Hongwu Military and Civilian Colony Policies

Timeline

1. 1371–1376Northern frontier and inland garrison districts · ChinaThe Ming court ordered garrison soldiers to receive allotments of land for cultivation, farming in peacetime and campaigning in wartime, using colony income to cover military pay and ease the state's fiscal burden. Garrisons along the northern frontier and key inland posts implemented it first, tightly binding military colonies to the garrison system.
2. 1373–1380Fengyang, Chuzhou, and northern migration zones · Huai River basinBeyond military colonies, the Ming court encouraged civilians to reclaim wasteland and organized migrants to settle the northern frontier and postwar wastelands. Civilian and military colonies complemented each other, restoring production while staffing the frontier, forming the economic basis of the Hongwu-era claim of 'feeding a million soldiers without costing the people a single grain of rice.'