Suppression of Wokou on the Southeast Coast

Timeline

1. 1561–1562Taizhou · TaizhouQi Jiguang led the newly formed Qi family army in continuous operations within Taizhou, winning nine battles out of nine and severely damaging the wokou's land mobility. The mandarin-duck formation and strict drilling significantly improved Ming close-combat capability, reversing the passive situation of wokou rampaging and raiding in eastern Zhejiang.
2. 1562–1563Fujian coast · FujianQi Jiguang was ordered into Fujian and cooperated with Yu Dayao and others, first destroying the wokou nest at Hengyu, then winning a great victory at Xinghua (around present-day Putian), burning down multiple wokou strongholds. Wokou troubles in Fujian were greatly reduced thereafter, and coastal prefectures and counties could resume production order.
3. 1565–1569Southeast coast · East ChinaThe Ming implemented beacon-tower joint defense, mutual responsibility under the baojia system, and bans on private contact with overseas in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, while Qi Jiguang and others continued to train coastal defense forces. By the decade's end, large-scale wokou incursions were rare, remaining small bands could not gain strength, and the southeast maritime frontier entered a relatively stable phase.