MINOR UPDATE NOVEMBER 24, 2025
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| Armoured cavalry escorting a commander and a mandarin. From 'Kang Wo Tu Juan (《抗倭圖卷》)'. |
As Ming empire began to weaken, its once-mighty military machine based on
Wei-Suo System (衛所制) also fell into disarray. Realising the worrying decline of the army's combat strength, some Ming commanders took it upon themselves to recruit and train better troops out of their own personal pockets. However, Ming Dynasty laws explicitly forbade its commanders to raise private armies, so these commanders exploited a loophole in the law—by categorising these private troops as
Jia Ding (家丁), or "housemen/house servants", instead of soldiers. This was the origin of Jia Ding System.
