After the establishment of the Republic in 1912, President Yuan Shih-kai summoned General Chang to Peking, General Chang then volunteered to lead an expedition into Mongolia which had declared its independence of Peking. However before the despatch of the expedition the Living Buddha Cheptsundampa sent representatives to Peking to re-establish friendly relations with the Central government. Subsequently General Chang declined all offers of position from President Yuan and retired to private life. When Yuan Shih-kai started his monarchical movement in August 1915, General Chang went to Kueichow and joined General Yuan Tsu-ming, then Commander of a Division. Later he became Commander of a Brigade. In 1917 General Chang returned to the North and became Staff Officer to the 20th Division of the National Army. In June 1922 he was asked to go to Shensi to reorganize the provincial police by General Chang Shao-tseng who had been appointed Civil Governor of that Province. Soon afterwards General Chang Shao-tseng was appointed Minister of War, when afterwards General Chang Shao-tseng was appointed Minister of War and Navy, and later was appointed Chief of the Military and Naval Audit Bureau. After assuming office, General Chang advocated the independence of military expenditures and incorporated his idea in a booklet entitled "Why Military Expenditures Should Be Independent." This has been translated into English. The main idea of the plan is to nationalize all the provincial troops and to make the commissariat officers independent of the commanders of the troops. In November 1922 General Chang was made a Brigadier General and at the same time received the Second Order of Wenfu. In January 1923 he was given the Second Order of Chiaho and the brevet rank of Lieutenant General. In February 1913 he received the Third Order of Paokuang Chiaho and in March 1923, the Second Order of Tashou Paokuang Chiaho. In April 1923 he was appointed a member of the Commission for the Discussion of National Finances. In February 1924 he was removed from the post of Chief of the Military and Navy Audit Bureau.
