On May 29, 1947, the news of the enemy besieging the town of Heshui had finally struck the commander of the nationalist Reorganized 82nd Division guarding the town of Western Peak, Ma Jiyuan, who realized this was not a concentration of enemy guerillas attempting to harassing the local garrison, so he ordered the nationalist Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade at Qingyang to reinforce the besieged town, under the leadership of its brigade commander Ma Buluan (), with the 1st Regiment of the nationalist Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade as the advance guard. The 1st Regiment of the nationalist Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade was originally the nationalist 1st Cavalry Division which was later renamed as the 8th Cavalry Division during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and it was stationed in eastern Henan, fighting countless battles with the Japanese invaders who grew to respect the nationalist cavalry unit, calling it "Ma's Islamic Division". After World War II, the unit returned to Qinghai from Xuzhou and was subsequently reorganized as the 1st Regiment of the Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade of the nationalist Reorganized 82nd Division. When the nationalist Reorganized 82nd Division was deployed to eastern Gansu during the Chinese Civil War, the 1st Regiment of the Reorganized 8th Cavalry Brigade of the nationalist Reorganized 82nd Division was deployed to the town of Red City (Chi Cheng, ) 15 km southeast of Qingyang. However, units of the Independent Brigade of the communist 2nd Column had already infiltrated into regions south of Qingyang, and unaware of the enemy strength, the nationalists did not want to risk being ambushed on the way, so they decided to concentrate their forces by going to Qingyang after leaving Red City. As a result, when the nationalist reinforcement finally begun their march toward Heshui, it was already late in the evening. In order to save time, the nationalists took a route in a valley 15 km to the east of Qingyang without sending out scouts ahead.
