粟裕
Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin strongly opposed the new troop deployment by Chen Yi and on August 8, 1946, they sent two telegraphs to Chen Yi and his colleagues to voice their concern. The first was to ask not to take Hai’an (海安) so that their troops could have ten days to rest and regroup, and then move to Siyang (泗阳) to stop the Nationalist forces of New Guangxi Clique in order to stabilize the situation in central China. (Though in reality, the Nationalist forces of New Guangxi Clique did not participate in the fighting like the Communists had expected). The second telegraph sent by Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin to Chen Yi accurately pointed out the plan Chen Yi was ordered to follow was in fact a disaster because when the Communist forces were deployed in the regions between Suqian (宿迁) and Shuyang (沭阳), it would in fact allow the Nationalists easily taking the regions along the Grand Canal of China and Huaiyin-Huai'an region, thus forcing the Communist force from Shandong to return to where it was originally from. Meanwhile, the Communist force in Jiangsu lost their base, and were surrounded by the Nationalists from three sides, and thus forced to cross the Yangtze River into the south when supply run out. If Chen Yi still had to follow the order by deploying the majority of the troops in the north, then the Communist 2nd Column under commander Wei Guoqing (韦国清) must be retained in the region to check the Nationalist southward advance. Otherwise, Su Yu and Tan Zhenlin could not be responsible for the situation (when it turned for the worse).