You Must Wait until the Enemy Enters the
Tancheng-Linyi Region before Fighting the
First Battle
 (February 4, 1947)
To Chen [Yi], Rao [Shushi], Su [Yu], and Tan [Zhenlin]:1
Regardless of whether or not Qiu [Qingquan]’s2 troops reach Shandong, the
deeper the enemy penetrates the better, and the later we strike the better. As long
as you do not seek immediate results and are prepared to give up Linyi if necessary, we are assured of victory this time. At present, the enemy’s strategy is to
lure us into launching an early attack, to grapple with us and exhaust us, and then
to securely attack and occupy Linyi. You must by no means fall for this. You
must wait until the enemy has advanced into the region between Tancheng and
Linyi (closer to Linyi) before fighting your first battle; this is the best policy. The
farther north the enemy forces advance, the more their morale will fall, the more
panicked the commanding officers will feel, and the more difficult their logistics will become. Now Nanjing is already starting to panic, and the personnel at
the Defense Ministry and the General Staff Headquarters lack confidence. They
believe that even capturing Linyi will not solve the problem. The current position
of our troops under the command of Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping]3 is very
good; this will inevitably have a positive effect on the military situation and will
help you. We hope you will order the political agencies to make full arrangements
for political propaganda targeting the enemy along its route of advance to undermine the fighting spirit of the enemy officers and soldiers.
The Military Commission


Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 655–56, where it is


1.  Mao Zedong drafted this telegram on behalf of the Central Military Commission.
Chen Yi and Rao Shushi were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the East
China Military Region. Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin were deputy commander and deputy political commissar, respectively, of the East China Field Army.


2.  Qiu Qingquan (1902–1949, born in Wenzhou) was commander of the Guomindang’s
Seventh Army.


3.  Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping were commander and political commissar, respectively, of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Field Army.


DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-272

reproduced from Mao’s handwritten manuscript preserved in the Central Archives.