Deployments for the Advance of the Field
Armies
(May 23, 1949)
To the General Front Committee, Liu [Bocheng, Zhang [Jichun], Li [Da], and
also Su [Yu] and Zhang [Zhen], and for the information of Lin [Biao] and Luo
[Ronghuan], Peng [Dehuai], and He [Long]:1
	 1.	 We received the telegram from Su [Yu] and Zhang [Zhen] of 11:00 A.M.
to 1:00 P.M. on the 22nd.2 You should speedily prepare to enter Fujian earlier than planned; try to occupy Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and other
important points during the next two months of June and July and watch for
a chance to seize Xiamen. The troops who are to enter Fujian can march out
as soon as Shanghai is resolved.
	 2.	 The main force or entirety of the Second Field Army should also prepare
to advance west in two months’ time to manage Sichuan, Guizhou, and
Xikang.3 The current task of the Second Field Army is to prepare to aid
the Third Field Army to deal with the possible military intervention of the
United States. Such preparation is essential as it could check the interventionist ambitions of the United States, scaring them so they will not dare
to send troops. However, after we occupy places like Shanghai, Ningbo, and Fuzhou, it would be best for one part of the Third Field Army to help
Shandong occupy Qingdao (that is, if the enemy at Qingdao has not yet
retreated after our occupation of Shanghai). Afterwards, there will be little
chance that the United States will intervene, and the Second Field Army can
then advance west.
	 3.	 There are now two units of the Fourth Field Army across the [Yangzi] River,
and six units that have already arrived in the area between Longhai and the
Yangzi; these troops will be able to cross the river at the beginning of June.
An additional four units that have just emerged from Xinxiang and Anyang
will be able to cross the river in about the middle of June. The main force of
the Fourth Field Army (six units, and the Guangdong and Guangxi columns)
will be able to get to Xiang county—the You county line—in early or mid-July and will be able to get to the Yongzhou-Chenzhou line in August. They
will rest during the month of September. In October they will be able to
advance west after Bai Chongxi’s4 retreat toward Guangdong and Guangxi,
which they may be able to occupy in November or December. The First Field
Army (four corps, or 350,000 soldiers) may be able to occupy Lanzhou,
Ningxia, and Qinghai before the end of the year. At the end of the year or
early next year, prepare to divide them into two units taking two different
routes: one group, led by Peng [Dehuai], will be in the Northwest, and will
begin to manage Xinjiang next spring; the other group, led by He [Long],
will manage northern Sichuan in order to facilitate coordination with the
Second Field Army to resolve the three provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, and
Xikang.
	 4.	 If places such as Shanghai, Fuzhou, and Qingdao can be speedily and
smoothly resolved, the chance of American intervention will disappear, and
then the Second Field Army should try to occupy the belt between Guiyang,
Chongqing, and the upper reaches of the Yangzi River by the end of the year
or earlier and also open the Yangzi River waterway. This task can be accomplished if the Second Field Army mobilizes on August 1 or earlier. This task
should not, however, be made known to the lower levels of the Second Field
Army, since it is as yet only a recommendation by the Central Committee; a
final decision will have to await the occupation of Shanghai and Fuzhou.
	 5.	 The entire army of Hu Zongnan5 is retreating to Sichuan, and there are also
reports of a retreat to Kunming. Chiang Kaishek, He Yingqin,6 and the
Guangxi Clique are dreaming of making Chongqing the capital and setting
up a separatist regime in the Southwest, so they want to annihilate Hu’s army and all enemy troops in Sichuan and Xikang. It is necessary to advance
from the south and cut off their retreat. Therefore, in addition to the Second
Field Army preparing to pass through Guizhou to enter Sichuan, the Fourth
Field Army also should send one of its units through Baise to Yunnan after
it wipes out Bai Chongxi and occupies Guangxi. We ask Lin [Biao] and
Luo [Ronghuan] to immediately order Zeng Zesheng’s army7 to soon move
south. We expect a report from Lin and Luo as to whether the army has left
Rehe.8
	 6.	 We hope to hear your views.
The Military Commission

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 591–93, 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 commander of the Second Field Army. Zhang Jichun was deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Second Field Army, and
Li Da was chief-of-staff of the Second Field Army. Su Yu was deputy commander and
second deputy political commissar of the Third Field Army, and Zhang Zhen (张震) was
chief-of-staff of the Third Field Army. Lin Biao was commander of the Fourth Field Army
and the Central China Military Region, and Luo Ronghuan was first political commissar
of the Fourth Field Army and the Central China Military Region. Peng Dehuai was commander and political commissar of the First Field Army, and He Long was commander of
the Northwest Military Region.

2.  The telegram from Su Yu and Zhang Zhen stated that Chiang Kaishek’s forces had
begun to retreat from all fronts, and they asked if the occupation of Fujian could be carried
out earlier than planned.

3.  Xikang Province covered the western part of Sichuan and Tibet before it was abolished in 1955.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-274

4.  Bai Chongxi was commander of the Guomindang army’s Central China Military and
Political Affairs Office.

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

6.  He Yingqin was head of the Guomindang government’s Executive Yuan and Minister
of Defense.

7.  Zeng Zesheng was commander of the Fiftieth Army of the Fourth Field Army.

8.  Rehe Province covered parts of what is today northeastern Hebei, southwestern
Liaoning, and the southeastern part of Inner Mongolia before it was abolished in 1955.