The More Resolute and Forceful Our Actions, the Greater the Possibility of Peace[1]

(June 12, 1946)

To Bing and Ding, and inform Yin and Mao:

Your telegram of the 11th received. (1) A telegram from Shandong dated the 10th states: Tai’an, Dawenkou[2], Zaozhuang, Zhangdian, Zhoucun[3], and Jiao County have been completely occupied; all four gates of Dezhou have been taken, and mopping-up operations are underway within the city. (2) I have ordered Liu-Deng[4] to attack and capture Yongnian, and ordered Chen Geng’s column[5] to occupy the Tongpu Railway line between Taiyuan and Linfen, because Yan[6]’s forces have launched a large-scale grain-seizure operation in our Taiyue area and used six regiments to attack and occupy our Wenshui and Jiaocheng areas. (3) The more resolute and forceful our retaliatory actions, the more apprehensive the United States and Chiang Kai-shek will be toward us, and the greater the possibility of peace. (4) Chiang’s troops are fiercely attacking our area east of Haicheng in Nanman[7]; we have already recovered Lafa[8].

[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, addressed to the CPC delegation in Nanjing and for the information of the Northeast Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
[2] Dawenkou, a town located in the southern part of present-day Tai’an City, Shandong Province.
[3] Zhangdian and Zhoucun, both towns, now part of present-day Zibo City, Shandong Province.
[4] Liu-Deng refers to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, who were then respectively Commander and Political Commissar of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.
[5] Chen Geng’s column refers to the Fourth Column of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army, with Chen Geng as its commander.
[6] Yan refers to Yan Xishan, who was then Commander of the Second War Zone of the Nationalist Army.
[7] Nanman refers to the area east of the Shenyang-Dalian section of the Chinese Changchun Railway, including present-day Andong (now Dandong), Zhuanghe, Tonghua, Linjiang, Qingyuan, and the Liaozhong area southwest of Shenyang.
[8] Lafa, a village located in the northern part of present-day Jiaohe County, Jilin Province.

(5) The Harbin airfield is intact; Lin-Peng-Luo and Gao-Chen[1] are all in Harbin. (6) The three railways—Jinpu[2], Jiaoji, and Longhai—may be repaired first. Among the three, the Jinpu Railway should be repaired first, followed by the Jiaoji and Longhai Railways; otherwise, repair the Jinpu and Pinghan[3] Railways first, followed by the Jiaoji and Longhai Railways.

Jia and Yi

Siwen

[1] Lin-Peng-Luo refers to Lin Biao, Peng Zhen, and Luo Ronghuan, who were then respectively Commander-in-Chief, First Political Commissar, and Second Political Commissar of the Northeast Democratic United Army. Gao-Chen refers to Gao Gang and Chen Yun, who were then respectively Commander and Political Commissar of the North Manchuria Military Region of the Northeast Democratic United Army.
[2] Jinpu refers to the Jinpu Railway, the railway line from Tianjin to Pukou, now a section of the present-day Beijing-Shanghai Railway.
[3] Pinghan refers to the Pinghan Railway, the railway line from Beiping (present-day Beijing) to Hankou, now a section of the present-day Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.