Reply to Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Bo Gu, and Others[1]

(August 5, 1937)

We believe it would be advantageous for Comrade Zhu De to go to Nanjing immediately.[2]

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong and Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian) in reply to Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian), and others.

[2] On August 5, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian) telegraphed Mao Zedong and Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), stating that after repeated consideration of the question of Zhu De going to Nanjing to negotiate with the Kuomintang, their opinions were not entirely unanimous. Zhu De himself believed that going to Nanjing at present would be more advantageous than going later. On August 6, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai arrived in Xi’an from Yunyang Town. On August 9, together with Ye Jianying, they flew to Nanjing to participate in a discussion meeting on national defense and to negotiate with the Kuomintang.