In mid-February 1935, after the Central Sub-Bureau trapped in Gannan received an urgent instruction from the Party Central Committee, the members of the Central Sub-Bureau immediately broke through by separate routes. Chen Tanqiu, Tan Zhenlin, and Deng Zihui led their troops to break through in the direction of Yongding. After more than half a month of arduous trekking, he arrived at the village of Dafu, a Yongding Immortal, at the end of March to meet Zhang Dingcheng. Unexpectedly, the next morning, it was attacked by more than 300 people from the Kuomintang army and the reactionary militia. In the battle, our side suffered heavy losses, more than 30 people were killed, Chen Tanqiu and more than 70 other people were wounded, and more than 100 people were captured. After the Battle of Dafu, the preserved troops withdrew to the Yankeng area on the hangyong border and then drove to Chizhai in Yongding Xixi to rest.
Chen Tanqiu, one of the founders of the party and a member of the Central Sub-Bureau at the time
In mid-April 1935, Chen Tanqiu, in the name of a representative of the Central Sub-Bureau, held the first meeting of the Military and Political Committee of Southwest Fujian (that is, the joint meeting of leading cadres of the Party and the army in southwest Fujian) in a wayo of Chizhai in Xixi, known in history as the "Chizhai Conference". Present at the meeting were Chen Tanqiu, Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, Tan Zhenlin, Fang Fang, Liu Yongsheng, and Fan Lechun. Chen Tanqiu pointed out: According to the current situation and the instructions of the recent telegram of the Party Central Committee, the Red Army guerrillas remaining in the Central Soviet Region should disperse on the spot and persist in protracted guerrilla warfare. Zhang Dingcheng analyzed the current guerrilla tasks and held that the main task of the Red Eighth Regiment, the Red Ninth Regiment, and the guerrillas in various localities at present is no longer to restrain the enemy from attacking the Soviet zone, but to get rid of the enemy's tracking and pursuit, and in accordance with Mao Zedong's guerrilla warfare strategy and tactics of "the enemy advances and retreats, the enemy garrisons us to disturb, the enemy is tired and fights, and the enemy retreats and pursues us" and "divides the troops to mobilize the masses and concentrate on dealing with the enemy", preserves and develops itself, and strikes and destroys the enemy. Maintain the party's banner politically and maintain the party's close relationship with the masses; and maintain the party's purity and fighting nature organizationally. The meeting also determined the leading body and decided to rename the military and political committee in western Fujian, which was recently established, as the military and political committee of southwest Fujian, and to elect Zhang Dingcheng as its chairman. Party organizations in various counties have also made corresponding adjustments. It was decided to divide the guerrilla units of the Red Army in southwest Fujian into four divisions, which were both independent and coordinated, and several principal leaders of the Military and Political Committee of Southwest Fujian dispersed their activities in order to strengthen leadership over the work in various localities.
Zhang Dingcheng, chairman of the Military and Political Committee of Southwest Fujian
The Chizhai Conference correctly analyzed the situation, promptly changed the task of the Red Army guerrillas in southwest Fujian from "defending the Soviet zone and waiting for the main force to return" to carrying out extensive and independent guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, and formulated policies and operational arrangements suited to this task. At the same time, the meeting established a strong leadership core composed of Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, Tan Zhenlin, and so on. This core adhered to Mao Zedong's basic principles on the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare and won the support of the vast number of Red Army commanders and fighters and cadres and masses in guerrilla areas. The Chizhai Conference was an important meeting held at a critical juncture of the revolution in southwest Fujian, marking the formation of the unified leadership of the party organizations in southwest Fujian and realizing the strategic change from regular warfare to comprehensive guerrilla warfare, and is of great significance to the victory of the red army guerrillas in southwest Fujian in upholding the three-year guerrilla war.
After the Chizhai Conference, Zhang Dingcheng stayed in Xi'nan to lead the guerrilla war between western Fujian and Yongding, Deng Zihui and Guo Yiwei contacted all sides in Hulei and Jinfeng in Yongdong, Tan Zhenlin went to Shanghang, Fang Fang and Luo Zhongyi led the Mingguang Independent Battalion back to the Yanlianning area, and Wu Sheng and Xie Yucai led the Red Ninth Regiment to move to southern Fujian.
Located in Chizhai Village, Xixi Township, Yongding District, Longyan City, the Chizhai Conference Memorial Pavilion - Xixi Chizhai Military and Political Pavilion
The site of the Chizhai Conference was burned down by the Kuomintang army. In September 2002, the Chizhai Conference Memorial Pavilion - Xixi Chizhai Military and Political Pavilion and the Chizhai Conference Monument of the Military and Political Committee of Southwest Fujian were built on the original site to commemorate the occasion.
(Source: Research Office of Party History and Local History of Yongding District Committee of Longyan City, Longyan City)