Before Resuming Its Attack on Guisui, Yang
Chengwu’s Unit Should Wait Until Our
Armies from the Northeast Move South and
Attack Beiping and Tianjin
(November 9, 1948)
To Zhou [Enlai]:
Please discuss the following with Nie [Rongzhen] and Bo [Yibo]1 by telephone:
	 1.	 Yang Chengwu’s2 forces should stop attacking Guisui3 (because we cannot
handle the reinforcements), and instead they should rest and reorganize in
the Guisui, Zhuozishan,4 and Jining areas. They should wait until our armies
from the Northeast move south and then attack Beiping and Tianjin before
resuming their attack on Guisui.
	 2.	 Yang [Dezhi], Luo [Ruiqing], and Geng [Biao]5 should lead the Third
Column, the Fourth Column, and one brigade from the Fifth Column to the
area between Baoding and Shijiazhuang, where they should rest, reorganize,
and replenish their ranks until the 15th. On the 16th, they should begin to
move west to join in the fighting around Taiyuan.

	 3.	 During this month and during December, you should provide Xu [Xiangqian]
and Zhou [Shidi]6 with 10,000 prisoners and new soldiers to replenish their
ranks.
	 4.	 The other two brigades from the Yang-Luo-Geng unit should join the group
action of the Seventh Column along the [Bei]ping-Bao[ding] railway.7
Mao Zedong

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Notes

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 186–87, where it is
reproduced from the handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

1.  Nie Rongzhen and Bo Yibo were commander and political commissar, respectively,
of the North China Military Region.

2.  Yang Chengwu was commander of the Third Corps of the North China Military
Region.

3.  Guisui is the former name of Hohhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

4.  Zhuozishan is in today’s Zhuozi county in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

5.  Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, and Geng Biao were, respectively, commander political
commissar, and chief-of-staff of the Second Corps of the North China Military Region.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-181

6.  Xu Xiangqian was first deputy commander of the North China Military Region and
commander and political commissar of the First Corps, and Zhou Shidi was deputy commander and deputy political commissar of the First Corps.

7.  The Beiping-Baoding railway is part of today’s Beijing-Guangzhou railway.