Nie, Liu, Xiao, and Luo [1], as well as Zhang Zongshun [2], hereby transmit to the commanders of all corps and military regions: Following the fall of Zhangyuan [3], Fu Zuoyi’s [4] forces have become extremely dispersed, which is advantageous for us to annihilate them piecemeal.


However, at present we should still keep a portion of our troops near Zhangyuan to pin down Fu’s forces, while our main body remains in the eastern sector and continues to destroy the enemy according to the original plan, with the aim of completely smashing the enemy on the eastern front.


We have already inflicted a rather severe blow upon the Sixteenth Army. If, over the next couple of days, we can likewise deliver a decisive defeat to the Ninety-fourth Army, then in the future it will suffice to strike the Fifty-third Army once or twice and to strike the Sixteenth Army another one or two times, and we shall be able to utterly shatter the enemy’s offensive on the eastern front.


Thereafter, after our troops have rested and regrouped, we can turn westward to deal with Fu.


Within a few months it is entirely feasible to break both the eastern and western enemy fronts.


At present, the enemy offensive in your area—whether by Fu Zuoyi or Li Zongren [5]—has reached its peak; their reserves have been exhausted. From our standpoint, the gain or loss of any single city or position is of no fundamental importance. Our primary task is to annihilate the enemy’s living forces.


I urge you, in accordance with this policy, to boost morale, unite the entire Party, and fulfill the sacred mission entrusted to you by the Central Committee.


The Central Committee’s Youwen edition was printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.


Notes:  [1] Nie, Liu, Xiao, and Luo refer to Nie Rongzhen, Liu Lantao, Xiao Ke, and Luo Ruiqing, who at that time served respectively as Commander and Political Commissar, Deputy Political Commissar, Deputy Commander, and Deputy Political Commissar cum Director of the Political Department of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.  [2] Zhang Zongshun was then Deputy Commander of the Jin-Sui Field Army.  [3] Zhangyuan is Zhangjiakou, which was occupied by Fu Zuoyi’s Nationalist forces on October 11, 1946.  [4] Fu Zuoyi was at that time Commander-in-Chief of the Nationalist Army’s Twelfth War Area.  [5] Li Zongren (1891–1969), a native of Linggui, Guangxi (now Guilin), was then Director of the Beiping Liaison Office of the Nationalist Government.