回复：借刀杀人者赞 回复：揭密毛泽东对刘伯承为什么一直另有看法（转贴）

Mao’s move of sending Liu and Deng’s 100,000 soldiers across the Yellow River, and marching over 1000 kilometers into central plain was a gamble. Mao himself was not certain if such gamble would pay off by openly discussing the three possible outcomes:
1. The communist force could not even reach Dabie Shan.
2. The communist force would be driven out by the Kuomintang force after reaching Dabie Shan.
3. The communist force would be able to establish new base in Dabie Mountain.
Why did Mao want to make such a big gamble?
1. As you say 借刀杀人, and most importantly
2. The territories controlled by the CPC could no longer sustain so many troops, Mao decided to send part of his army to the territories controlled by KMT, in order to relieve the heavy burden on his own territories, and to position enemies at the gates of the KMT.
Mao’s gamble paid off. Liu's success, albeit after heavy losses, was indeed forced the KMT to redeploy nearly two dozen brigades against him, disrupting Chiang Kai-shek's original plan, thus relieved KMT’s pressure on other communist forces.
By the way, if Chiang did not meddle with Bai Chongxi’s deployment, Bai could have driven Liu/Deng out of Dabie Shan region.