Defend Siping and Benxi So as to Give Us an
Advantage in Negotiations
 (April 13, 1946)
To Lin [Biao], and for the information of Peng [Zhen]:1
Marshall2 has said that he would leave for China on the 12th. After Marshall
arrives in China, there may be a cessation of hostilities in the Northeast, so the
Guomindang is sure to go all-out to take Siping and Benxi within the next several
days. You are expected to focus on doing everything possible to repel its attacks
and to defend Siping and Benxi so as to give us an advantage in the negotiations.
Please report to us on the situation.
The Central Committee
The source of our text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, p. 165, where it is reproduced
from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Lin Biao was commander-in-chief of the Northeast Democratic
Allied Army, and Peng Zhen was first political commissar of the Northeast Democratic
Allied Army.
2.  George Marshall became a special envoy of the United States to China in December
1945 in an effort to mediate between the Guomindang government and the Communist
Party. He returned to the United States in August 1946 after declaring the failure of the
negotiations.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-110