Preparatory Work for the March to the Dabie
Mountains by Liu and Deng’s Army
 (July 30, 1947)
To Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping], and for the information of Chen [Geng],
Xie [Fuzhi], Han [Jun], Chen [Yi], Su [Yu], and Tan [Zhenlin]:1
We received today’s telegram.2 If you are determined to head directly to the
Dabie Mountains, please note each of the following points:
	 1.	 You should call a meeting of cadres at the rank of regimental commander and
above. Aside from telling them of advantageous conditions, also envisage all
kinds of difficulties and establish their will to fight a distant campaign.
	 2.	 Everyone at the rank of battalion commander and above should be issued a
detailed map of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui with county borders; mimeograph
copies are also fine. It would be even better if we could issue one to each
company, so all cadres understand the geographic environment.
	 3.	 Arrive at general methods for collecting grain and revenue and notify all
the cadres. The method of attacking local tyrants during the land revolution
brought in little revenue and damaged our reputation. Until we establish our
own political regime, we should continue using the Guomindang’s low-level administrative and revenue-collecting agencies (under the supervision and
command of capable personnel from our Party). We should employ basically progressive grain levies and exempt only the truly destitute from a tax
burden; this is the only way to solve the problem of supplying our army.
We can use all the Guomindang personnel who have not fled, except for
the extremely bad elements, and gradually make the transition to a people’s
regime.
	 4.	 If there is not enough time for Pi Dingjun’s brigade3 to set off, please consider using Zhao [Jimei]’s column4 for the Dabie Mountains. This column
should rush straight to the Dabie Mountains after crossing [the river] between
Tong[guan] and Luo[yang].5 Meanwhile, Chen and Xie will use the Thirty-eighth Army to establish a base area in western Henan.
	 5.	 If you have resolved to rush directly to the Dabie Mountains without rear
area support, please also help Chen and Xie develop such a resolve. If Chen
and Xie cross the river during the last ten days of August, they may buy
themselves a month’s time to establish a foothold in western Henan. We estimate it will require at least a month for the main forces of Hu [Zongnan]’s6
army to move south from the Jingbian–Hengshan line, thoroughly exhausting this enemy.
The Military Commission
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Notes

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 4, pp. 162–63, 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 and Deng Xiaoping were commander and political commissar, respectively,
of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan) Field Army. Chen Geng, Xie Fuzhi,
and Han Jun were secretary, deputy secretary, and Standing Committee member, respectively, of the Chen-Xie Group of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Field Army. Chen Yi, Su Yu, and Tan
Zhenlin were commander and political commissar, deputy commander, and deputy political commissar, respectively, of the East China Field Army.

2.  The telegram from Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping stated that upon receiving the
Military Commission’s July 29 telegram, they had decided to advance after half a month’s
rest in accordance with the overall situation. Believing that they had nineteen enemy brigades in front of them and at least ten brigades behind them, they proposed going straight
to the Dabie Mountains and forming a horn-like formation with the Chen-Xie Group to
gain greater room to maneuver. They suggested that the forces of Chen Shiju and Tang
Liang disperse the enemy forces in southwest Shandong, and that Shandong send the brigade formerly under Pi Dingjun to the Dabie Mountains to serve as the backbone of this
military region.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-15

3.  Pi Dingjun was commander of the First Brigade of the First Column of the Central
Plains Military Region.

4.  Zhao Jimei was commander of the Twelfth Column of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Field Army.

5.  Tongguan is in Shaanxi, and Luoyang is in Henan.

6.  Hu Zongnan was director of the Guomindang army’s Xi’an Pacification Office.