Prepare All Conditions for Using Mobile
Warfare to Destroy the Enemy Forces
Attacking Chengde
 (June 5, 1946, 9:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M.)
To Nie [Rongzhen], Liu [Lantao], Tang [Yanjie], and Zeng [Yongquan], and for
the information of Cheng [Zihua] and Xiao [Ke]:1
We received your telegram of 4:00 P.M. on the 3rd.2 The Guomindang is currently preparing to attack Chengde, and we should concentrate our efforts on preparing conditions so that when the enemy launches an offensive against us, we can
destroy a large number of the enemy in mobile warfare and shatter its schemes for
attack. Because of this:
	 1.	 Do not attack the [Bei]ping-Gu[beikou] railway and do not attack Nankou or
Badaling to avoid provoking the enemy and exhausting ourselves.
	 2.	 It is up to you to coordinate military procedures in the Jin-Cha-Ji and Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning regions to defeat the enemy’s attack under unified command.
	 3.	 Intensify the drilling of the troops, conserve your energy, and build up
strength.
	 4.	 Call up a section of the people’s militia to supplement the main forces. Every
company should be brought up to full strength of 120 men.
	 5.	 Step up mass work (resolving the land question) and bandit suppression
work and consolidate the base areas.
	 6.	 Prepare a large quantity of TNT and carry out drills on its use so that after
you shatter the enemy’s attack, you can capture the enemy’s fortifications or
recover those strongholds that were previously lost.
The Military Commission

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 255–56, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. Liu Lantao was the deputy political commissar, Tang Yanjie was chief-of-staff, and Zeng Yongquan (1902–1996, native of Sichuan) was deputy chief-of-staff of the
Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. Cheng Zihua was political commissar and Xiao Ke
was commander, respectively, of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region.

2.  This refers to the telegram that Nie Rongzhen and Liu Lantao forwarded from Guo
Tianmin (1905–1970, born in Huang county, Hubei), commander, and Li Tianhuan (1921–
1986, native of Hubei), deputy political commissar, respectively, of the Hebei-Chahar Military Region, regarding attacking the enemy at Badaling and Nankou rather than at Sanxia,
Miyun, or Huairou.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-169