Chapter 55 Current Political Situation and Policy towards Yan Xishan[1]

(January 11, 1940) Comrade Dehuai[2]: You called in [3], the secretariat has replied, sorry to receive it.It is not yet the time when it is raining all over the country. The national task is to organize progressive forces, strive for the middle class, and defeat the vacillation and reaction of the big bourgeoisie. This possibility has not been lost yet.The most serious problem at present is the reaction of Yan Xishan. He is currently the most reactionary part of the big bourgeoisie. His plots are very vicious. He has blocked Luliang Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain.Our countermeasures are to seize all or at least most of the northwest of Shanxi with the forces of Heguan[4], consolidate the unlost positions in the southeast of Shanxi with the forces of the southeast of Shanxi, regain some of the lost positions, and open a road to Luoyang. .Then Heguan and Jindongnan each dispatched a unit to attack Luliang Mountain, at least restore the original position of Chen Detachment[5] and a communication line, and get through Yanshui Pass.If Yan Xishan is willing to make peace at this time (this possibility has not been lost), then let him occupy most of Luliang Mountain, and I will only occupy a small part and one line of communication and stop there, otherwise the war will inevitably expand.The issue in the border area is showing signs of improvement. The Longdong 97th Division has already withdrawn. Cheng Qian and Zhu Shaoliang[6] have expressed peace under the order of Jiang[7]. We are sending Mr. Xie[8] to Gansu as a negotiating representative.Japan decided to help Wang Jingwei. The policy of Japanese soldiers in China is still rigid.The current internal struggle in Japan is still a struggle in which Japan monopolizes China or allocates part of its rights to Britain and the United States. The military monopoly policy seems to be in the upper hand. Japan is experiencing a trend of overturning the cabinet, and it will be clear in a few days.

Zedong Eleventh Printed from manuscript. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Yan Xishan was then the commander-in-chief of the Second Theater of the Kuomintang Army. [2] Dehuai, that is, Peng Dehuai, was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army at that time. [3] Sunset, that is, thirty days. [4] He Guan refers to He Long and Guan Xiangying, who were respectively the commander and political commissar of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army at that time. [5] Refers to the Shanxi Independent Detachment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army led by Chen Shiju.

[6] Cheng Qian, then director of the Tianshui Camp of the Military Commission of the Kuomintang government.Zhu Shaoliang (1891-1963), a native of Wujin, Jiangsu, was the commander-in-chief of the Eighth War Zone of the Kuomintang Army at that time. [7] Jiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek. [8] Xie Lao refers to Xie Juezai (1884-1971), a native of Ningxiang, Hunan.At that time, he was the vice president of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and was the representative of the Eighth Route Army Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Lanzhou.