[3] National General Xia Douyin led a scorched earth campaign, killing all men found in the Soviet areas, burning all buildings, and seizing or destroying all crops.

[4] Historians such as Marc Opper and Chen Yao-huang argue that a major factor in the Fourth Red Army's defeat was its decision to adopt more conventional tactics.

The Fourth Red Army retreated to border region between Shaanxi and Sichuan, leaving behind a small force to carry out guerrilla warfare.

[2] Moreover, the remnant local Communist force of the Eyuwan Soviet was able to rebuild a guerrilla movement by taking advantage of the early Nationalist withdrawal.

They hid in the mountains and eked out a living by foraging and organizing poor peasants to seize grain kept by landlords and public granaries.