After the Battle of the Xiangjiang River, the Kuomintang authorities were able to estimate what route the Red Army would take and mobilized a large number of troops to surround and annihilate them.

On December 12, 1934, the CPC Central Committee called for an emmergency meeting in Hunan. At the meeting, Bo Gu (or Qin Bangxian) and the Comintern agent to China Otto Braun (his Chinese Name is Li De) still persisted with the original plan. Mao Zedong suggested abandoning the original plan and turned to the west immediately. Most comrades such as Zhang Wentian, Wang Jiaxiang and Zhou Enlai supported Mao's view.