The strategies of both sides had changed from their original versions as the battles progressed. Nationalist strategy After the destruction of the entire 72nd Reorganized Division in late April 1947 in the Tai'an-Mengyin Campaign, the nationalists became very cautious and concentrated their forces in their movements afterward. On May 4, 1947, the communist high command radioed the East China Field Army that since it was impossible to fight large nationalist formations because the nationalists had concentrated their forces, the current tactic of waiting for an appropriate opportunity was to be maintained As long as they were patient, there would always be the opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Two days later the communist high command once again radioed the East China Field Army to instruct local communists on several important points: Never be impatient and never separate the concentrated forces, because as long as the concentrated force are ready to be mobilized, there would always be the opportunity to destroy the enemy. Local communist commanders redeployed their forces in early May 1947 by withdrawing their main force eastward to the region east of Laiwu and Xintai, while the communist 2nd and 7th Columns, originally planned to be deployed to central China, were instead withdrawn to Ju (莒) County, and the communist 6th Column was withdrawn to Pingyi (平邑) in southern Shandong. The communists were waiting to ambush the nationalists at the proper moment. Nationalist commander Gen. Chiang Kai-shek had erroneously believed that the communist retreat was a sign of weakness and that they were no longer able to fight any decisive battles, so on May 10 he gave the order to pursue and eradicate them. Gen. Gu Zhutong subsequently ordered the three nationalist corps under his command to give chase toward Boshan and Yishui. Gen. Tang Enbo, the commander-in-chief of the nationalist I Corps at the right flank, abandoned the previously proven tactics of prudently pushing the enemy and acted on his own without coordinating with the II Corps and III Corps; he ordered the 74th Reorganized Division to advance toward Tanbu on May 11 from Tao Xu (桃墟) and Duo (垛) Village in an attempt to take control of the region along the highway from Yishui to Mengyin (蒙阴). To protect his flanks, he ordered the 7th Army and 48th Reorganized Division to advance toward Yishui in the north, and the nationalist 65th Reorganized Division to guard Mengyin. The resulting