Chen Yi's Investigation Chen Yi, former commander of the field armies making up the 9th arrives on a fact-finding mission. Mao Zedong wants to know why the 9th has performed so miserably. Yi meets with the front field army commanders - Zhang Renchu of the 26th Army and Nie Fengzhi of the 27th Army. Both of those Armies were part of the 3rd Field Army of the PLA 9th Army Group. Both had engaged with the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir in November-December 1950.

Conclusion Yi concludes that the failure was due to: (1) bad weather - the Chinese armies were not properly clothed for the extreme cold and tens of thousands froze to death; (2) inadequate supply - soldiers ran out of ammunition and grenades at critical points and had to break off; (3) lack of air cover resulted in unnecessary delays and deaths; (4) lack of artillery - the troops had to rely on small arms, grenades and satchel charges which often failed to explode.

In 1955 General Chen Li and nine other Generals were promoted to Marshal.