Merge the following prompts into one: Alternate History Scenario: The Rise of Wang Jingwei and the Japanese Protectorate over China and Greater East Asia (1926–1948)

Following the failed Northern Expedition (1926–1927), in which the Kuomintang (KMT) under Chiang Kai-shek sought to unify China but was defeated by the Beijing-based Beiyang government and aligned warlord cliques—Zhili, Fengtian, Guominjun, and Ma—China fractured into competing regimes heavily dependent on foreign support, most notably from Japan backing the Fengtian clique. The Soviet Union backed the KMT-Communist United Front, but crucially, in this timeline the KMT fails to secure significant Soviet or American aid, severely weakening their position.

In this chaotic context, the KMT struggles with internal conflict. After Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s death in 1925, Wang Jingwei, Sun’s rightful ideological and political heir, was initially sidelined by the rising power of Chiang Kai-shek, whose right-wing, anti-communist faction fought Wang’s leftist, pro-Soviet wing. This culminates in the 1926 “Intra-KMT Conflict” in Guangdong, with a bloodless but decisive power struggle ending in Chiang’s retreat and Wang’s consolidation of the Guangzhou government.

Wang leads a renewed Northern Expedition, but the tide turns against the KMT/United Front as Japansupported Beiyang factions and allied warlords push south, recapturing key provinces including Guangdong and Guangxi. Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian clique becomes Generalissimo of the first Republic of China (Beiyang Government), uniting northern China under nominal central authority but increasingly reliant on Japanese military and economic backing. The Ma clique, Shanxi clique under Yan Xishan, and other regional warlords carve out autonomous zones under loose allegiance.

In May 1930, amid fierce Central Plains War fighting between the various warlords and KMT factions, Chiang Kai-shek is fatally wounded and dies shortly thereafter. His death triggers a power vacuum and reignites the struggle for legitimate leadership of the Chinese nationalist cause. Wang Jingwei claims his rightful position as head of the KMT-ruled Nationalist Chinese regime (based in Guangdong and Guangxi) and President of the Beiyang Government (first Republic of China), asserting himself as the legitimate successor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and rightful leader over Han China.

However, Chiang’s loyalist cultists and propagandists vehemently oppose Wang’s leadership, plunging China further into internal conflict. Facing mounting opposition and disorder, Wang petitions for Japanese assistance to stabilize the country and legitimize his rule. Japan, motivated by a pan-Asianist and anti-Soviet agenda and eager to secure economic and military dominance over East Asia, agrees.

With Japanese support, Wang’s regime negotiates the merging of the KMT-ruled Nationalist Chinese regime and the Beiyang Government into a new Japanese protectorate state: the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China (RNGROC). This government is established as a pan-Asianist, pro-Japanese fascist state controlling most of Han China, blending Japan’s imperial goals and indigenous governance. In return, the Japanese incorporate Guangdong and Guangxi, traditional KMT strongholds, into the Japanese protectorate Empire of Vietnam under Nguyen rule, thus carving up southern China to consolidate their regional empire.

The RNGROC establishes a unique constitutional democratic imperial parliamentary monarchy, a hybrid system centered on an imperial court composed of:

Descendants of the Ming dynasty’s reigning imperial family, the House of Zhu, restored as constitutional monarchs as a symbol of Han Chinese legitimacy and continuity, fulfilling the original Xinhai Revolution goal of restoring Ming imperial authority,
The Han Chinese aristocracy and nobility, many who had survived and collaborated through the Qing, Yuan Shikai’s warlord era, and the Republican era,
Descendants of Yuan Shikai (the Beiyang Government’s founder) based in the Forbidden City, maintaining traditional imperial authority alongside the democratic presidency and parliament modified from KMT governance.
This system reestablishes old dynastic lineages and merges them with parliamentary democracy, symbolizing a fusion of China’s imperial past and Republican modernization under Japanese oversight. The regime promotes pan-Asian unity while firmly opposing Soviet communism.

Meanwhile, Japan extends its influence throughout East Asia by establishing and endorsing autonomous or puppet states:

Manchukuo in Manchuria, ruled by the Qing imperial Aisin Gioro line, a Japanese puppet state created by overthrowing Zhang Zuolin and installing Puyi as head of state,
Mengjiang (the Mongolian Autonomous Federation) in Inner Mongolia, governed by the side branch of the Mongolian Imperial House of Borjigin descended from Genghis Khan, held as a Japanese protectorate but semi-autonomous,
Greater Outer Mongolia, formed after a revolution topples the Soviet-backed Mongolian People’s Republic. Japan replaces the communist regime with a dual monarchy combining the spiritual authority of the Bogd Gegeen (Jebtsundamba Khutuktu) as theocratic Bogd Khanate ruler and the political leadership of the Borjigin-descended Imperial House of Kublai ruling the restored Great Yuan Empire. This dual monarchy forms a pan-Mongolist state encompassing Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, Barga, Western Mongolia, Tannu Uriankhai, and preserves Mongol autonomy distinct from Mengjiang.
Japan thus implements a pan-Asian sphere of influence, puppeting or supporting client states of Qing Manchu, Mongol imperial descendants, the Ming house, and local warlords aligned against Soviet communism.

The Japanese puppet Wang Jingwei regime becomes unpopular among many Chinese, including Chiang loyalists, KMT supporters, communists, and Soviet sympathizers. While nominally democratic, the RNGROC is harshly controlled by Japanese officers in military, security, and economic sectors, with Japanese companies dominating industry and efforts to impose Japanese culture and Shinto religion, provoking widespread resentment.

At the same time, warlords such as Yan Xishan (Shanxi), Feng Yuxiang (Northwest), and Zhang Xueliang (Manchuria successor to Zhang Zuolin) maintain semi-autonomous domains, forming complicated alliances and rivalries that increasingly resemble a military bloc akin to NATO. The Beiyang government under Wang and later Chen Gongbo fields the most advanced weapons and the largest standing army in China but avoids direct attacks on other warlord states to prevent Soviet or Comintern intervention, especially as Communist guerrilla and Soviet-backed forces remain a persistent threat.

In the north and west, Soviet support is countered by Japan’s dominance, but Soviet influence remains in Xinjiang under the Comintern-backed East Turkestan Republic until a Wahhabi Islamic revolution establishes the Sinkiang Sultanate. Tibet and Xinjiang maintain nominal autonomy with border concessions to Japan in exchange for security cooperation.

The geopolitical outcome is a fractured but unified Asia under Japanese hegemony by the late 1940s, as shown by these key developments:

The Xi’an Accord—an alliance resembling a formal Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere—unites Japan, the RNGROC, Tibet, Manchukuo, Mengjiang, the Great Yuan Empire/Outer Mongolia, Siam, and the Empire of Vietnam (with Cambodia as a Japanese protectorate),
Japan’s campaigns westward capture Vladivostok and Outer Manchuria from a weakened Soviet Union, capitalizing on Soviet preoccupation with Nazi Germany and internal revolts in the Middle East and India,
The United States and Britain maintain isolationist policies, emboldening Japanese territorial expansion while refraining from intervention,
Japan hosts multiple puppet states across East Asia—including a Turkic Khanate in Central Asia and a Siberian regime led by Rodzaevsky—that further erode Soviet influence,
The RNGROC evolves politically: after Wang Jingwei’s death, Chen Gongbo briefly leads before constitutional reforms in the late 1940s install a Ming-descended Zhu clan member as Emperor, inaugurating a constitutional monarchy reminiscent of Yuan Shikai’s empire but rooted in restored Han imperial legitimacy, thus ending direct republican rule and symbolizing a fusion of imperial tradition and modern governance,
The KMT, divided by factionalism and warlord autonomy, remains fragmented and unable to reclaim nationwide control, with the Communists surviving and strengthening but unable to dislodge Japanese and Beiyang-backed forces in the near term,
Japanese economic penetration overwhelms remaining European foreign interests in China and Indochina, facilitated by Wang Jingwei’s diplomatic skills who negotiated the peaceful transfer of Indochinese French territories into Japanese hands amid regional civil conflicts.
This complex panorama results in a politically and culturally fragmented East Asia dominated by Japan’s imperial and pan-Asianist project, with client states ruled by restored imperial lineages (Ming Zhu, Qing Aisin Gioro, Mongol Borjigin) alongside authoritarian warlords and puppet governments. The legacy of the Xinhai Revolution is reinterpreted as a quest to restore Ming sovereignty, but under the supervision of Japanese imperial interests.

Despite this reconfiguration, internal tensions persist—warlord rivalries, anti-Japanese nationalist insurgencies, Communist guerrilla warfare, and the resentment of puppet governments pose ongoing challenges to stability, necessitating continued Japanese military presence. Nonetheless, Japan’s ultimate victory in uniting most of historic “Han China” under the RNGROC, and the formalization of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, marks a decisive shift from Western-dominated colonialism to Asian-centered authoritarian cooperation under Japanese leadership.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          [Prompt 2]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Alternate History Prompt:

Following the death of Chiang Kai-shek in 1930 during the fractious Central Plains War, a profound power vacuum emerged within China’s fragmented political and military landscape. Wang Jingwei, recognized by many as Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s rightful heir and legitimate successor, seized this moment to reclaim his position as head of both the Kuomintang (KMT)-ruled Nationalist Chinese regime based in Guangdong and Guangxi, and President of the Beiyang Government, the nominal first Republic of China governing Han-majority China.

However, Chiang’s fervent cultists and right-wing propagandists resisted Wang’s ascension, plunging China into political chaos and internecine conflict. Facing insurmountable internal opposition and desperate to stabilize China, Wang turned to Japan for aid. In exchange for Japanese military and economic support, Wang agreed to merge his Nationalist regime and the Beiyang Government into a Japanese protectorate known as the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China (RNGROC)—an ostensibly pan-Asianist, anti-Soviet, pro-Japanese fascist regime.

As part of this realignment and Japanese diplomatic arrangements, Guangdong and Guangxi—the traditional KMT stronghold and base of Wang’s power—were placed under the Japanese protectorate of the Nguyen-ruled Empire of Vietnam. This decision reflected Japan’s broader strategy of reorganizing East Asia into client states under its control, promoting “Asian unity” but maintaining effective hegemony.

The RNGROC itself evolved into a unique constitutional parliamentary imperial monarchy headed by an imperial court centered on the historic Ming dynasty’s Imperial House of Zhu—descendants who had survived through collaboration with the Qing, Yuan Shikai’s regime, and the warlord era (1916–1928). This restored Ming monarchy co-governed alongside a modified republican presidential-parliamentary system of the Beiyang Government, now infused with KMT-era reforms, embodying the original Xinhai Revolution goal of restoring Ming-Zhu rule over a free, unified Han China and countering Western imperialism while navigating Japanese influence.

Simultaneously, Japan consolidated its grip over the former Qing dynasty’s territories by establishing:

The Empire of Manchukuo in Manchuria, ruled by the Manchu House of Aisin-Gioro under Japanese tutelage;
The Mongolian Autonomous Federation (Mengjiang) in Inner Mongolia’s Chahar and Suiyan provinces, governed by a collateral branch of the Mongol Imperial House of Borjigin, descendants of Genghis Khan but functionally a Japanese protectorate;
The restored, dual-monarchy Greater Outer Mongolia comprising the Bogd Gegeen-led theocratic Bogd Khanate (head of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia) and the Imperial House of Kublai descendants ruling as the Great Yuan Empire—a post-Soviet revolutionary Mongolia overthrowing the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and Soviet occupation, symbolizing a pan-Mongolist revival.
These Mongol polities remained separate from Mengjiang, reflecting Mongol nationalist concerns and their distinct status under Japanese patronage.

With the KMT failing to secure Soviet and U.S. support during the Northern Expedition (1926–1927), their initial military successes stalled amid Zhili and Fengtian warlord resistance bolstered by Japanese aid. Key provinces like Guangdong and Guangxi oscillated under rival control before Japanese pressures reconfigured the regional power balance entirely. The eventual defeat of KMT forces led to the disintegration and partition of the Guominjun, Ma Clique, Shanxi, and Fengtian cliques. Zhang Zuolin’s Fengtian clique rose to dominate northern China, while the Zhili faction controlled portions of central and southern China under Japanese supervision.

The Fengtian clique’s military and political dominance under Zhang Zuolin and later Zhang Xueliang, backed by Japan, unified much of China’s north and controlled the former Beiyang Government territories, effectively making China a Japanese client state. The Japanese military and corporations exercised extensive economic, social, and military control, suppressing dissent and promoting cultural assimilation. Despite fierce opposition from Chinese nationalists, communists, and remnants of Chiang’s supporters, Japanese occupation solidified.

Externally, the USSR’s support for communist factions waned as Japan’s military victories and internal Chinese divisions limited Soviet influence. The Mongolian People’s Republic succumbed to a nationalist-religious revolution supported by Japan, ousting Soviet-backed communists and restoring the dual-monarchy system. Japan’s regional hegemony extended to puppeting Turkic and Siberian regimes in Central Asia, executing a pan-Asianist anti-Western strategy.

By the late 1930s and 1940s, under Wang Jingwei’s leadership and later his successor Chen Gongbo, the RNGROC claimed legitimacy over Han China as a constitutional monarchy, crowned by the Ming-descended imperial house. This period saw China formally integrated into a Japanese-led East Asian coalition alongside Manchukuo, Mengjiang, the Mongolian states, the Empire of Vietnam, and Siam—an alliance crystallized in the Xi’an Accord, a pan-Asianist bloc ostensibly committed to expelling Western colonialism and communism and advancing modernization under Asian rule.

Meanwhile, the fragmented Chinese warlord states continued to jockey for power locally, but none could challenge the Japanese-backed unified regimes. The Chinese Communist Party remained marginalized but persistent, sometimes aligning with the Soviet Union, whose global stature diminished after failing to contest simultaneous Japanese and Nazi threats, eventually precipitating Soviet collapse.

This alternate history sees:

China’s unification under a Japanese-backed, pan-Asianist constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system centered on restoration of Ming imperial legitimacy;
Japanese-led reorganization of East and Inner Asia into client states ruled by traditional dynastic houses (Ming, Qing Manchu, Mongols) or local warlords aligned with Tokyo;
The suppression and fragmentation of Chinese nationalist and communist resistance;
The broader collapse of Soviet influence in Asia following Japanese and Axis aggressions;
A unique model of Asian political organization blending monarchism, constitutional republicanism, and Japanese imperial dominance;
And a reshaped geopolitics culminating in an East Asian bloc led by Japan, China’s Ming monarchy, and affiliated states challenging Western colonialism and Soviet communism until the outbreak of a larger Pacific war in the 1940s.