One problem with all these is that Mao didn't know the future. It was complete
possible that the East Army failed while the West Army successed. To see all the
replies above, it seems those people do believe Mao was god and could predict future.
He could direct the outcome as in directing a play. The fact was, GCD made a decision
to increase the chance of success by spliting into two. One path successed while the
other one failed. But the final out come justified the decision.
If you and your brother spliting your family's money into two parts to invest in
two companies, one worked and the other failed. At the end, you made billions. Is
investing in two companies the right decision?
I guess logic and rational thoughts are hard to come by for some people.