41st Division, and the 15th Division to Cangtai (苍苔) region along with air support, hoping to eliminate the communist forces in a second trap. However, after a forced march of 90 km in a single day, these forces had already passed the town of Cangtai (苍苔), Tang River (Tang He, 唐河) and White River (Bai He, 白河) counties. Thereby escaping the second trap planned by the nationalists, they reached the region of Teacher's Hill (Shi Gang, 师岗) south of Inner Township County (Nei Xiang, 内乡) in southwestern Henan on July 11, 1946. To distract the nationalists, the communists decided to split into two columns. The left column consisted of the 45th Regiment of the 15th Brigade and the 13th Brigade of the communist 2nd Column totaling 7,000 people, and would march toward the region of Nanhua Pound (Nan Hua Tang, 南化塘) via the town of Xichuan (淅川). The right column under the command of Wang Zhen consisted of 359th Brigade and the Cadres Brigade would take the town of Xichuan (淅川) and Jingzi Pass (Jingzi Guang, 荆紫关) in advance for the main force, and then continue to its destinations at Mountain Sun (Shan Yang, 山阳) and Zuoshui (柞水) regions in southern Shaanxi after the left column had passed Nanhua Pound (Nan Hua Tang, 南化塘) region. In the meantime, the nationalists made new plans for setting up a third trap for the communists by deploying the 3rd Division, 15th Division, 41st Division, and the 47th Division in regions south of Nanyang, Henan, Zhenping (镇平), Inner Township County (Nei Xiang, 内乡), regions along the Dan River (Dan Jiang, 丹江), and regions to the north and to the east of Xichuan (淅川) and Deng (邓) County. The 61st Brigade of the nationalist 90th stationed at Shan (陕) County and the 1st Brigade of the nationalist 1st stationed at Guanzhong were deployed to Jingzi Pass (Jingzi Guang, 荆紫关), the chokepoint of the traffic linking Hubei, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces to complete the trap, and the nationalist plan was to eliminate the enemy on the eastern bank of the Dan River (Dan Jiang, 丹江). The communists in turn, were determined to avoid this fate by crossing the Dan River (Dan Jiang, 丹江) and continue westward, eventually entering Shaanxi. The Right Column The nationalist force consisted of the 124th Brigade of the 41st Division, the 125th Brigade of the 47th Division, and the Western Nanyang Security