Resolutely Disagree with the Huang-Bai Proposal[1]

(August 18, 1937)

Zhou, Ye:

The Huang-Bai Proposal would split the Red Army and dispatch it in separate directions, which contains an extremely great conspiracy, and must be resolutely disagreed with. After the fundamental issues are resolved, the main force of our army (not the entirety) is decided to cross the river from Hancheng, and absolutely must not take the Longhai Line or the Pinghan Line.

Luo Mao

The 18th

[1] The Huang-Bai Proposal refers to the plan for the Eighth Route Army’s dispatch put forward by Huang Shaohong, head of the First Department of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, and Bai Chongxi, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Nationalist Army. The specific content was: Two divisions of the Eighth Route Army would board trains at Weinan, pass through Fenglingdu and the Tongpu Railway, disembark near Dai County, and concentrate in the area of Yu County. The other division would proceed along the Longhai Railway, transfer to the Pinghan Railway, disembark at Xushui, and go to the Yutian and Zunhua areas in eastern Hebei to conduct guerrilla warfare. During the negotiations between Zhou Enlai and Zhu De with the Nationalist Party in Nanjing, Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong put forward this plan. This is the telegram sent to Zhou Enlai by Mao Zedong, together with Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), Zhou Enlai, and Ye Jianying, on August 18, upon learning of this information.