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Qi Jiguang

Type Figure Region China Time 1528–1588 Also known as Qi Yuanjing、Qi Nantang

Famous Ming military strategist and national hero. He raised the Qi Family Army in the southeast during the Jiajing era to pacify the wokou;…

Timeline

  1. 1528–1553Dengzhou · ShandongQi Jiguang, courtesy name Yuanjing, was from Dengzhou in Shandong and came from a military family. In the 23rd year of Jiajing he inherited his father's post as Dengzhou Guard assistant commissioner, distinguishing himself with anti-wokou exploits along the Shandong coast.
  2. 1554–1560Taizhou, Zhejiang · ZhejiangIn 1555 Qi Jiguang was transferred to Zhejiang to fight the wokou, recruiting Yiwu miners and farmers, training them rigorously, and devising tactics such as the mandarin-duck formation. His great victory at Taizhou in 1561 devastated the wokou; he then campaigned in Fujian and Guangdong, essentially clearing the southeast of wokou by the 1560s.
  3. 1561–1588Jizhen · JizhenIn 1567 Qi Jiguang was transferred as general of Jizhen, overseeing construction of Great Wall watchtowers and training of chariot camps and firearms units, effectively curbing raids by Altan Khan and others. After Zhang Juzheng's death he was impeached and dismissed; he returned home and died in poverty and illness at age sixty-one.

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