Reply to Wang Zhen and Wang Shoudao’s Telegram[1]

(December 4, 1944)

Yan Xishan is building fortifications and reinforcing troops along the Xiaoyi-Duijiuyu line, guarding against us very strictly. You must not provoke a conflict and may only pass outside their defense line.

[1] This is the main content of the telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China in reply to the inquiry from Wang Zhen and Wang Shoudao on December 2 regarding “whether we can take a route passing through the border area between the enemy and Yan Xishan.”