Actively Fight in the Taihang Mountains and
Eastern China to Assist the Central China
Forces
(August 9, 1946)
To Liu [Bocheng], [Deng Xiaoping], Chen [Yi], and Su [Yu]:1
	 1.	 Liu and Deng’s August 6 telegram was received (late) today.2 You decided
to begin the campaign on August 10; this is good timing.
	 2.	 Except for one brigade (the Fifty-third) that will enter Shanxi and six brigades that will be garrisoned along the Luoyang-Tongguan-Xi’an security
line, the thirteen brigades under Cheng Qian,3 the thirteen brigades under
Liu Zhi4 (east of Tongguan and north of Xinyang), the six brigades under Hu
Zongnan5 (west of Tongguan), the five brigades under the Chongqing army
headquarters, and the two brigades of the Guangxi army—thirty-nine brigades in total—will all be used against our Central China forces. Therefore,
our forces in Central China have an extremely heavy burden and need immediate assistance.
	 3.	 If within the one-month period from August 10 to September 10 our forces
under Su Yu can wipe out two to three brigades of the enemy in central
Jiangsu, our troops under Chen [Yi] and Song [Shilun]6 can wipe out two to
three brigades of the enemy along and to the east of the Xu[zhou]-Beng[bu]
railway, our forces under Liu and Deng can capture the Bian-Xu railway7
and 10-plus cities in eastern Henan and northern Anhui and wipe out two
to three brigades of the enemy—if we can wipe out six to nine brigades
of enemy troops altogether—it will greatly help the overall situation. On
the one hand, attacks by the enemy forces in central Jiangsu and northern
Jiangsu will definitely suffer setbacks; on the other hand, the New Yellow
River8 will come under a military threat from us. These two factors will force
Chiang Kaishek to transfer at least a few brigades of the enemy troops confronting our Central China forces to reinforce the east and the north. If our
forces have greater victories thereafter, an increasing number of the enemy
troops facing our forces in Central China are sure to be transferred to the
east and to the north. Consequently, our forces in Central China will be able
to hold firm in seven or eight regions, such as southern Shaanxi, western
Henan, eastern Sichuan, western Hubei, central Hubei, eastern Hubei, and
western Anhui. This will be a major strategic victory.
The Military Commission

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 396–97, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
# Source: en:MRP

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission of
the Chinese Communist Party to Field Army Commanding Officer Liu Bocheng, Political
Commissar Deng Xiaoping, Shanxi Field Army Commanding Officer and Political Commissar Chen Yi, and Central China [Hunan and Hubei] Field Army Commanding Officer
Su Yu.

2.  On August 6, 1946, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping sent a telegram to Chen Yi,
Song Shilun (1901–1991, native of Hunan), and the Central Military Commission concerning the ongoing issue of the battle at the Longhai railway. The telegram said: “At present,
the enemy has already discovered our armed forces have amassed at Longhai railway …
The enemy’s resolve to start operations on August 10 is a favorable opportunity for us.”

3.  Cheng Qian was director of the Guomindang’s Field Headquarters in Wuhan, capital
of Hubei Province.

4.  Liu Zhi was head of the Guomindang army’s office in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan
Province.

5.  Hu Zongnan was commander of the Guomindang army’s First War Zone.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-211

6.  Chen Yi was commander and political commissar and Song Shilun (1907–1991,
native of Hunan) was chief-of-staff, respectively, of the Shandong Military Region.

7.  The Bian-Xu railway passed between Kaifeng and Xuzhou as a segment of the Longhai railway.

8.  This refers to Chiang Kaishek’s strategy in June 1938 to destroy a dam on the Yellow
River north of Zhengzhou, to divert the river and create a flood plain to obstruct the Japanese army from moving west. The breach in the dam was repaired in 1947.