Zhang Xueliang was forced by the Kuomintang government to relinquish his posts for "medical reasons". Chinese forces fell back in disarray to the Great Wall, where after a series of battles and skirmishes, the Japanese Army seized a number of strategic points, and then agreed to a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement (the Tanggu Truce) whereby a demilitarized zone would be established between the Great Wall and Beijing. However, this would prove to be only a temporary respite before the full scale combat of the Second Sino-Japanese War erupted in earnest in 1937.