Alternative History

Prince Peter Chang Hsueh-liang (Chinese: 彼得張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also romanized as Zhang Xueliang and known later in life as Peter I Chzhanovich Hsueh-Liang-Chang (Russian: Петр Жангвич Хсуех-Лианг-Цханг), also known by his Russian regnal name Peter I Chzhanovich, Duke of Manchuria; was a Marshal of the Russian Empire, most well-known for advocating the Russian occupation of Manchuria and being the first leader and one of the founder of the Great Northern Alliance, or the Chinese White Movement, a movement of Chinese monarchists and nationalists opposed to the Chinese war against Russia. After the failure to form a monarhical northern Chinese state, the Great Northern Alliance proclaimed Vladimir I as their Emperor, and joined the Russian side. As a result, not only got to keep their military ranks (trnaslated into their Russian equivalents), but became ennobled and crowned as princes and princesses, as well as dukes and duchesses of Manchuria.

Prior, he was the governor of Manchuria and commander-in-chief of the Northeastern Army after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin.

A reformer who was sympathetic to nationalist ideas, he completed the official reunification of China at the end of the Warlord Era by pledging loyalty to the Nationalist government in Nanjing. He nonetheless retained Manchuria's de facto autonomy until the Empire of Japan invaded and occupied the region in 1931. He was frustrated by Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" and helped plan and lead the 1936 Xi'an Incident. Northeastern soldiers under Chang's command arrested Chiang to force him to negotiate a Second United Front against the Japanese.

During the Second World War, he fought alongside Russian soldiers against Japan, and experienced the Manchuria offensive as part of the 3rd Manchuria Army of the Kuomintang. During the Russo-Chinese conflict, he was personally opposed to the war against Russia, and later, along with a group of disgruntled Chinese officers and warlords, formed the Great Northern Alliance, meant to establish the proposed Northern Han dynasty, to be aligned with the Russians. Due to disagreements over who would become Emperor, he eventually concluded that Vladimir I is their Emperor, and they go join the Russians in Manchuria as an autonomous group. He, along with many warlords of the Great Northern Alliance would become some of the earliest prominent members of the Chinese Orthodox Church.

After joining the Russians, he continued to lead the Northeastern Army, now re-branded as the 5th Manchurian Army, composed almost entirely of ethnic Chinese and Manchus. Generalissmo Victorin Molchanov eventually promoted him to a Marshal within a couple years.