Zhu [Rui], Chen [Guang], Luo [Ronghuan], Li [Yu], and Luo [Shunchu]:

It has been reported as follows: On the 20th, the 686th Regiment of our 115th
Division,¹ as well as part of our troops advancing eastward started an attack on
Wang's regiment of Zhang's division in the area around Renhezhuang; on the 19th,
a certain Second Regiment of ours and the Yimeng Detachment, around two thousand men, attacked Meng's brigade of Chang's division in the area of Qingshahu
and Tangjialin; then, on the 24th, another unit of about three thousand men attacked the New Thirty-sixth Division at a certain village² in Chenzhuang; our forces
under Xu [Shiyou], Yu,³ and Peng [Jiaqing], about five thousand men, attacked
Zhao's division around Wuji near a certain mountain in Kaicheng, and so on.
Please check and reply to us as to whether such events have occurred. Our basic
policy at present is to drag Chiang into the War of Resistance. Our army should
adhere to the Party Central Committee's principle, "We shall not attack others
unless they attack us; if others attack us, we shall definitely defend ourselves." If
such attacks have actually taken place, we hope that they will be stopped immediately. Likewise inform Peng [Dehuai], Zuo [Quan], Chen [Yi], and Liu [Shaoqi].

Mao [Zedong] Zhu [De] Wang [Jiaxiang] Ye [Jianying]