The Central Plains Forces Must Seek Their
Own Path to Salvation and Prepare to Break
out of the Encirclement
 (June 1, 1946)
To Zheng Weisan, Li Xiannian, and Wang Zhen:1
	 1.	 The United States and Chiang Kaishek have extremely evil intentions toward
us, and a full-scale civil war is inevitable. We fear there is little hope in asking American planes to transport money to help you. You must seek a way to
save yourselves: For example, on the one hand you should be economical in
your expenditures to save up money for when you break out of the encirclement; on the other hand, the wheat is ripe, and you can collect grain taxes
from the people.
	 2.	 You must be prepared to fight the enemy’s attack and to fight your way out
of the encirclement; you should prepare in advance two plans for when you
break out of the encirclement, one for concentrated operations and the other
for dispersed operations. During the breakout and immediately thereafter, it
will probably be most advantageous for the entire army to act together, but
when the enemy’s “pursuit and annihilation” is very serious, and marching
and supplies have both become extremely difficult, it will be better to divide
up into two or three independently operating groups. This will avoid the
difficulties of a concentrated operation while helping to contain the enemy
separately and to assist one another strategically.
	 3.	 This is a very critical moment, and you should be very careful, unite internally, and prepare for a difficult struggle.
The Central Committee

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 246–47, 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 Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Zheng Weisan was political commissar, Li Xiannian was commander, and Wang Zhen was deputy commander and chief-of-staff, respectively, of the
Central Plains Military Region.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-164