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Yuan Army Tammachi System

Type Object Region Yuan dynasty Time 1271–1368

The Tammachi (tümen) system was a Yuan reconnaissance and vanguard force inheriting Mongol military traditions, serving as frontier scouts, raiders, …

Timeline

  1. 1271–1290Shangdu (Kaiping) · Inner MongoliaAfter Kublai established the Yuan, he retained the Mongol thousand-household and ten-thousand-household system; Tammachi troops as mobile vanguard forces were stationed across provinces and frontier routes, fighting alongside the imperial Kesig guard and Han military households.
  2. c. 1321–1330Lingbei Province · Mongolian PlateauIn the 1320s Tammachi troops still handled frontier patrols and rapid mobilization, maintaining Mongol traditional cavalry-archery mobility in Lingbei, Gansu, and elsewhere, projecting forces over long distances via the postal relay station network.
  3. c. 1330–1350Yunnan Province · YunnanThe Yuan fought on multiple fronts in the southwest and southeast; Tammachi troops were mixed with Han and Semu forces in expeditions, military household burdens increased, combat effectiveness declined, and traditional vanguard functions gradually weakened.
  4. c. 1350–1368Dadu · BeijingThe Red Turban Rebellion and warlord fragmentation made the Yuan court unable to effectively deploy Tammachi troops; after Ming forces captured Dadu in 1368, the Mongol-style Tammachi organization ended with the Yuan military system.

Sources