Yang, Luo, Yang, and Geng [1], together with the Central Working Committee and the Military Region [2], informed Lin Biao [3] and the Northeast Bureau: We have received your telegram of 2200 hours on the 15th.


(1) We agree to move to Jin County for a three-week rest and reorganization, after which you will coordinate with operations in Northeast China.


(2) A new campaign is scheduled to begin in Northeast China in the latter half of this month. If you can launch your own new campaign around mid-October, you will be able to provide effective support.


(3) You should prepare to conduct several campaigns within the four-month ice-bound period (December to March), aiming to cut off the Peking–Tientsin, Peking–Baoding, and, where feasible, the Peking–Chengteh railways; seize these rail lines and any nearby cities or strongpoints that can be captured; annihilate enemy forces along these routes, in these cities and strongpoints, and in their immediate vicinity; and thereby set the stage for direct operational coordination with our forces in Northeast China. This plan must include provisions for the necessary rest periods following each campaign, as well as for the required reinforcements of personnel and materiel.


(4) During the rest period, political education should focus on land reform, while military training should emphasize methods for assaulting fortified positions.


(5) Following successive victories, a tendency toward arrogance and underestimation of the enemy is bound to arise among cadres. You must strictly guard against this, beginning with the leaders themselves, who should take the lead in preventing such attitudes from taking hold.


(6) Peng, Nie, Xiao, and Huang [4] are to pay particular attention to supplying part of the ammunition and explosives produced locally or captured from the enemy to the Northwest Field Army under Peng and Zhang [5], and to using another portion to reinforce Peng and Zhang’s forces with fresh recruits. This is to be regarded as their own responsibility and incorporated into their regular supply plans (a task that Xu, Teng, and Bo have yet to implement).


Bo [6] has already put this plan into effect. The Military Commission’s Xixiao edition was printed based on Mao Zedong’s handwritten draft.


Notes: [1] Yang, Luo, Yang, and Geng refer to Yang Dezhi, Luo Ruiqing, Yang Chengwu, and Geng Biao, who at the time served respectively as Commander, First Political Commissar, Second Political Commissar, and Chief of Staff of the Jinchaji Field Army.


[2] Refers to the Jinchaji Military Region.


[3] Lin Biao was then Commander-in-Chief and Political Commissar of the Northeast Democratic United Army.


[4] Peng refers to Peng Zhen, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee’s Working Committee; Nie and Xiao refer to Nie Rongzhen and Xiao Ke, who at the time were Commander and Political Commissar, and Deputy Commander, respectively, of the Jinchaji Military Region; Huang refers to Huang Jing (1912–1958), a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, who served as Deputy Political Commissar of the Jinchaji Military Region.


[5] Peng and Zhang refer to Peng Dehuai and Zhang Zongsun, who at the time were Commander and Political Commissar, and Deputy Commander, respectively, of the Northwest Field Army.


[6] Xu, Teng, and Bo refer to Xu Xiangqian, Teng Daiyuan, and Bo Yibo, who at the time held the posts of First Deputy Commander, Second Deputy Commander, and First Deputy Political Commissar of the Jinji-Luyu Military Region.