Gutian Conference

By the end of 1928, the Red Fourth Army was almost completely destroyed in the southern Jiangxi region. Mao Zedong, under pressure, insisted on rectifying the rampant banditry, extreme democratization, and non-proletarian ideology in the Red Fourth Army. The Central Committee dispatched Liu Angong to the Red Fourth Army. The contradictions intensified. The internal divisions within the Red Fourth Army ultimately led to Mao Zedong's failure to be elected as the head of the committee at the Seventh Congress of the Red Fourth Army. Mao proposed to leave the army for a time to work in the western Fujian region. Chen Yi went to Shanghai to report to the Central Committee and sought guidance on how to resolve the internal conflicts within the Red Fourth Army. The Red Fourth Army finally captured Shanghang City, which had remained unconquered for 400 years. Mao Zedong arrived in Shanghang to discuss their respective views with Zhu De. Although Zhu and Mao did not reach an agreement, under the powerful military pressure of the Kuomintang's 'Three Provinces Suppression,' Zhu De began to recognize the rationality of Mao Zedong's strategic opinions. Both sides decided to wait for Chen Yi to return from Shanghai with instructions from the Central Committee before making a decision. Upon Chen Yi's return from Shanghai with instructions from the Central Committee, Mao Zedong was reinstated as the head of the committee. After undergoing training at Xinquan, the Red Fourth Army arrived in Gutian. At the Liao Clan Ancestral Hall in Gutian, the Ninth Congress of the Red Fourth Army was convened. Amidst the fluttering snowflakes, Mao Zedong delivered a political report, establishing the principles for the establishment of the Party and the Army, marking the beginning of a new journey for the people's armed forces led by the Communist Party of China.