Ming Guard-and-Battalion Military System

Timeline

1. 1368–1393Nanjing · Jiangsu ProvinceMing founder Taizu established the guard-and-battalion organization, with hereditary military households and self-sufficient military colonies; the three-tier Regional Military Commission–Guard–Battalion structure nationwide formed the basic framework of Ming military mobilization and garrison duty.
2. 1561–1570Nine Frontier garrisons and the southeast coast · ChinaFrom late Jiajing to early Longqing, wokou and Mongol threats remained unresolved; guards were severely under strength, desertion of military households and consolidation of colony land worsened, and the court had to recruit and train large numbers of guest troops to fill the gaps.
3. 1562–1570Taizhou, Jizhen · North ChinaQi Jiguang trained the Qi Family Army in the southeast and later garrisoned Jizhen, using recruitment and rigorous training to compensate for weisuo weakness, marking the Ming military center of gravity shifting from guards to elite battalion (ying) troops.
4. 1573–1644Guards nationwide · ChinaFrom the Wanli reign on, the battalion-troop system became the main combat force, leaving the weisuo only as a household-registration and administrative shell; in the late Ming Liaodong campaigns many weisuo troops proved unfit for battle, and the system effectively collapsed.