The Most Urgent Task at Present Is to
Stop Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi and Annihilate Huang Botao[1]

(November 14, 1948)

Liu, Chen, Deng, Su, Chen, Zhang, and inform Wei, Ji[2]:

(1) Telegram from Su, Chen, Zhang dated 12:00 on the 12th received. The most urgent task at present is to stop Qiu and Li[3] and annihilate Huang Botao[4]; only then can the question of encircling and annihilating Qiu and Li be addressed. Are your forces for blocking reinforcements sufficient? Where are the 1st Column and the Central-South Shandong Column at present? It seems appropriate to move these two columns swiftly to the reinforcement-blocking front, to coordinate with the 7th Column, the 10th Column, and the Northern Jiangsu 11th Column in undertaking the task of blocking reinforcements. You should take into account the situation in which, should the Huang Corps not be annihilated before the 15th, and the reinforcing troops of Qiu and Li are already pressing near, you must make proper dispositions of forces for annihilating Huang and blocking reinforcements. (2) If Qiu and Li have already penetrated deep eastward, using the full strength of Wei and Ji to cut off and attack the rear of Qiu and Li can, at present, serve to pin down Qiu and Li, and in the future will become the force for encircling Qiu and Li from the western side. (3) Under the circumstances that Qiu and Li have already advanced eastward, please ask Liu, Chen, and Deng to consider whether the Huaye 3rd Column can be used east of Xuzhou, together with Wei and Ji,

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Liu Bocheng, Commander of the Central Plains Field Army; Chen Yi, First Deputy Commander; Deng Xiaoping, Political Commissar; and Su Yu, Acting Commander and Acting Political Commissar of the East China Field Army; Chen Shiju, Chief of Staff; and Zhang Zhen, Deputy Chief of Staff.

[2] Wei and Ji refer to Wei Guoqing and Ji Luo (Ji Pengfei), who were then respectively Commander and Deputy Political Commissar of the Northern Jiangsu Corps of the East China Field Army.

[3] Qiu and Li refer to Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi, who were then respectively Commanders of the Kuomintang Army’s 2nd Corps and 13th Corps.

[4] Huang Botao was then Commander of the Kuomintang Army’s 7th Corps.

The Most Urgent Task at Present Is to
Stop Qiu Qingquan and Li Mi and Annihilate Huang Botao

to attack the rear of Qiu and Li.

Central Military Commission
12:00, 14th