Michael M. Sheng,
Battling Western Imperialism: Mao, Stalin, and the Unted States (Princeton UP 1997), p. 19: "However, Mao's narcissistic personality continued to lead him to argue that had the Party followed his policy, a failure could have been avoided. At the Zunyi conference in January 1935, Qing Bangxian,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Gu then the Party chief, stated that the Red Army's defeat in 1933-34 in Jiangxi was due to the overwhelming strength of the GMD. Mao disagreed, and he contended that it was due to the incorrect strategy of the Qing-Braun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Braun_(communist) leadership which abandoned guerrilla strategy. In reality, after pacifying the rebellions of the GMD local factions, Jiang gathered massive forces to attack the CCP using the blockhouse strategy. Facing the new situation, Mao too doubted the efficacy of guerrilla warfare. He proposed on 20 November 1933 that the Red Army abandon the Jiangxi area and thrust into the Zhejiang-Jiangsu-Anhui region to wage mobile warfare in Jiang's home base. Mao's idea was too bold and its result too unpredictable for the CCP Center, which refused to adopt it. The Qing-Braun leadership decided to defend the soviet area in Jiangxi at any cost. The defeat of the CCP was predictable. The Qing-Braun strategy failed; nonetheless, this should not be taken as proof that Mao's could have succeeded.
One could well argue that the CCP armed forces would have been totally wiped out, had they marched into Jiang's home base." [emphasis added--DT]
https://books.google.com/books?id=HZJcxq1DIOYC&pg=PA19
Admittedly, there were so many times that the GMD was on "the verge" of wiping out the Chinese Red Army that I somehow feel that here too at least part of the Red Army would escape. But suppose it is indeed wiped out? There may be scattered guerrilla forces elsewhere, scattered underground cells in the cities, etc. but it's hard for me to see how the CCP can recover...