We Agree That Liu and Deng’s Entire Army
Should Rest and Reorganize, and Cross the
River at the End of the Month
(June 3, 1947)
To Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping], and for the information of Chen [Yi], Su
[Yu], Tan [Zhenlin], Zhu [De], and Liu [Shaoqi]:1
We received your telegram of June 2.2
	 1.	 We agree that the entire field army of Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping]
should rest and reorganize, and that the time for crossing the river should be
postponed to the end of the month.
	 2.	 During this time, we hope you will order the main forces of the local troops
south of the old Yellow River and north of the New Yellow River3 to also
rest and consolidate their forces, in the hope that you will be better able to
coordinate the fighting next month.
	 3.	 Moving the main force south should be planned well in advance. We hope
you are carrying out all necessary political and material preparations.


The Military Commission
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 91–92, 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.
Liu Bocheng was the commander of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan)
Field Army, and Deng Xiaoping was its political commissar. Chen Yi was commander and
political commissar of the East China Field Army, with Su Yu as deputy commander and
Tan Zhenlin as deputy political commissar.

2.  The telegram from Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping stated that, based on the enemy’s situation and present conditions, Liu and Deng’s troops would not be ready to set off
on June 10. They advised fording the river at the end of the month.

3.  On June 9, 1938, Chiang Kaishek ordered that the Guomindang army bomb the
dikes at Huayuankou, north of Zhengzhou, in an attempt to reroute the Yellow River and
thus to halt the westward advance of the Japanese army. This portion of the Yellow River,
which changed course to the southeast and emptied into the Huai River at Zhengyangguan,
was called the “New Yellow River.” In 1947, the breached dike was repaired, and the Yellow
River returned to its original course.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-315