Great Ming Military

In my previous blog post , I briefly touched some of the tactics used by Ming cavalry against their nomadic enemies. In this one, I will del...

1. Zhejiang infantry formation 『遂命諸技, 一時呈技, 隊長在前, 橙牌居次, 砲手又居次, 筤筅、長搶、三枝搶, 又次次居之, 迭相進退, 左旋右抽, 各臻其妙。』 "(He) then ordered various branche...

The final part of the square formation series, covering Xu Lun's countermeasure against Mongol surprise attack. This blog post is ex...

Xu Lun's War Cart Formation While Xu Lun (許論) obviously preferred cheval de frise over war carts, he also understood that his army cou...

Variant Formations While hollow square was the most used formation to defend against cavalry, there were situations where it'd be bett...

Up until this point, I've mostly discussed about various tactics and formations of Ming Southern troops, which focused on small unit tac...

Tactics Drawing of a Pian Xiang Che, from 'Lian Bing Shi Ji (《練兵實紀》)'.

UPDATED DECEMBER 08, 2021 Conjectured Luo Gong Chen's full formation. Alternatively, shieldmen (both light and heavy), pikemen and arche...

Although Yu Da You (俞大猷) was not as well-known as the legendary Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光), especially to modern audience, during his time he was a ...

Conjectured image of Luo Gong Chen's shield formation. Image is cropped and doctored from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)', 'J...

Ying-level Formations Ying (營) was the largest tactical unit in the army of Xu Guang Qi (徐光啟), although administratively Da   Jun (大軍) was...

Bu-level Formations Most of the Bu (部) formations were simply multiple Shao (哨) formations assembled together, as such, Xu Guang Qi (徐光啟) o...

Yi Zi Shao (一字哨, lit. ''One' ideograph company) Layout of a Yi Zi Shao formed from Fang Wu, from 'Xuan Lian Tiao Ge (《選練条...

Shao-level Formations At Shao (哨) level, the formations of Xu Guang Qi (徐光啟) became even more complex. A Shao consisted of five Dui (隊) and...

Dui-level Formations Dui-level formations were scaled up from Wu-level formations . It consisted of four Wu (伍) and four porters, led by a...

Portrait of Xu Guang Qi currently kept at Guangqi Park, Shanghai.

Other war carts in Yu Da You's division Du Lun Che (獨輪車) was not the only type of war cart in the war cart division. Yu Da You (俞大猷) al...

Entire war cart regiment was known as Da Ying (大營, large regiment), consisted of thirteen Xiao Ying (小營), or one hundred and sixty-nine war...

Circling up the wagons Defensive formation of war wagons was fairly straightforward: war wagons were deployed into a rectangle or circle to...

Yu Da You (俞大猷) organised his war cart regiment to be able to functions at different tactical levels. The smallest military unit in Yu Da Yo...