Letter from Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and
Wang Jiaxiang to Ye Ting and Xiang Ying
Regarding the Northward Movement of the
New Fourth Army in Southern Anhui

(November 3, 1940)

The Central Committee has decided that the "telegram of the 19th"¹ from He
Yingqin and Bai Chongxi will be answered in the names of Zhu, Peng [Dehuai],
Ye, and Xiang adopting a conciliatory attitude so as to delay the outbreak of the
anti-Communist war. It has been decided to yield on the matter of southern Anhui
and agree to move [the army] north. We look forward to your immediate response.

Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 6, p. 189, where it is reproduced
from Wannan shibian.
1. The telegram dated October 19 from He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi is here called the
"hao telegram" and is frequently so referred to in texts of the period. Similarly, the reply
sent to the Guomindang on November 9 was called the "jia telegram." The use of these
characters to designate respectively the 19th and the 9th days of the month is purely conventional and bears no relation to the meaning of the words in question. We have therefore
not translated or transcribed them here.