The main force of the Northwest Field Army should rapidly advance southward and seize opportunities to capture Luochuan and other cities[1]
(September 2, 1947)

Peng, and inform He and Xi[2]:

The order issued on the 31st[3] is very good. Taking advantage of the enemy’s 29th Army lingering and hesitating in the Mizhi area, our army should use a portion of its forces to block the enemy step by step, while the main force rapidly advances southward (bypassing all strongly fortified strongholds), seizing opportunities to capture Luochuan, Zhongbu[4], Yijun, Tongguan, Yaoxian, Sanyuan, Pucheng, Baishui, Fuping, as well as the cities east of the Yellow River and north of the Wei River, opening up a battlefield (with the Huanglong Mountains as a rear base), securing winter clothing, and expanding sources of recruits. This is entirely possible.

The Military Commission
12:00, 2nd

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[1] This is a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, addressed to Peng Dehuai, commander and political commissar of the Northwest Field Army.
[2] He and Xi refer to He Long and Xi Zhongxun, who were then respectively commander and political commissar of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Shanxi-Suiyuan Joint Defense Army.
[3] Refers to the order issued by Peng Dehuai to the Northwest Field Army on August 31, 1947. The order stated that, in coordination with the Chen-Xie forces and to seize the strategic initiative by delaying the enemy’s southward retreat, the army should advance along the Xianyang-Yulin Highway and its flanks toward the Guanzhong Plain, coordinate with the Chen-Xie Column to strike and destroy Hu Zongnan’s forces, and liberate the Great Northwest.
[4] Zhongbu, an old county name, is present-day Huangling in Shaanxi Province.