The Ten Military Principles are the ten basic principles that Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Army, summed up in the War of Liberation to guide the operations of the China People's Liberation Army. It is an important part of Mao Zedong's people's war strategy and tactics thought, which was formally put forward by Mao Zedong in his report "Current Situation and Our Tasks" at the meeting held in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on February 25th. 1947.

Mao Zedong's ten military principles are:

(1) Strike scattered and isolated enemies first, and then strike concentrated and powerful enemies.

② First go to small cities, medium-sized cities and vast rural areas, and then go to big cities.

(3) the main goal is to annihilate the enemy's effective forces, not to protect or seize cities and places. Preserving or seizing cities and places is the result of annihilating the enemy's effective forces, and it often takes many times to finally preserve or seize them.

(4) In every battle, concentrate absolute superior forces (twice, three times, four times, and sometimes even five or six times the enemy's forces), surround the enemy on all sides, and strive to wipe out the enemy so as not to escape the net. Under special circumstances, we will use the method of devastating the enemy, that is, concentrate our efforts on attacking the front of the enemy and its wings or wings, so as to achieve the goal of annihilating one and defeating the other, so that our army can quickly mobilize troops to destroy the enemy in other areas. Try to avoid a war of attrition that is not worth the loss, or a war of attrition that is equivalent to the loss. In this way, on the whole, we are inferior (in number), but in every part and every specific campaign, we are absolutely superior, which ensures the victory of the campaign. As time goes on, we will become an advantage as a whole until we annihilate all the enemies.

⑤ Don't fight unprepared battles, don't fight uncertain battles, and strive to be prepared for every battle, and strive to be sure of winning under the comparison of the conditions of the enemy and ourselves.

⑥ Carry forward the style of fighting bravely, not afraid of sacrifice, not afraid of fatigue, and fighting continuously (that is, fighting several battles without rest in a short time).

All landowners strive to annihilate the enemy in the movement. At the same time, pay attention to position attack tactics and seize enemy strongholds and cities.

(8) On the issue of siege, resolutely seize all enemy strongholds and cities with weak defenses. The camera will capture all the strongholds and cities where the enemy has a moderate garrison and the environment permits. All the enemy strongholds and cities will wait for the time to come and then seize them.

Pet-name ruby capture all the enemy's weapons and most of the people, to supplement themselves. The source of our army's manpower and material resources is mainly at the front line.

Attending is good at using the gap between two campaigns to rest and train. Generally speaking, the rest time should not be too long, and try not to give the enemy a chance to breathe.

Mao Zedong's Ten Military Principles were put forward based on the experience of the Agrarian Revolutionary War, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the war in the early days of liberation shortly after the liberation war entered the strategic offensive stage. They embody the strategy and tactics of the China People's Liberation Army based on the people's war and the people's army, are the main methods for the People's Liberation Army to completely defeat the Kuomintang army, are the products of the combination of the universal principles of Marxism-Leninism and the practice of China's revolutionary war, and occupy an important position in Mao Zedong's military thought. The ten military principles are an organic whole, the core of which is to emphasize the concentration of superior forces to fight annihilation. Around this core, Mao Zedong put forward clear guiding principles on operational guidelines, eliminating targets, operational forms, operational methods, operational preparations, operational styles, supplementary rest and other issues.

Mao Zedong's Ten Military Principles scientifically solved the following relations:

(1) The relationship between the weak enemy and the strong enemy. Strong and weak enemies are interdependent and can be transformed into each other. Generally speaking, the basic point of choosing the target to attack and kill should be to attack the weak enemy first. First, the enemies who are isolated, scattered, weak in defense and hiding in small and medium-sized cities will be eliminated, and then the enemies who are concentrated and strong in defense and hiding in big cities will become weak, which will create conditions for the next attack and annihilation. If we attack the strong enemy first, it will not only be difficult to solve the strong enemy quickly, but also the weak enemy will become a strong enemy, putting us in a passive position. Of course, sometimes when you are sure, you can also take advantage of the opportunity to attack a strong enemy first.

(2) the relationship between the enemy's effective strength and the preservation and seizure of places. Under the condition that the enemy is big and we are small, and the enemy is strong and we are weak, it is generally impossible to achieve the two goals of destroying the enemy and seizing the place at the same time. Only by destroying the enemy's effective strength can we finally keep or seize the place. Especially in the stage of strategic defense, even if some places are temporarily occupied by the enemy, as long as the enemy is destroyed, the lost land can be recovered. Therefore, seizing the place is the result of annihilating the enemy. Judging from the historical experience of the People's Liberation Army in previous revolutionary wars, at the beginning of the war, it was mainly to annihilate the enemy's effective forces. In the middle and late period of the war, with the transformation of the overall strength of the enemy's military forces, it gradually turned into paying equal attention to destroying the enemy and seizing the place. As far as destroying the enemy's effective forces is concerned, in some cases, due to changes in the enemy's situation or the needs of the overall situation, the policy of semi-annihilation and semi-defeat can also be implemented.

(3) the relationship between concentrated power and dispersed power. Concentration of superior forces is a universal law to defeat the enemy in all wars at home and abroad, and concentration of forces is of great significance to defeat powerful enemies at home and abroad in the revolutionary war in China. Only by concentrating our forces on annihilation can we gradually improve the strategic situation, smash the enemy's strategic offensive and turn ourselves into a strategic counterattack or attack. But the concentration of troops is not absolute. Under normal circumstances, it is often necessary to use troops through necessary active dispatch, thus creating conditions for the realization of concentrated superior forces at the time and place of decisive battle. For example, in order to ensure a large-scale annihilation war, a small number of troops must be used to contain other parts of the enemy, so that most of the troops can be concentrated to annihilate a major goal.

④ The relationship between mobile warfare and positional warfare. They are two main forms of regular warfare, and they penetrate and interact with each other. After the People's Liberation Army changed from guerrilla warfare to regular warfare, mobile warfare was the main form of combat, supplemented by necessary and possible positional warfare. However, with the development of the war situation, especially after the strategic attack, the position of position attack has obviously improved according to the need of capturing enemy strongholds and urban tasks. At this time, only by increasing the proportion of positional warfare can we annihilate a large number of enemies and accelerate the victory of the revolutionary war. Of course, large-scale mobile warfare is still an important form of warfare to annihilate the enemy, and it is necessary to combine large-scale mobile warfare with large-scale positional warfare.

⑤ The relationship between careful planning and preparation and not fighting uncertain battles. Without careful planning and preparation in advance, it is impossible to win the battle. The PLA does not fight wars that are unprepared, nor does it fight wars that are only unprepared. Therefore, all combat operations must be carefully planned in advance and fully prepared as much as possible; At the same time, we must foresee the most difficult and complicated situation and take this situation as the starting point of all deployment. Sometimes, under uncertain circumstances, it is better to postpone the fighting time than to fight without waves. However, it is absolutely not allowed to passively avoid war on the pretext of preparation.

⑥ The relationship between supplementary rest and continuous operation. Supplementary rest is to recharge your batteries, sum up experience and fight continuously better. With the rapid development of the war situation and the need of frequent and continuous operations, the manpower and material resources of the troops should be supplemented and rested to meet the requirements of this objective situation. The supplement of manpower and material resources of the People's Liberation Army mainly emphasizes taking from the enemy and relying on the support of the base areas. It is necessary to use the gap between campaigns to rectify and train the troops, improve the military and political quality and enhance the combat effectiveness of the troops. However, in order not to let the enemy breathe and destroy the enemy continuously, sometimes even without supplementary rest, it is necessary to carry forward the style of not being afraid of sacrifice and fatigue and realize continuous operations.

Mao Zedong's ten military principles come from and have been tested by war practice. The basic principles of the people's war strategy and tactics and the methodological principle of seeking truth from facts embodied in them will be applicable for a long time. However, Marxism–Leninism has not stopped, but is moving forward. Ten military principles should also be supplemented and developed according to the actual situation of future wars, and some may need to be revised appropriately.