Tang Shengzhi
At the time, poor discipline was commonplace amongst the Chinese Army's regional units, which were often hastily drafted and organized from bandit groups and led by officers two thirds of whom were illiterate. Poor discipline also pervaded the higher ranks, with Han Fuju being an archetypal example. Seeking to stamp out this problem, Chiang conducted a military conference at Kaifeng on 11 January to produce a collective report on military discipline. Attending the conference were high ranking general officers from the 1st and 5th War Areas, including Han Fuju. After the conference, Han was arrested and detained in Wuhan. Under the direction of the director of military law, Tang Shengzhi, who had led the defense of Nanjing a year earlier, Han was sentenced to death and executed on the 24th, at the age of 49, making him the first Chinese high ranking general officer to have been executed in the war. Han's execution had a significant impact on military discipline throughout the Chinese Army. Matters discussed at the Kaifeng conference included not only wartime punishments, but also rewards. The NRA's system of rewards and punishments would be rigorously carried out until the end of the war. Sun Tongxuan succeeded Han as acting commander of the 3rd Army Group, whose later admirable performance during engagements along the northern section of the Jinpu railway would become a representative example of the impact of the NRA's reorganization of military discipline.