Extensively Occupy the Countryside, Do Not
Fight for the Big Cities
 (August 15, 1945)
To Wen [Niansheng] and Zhang [Jilong], and for the information of Wang
[Shusheng] and Dai [Jiying], Zheng [Weisan] and Li [Xiannian]:1
	 1.	 You can restore the original designation [of the military unit].
	 2.	 Our area of operations lies between Zhengzhou, Wushi, and Shuidong; our
task is not to fight for the big cities but to occupy the broad countryside.
	 3.	 Sun Lianzhong’s2 Eleventh War Zone army should start moving east and
seize the Zheng[zhou]-Luo[yang]-Xuchang line. You, Wang, and Dai must
open up the eastern front, wait until the army of the stubborn enemy firmly
holds the weakly defended rear of the Zheng-Luo-Xu line, and then advance
west to the Shaanxi-Henan border, drawing in the enemy’s army so it cannot
move eastward.
	 4.	 The battalion dispatched to Lake Hong must still advance southward.
	 5.	 The [Guomindang’s] Thirty-eighth Army has still not contacted the
[Communist] Central Committee.3 Please advise by telegram whether or not
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 30–31, where it is reprothey can endure the hardship, and whether it is more advantageous to stay in
Henan or to go to Shanxi.
	 6.	 Of the 200 cadres moving toward Guangdong, aside from those heading
south in disguise, the others should amass at Taihang to prepare for proceeding south by detour.
Mao Zedong
ber 1946 became the Thirty-eighth Division of the Northwest Democratic Allied Army,
under the command of Kong Congzhou (1906–1991, native of Shaanxi) and with Wang
Feng (1910–1998, native of Shaanxi) as political commissar.

duced from the manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Wen Niansheng was commander of the Eighth Route Army’s Third Guerrilla
Detachment, and Zhang Jilong (1900–1987, native of Hunan) was political commissar of the Second Detachment. Wang Shusheng and Dai Jiying were commander and
political commissar, respectively, of the Henan War Zone. Zheng Weisan was acting
secretary of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui (E-Yu-Wan) Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Li Xiannian was a committee member of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui (E-Yu-Wan) and
commander of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army, serving jointly as political
commissar and commander of military operations in the Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Hunan,
and Jiangxi theaters.

2.  Sun Lianzhong (1893–1990, native of Hebei) was commander of the Guomindang’s
Eleventh War Zone.

3.  The Guomindang’s Thirty-eighth Army was originally part of the Seventeenth
Route Army under the command of Yang Hucheng (1893–1949, born in Pucheng county,
Shaanxi). Its troops were heavily influenced by the Chinese Communist Party, and they
joined it in holding the front line during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Following
uprisings in July 1945 and May 1946, the Seventeenth and Fifty-fifth divisions in SeptemDOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-14