Comrade Enlai,[1]
and inform Nie:[2]

In your plan for rotating combat forces, please organize Yang Dezhi’s[3] three armies, the three armies from the Southwest (first dispatch two, and after the other army arrives in Hebei, conduct two weeks of education then dispatch it), Yang Chengwu’s[4] two armies (dispatch after the 66th Army and 50th Army return to take over defense), the 47th Army (concentrate at Yuezhou[5] by the end of February, begin moving east in early March, conduct two weeks of education then dispatch to the front), and Dong Qiwu’s Corps[6] (two armies, first replenish with 10,000 men, weapons and equipment also seem to require some improvement, prepare to dispatch to the front in April for garrison duties) into the second-rotation combat forces. The six armies of the 13th Corps currently in the first-rotation combat forces shall be withdrawn to the rear for replenishment and rest for three to four months (among them, the 50th Army and 66th Army shall simultaneously undertake garrison duties on the Tianjin–Yingkou line, while the other four armies shall rest between Pyongyang and Shenyang), and be reorganized into the third-rotation combat forces. The entire 9th Corps shall return to East China for garrison duties. Regarding the replenishment plan, the 9th Corps shall replenish after returning to East China, and the 13th Corps must be fully replenished immediately after withdrawing to the rest and reorganization locations. The two armies already arrived from the Southwest, Yang Chengwu’s two armies, and Dong Qiwu’s two armies must be ordered to immediately begin all education for cross-border operations, and the responsible persons of these armies should be summoned to Beijing for a meeting to assign tasks. The three armies of the second batch from the Southwest must be ordered to complete preparations in February, begin movement in March, and arrive in Hebei in April.

Mao Zedong
February 7

[1] Enlai, i.e., Zhou Enlai.
[2] Nie, refers to Nie Rongzhen, then Acting Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
[3] Yang Dezhi, then Commander of the 19th Corps.
[4] Yang Chengwu, then Commander of the 20th Corps.
[5] Yuezhou, i.e., Yueyang, Hunan.
[6] Dong Qiwu’s Corps, refers to the 23rd Corps, Corps Commander Dong Qiwu.