January 13, 1941 (A) Approved the views of Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi dated the 12th: North Jiangsu is to prepare to encircle Han Deqin, while Shandong is to prepare to encircle Shen Honglie. All preparations are to be completed within ten days, after which troops will stand by for attack. Zhu, Chen, and Luo will be responsible for Shandong, and Liu and Chen will be responsible for North Jiangsu. This is in response to Chiang Kai-shek’s plan to annihilate our 10,000-man force in southern Anhui.

(B) Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying are currently lodging protests in Chongqing. We are dispatching a protest communiqué in the names of Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying, and Xiang Ying. We urge Ye and Xiang to send word to the units encircled at Maolin that, if they cannot break out, they should hold out for another ten days; there may yet be a way forward.

(C) Should Chiang Kai-shek succeed in wiping out the southern Anhui forces, we must resolutely, thoroughly, and completely eliminate both Han Deqin and Shen Honglie, thereby definitively settling the Central China question.

(D) In order to cope with a grave contingency, the North China region should step up its preparations to assemble mobile forces.

(E) To meet a serious emergency, the offices in Chongqing, Guilin, Xi’an, and Luoyang should immediately make ready to counter any attack by Chiang Kai-shek.

(F) The southern Anhui incident should be widely publicized, whereas our plans to eliminate Han and Shen must be kept strictly confidential.