 As the conflict turned against the warlord alliance, Sun's army increasingly suffered from mass desertion, so that he "desperately" launched recruitment campaigns in northern Henan and southern Hubei while the fighting was still ongoing.Realising that the Central Plains War was lost, Sun eventually retreated with his remaining army from the front at Bozhou, and joined the Nationalist-allied forces of Zhang Xueliang.He moved to Shanxi, where his men were reorganized as 40th Division and garrisoned at Jincheng.