First Seize Tai’an and Other Cities, and Then
Consider Attacking Ji’nan1
 (June 1, 1946)
To the East China Bureau:
	 1.	 After consideration, we agree with the strategic orientation put forward in
your telegram of May 23rd;2 but you should first seize Tai’an, Dawenkou,
Zhangdian, Zhoucun,3 Dezhou—all these points—and then attack Ji’nan.
We expect you to carry out deployments and all other preparatory work in
accordance with this plan.
	 2.	 If, after fighting for Tai’an and other places, the situation is not suitable for
an attack on Ji’nan, you can decide to forgo it for the time being.
	 3.	 It is important for the agents working among Huo Shouyi’s4 Ji’nan troops
and Feng Zhi’an’s5 Xuzhou troops to step up their work.
	 4.	 The revised diplomatic notes have been sent to Nanjing and Beiping.
The Central Committee
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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 248–49, where it is
reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.
2.  See ftn. 2 in “It Will be Advantageous to the Shandong Military Region to First
Annihilate the Armies of Wu Huawen et al.,” May 30, 1946, in this volume.
5.  Feng Zhi’an was deputy director of the Guomindang’s Xuzhou Pacification Office
and commander of its Third Pacification Zone.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-165

--- Notes

1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. On June 5, 1946, Mao Zedong also drafted a telegram to Chen Yi
and Shu Tong, in which he expressed the wish to “capture Tai’an, Dawenkou, Zhangdian,
Zhoucun, Dezhou, and Zaozhuang within the next few days—the sooner the better.”

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

4.  Huo Shouyi was commander of the Guomindang’s Twelfth Army.