Rest, Reorganize, Conserve Strength, and
Prepare to Shatter the Enemy’s Attack
(June 6, 1946)
To Xiao [Ke] and Cheng [Zihua], and for the information of Nie [Rongzhen] and
Liu [Lantao]:1
	 1.	 The New First Army and the New Sixth Army on the Changchun-Jilin line
cannot advance toward Rehe.2 There is no change in the enemy facing you;
the Thirteenth Army is in its original position, one section of the Ninety-third
Army is guarding the Jinzhou–Shanhai Pass railway, and one section is positioned west of this line as far as the Jianchang region and it is attempting to
wipe out Zhan [Caifang]’s3 column and our local troops. Unless new troops
are transported by sea from the south, the enemy will be unable to send reinforcements to Rehe.
	 2.	 You are, however, quite right in preparing to defend Chengde; we must
prepare for all conditions to shatter a possible, indeed inevitable, attack.
But until the situation has been clarified, you should not transfer too many
troops; for the present, the main thing is to rest, reorganize, and conserve
your strength.
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. 259–60, 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.
Xiao Ke was commander and Cheng Zihua was political commissar, respectively, of the
Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region. Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar and Liu Lantao was deputy political commissar, respectively, of the Shanxi-ChaharHebei Military Region.

2.  Rehe Province covered what is now northeastern Hebei Province, southwestern
Liaoning Province, and southeastern Inner Mongolia until it was abolished in 1955.

3.  Zhan Caifang was commander of the Eastern Hebei Military Region.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-171