The bare-footed militia of Changning

A barefoot She man from Luoyuan County. Image cropped from 'Huang Qing Zhi Gong Tu (《皇清職貢圖》)'.

Chi Jiao Bing (赤腳兵, lit. 'Barefooted troops') were a type of irregular infantry hailed from the mountainous border region between Jiangxi, Huguang, and Guangdong province, in particular from Changning town. They consisted of pacified mountain bandits commonly know as She Zei (畬賊, lit 'She bandits') during Ming period, although judging from textual records as well as their main areas of activity, the majority of them were most likely Han Chinese (of the subgroup that would later came to be known as Hakka people), mixed with some She people (畬人).

Equipment

The most iconic weapon of Chi Jiao Bing was a gigantic war flag, known as Gou Qi Gan (鉤旗桿, lit. 'Hooked flag pole'), which they used as both weapon and defensive equipment. The flag was made of five to six pieces of cloths sewn together, with multiple sharp iron hooks attached to it. They also made use of various pole weapons such as spear, military fork and Tang Pa (鎲鈀), as well as adopted poisoned crossbow commonly found in the nearby Guangdong.

True to their namesake, Chi Jiao Bing moved around barefooted, and would purposely strip down to their undergarment before battle. Their only defensive equipment (aside from the war flag) was the thick headscarves they wore on their heads, said to be thick enough to turn away some blades and thrown rocks.

By Ming-Qing transition period, Chi Jiao Bing retired the crossbow from their arsenal and adopted cotton blanket as their primary defensive equipment, although the war flag continued to see use.

Organisation

The organisational structure of Chi Jiao Bing is not well understood, although some information may be glimpsed from the closely-related mountain bandits from nearby Yong'an (永安, present-day Zijin County, Guangdong), who hailed from the same stock and fought in a similar manner. Both Chi Jiao Bing and Yong'an mountain bandits were known to operate in groups numbering several hundreds to several thousands, probably known as Zong (總, can roughly translated as 'battalion') or Qun (羣, lit. 'Crowd'). A particularly large group may be consisted of several sub-units known as Shao (哨, lit. 'Post'), each numbering one thousand. Their organisational structure was rather crude, however, with leadership positions simply selected based on seniority and combat prowess. 

Common soldiers in the group were known as San Zhong (散眾, lit. 'Loose crowd'), while hardened veterans were called Shan Zhan Lao Qiang (善戰老槍, lit. 'Battle-hardened old spears'). They were led by captains known as Jia Tou (甲頭, lit. 'Head of Jia'), who were in turn led by Shao Zong (哨總, lit. 'Head of Shao'), leader of the Shao sub-unit. Leader of the entire group was known as Zong Shou (總首, lit. 'Head chief'), Da Zong (大總, lit. 'Great chief'), or Man Zong (滿總, lit. 'Full chief'), and those directly below him in the command hierarchy were known as Er Zong (二總, lit. 'Second chief'), San Zong (三總, lit. 'Third chief'), Si Zong (四總, lit. 'Fourth chief'), Wei Zong (尾總, lit. 'Tail/Last chief') and so forth. The group also included other positions such as Qin Zong (禽總, lit. 'Fowl chief', diviner/fortune teller), Shu Zong (書總, lit. 'Book chief', clerk) and Qi Zong (旗總, lit. 'Banner chief', flagbearer). When multiple groups work together, they would be led by a leader called Du Zong (都總). 

Tactics

Chi Jiao Bing fought in a highly unorthodox way. During battle, flagbearers carried their flagpoles horizontally at the first rank, using war flags to cover other troops from arrows and stones (one war flag was said to be able to provide cover for a couple dozens fighting men). When Chi Jiao Bing advanced to within five paces of their enemy, the flagbearers would raise their war flags, and other troops would storm out to engage. Flagbearers could also use the war flags to hook the clothes of enemy troops, distracting them.

By Ming-Qing transition period however, Chi Jiao Bing underwent significant changes to their tactics and became primarily spear-throwers. They carried a cotton blanket in one hand, and dragged a broad-handled long spear by the spearhead in the other. During battle, Chi Jiao Bing would throw their spears at their enemy while advancing quickly, picking up any spears that missed to throw again. Those with cotton blankets used them to shield against enemy arrows and even arquebus shots, while those without blanket simply went to ground immediately as soon as they saw gun smoke, then charge again after the salvo. Once they reached enemy line, they would drop their blankets and use their spears in close combat normally. As they fought, veteran "old spears" acted as reserve, only joining battle when other troops were unable to defeat their enemy. 

When fighting against cavalry, Chi Jiao Dui would split into smaller 3~5 man teams centred around Tang Pa, with several spearmen guarding one Tang Pa troop. Spearmen would focus on attacking the riders, while Tang Pa troop focused on fending off the horses. Cotton blankets were used to defend against arrows as usual. Unfortunately, the tactic was only useful in favourable terrains (i.e. mountainous and riverine area) where cavalry would be less effective.

Service records

Chi Jiao Bing were expert mountaineers and said to be more skilled and agile than even Wokou (倭寇). Nevertheless, Chi Jiao Bing did not have the same level of competency and ferocious reputation of other Ming auxiliary troops like Lang Bing (狼兵) and Tu Bing (土兵), given that they were ill-disciplined and ill-coordinated, fighting more like a mob than an organised army (as was expected from a group of pacified bandits fighting with unorthodox tactics), not to mention their signature weapon, the war flag, was easily countered by Lang Xian (狼筅). 

Chi Jiao Bing's most crowning moment was perhaps their aiding of Wang Yang Ming (王陽明) during the suppression of Prince of Ning rebellion, although even that had more to do with Wang Yang Ming's unmatched military genius (he was somehow able to turn even the most feeble of levies, conscripts, civilians, and remnants of defeated forces into a competent fighting force, often with barely any retraining) than their own competency.

Reference:

王陽明與長寧大旗赤腳兵 on 逸佚居 (Traditional Chinese).