Li Hui (Three Kingdoms)

From late August, the three divisions that made up the 8RA began to cross the Yellow River towards the front, which lay several hundred kilometers to the east, in Shanxi province. Red Army commanders as well as soldiers were very keen to fight the Japanese. So were most of the CCP leaders. But not Mao. Mao did not regard the Sino-Japanese War as a conflict in which all Chinese would fight together against Japan. He did not see himself as on the same side as Chiang at all. Years later, he was to say to his inner circle that he had regarded the war as a three-sided affair. БЂњChiang, Japan and us БЂ” Three Kingdoms,БЂ«he said, evoking the period in Chinese history known as the Three Warring Kingdoms. The war was to him an opportunity to have Chiang destroyed by the Japanese. In later years he more than once thanked the Japanese for БЂњlending a big hand.БЂ«When after the war some Japanese visitors apologized to him for Japan having invaded China, he told them: БЂњI would rather thank the Japanese warlords.БЂ«Without them occupying much of China, БЂњwe would still be in the mountains today.БЂ«He meant every word ...»