Battle Deployments for Datong, Kouquan,
Shuo County, Ningwu, and Other Places1
(June 4, 1946)
To He [Long] and Li [Jingquan]; and for the information of Nie [Rongzhen] and
Liu [Lantao], Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping]:2
	 1.	 We received your telegram of June 1.3 In the Datong and Kouquan4 areas,
the enemy has consolidated its defenses; the Japanese armies are also there,
and Fu Zuoyi5 will possibly be involved as well. Because of this, for the time
being you should only undertake preparatory work, strengthen intelligence gathering and the work of agents in Guomindang units, and prepare TNT, but
do not take [offensive] actions.
	 2.	 In Shuo county and Ningwu the enemy forces are relatively small and will
not involve Fu Zuoyi, so there you can first attack and seize one place (either
Shuo county or Ningwu), and after that is in hand, look at the situation and
consider whether to fight for a second place.
	 3.	 At the time of fighting, you must be sure to make ample preparations and
quickly prevail. Also, you must grasp the rationale and gather facts regarding Yan [Xishan]’s6 attack against us as ample grounding for our side’s
argument.
	 4.	 Do not transfer troops from the northern front to take Fu Zuoyi.

	 5.	 After the wheat harvest, you should mobilize a portion of the people’s militia
to supplement our main forces. You should reinforce every company to bring
them up to a strength of 120 men and prepare to shatter Fu Zuoyi’s attack.
This is extremely important.
The Military Commission

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Notes

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Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 253–54, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.

2.  He Long was commander of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Military Region, and Li Jingquan
was political commissar. Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar and Liu
Lantao was deputy political commissar, respectively, of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. Liu Bocheng was commander and Deng Xiaoping was political commissar,
respectively, of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.

3.  The telegram from He Long and Li Jingquan reported on the enemy presence in
the Yanbei region as well as their own troop deployment for capturing Datong, Ningwu,
Shanyin, and Huairen.

4.  Kouquan is a township southwest of Datong city in Shanxi Province.

5.  Fu Zuoyi was commander of the Twelfth War Zone of the Guomindang army.

6.  Yan Xishan was commander of the Second War Zone of the Guomindang army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-167