Instructions to the Ganzhou Meeting and
Regarding the Advance to South China
(September 8, 1949)
To Comrades Ye [Jianying], Fang [Fang], Chen [Geng], and Deng [Hua], and for
the information of Lin [Biao] and Deng [Zihui]:1
	 1.	 We are extremely gratified that you have already gathered in Ganzhou. You
should determine the content of your meeting in accordance with the telegrams repeatedly sent by the Central Committee and also those things told
to [Ye] Jianying in person.
	 2.	 The South China Sub-bureau, the Party committees throughout South China,
and the People’s Armed Forces led by Comrade Fang Fang and others have
achieved very great success. The new South China Sub-bureau and the main
forces of the People’s Liberation Army that are about to advance into South
China should take full and proper notice of this achievement, and cause comrades on both sides to unite harmoniously, learn from one another, and use
the strong points of others to offset their own weaknesses. Doing so will
facilitate our struggle for a great victory.
	 3.	 You can hold your meeting while at the same time immediately ordering
the two corps2 to begin advancing south. Their first step will be to advance
to the Shaoguan-Wengyuan line. They should prepare to rest there for
a few days, and then to seize Guangzhou. We feel they should not divide
their troops and send some to Huizhou; they should wait until they have
seized Guangzhou and only then occupy Huizhou, for the main force of the
Fourth Field Army will be able to advance toward the Zhijiang-Baoqing-Hengzhou3 line in mid-September. Bai Chongxi4 will definitely not fight but
will retreat to Guangxi (he absolutely will not fight a decisive battle with us
in Hunan; his deployment was a feint with the goal of delaying our army’s
advance). Our two corps led by Chen [Geng] and Deng [Hua] should strive
to occupy Guangzhou during the second half of October. We estimate that
Chen [Geng]’s corps will advance to the region of Wuzhou in November.
At the same time, the main force of the Fourth Field Army will advance to
the Liuzhou-Guilin region. In December, it will be able to penetrate farther
into Guangxi to engage in battle with Bai [Chongxi]. Liu [Bocheng], and
Deng [Xiaoping],5 leading the main force of the Second Field Army, will
be able to enter Guizhou in November, and will be able to enter Chongqing
in December. If we do this, all our armies will be able to coordinate their
actions with one another. We expect you to report to us your opinions about
how long it will take for the armies to advance, and also about the targets of
our attacks.
The Military Commission

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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 665–66, 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. Ye
Jianying was chief-of-staff of the General Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army
and first secretary of the Central Committee’s South China Bureau. Fang Fang was third
secretary of the South China Bureau. Chen Geng was commander and political commissar
of the Second Field Army’s Fourth Corps, and Deng Hua (1910–1980, native of Hunan)
was commander of the Fourth Field Army’s Fifteenth Corps. Lin Biao was commander of
the Fourth Field Army and the Central China Military Region, and Deng Zihui was second
political commissar of the Fourth Field Army and the Central China Military Region.

2.  The reference is to the Fourth Corps of the Second Field Army and the Fifteenth
Corps of the Fourth Field Army.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-319

3.  This refers to Shaoyang and Hengyang in Hunan.

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

5.  Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Second Field Army.