Immediately Prepare to Launch an Attack
against the Pinggu Line, Nankou, and Other
Areas
 (April 30, 1946)
To Nie [Rongzhen] and Liu [Lantao], Cheng [Zihua] and Xiao [Ke]:1
Chiang Kaishek has rejected the proposals for a cessation of hostilities in the
Northeast that were agreed to by Marshall,2 the China Democratic League, and
us, and he continues to attack in the Northeast and to transfer troops. Regarding
Hebei and Rehe,3 in addition to the fact that the 195th Division and the Eightyeighth Division have already been moved to Rehe, there is also the possibility
that the armies in the [Bei]ping-[Tian]jin area will move troops into the Northeast
as well. You are expected to prepare immediately, and if the diehards move any
more troops, Nie and Liu must launch an offensive against the area of the Pinggu
line and Nankou, and Cheng and Xiao must launch an attack against Shi Jue.4
Report to us by telegram regarding these preparations. Communicate by telegram
daily.
The Central Committee


Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 191–92, 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. Nie Rongzhen was commander and political commissar and Liu Lantao
was deputy political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. Cheng Zihua
was first political commissar and Xiao Ke was commander of the Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning
Military Region.


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.  Rehe Province covered today’s northeast Hebei, southwest Liaoning, and southeast
Inner Mongolia before it was revoked in 1955.


4.  Shi Jue was commander of the Guomindang’s Thirteenth Army, which was then stationed within the borders of Rehe.


DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-127