We Need to Smash Hu Zongnan’s Army in
Order to Change the Situation in Northern
Shaanxi
(March 27, 1947)
To He [Long], Li [Jingquan], and for the information of Peng [Dehuai] and Xi
[Zhongxun]:1
The enemy forces in Yulin can only protect themselves and they have little
capacity for harassment. He Bingyan’s brigade2 can be relieved of covering the
river-crossing, and you can decide how to use it. Wait until [Zhou] Enlai reaches
you to decide whether the personnel directly subordinate to the Central Committee
who have reached northwestern Shanxi should be transferred to Taihang. The
Central Committee will stay in northern Shaanxi with several hundred personnel. Both the people and the topography here are favorable, and it is very safe.
Our major enemy at present is Hu Zongnan.3 We need to smash this enemy to
change the situation, and smashing this enemy is quite possible. According to
Peng’s telegram, we wiped out the Thirty-first Brigade (less one regiment) and
took 4,000 prisoners, with not one escaping, from the brigade commander down,
and we seized 200,000 bullets. Morale has been greatly restored, confidence has
increased, and it is possible for us to strive for new victories and to wipe out
Hu’s forces one by one. As part of the coordinated attack against Hu Zongnan,
the group under Chen [Geng] and Xie [Fuzhi]4 will launch strikes on the triangular region of southern Shanxi in the coming days; this will probably require one
month’s time. If Yan Xishan5 begins to harass Shilou and Zhongyang, they [Chen and Xie] can also head north to attack Yan at that time. Our main forces probably
will not be able to head north to attack Fu Zuoyi6 in the next three or four months,
so we are relying entirely on you to hold the northern front with the forces you
now have. Enlai will inform you of the details in person.
The Central Committee

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Notes

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 15–16, 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 Committee. He Long and
Li Jingquan were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Jin-Sui (ShanxiSuiyuan) Military Region. Peng Dehuai and Xi Zhongxun were commander and political
commissar, respectively, of the Northwest Field Army.

2.  He Bingyan (1913–1960, native of Hubei) was commander of the Fifth Brigade of
the Third Column of the Jin-Sui Military Region.

3.  Hu Zongnan was commander of the Guomindang’s First War Zone.

4.  Chen Geng and Xie Fuzhi were commander and political commissar, respectively,
of the Fourth Column of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army.

5.  Yan Xishan was director of the Guomindang’s Taiyuan Pacification Office.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-285

6.  Fu Zuoyi was director of the Guomindang’s Zhangjiakou Pacification Office.