Page "Long March" Paragraph 47

When the army resumed its march northward, the direct route to Sichuan was blocked by Chiang's forces.

Mao's forces spent the next several months maneuvering to avoid direct confrontation with hostile forces, but still attempting to move north to join Zhang Guotao's Fourth Red Army.

During this period, in February 1935, Mao's wife, He Zizhen, gave birth to a daughter.

Given the harsh conditions of the retreat, the infant was left with a local family ( Two Europeans retracing the Long March route in 2003 met a woman in rural Yunnan province, said by local officials to be Mao and He Zizhen's long-lost daughter ).