Prepare to Join with the Forces of Wang
Zhen and Wang Shoudao to Set up the
Hunan-Guangdong Border Base Area1
(August 4, 1945)
To the Guangdong Region Party Committee:
We received your telegram of July 30.2
	 1.	 Wang Zhen and Wang Shoudao3 set out from southern Hubei in July with
a force of 3,000. They are now between Xiangtan and Hengshan and will
arrive at the Hunan-Guangdong border in one month. Wen Niansheng and
Zhang Qilong4 have reached Henan with a force of 6,000. They will arrive at
the Hunan-Guangdong border in four months.
	 2.	 You should immediately begin strengthening the armed forces and the leadership of every unit in Beijiang5 and Xijiang. Moreover, you should send out
a strong and capable detachment from the East [River] Column under the
command of a capable comrade, equipped with a radio and a large number
of local work cadres. It should arrive in the Yizhang-Lechang area on the
Hunan-Guangdong border within fifteen to thirty days and prepare to join
forces with the two Wangs to set up the Hunan-Guangdong border base area.
	 3.	 Are you in radio contact with the main forces of the Pearl River Column,6
which have arrived between Guangning and Sihui and are moving to the
Huaiji, Lian county, Liangshan, and Yangshan area? Who is the commander
and what is their troop strength? What is the distribution and location of the
enemy and the diehard troops in this region? We hope you will tell us everything as soon as possible. This region (Xiaobeijiang) is extremely important,
and you should strengthen your leadership there.
	 4.	 After the landing of the Allied forces and the withdrawal of the Japanese
aggressors to the north, your situation on the plain will become extremely
difficult. You should start thinking about this right now and make detailed
and appropriate preparations in both spirit and deployment. All our forces
in Guangdong should choose appropriate places in the regions where they
are maneuvering and nearby, go deep into mass work, train cadres, and be
prepared for a long-term struggle in the future; otherwise, you will become
bewildered in times of crises and suffer setbacks. These regions include
Xiaobeijiang, Lechang, Nanshi, Beijiang, Dongjiang, Zhujiang, Xijiang,
Zhonglu,7 Gao-Lei-Qin-Liang,8 Qiongya, Chaoshan, and so on. Each region
should have organizations of regular forces, guerrillas, and militiamen. They
should try their best to merge with the masses, resolutely reduce rent and
interest rates, assuage the suffering of the people, be prepared for a long-term struggle, not be afraid of civil war, and never make concessions to
the Guomindang. Every region should have radio communications with the
others and should have as large a radio appliance reserve as possible. Of the
aforementioned regions, one should be the central base area to be used as the
location for establishing the Guangdong Military Region agencies and the
regional Party committee. We hope you will tell us which region would be
best.
	 5.	 The Central Committee has sent you 200 cadres (which are led by Wu Jinnan9
and are marching southward with Wen Niansheng’s troops) and has asked
Wang Zhen et al. to go to the Hunan-Guangdong border to set up a base area
and to cooperate with you in the campaign. Apart from that, you and the comrades in each region have to be self-reliant in all respects, depend on the
people, struggle independently, show creativity, and never rely on outside
assistance. Even the Wang Zhen division is only playing a cooperative role.
Do not harbor a dependent mentality.
	 6.	 You must finish arranging the aforementioned plan within six months. You
should pay particular attention to making psychological preparations and
have a dauntless spirit.
The Central Committee

--- Notes


1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

2.  The telegram from the Guangdong Regional Party Committee describes the current
situation in the Liberated Areas of Guangdong.

3.  Wang Zhen (1908–1993, native of Hunan) and Wang Shoudao (1906–1996, native
of Hunan) were the commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Hunan People’s Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army.

4.  Wen Niansheng (1907–1968, native of Hunan) was commander of the Third Guerrilla Detachment of the Eighth Route Army. Zhang Qilong (1900–1987, native of Hunan)
was political commissar of the Second Guerrilla Detachment of the Eighth Route Army.

5.  The North River (Beijiang) is the northern branch of the Pearl River in northern
Guangdong. It joins the West River (Xijiang) at Sanshui.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-3

6.  The Pearl River Column of the Guangdong People’s Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
was formed in January 1945 and included all forces subordinate to the Pearl River Headquarters. Lin Qiangyun (1892–1986, native of Guangdong) was the commander and Liang
Jia (1912–2009, born in Kaiping, Guangdong) was the political commissar.

7.  The Zhonglu region included the counties of Taishan, Heshan, Kaiping, Xinhui,
Enping, Gaoming, Xinxing, Yangjiang, and Yangchun.

8.  This region included the prefectures of Gaozhou, Leizhou, Qinzhou, and Lianzhou,
now known as Gaozhou county and Haikang county in Guangdong, and Qinzhou city and
Hepu county in Guangxi.

9.  Before joining the southbound detachment, Wu Jinnan (1909–1999, native of
Guangdong) served as assistant director of the Political Department of the Eighth Route
Army’s Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia rear corps.