Nie [1] forwarded this to Xiao, Luo [2], and Lantao [3], and also informed the Rehe Sub-Committee: You are to organize a field army, set up a transport corps, and at the same time direct the existing troops in Hebei and Chahar to swiftly clear the puppet forces along the railway line between Beiping and Gubeikou and to take control of that section of the line (at least the northern part). You are also to mobilize the masses, establish local armed forces, and prepare for a field battle.


This mission must be completed with the advantage of timing within November; otherwise, we shall find ourselves on the defensive, unable to consolidate Rehe [4] or Zhangjiakou.


Therefore, within next month, Xiao and Luo must accomplish three tasks: first, to form a field army; second, to organize a transport corps to travel to Chengde to receive and convey weapons and ammunition; and third, to seize the railway line between Beiping and Gubeikou and to prepare for a field battle.


Comrades like Lantao, who are leading the rear-area work, must do everything in their power to assist in the successful completion of these three tasks.


From now on, the main focus of comrades such as Lantao should shift to the Eastern Front, while the Western Front will be handled solely by Nie and Geng [5].


Lantao’s radio station should promptly establish contact with Yan’an without delay.


With regard to the task of annihilating the enemy and puppet forces in the Shixia [6], Miyun, and Huairou areas and of mobilizing the local population to create a field battlefield there, the Rehe Sub-Committee is responsible for doing its utmost to assist Xiao and Luo from Gubeikou southward. Jurisdiction over local work in that region is hereby assigned to Rehe, thereby ending the previous state of no one taking charge.
Notes: [1] Nie refers to Nie Rongzhen, who at the time served as Commander and Political Commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.


[2] Xiao refers to Xiao Ke, born in 1908 in Jiahe County, Hubei Province, who at the time was Commander of the Second Field Army of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. Luo Ruiqing (1906–1978), from Nanchong, Sichuan Province, was then Political Commissar of the Second Field Army of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.


[3] Lantao is Liu Lantao, born in 1910 in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province. At the time, he held the post of Deputy Political Commissar of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.


[4] Rehe refers to Rehe Province; see note [3] on page 10 of this volume.


[5] Nie refers to Nie Rongzhen. Geng refers to Geng Biao, born in 1909 in Liling County, Hunan Province, who at the time served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.


[6] Shixia is located in the northern part of Miyun County, Beijing. After liberation, it disappeared when the Miyun Reservoir was constructed and became part of the reservoir area.