send you a telegram containing detailed intelligence on the enemy situation and
on topography.
6. We ask that our elder brothers consider this and reply by telegram.
Nie Rongzhen's Forces Should Move
Southward to Engage in Coordinated Action
with the Red Fourth Front Army
(September 15, 1936, 12:00 noon)
Peng [Dehuai]:
1. There has been no attempt on the life of Li Yi.¹ He should keep his ties
with Nanjing, but should prepare a defensive position just in case.
2. The supplementary brigade of Hu [Zongnan]'s division is advancing on
Lanzhou rather than going to Gan[zhou], Liang[zhou], and Su[zhou]. Hu's main
forces are advancing very rapidly, hence it is hereby ordered that the Fourth
Front Army quickly control the main road between Jingning and Huining.
3. Nie Rongzhen's forces should move straight to the area between Jingning
and Longde to coordinate actions, after which they should operate near the
Guyuan-Wating line so that the enemy troops on that line will not dare to
advance northward.
Mao [Zedong]
[Lin] Yuying
[Zhou] Enlai
Luo Fu
Bo Gu
[Mao] Zedong
Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 581-82, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1. As indicated previously, this was an alternative name for Zhang Xueliang