On August 10, 1945, Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the anti-Japanese forces led by the CPC, issued the First Command in the knowledge that the Japanese government sent a diplomatic note announcing its surrender. These anti-Japanese forces were ordered to give the Japanese and puppet troops in nearby towns an ultimatum to disarm within a time limit and to protect the life of the surrenders under this First Command from the headquarters of CPC in Yan’an.

On August 11, the Central Committee of the CPC released “Our Tasks since the Surrender of Japan” and stressed that the anti-Japanese forces led by the CPC should force the Japanese and puppet troops to surrender and launch attacks against the Japanese troops which continued to fight.

On August 15, Zhu De sent a message that the Japanese troops except those besieged by the National Revolutionary Army should stop the military operations and surrender to the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army and the anti-Japanese column in south China in his telegram to Yasuji Okamura, Commander-in-Chief of the China Expeditionary Army.