Niansheng:
1. Where are you now? How many days are you going to rest in Taiyue and
Zhongtiao?1 (You should completely recover from fatigue.) How is the morale of
the army? How are the relationships between the army and the people and
between the officers and the soldiers?
2. Although you suffered some losses in the campaign to cross Fen River, you
finally made the crossing successfully, and this experience will help your
campaigns in the future.
3. I have ordered Wang Zhen and [Wang] Shoudao to lead their units to march
southward to northern Guangdong. Do not stay for too long in central Hunan.
We cannot build up stable base areas in such places. Chiang Kaishek will
certainly use all his strength to drive us out after the defeat of the Japanese
invaders. Hence, you should march all the way to southern Hunan and northern
Guangdong, and rely on Wuling to set up permanent base areas. Your destination
is also southern Hunan and northern Guangdong. You should shorten the
marching time reasonably, under the condition of not overly exhausting the
troops. Strive to reach Wuling and join forces with the two Wangs by the end of
the solar year.
4. The liberated area in Henan is newly established, and its economy is in dire
straits. You should be prepared to buy rather than to ask the locals for supplies
when you arrive.

5. You should keep in constant touch with Wang Zhen and Shoudao by radio.
Mao Zedong
Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 807–8, where it is reproduced from the
manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1. Areas in central and southwestern Shanxi.