Chapter 60 Striving for internal peace and consolidating the acquired positions

(March 5, 1940) Comrade Dehuai[1]: A. It is necessary and possible for the armed struggle against friction to come to a temporary conclusion in the main areas of Northwest and North China.Because Jiang's military offensive[2] has been basically defeated by us, and Jiang is really unable to "suppress the Communist Party" on a large scale.I have achieved great victories in Shanxi, Hebei, and the border regions.The problem of my dominance in North China has basically been resolved.Chiang, Cheng, Yan, Wei [3] and others cannot ignore this fact, so it is possible to temporarily stop the other side's armed offensive and seek temporary coordination.In the past two weeks, Jiang, Cheng, Yan, and Wei, as well as Shan Jiang[4] and Gan Zhu[5] have all more or less expressed this intention.

B. Our current task is to achieve internal peace in the main areas so that we can concentrate our efforts to consolidate the positions we have gained within half a year. The significance of this task is great.If we can consolidate the twenty-three counties in the border region and turn them all into border regions within half a year, consolidate northwestern Shanxi and eastern Suiyuan[6] in the Jinsui area, and consolidate Linfen, Tunliu, Huguan, Linxian, Zhanghe, north of the Daming line, and part of Shandong, consolidate the border areas west of Jinpu Road, east of Kaifeng, south of the Old Yellow River, and new Yellow River in the border areas of Zhi[7], Shandong, Henan, and Anhui provinces. North, then there is a possibility that the united front will get better (of course the diehards will definitely hate me even more).Furthermore, if our military counter-offensive does not stop for a period of time in major areas, although our military operations are still self-defensive in nature, in the eyes of the centrists, we will feel that we have gone too far, and may lose the sympathy of the centrists.Therefore, both for consolidating our own strength and for winning sympathy from the centrists, it is necessary to bring the military struggle between the two sides to a temporary halt.

C. Since it is possible and necessary for the military struggle between the two sides to come to an end, our specific steps should be: (1) Seriously restore our relationship with Yan Xishan, find specific ways to establish a compromise between the old and new armies, and make the new army and the sacrifice alliance [8] Return to Yan Xishan command. (2) Try to make Jiang, Yan, and Wei recognize the line of Jundu, Fenyang, Linfen, Tunliu, Huguan, Linxian, Zhanghe, and Daming as the battle boundary between the two sides, and the other army north of this line is like Zhu Huaibing. 9] Move to the south, and our troops south of this line move to the north.We only keep the two depot lines from Yuanqu to Taihang Mountain and Yonghe Tonglingshi.On these two depot lines, a small number of guard troops are stationed. The mission of these troops is purely to guard traffic and not to do local work.If the other side can promise not to attack north of this line, even if the other army Shi Yousan, Gao Shuxun, Ding Shuben, Zhu Huaibing, Pang Bingxun, Fan Hanjie, Wang Jingguo[10] build a defensive fortress line south of this line, we will have to listen to it.Only when the other army crossed this line and attacked northward, we resolutely counterattacked. (3) The current focus of the above two items is on the second item, and its center of gravity is on Zhu Huaibing's withdrawal from the three counties of Ci, Wu, and She[11] and the recognition of Huguan and Lin counties as our garrison areas.Please consider, if the other party only recognizes the line of Pingshun and Cixian as the border of the two armies and asks me to withdraw from the Huguan and Linxian areas, whether I can admit to withdrawing from these two counties.Furthermore, please consider postponing the counterattack against Zhu Huaibing for a few days to see whether the negotiation is successful or not.Yuan Xiaoxuan[12] should continue negotiations in Luoyang, and it is better not to leave for now.We will not attack the Shi, Gao, and Ding tribes south of the daimyo.What do you think, please consider letting me know.

Zedong, Jia Qiang[13] March 5 Printed from transcripts kept at the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Dehuai, that is, Peng Dehuai, was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army at that time. [2] Refers to the large-scale military frictions launched by the Kuomintang ruling group in Hebei and Shanxi at the end of 1939, that is, the first anti-communist climax. [3] Cheng, referring to Cheng Qian, was the director of the Tianshui camp of the Military Commission of the Kuomintang government at that time.Yan, referring to Yan Xishan, who was then the commander-in-chief of the Second Theater of the Kuomintang Army.Wei, refers to Wei Lihuang, who was then the commander-in-chief of the first theater of the Kuomintang army.

[4] Shaanxi Jiang refers to Jiang Dingwen, who was then the commander-in-chief of the 10th Theater of the Kuomintang Army (Shaanxi) and the commander-in-chief of the 34th Army Group. [5] Gan Zhu refers to Zhu Shaoliang, then commander-in-chief of the Eighth Theater of the Kuomintang Army (Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and part of Suiyuan). [6] Suiyuan, referring to Suiyuan Province, was abolished in 1954, and the original jurisdiction was merged into the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. [7] Zhi refers to Zhili Province, which was renamed Hebei Province in 1928. [8] The New Army refers to the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Shanxi people formed and led by the Chinese Communists in the process of establishing a united front with Yan Xishan in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, with the Shanxi Youth Anti-Enemy Death Squad as the main force.Sacrifice League, refers to the Shanxi Sacrifice and National Salvation League, which was established on September 18, 1936.It is a government-run organization of Yan Xishan in name, but in fact it is a mass anti-Japanese organization directly led by the Chinese Communists, and played a major role in the Shanxi Anti-Japanese War.

[9] Zhu Huaibing was the commander of the Ninety-seventh Army of the Kuomintang Army at that time. [10] Shi Yousan, at that time served as the commander of the 69th Army of the Kuomintang Army and the commander-in-chief of the Chahar guerrilla in the Hebei-Chahar Theater.Gao Shuxun (1898-1972), a native of Yanshan, Hebei, was the commander of the new Eighth Army of the 39th Army of the Kuomintang Army at that time.Ding Shuben was the commander of the first guerrilla column in the Hebei-Chahar Theater of the Kuomintang Army at that time.Pang Bingxun (1879-1963), a native of Xinhe, Hebei, was the deputy commander-in-chief of the Hebei-Chahar Theater of the Kuomintang Army, the commander-in-chief of the 24th Army and the commander of the 40th Army.Fan Hanjie (1895-1976), a native of Dapu, Guangdong, was the commander of the 27th Army of the Kuomintang Army at that time.Wang Jingguo (1891—?), a native of Wutai, Shanxi, was the commander-in-chief of the Thirteenth Army of the Kuomintang Army at that time.

[11] Ci, Wu, and She refer to Ci County, Wu'an and She County in Hebei. [12] Yuan Xiaoxuan, then Director of the Luoyang Office of the Eighth Route Army. [13] Jia Qiang, that is, Wang Jiaxiang, was the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China and the director of the General Political Department at that time.