18th Brigade of the nationalist 11th on Mulan Magnolia Mountains from Huangpi (黄陂). The nationalist 66th Division guarding Xinyang and Garden (Huayua, 花园) regions was deployed to regions included Summer Hotel (Xia Dian, 夏 店), Guo Family's Hotel (Guo Jia Dian, 郭家店), Great New Hotel (Da Xin Dian, 大新店) to attack Xuanhua Hotel (Xuanhua Dian, 宣化店) region. The nationalist 15th guarding Square City (Fang Cheng, 方城) and Noon Sun (Wu Yang, 午阳) regions was deployed to Xinyang and Guangshui to occupy Great New Hotel (Da Xin Dian, 大新店) and Three Miles Hotel (San Li Dian, 三里店) regions, and then would attack Xuanhua Hotel (Xuanhua Dian, 宣化店) region. A portion of the nationalist 169th Brigade, the 3rd Division and the 75th Division were taken for support. Liu Zhi 刘峙, the nationalist commander-in-chief of the operation was confident that the first full scale confrontation between Chiang Kai-shek and his communist enemy of the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era would result in a decisive nationalist victory. The deployment of the nationalist force was concentrated in the eastern direction, which appeared to be the most obvious direction that the enemy would be likely to take. Communist strategy The communists were initially divided on the withdrawal strategy. On June 2, 1946, the political commissar, Zheng Weisan (郑位三), of the communist force telegraphed Mao Zedong to report the initial strategy, suggesting that the bulk of the force should attempt to enter Wudang Mountains in western Hubei, and when the situation allowed, enter Sichuan. The remaining force would split into two parts with one part remaining in the region to fight a guerrilla war. The other part would strike southwestward, first reaching Hunan because it was easier to cross the Yangtze River in comparison to the Yellow River. On June 14, 1946, Zheng Weisan telegraphed Mao Zedong for a second time for an update, claiming that there were two opinions, and the first one insisted on staying in the region to fight a guerrilla war south of the Yellow River in Hubei, Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and even to expand south of the Yangtze River when the situation allowed. The second opinion preferred to withdraw to North China Plain because it was simply too difficult to stay in the original region. On July 19, 1946, Yan'an replied by claiming that there were two possibilities: one was that the northern withdraw was successful,