Our Central China Forces Have
Occupied Nanyang1
(November 5, 1948)
(Xinhua News Agency dispatch, Zhengzhou, November 5)
Under the great and victorious offensive of the People’s Liberation Army, the
Nanyang garrison forces of Wang Lingyun [1899–1968, native of Henan] abandoned the city and fled southward on the afternoon of the 4th, and our armies
immediately occupied Nanyang. Nanyang is the former Wan county that Cao and
Zhang Xiu2 fought over during the Three Kingdoms era. Liu Xiu,3 the Guangwu
emperor of the Later Han dynasty, started an uprising, launched a war against
Wang Mang’s dynasty,4 and established the Later Han dynasty here. Most of the
“twenty-eight stars” of popular legend, that is, the twenty-eight generals of Liu
Xiu, were born in the region surrounding Nanyang. During the past year, Chiang
Kaishek has attached great importance to Nanyang. He has built a so-called “pacification zone” here, with Wang Lingyun as its commander, in an attempt to hinder the southward progression of the People’s Liberation Army. Last month, Bai
Chongxi5 engaged the forces of three armies from Huang Wei’s corps6 for a whole
month in an effort to open up a transport route between Xinyang and Nanyang,
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 185–87, where it is
reproduced from a November 9, 1948, Renmin ribao article.
1.  Mao Zedong drafted this news report on behalf of the Xinhua News Agency.
2.  Cao Cao (155–220) was a politician and strategist of the Three Kingdoms period.
Zhang Xiu (? –207) was a nephew of Zhang Ji, who served Dong Zhuo during the Three
Kingdoms period. After the death of Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu took over his uncle’s troops and
occupied Wancheng (present-day Nanyang). He surrendered to Cao Cao after numerous
battles in 197 and 198.
3.  Liu Xiu (6 bc–57 ad, born in Caiyang, Nanyang) was a descendant of the royal family of the former Han dynasty. Rebelling against Wang Mang in the last years of the Xin
dynasty, he proclaimed himself emperor and founded the Eastern Han dynasty (also known
as the Later Han dynasty) in 25 ad.
4.  Wang Mang (45 bc–23 ad) founded the Xin dynasty in 8 ad after seizing power
in the last years of the Western Han dynasty. Peasant rebels overthrew the Xin dynasty
in 23 ad.
5.  Bai Chongxi was commander-in-chief of the Guomindang army’s Central China
“Bandit Suppression” Headquarters.
6.  Huang Wei was commander of the Twelfth Army Corps of the Guomindang army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-177

but he was never able to achieve this goal. Since the overall situation has been
so bad recently, Chiang’s army has been forced to assemble the entire southern
front forces of nearly 100 divisions in the two regions centered on Xuzhou and
Hankou. They abandoned Kaifeng two weeks ago, and now they have also abandoned Nanyang. Apart from some remaining enemy forces in northern Henan’s
Xinxiang and Anyang, western Henan’s Lingbao and Wenxiang, and southern
Henan’s Queshan, Xinyang, Huangchuan, Guangshan, Shangcheng, Gushi, and
so forth, all of Henan is now liberated. Last July, the People’s Liberation Army on
the southern front began its heroic advance toward the enemy’s rear. In the year
or so since then, the greatest achievements, apart from wiping out large numbers
of regular Guomindang troops, have been the recovery and construction of stable
base areas in the Dabie Mountains region (the Hubei–Henan region), the western
Anhui region, the western Henan region, the southern Shaanxi region, the Tongbai
region, the Yangzi River–Hanshui River region, and the Yangzi River–Huai River
region (that is, eastern Anhui); the establishment of seven military regions; and
the major expansion of the old base area of the Henan–Anhui–Jiangsu Military
Region. Except for the Yangzi River–Huai River Military Region, which falls
under the jurisdiction of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, all other military regions are under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains Military Region. The
Henan–Anhui–Jiangsu Region, the Western Henan Region, the Southern Shaanxi
Region, and the Tongbai Region are now connected in a continuous belt and are
no longer separated by the enemy. These four military regions are also connected
with North China. Apart from replenishing the ranks of the field armies and the
local armies depleted by over a year of intense fighting, our armed forces have also
added approximately 200,000 troops and will develop even further in the future.
Bai Chongxi constantly says, “We do not fear the Communist Party’s ferocity; we
fear it taking root,” and he is right to be afraid. In all the regions around the Yangzi
River, the Huai River, and the Hanshui River, we are not merely trees, but rather
forests. More than taking root, we have put out flourishing branches and leaves.
For a very short time during the second half of last year, we carried out land distribution policies prematurely in these regions, making a “leftist” tactical error. But
we soon corrected this mistake, using our experience from the Japanese resistance to carry out social policies of rent and interest reductions on a widespread
basis, and we carried out fiscal policies whereby each stratum bears a reasonable
burden. In this way, we united with or neutralized all social strata with which this
was possible, and we assembled a force to oppose the reactionary ruling power of
the Guomindang and a small number of local despots in the rural areas who were
hated by the broad masses. This tactic has obviously succeeded; the enemies are
becoming totally isolated. Under the coordinated attacks by our powerful field
armies and local armies, the besieged enemy forces in isolated strongholds, such
as Kaifeng, Nanyang, and so forth, have been forced to abandon their cities and
flee in disorder. The forces commanded by the Nanyang enemy garrison of Wang
Lingyun, which include the Second Army, the Sixty-fourth Army, and some civil

corps, are now fleeing in disorder to Xiangyang. Xiangyang is also one of the
Guomindang’s so-called “pacification zones.” After the first commander, Kang
Ze,7 was captured, the command was taken over by Song Xilian, who had been
transferred from Xinjiang. Recently, Song Xilian8 was promoted to the concurrent
posts of deputy commander-in-chief of Xuzhou and director of the front command
post, replacing Du Yuming.9 Meanwhile, Du Yuming just flew from Xuzhou to
the Northeast, but after suffering a crushing defeat, he fled again to Huludao.
Wang Lingyun arrived at Xiangyang, probably to replace Song Xilian as commanding officer. He did not have to travel far to reach Xiangyang from Nanyang,
however. Xiangyang is still an isolated stronghold, and if Wang Lingyun does not
flee again, Kang Ze’s fate awaits him.
7.  Kang Ze (1904–1967, native of Sichuan) was commander of the Guomindang
army’s Fifteenth Pacification Zone until he was captured by the People’s Liberation Army
in July 1948.
8.  Song Xilian (1907–1993, native of Hunan) was deputy commander-in-chief of the
Guomindang army’s Central China “Bandit Suppression” Headquarters and commander of
the Fourteenth Army Corps in August 1948, and he became deputy commander-in-chief of
the Xuzhou “Bandit Suppression” Headquarters in September 1948.
9.  In October 1948, Du Yuming was transferred from the post of deputy commanderin-chief of the Guomindang’s Xuzhou “Bandit Suppression” Headquarters to deputy commander-in-chief of the Northeast “Bandit Suppression” Headquarters.