Do not let the Guangdong enemy flee into Guangxi [1]
(October 13, 1949)
Lin, Deng, Ye, Chen:
According to a telegram from Hong Kong on October 10, “(1) According to information from high-ranking air force personnel, Jiang [2] cabled Li and Bai [3] to abandon the defense of Guangzhou and hold fast to Guangxi; and indicated that in the future, he will not interfere with Li and Bai’s actions. (2) According to people familiar with the Guangxi clique, if the remnant Guangxi forces retreat into Guangxi territory, they will largely flee and scatter, losing their combat effectiveness. The bandits are now selling firearms to landlords in large quantities at low prices, intending to organize local reactionary forces on a large scale, and are practicing scorched-earth tactics in eastern Guangxi, intending to destroy even the grain seeds,” etc.
Please pay close attention, and do not let the Guangdong enemy flee into Guangxi.
The Military Commission
October 13
[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China to Lin Biao, Commander of the Fourth Field Army and the Central China Military Region, Deng Zihui, its Second Political Commissar, Ye Jianying, First Secretary of the South China Sub-bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Commander and Political Commissar of the Guangdong Military Region, and Chen Geng, Commander and Political Commissar of the Fourth Army Group of the Second Field Army.
[2] Jiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek.
[3] Li and Bai refer to Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, who were at the time Acting President of the Kuomintang government and Chief of the Kuomintang Army’s Central China Military and Political Administration, respectively.