Reply to Chen Yi and Song Shilun

(July 15, 1946)

Your telegram of the 14th has been received. As the Chiang Kai-shek army has not yet attacked Jiangsu and Anhui, our forces should remain in their present positions and bide their time. In the next few days, we can see how the battle at Taixing turns out.

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[1] This is the main content of a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee in reply to Chen Yi and Song Shilun, with copies to Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. Chen Yi was then concurrently serving as commander of the Shandong Field Army. Song Shilun was then serving as chief of staff of the Shandong Field Army.

[2] On July 14, Chen Yi and Song Shilun sent a telegram to the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, proposing to "immediately carry out the previously decided operational plan, cut off the southern section of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway and the Xuzhou-west section of the Longhai Railway, bring about the convergence of the main forces of the Shandong and Taihang armies north of the Huai River, and prepare to cross the Huai River for operations."

[3] The battle at Taixing was the first engagement in the Central Jiangsu Campaign, later known as the Xuanjiapu-Taixing battle.