To Ye Jianying, Li Weihan, and Others[1]

(July 25, 1946)

(1) According to a telegram from Li Xiannian, the Executive Headquarters for Military Mediation’s 32nd Group dropped an official letter by plane, stating that this group and the 9th Group have arrived at Longjuzhai and requesting that Li dispatch representatives to Longjuzhai for negotiations, after which the Committee of Three will decide on issues of ceasefire stationing and provisions. If contact cannot be established, the two groups will go to Xi’an on the 25th, stay for three days, and then proceed to Beiping to request instructions, etc. (2) It is estimated that the groups have arrived in Xi’an today. Zhou Zijian[2] has been ordered to contact them on behalf of Li Xiannian and declare willingness to negotiate, provided that the government troops cease their encirclement and pursuit to facilitate the negotiations[3]. (3) You are requested to pay attention to this matter and handle it appropriately. If the government and Marshall wish to discuss the Subei issue, we shall then discuss the Zhongyuan Army issue.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Ye Jianying and Li Weihan and for the information of Zhou Enlai.

[2] Zhou Zijian was then serving as the representative of the CPC’s Xi’an office.

[3] At the same time, the Zhongyuan troops in southern Shaanxi, acting on the official letter dropped by the executive group from the plane, dispatched Zhang Wenjin and others as representatives to directly negotiate a ceasefire with the Guomindang troops in southern Shaanxi. The Guomindang troops, however, continued to besiege them with heavy forces and, at the end of July, secretly murdered the negotiation representatives sent by the Zhongyuan troops: Zhang Wenjin (Brigade Commander of the Cadre Brigade), Wu Zuyi (Director of the Political Department of the Cadre Brigade), and Mao Chuxiong (son of Mao Zedong).