There are currently some 85,000 communist soldiers caught in the North China Plain Pocket, surrounded by Nationalist Forces. It is a dangerous position, and one that the Kuomintang is preparing to end through the obliteration of this army. The KMT is currently busy with uprisings in the south and the communist offensive in Manchuria, and has yet to commit to a strategy to destroy the communist forces in the North China Plain (NCP). This is good, as it provides us valuable time to prepare our strategy for the survival of these 85,000 men. The Kuomintang could easily raise 300,000 conscripts to fight this army, and as such we must be prepared for every possible outcome.

In early June, when the resumptions of hostilities was deemed inevitable, the Commander-in-Chief of the force, Li Xiannian, wired Chairman Mao to inform him of the initial strategy, suggesting that the bulk of the force should attempt to enter Wudang Mountains in western Hubei, and when the situation allowed, entering Sichuan. The remaining force would split into two parts with one part remain in the region to fight a guerrilla war. The other part would strike southwestward, first reaching Hunan because it was easier to cross the Yangtze River in comparison to the Yellow River. On June 14th, the political commissar, Zheng Weisan of the communist force telegraphed Mao Zedong for a second time for an update, claiming that there were two opinions, and the first one insisted on staying in the region to fight a guerrilla war south of the Yellow River in Hubei, Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and even to expand south of the Yangtze River when situation allowed. This opinion was objected by the second one which preferred to withdraw to North China Plain because it was simply to difficult to stay in the original region. Yan'an, the headquarters, replied by claiming that there were two possibilities, one was the northern withdraw was successful, and the other the withdraw was impossible, so that preparation must be made to achieve the first objective whenever possible, and to be safe, plans must be also made to create new communist base if the northward withdraw was not possible.

In accordance with orders, the local communists made the decision to breakout westward with the bulk of the existing force. There were two parts of the plan, and the first was to push toward regions via Inner Township County, Xichuan and Jingzi Pass via the Funiu guerrilla base, and after the nationalist force guarding Xuchang was forced to redeploy, the communist force would then cross the railroad and rivers to reach the communist base in Taiyue region via Lushi and Luoning. If unsuccessful, then the communists would fight a guerrilla war from its guerrilla base in the Funiu Mountains and then expanded to the Qins, gradually reaching southern Gansu or Shaanxi to link up with the communists in these bases. In case of unable to achieve this first objective, the communists were also prepared to enter Wudang Mountains by crossing the Xiang River to create new communist base, and when the situation permitted, entering southern Gansu via Sichuan, but the first objective should be achieved whenever it was possible. The second part of the plan involved leaving at least 10,000 troops behind in central and eastern Hubei to fight a guerrilla war and if the guerrilla warfare was not sustainable, then the communist force remained in central Hubei would breakout into Wudang Mountains, and eastern Hubei would breakout to southern Anhui.

We know that in the coming months the Kuomintang will come for this pocket, and we must catch them unprepared, and have a backup plan in case of failure... then a backup plan in case of a second failure... then a backup plan in case of a third, etc., and therefore we must know that our objective is not to occupy land, but to regroup with the rest of our communist forces and fight the Nationalists with increased efficiency. If this is impossible, we will fight them from the North China Plain, and ensure that for every dead PLA soldier there are five dead Kuomintang troops.

Our mission rests on the surprise breakout, the Kuomintang will not see this coming!