It Is Unnecessary to Give Notice before
Attacking and Seizing Tai’an and Other
Places
 (May 31, 1946)
To the East China Bureau, and for the information of Liu [Bocheng], Deng
[Xiaoping], and Bo [Yibo], and of Deng [Zihui], Zhang [Dingcheng], Su [Yu],
and Tan [Zhenlin]:1
We received your telegram of the 30th.2 The Guomindang is expanding its war
in the Northeast. It has occupied more than ten of our cities, including Siping,
Changchun, and Jilin, and it is now launching an offensive against Harbin. Within
the [Shanhai] Pass, [the Guomindang] has in the last five months occupied hundreds of our cities, towns, townships, and villages. In recent days it has also seized
Anci, Xiao county, Fuyi, and Dingyuan, and it has attacked Shuidong. Today we
have learned that the Beiping Eleventh Military District Command, without any
notice whatsoever, set out with tens of thousands of troops to attack Sanhe, Baodi,
Xianghe, Ninghe, and other counties in eastern Hebei. You therefore no longer
need to give notice before taking action, and you can commence the attack and
seizure of Tai’an, Dawenkou, Zhangdian, Zhoucun,3 Dezhou, Zaozhuang, and
other areas. Inform us of the battle situation at any time by telegram.
The Central Committee


Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 244–45, where it is


1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party. Liu Bocheng was commander of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan
Military Region, where Deng Xiaoping was political commissar and Bo Yibo was first
deputy political commissar. Deng Zihui (1896–1972, native of Fujian) was political commissar of the Central China Military Region, where Zhang Dingcheng was commander, Su
Yu was deputy commander, and Tan Zhenlin was deputy political commissar.


2.  This refers to a telegram from the East China Bureau to the Central Committee on
May 30, 1946, in which it was stated that the Bureau had finished drafting a notice to be
sent to the Nanjing three-person committee and to the Beiping Executive Department. If
no reply was received by the 10th, the capture of Tai’an, Dawenkou, Zhoucun, Zhangdian,
Dezhou, and Zaozhuang would begin immediately on the 11th. If there was agreement, it
was to be sent from the Central Committee to Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying on the 5th [of the
month] for compliance.


3.  Dawenkou is a township located in the southern part of Shandong’s Tai’an city.
Zhangdian and Zhoucun are both townships under Zibo city in Shandong Province.


DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-162

reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.