Zhou Enlai had been paying keen attention to the serious situation of the troops of the Central Plains Military Region. As early as December 1945, in order to directly understand the situation in the Central Plains, Zhou Enlai sent Tong Xiaopeng to Hankou on a US military transport plane, found Zheng Shaowen, the head of the Central Plains Military Region's office in Han, who was stationed there, and asked him to make the necessary preparations and accompany Tong Xiaopeng to Chongqing by plane. Zheng Shaowen gave a detailed report to Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, and others on the specific situation of the Central Plains Military Region, conveyed the determination of Li Xiannian, Zheng Weisan, Wang Zhen, and other responsible comrades to resolutely implement the instructions of the party Central Committee and smash the kuomintang reactionaries' offensive.
As the crisis of the Kuomintang army plotting to encircle and annihilate the Central Plains troops became more and more serious, on January 23, 1946, the representatives of the Ninth Enforcement Group of the Military Investigation Department (Major General Deng Weiren, a representative of the Kuomintang, Colonel Xue Zizheng, a representative of the Communist Party of China, and Colonel Ford, a representative of the United States), signed the "Agreement on the Armistice of Luoshan on Stopping the Conflict in the Central Plains" with Chen Dingxun and Song Ruike, representatives of the Kuomintang troops in the Central Plains, and Wang Zhen, representatives of the Chinese Communist forces, in Luoshan, Henan. Proceeding from the overall situation, the Chinese Communists did not insist that the Kuomintang troops be restored to the position of January 13 stipulated in the armistice order when signing the agreement, but only asked the two armies to maintain the position they signed on January 23.
However, after the signing of the Luoshan Agreement, the Kuomintang army did not stop the offensive under the pretext of some specific problems. On January 29, the tripartite representatives of the Ninth Enforcement Group met with Commander Li Xiannian at Yuwangcheng in Lishan, Hubei Province, and signed the Yuwangcheng Agreement.
However, the Kuomintang army continued to attack, still not allowing the Chinese communist troops to go out to purchase grain. On February 23, Zhou Enlai proposed to Marshall that while solving the northeast problem, it should be solved, withdrawing the siege to allow the Central Plains troops to complete the transfer, and lending them the grain and money they needed on the way to the transfer. In March, Zhou Enlai negotiated with Xu Kan, minister of grain of the Nationalist government, on the issue of receiving grain for the 5th Division. On 5 March, zhou Enlai, Zhang Zhizhong, and Marshall, representatives of the three-person military group, arrived in Hankou after inspecting North China and listened to the report of the Ninth Enforcement Group. At the three-person meeting, Zhou Enlai proposed that the grain problem of the Central Plains Military Region could not be solved, and that it was necessary to move its position (meaning that it wanted to break away from the encirclement of the Kuomintang army), but the Kuomintang side did not agree, stressing that once the troops were transferred, the situation would be chaotic. Zheng Jiemin said to his subordinates: "The Central Plains Military Region can't let go, it has caught this tail, you Communist Party wants to move, I will solve it first." On 16 March, Zhou Enlai sent a telegram to the leaders of the Taihang, Jinsui, Shandong, and other liberated areas, saying: "The Fifth Division is trapped in grain payments, and the stubborn side is encroaching on provocations, and does not allow our army to move immediately. And proposed a specific way to prepare food aid for the 5th Division.
After the group of three returned to Chongqing, Zhou Enlai lodged a strong protest at a Press Conference held at China and foreign press conferences on March 18, and Li Xiannian demanded that the group of three immediately stop the Kuomintang's military provocations. On March 21, Zhou Enlai flew back to Yan'an. On the 22nd, Zhou Enlai called Dong Biwu and Wang Ruofei, who remained in Chongqing, from Yan'an, and instructed them that they must first solve the problem of the 5th Division in negotiations with the Kuomintang. Therefore, on March 28, the Ninth Enforcement Group went to the Yingshan Mediation Office in Hubei Province and signed the Yingshan Agreement, which restricted the Kuomintang troops from withdrawing north of Yingshan by April 1.
At the end of March, Zhou Enlai entrusted Dong Biwu to inspect Xuanhuadian, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, to comfort the military and people of the Central Plains Military Region, and to convey the instructions of the central authorities, sending grain and medicine for support from all sides, and solving many difficulties. During this period, the CPC Central Committee also directly telegraphed Zheng Weisan and Li Xiannian on many occasions, asking them to prevent a surprise attack by the enemy and make preparations for a legal transfer and an armed breakthrough. Due to the treachery of the Kuomintang army, it constantly tore up the agreements signed many times and gradually narrowed the encirclement, putting the lives of 60,000 cadres and soldiers of the Central Plains Military Region in extreme danger. At the end of April, the Kuomintang troops intensified their provocations and attacks against the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains. On May 1, zhou Enlai, in a meeting with Marshall and Xu Yongchang, the military commander who replaced Chen Cheng as the Kuomintang representative of the military trio, solemnly pointed out that the Kuomintang authorities had secretly ordered 300,000 troops to besiege the 5th Division, and suggested that they go to Xuanhuadian to supervise the armistice.
On May 3, Zhou Enlai led a CHINESE communist delegation from Chongqing to Nanjing. At 7 p.m. that night, he held a Chinese and foreign press conference at the Meiyuan New Village garrison to refute the lie spread by the Kuomintang authorities that "there is no war in the Central Plains" and demanded that "first of all, it was agreed to stop the civil war in the Central Plains, so as not to affect the overall situation and develop into a national civil war." On the 4th, Zhou Enlai went to No. 5 Ninghai Road to personally visit Marshall's official residence and put forward the opinion that the three-member group should immediately go to the Central Plains Mediation Office. At Zhou Enlai's insistence, the U.S. and Kuomintang sides were forced to accept his proposal and form a three-man group to xuanhua
Shop inspection.