We Must Be Cautious in Utilizing Fresh
Troops
(April 28, 1946, 9:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M.)
To Lin [Biao]:1
The present situation is that although Marshall2 is anxious to end the war,
Chiang [Kaishek] still wants to wipe out our main forces and fight his way into
Changchun. Because of this, after the fresh troops we transferred from Changchun
and southern Manchuria3 have been assembled, we think we should use the fresh
troops only if we are absolutely sure that we can crush the New First Army and
annihilate a large contingent so as to fundamentally alter the whole face of the
war. Otherwise, it is inadvisable to use them rashly, and it would be more advantageous to wait and use them in the future. We await notification of your plans.
The Military Commission
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, p. 188, where it is reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Lin Biao was commander-in-chief 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.
3.  Southern Manchuria refers to the central Liaoning area east of the Shenyang-Dalian
section of the Chinese Changchun railway, which encompassed Andong (today’s Dandong),
Zhuanghe, Tonghua, Linjiang, Qingyuan, and southeastern Shenyang.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-124