"In 1929, Mao fell ill with malaria. For three months, he was very sick and at times he hovered between life and death. Quinine could not be obtained in Jiangxi. With difficulty and painful slowness, it arrived from Shanghai by messenger (two men set out with the precious bottles; one was beheaded en route, one got through)." https://books.google.com/books?id=Gss7CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT147
So suppose the other messenger doesn't get through, and Mao dies of malaria. What happens to the Chinese Communist Party? Accorfing to Ross Terrell, "That Li Lisan's influence was a major problem for Mao in Jiangxi was demonstrated by the behavior of Zhu De during Mao's illness . As if rudderless , Zhu began to half obey Li , perhaps because of Lin Biao's efforts to drive a wedge vetween him and Mao..." https://books.google.com/books?id=Gss7CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT147 Li Lisan was to develop an extremely adventurist "line" calling for a national uprising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Lisan But his authoritarian style displeased many people in both the CCP and Moscow, and I doubt he would have lasted very long. Would Wang Ming ultimately have taken control? lhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Ming
So suppose the other messenger doesn't get through, and Mao dies of malaria. What happens to the Chinese Communist Party? Accorfing to Ross Terrell, "That Li Lisan's influence was a major problem for Mao in Jiangxi was demonstrated by the behavior of Zhu De during Mao's illness . As if rudderless , Zhu began to half obey Li , perhaps because of Lin Biao's efforts to drive a wedge vetween him and Mao..." https://books.google.com/books?id=Gss7CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT147 Li Lisan was to develop an extremely adventurist "line" calling for a national uprising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Lisan But his authoritarian style displeased many people in both the CCP and Moscow, and I doubt he would have lasted very long. Would Wang Ming ultimately have taken control? lhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Ming