...and some support material from another, different thread of the past: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=280797.735
Some of the pictorial links are broken, but its easy enough to find in any google image search
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Angelsachsen said:
I'm kind of interested in knowing what kind of composition (and disposition) the Ming dynasty era (17th century in particular) army would have in the field?
Then I recommend searching for material related to:
"Qi Jiguang",
"Jejiang tactics",
"yuanyang formation" and the
"Jejiang army" of the Ming dynasty.
To be specific, before the Ming dynasty collapsed in 1644, the largest warfare it experienced near the era you are interested in happened between 1592 to 1598 -- the
Imjin Wars of the Korean peninsula, also known as the
Bunroku/Keicho no Eki in Japan. During these years the Ming dynasty maintained two different models of armies, being the
northern model, and the
southern model, although this distinction is not exact.
Among these, the more unique and interesting would be the
southern model, proposed, maintained, and tested in the field by the general
Qi Jiguang(1528 ~ 158
- a brilliant military general, administrator, and reformist who served a generation before the war in the Korean peninsula.
general Qi
In 1555, he became the military commander of the
Jejiang province, just South of modern Shanghai, where he first recruited and trained the soldiers who would later become known as
"Qi's Army". During these years the pirates originating from Japan, known as the
wako have become serious military threats as their numbers grew and their raids became more frequent to the rich coastal province of Jejiang.
To briefly explain the level of threats these wako pirates held during these times, the wako were not of the normal size and scope of pirate raids one might imagine. Rather, it would be more akin to what the Viking invasions were like during the early medieval ages. For example, during the latter part of the 14th century the wako actually invaded southern parts of the Kingdom of Koryo in the Korean peninsula where their numbers grew up to 50 thousand, fully armed and trained almost up to military scale and actually went through a rampaging campaign that lasted for years, with enough force to actually face standing armies in the open field at battle. Much the same were happening within the Jejiang province in the 16th century, and to combat this specific threat general Qi developed what is known as the
"Yuanyang Formation".
the yuanyang formation
This 12-man formation, as described in the above picture, is facing left. From left to right;
- sword/shield armed infantry (2)
- unit commander(holding the flag) (1)
-
langshen infantry (2)
- pike infantry (4)
-
tangfa infantry (2)
- retainer (1)
This infantry formation was specifically designed to combat Japanese-style troops, who were especially notorious for their impetuous and devastating charges with two-handed blades. "Yuanyang" is a name of a bird which supposedly mates with only one spouse for life, and when one of them dies the other follows. This formation was named after this bird because the military laws by decree of general Qi stated that if the unit commander is killed, then the entire unit will be executed. I will not dwell into specific roles of this formation in this post unless asked.
Simply put, the yuanyang formation, also known as the Jejiang tactics, was successful in combating the wako threat and despite not having experienced official wars during his career, general Qi has become a renowned and brilliant military strategist throughout the Chinese history.
In case of the northern army, it relied on heavy cavalry tactics since they were specifically tasked to face and fend off the northern nomadic tribes, who were dominantly cavalrymen. Most of the images of "chinese warriors" known to the western masses, derive from the Ming cavalry of this period.
Ming cavlary
After the
Imjin wars have ended, the northern armies began a transition to firearms and soon began to rapidly arm its soldiers with muskets, and its armies with cannons. The founder of the manchurian Qing dynasty, Aishingior Nurhachi, was himself killed by cannonfire from the defending Ming forces in 1626.
the
"hongyi" cannon, used by Ming forces during the 17th century (above sample is from the Joseon dynasty)
...and yes. That is indeed, a culverin. The Ming first faced these cannons in 1604, when they were fighting against Dutch forces. Impressed by its firepower, Ming imported these cannons from the west, and around 1621, were finally able to reproduce it themselves. Soon, these cannons became the standard of the northern Ming armies before the fall of the empire in 1644.