Military systems and hierarchies of the Ming Dynasty — Part 1: Wei-Suo System

Note: English translation of the titles are taken from Chinese-English Dictionary of Ming Government Official Titles, Third Edition, with minor modifications (For example, I prefer to translate Wei-Suo as "Guard-Garrison" rather than the more common "Guard-Battalion". I also changed the titles for some low-ranking military officers).

Note that my own translations are italicised.

The Wei-Suo System, which combined the military settlement structure of Sui and Tang Dynasty Fubing System (府兵制) with the hereditary military household system of Yuan Dynasty, was the principal military institution of the Ming Dynasty. Under this system, military households were organised into various Guards and Garrisons (from which the system derived its name) and provided with farmlands and tax exemptions to support their livelihood. In return, every military household was obligated to provide one serviceman for the military, one or more attendants for the serviceman, as well as his equipment and supplies.

In times of war, servicemen were drawn from various Guards and Garrisons and reorganised into field armies (Note: This meant Guards and Garrisons rarely deployed as cohesive units but were broken down and formed into mixed groups) to be led by commanders directly appointed by the emperor, returning to their respective Guards and Garrisons once the campaign was over. Such arrangement prevented military commanders from wielding too much power and threatening the throne, but it also undermined military effectiveness due to weakened cohesion and unfamiliarity among servicemen and their appointed commanders. To address these shortcomings, field armies were eventually made into functionally permanent formations in a new military system called the Ying Bing System (營兵制).

Wu Jun Du Du Fu (五軍都督府)/Five Chief Military Commissions

The Centre, Left, Right, Front and Rear Chief Military Commissions, collectively known as Five Chief Military Commissions, were ten military institutions (five in Beijing, five in Nanjing) that held the highest authority in the Wei-Suo System hierarchy. All Chief Military Commissions were equal in standing, and each oversaw most* Regional Military Commissions over a given geographical area, and was responsible for the command, training, management, logistics, and record keeping of all military households under its responsibility. They did not, however, possess the authority of appointment, promotion and transfer of military personnel, nor could they decide national defence policy or declare war (these were the purview of Ministry of War). After Tumu Crisis, even their original responsibilities and authorities were gradually subsumed by the Ministry of War.

Military titles of Five Chief Military Commissions included:

• Zuo Du Du (左都督)/Left Commissioner-in-chief (Rank 1a)
• You Du Du (右都督)/Right Commissioner-in-chief (Rank 1a)
• Du Du Tong Zhi (都督同知)/Vice Commissioner-in-chief (Rank 1b)
• Du Du Qian Shi (都督僉事)/Assistant Commissioner-in-chief (Rank 2a)

Every one of the Five Chief Military Commissions was co-led by Left Commissioner-in-chief and Right Commissioner-in-chief, who were of equal rank but different seniority (Left Commissioner-in-chief was the senior, Right Commissioner-in-chief was the junior). They were assisted by several Vice Commissioners-in-chief and several Assistant Commissioners-in-chief (no set number). Leadership positions of Chief Military Commission were not hereditary and must be promoted into.

*Note: Some Regional Military Commissions, for example Nurgan Regional Military Commission, directly reported to the emperor instead of Five Chief Military Commissions.

Du Zhi Hui Shi Si (都指揮使司)/Regional Military Commission

Often shortened to Du Si (都司), a Regional Military Commission oversaw the governance and operations of most** Guards and Garrisons of a given region.

Military titles of Regional Military Commission included:

• Du Zhi Hui Shi (都指揮使)/Regional Military Commissioner (Rank 2a)
• Du Zhi Hui Tong Zhi (都指揮同知)/Regional Military Vice Commissioner (Rank 2b)
• Du Zhi Hui Qian Shi (都指揮僉事)/Regional Military Assistant Commissioner (Rank 3a)

A Regional Military Commission was headed by one Regional Military Commissioner, who was assisted by two Regional Military Vice Commissioners and four Regional Military Assistant Commissioners. Like Five Chief Military Commissions, leadership positions of Regional Military Commission were not hereditary and must be promoted into.

**Note: Obviously, Palace Guards directly reported to the emperor, while Guard units stationed in and around the capital reported to Five Chief Military Commissions directly instead of going through a middleman. In addition, there were also some special Guard units that were outside the Wei-Suo hierarchy but also didn't report to the emperor. For example, Imperial Mausoleum Guards reported to Eunuch Protector-general of the Mausoleums at the Tianshou Mountain (天壽山守備太監).

Wei Zhi Hui Shi Si (衛指揮使司)/Guard Military Command

A Guard Military Command was the lowest tier administrative and command institution of the Wei-Suo System, which managed and commanded only a single Wei (衛), or Guard. A Guard was both an administrative unit and military unit, typically consisted of 5,600 personnel organised into five Garrisons, although Guards with more than five Garrisons were not uncommon either (in fact some Guards could have more than thirty Garrisons).

Servicemen belonged to a Guard were usually stationed at their respective Garrisons, although for strategically important areas entire Guard (or a significant portion of a Guard) could be stationed together at a fortress-settlement called Wei Cheng (衛城, lit. 'Guard-city'). It should be noted that not all military households linked to a particular Guard lived inside Wei Cheng—only commanders and active servicemen, as well as their attendants and direct family members lived in it.

Military titles of Guard Military Command included:

• Wei Zhi Hui Shi (衛指揮使)/Guard Commander (Rank 3a)
• Zhi Hui Tong Zhi (衛指揮同知)/Guard Vice Commander (Rank 3b)
• Zhi Hui Qian Shi (衛指揮僉事)/Guard Assistant Commander (Rank 4a)

A Guard was led by one Guard Commander, who was assisted by two Guard Vice Commanders and four Guard Assistant Commanders. Leadership positions of Guard were not hereditary and must be promoted into.

Qian Hu Suo (千戶所, lit. 'Thousand-household Garrison')/Garrison

Often shortened to just Suo (所), Garrison was the most basic building block of the Wei-Suo System, and typically consisted of 1,120 personnel organised into ten Sub-garrisons. Garrisons could generally be categorised into two types: Bei Yu Qian Hu Suo (備御千戶所, lit. 'Preparing and Warding Thousand-household Garrison') and Shou Yu Qian Hu Suo (守御千戶所, lit. 'Defending and Warding Thousand-household Garrison'). The former was not considered an independent administrative unit but a subunit that made up a Guard, although it could still be independently fielded and transferred. The latter however directly reported to a Regional Military Commission rather than being subordinated to a Guard, and was typically raised to defend against a specific threat (such as Wokou) or a specific strategic location.

Servicemen belonged to a Garrison usually lived in either their garrison or in the Wei Cheng of their parent Guard unit, although some Garrisons, usually but not always the independent Shou Yu Qian Hu Suo, had their own fortress-settlements called Qian Hu Suo Cheng (千戶所城, lit. 'Thousand-household Garrison-town') or simply Suo Cheng (所城, lit. 'Garrison-town').

Military titles of Garrison included:

• Zheng Qian Hu (正千戶)/Garrison Commander (Rank 5a)
• Fu Qian Hu (副千戶)/Garrison Vice Commander (Rank 5b)

A Garrison was led by one Garrison Commander, who was assisted by two Garrison Vice Commanders. Unlike leadership positions of higher hierarchies, the titles of Garrison Commander and Garrison Vice Commander were hereditary, although a successor still had to undergo a strict training and testing regime before he became eligible for these positions.

Bai Hu Suo (百戶所, lit. 'Hundred-household Garrison')/Sub-garrison

A Sub-garrison was a subunit of a Garrison and the smallest military unit that could still be fielded independently. It consisted of 112 personnel organised into two Zong Qi (總旗, lit. 'Chief banner'), which were further divided into ten Xiao Qi (小旗, lit. 'Small banner') of ten servicemen each. Zong Qi and Xiao Qi were too small to be fielded on their own.

Being a subordinated element of a Garrison, servicemen of a Sub-garrison obviously lived in their Garrison, although in some cases a Sub-garrison could be permanently stationed to a fort which was later developed into a fortified village, known as Bai Hu Suo Cheng (百戶所城, lit. 'Hundred-household Garrison-town').

Military titles of Sub-garrison included:

• Bai Hu (百戶)/Sub-garrison Commander (Rank 6a)
• Zong Qi Guan (總旗官)/Chief Banner Officer (Rank 7a)
• Xiao Qi Guan (小旗官)/Small Banner Officer (Rank 7b)

A Sub-garrison was led by a Sub-garrison Commander, two Chief Banner Officers, as well as ten Small Banner Officers. All leadership positions of a Sub-garrison were hereditary.

It should be noted that Chief Banner Officer and Small Banner Officer were minor officers and counted towards the total personnel of a given Sub-garrison, whereas Sub-garrison Commander and above were not.

Read more

Ying Chuan (鷹船)

Note: This blog post was originally part of my Sha Chuan (沙船) article. However, after updating that article with additional information, I decided to separate this content into its own article.

Drawing of a Ying Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

The Ying Chuan (鹰船, lit. 'Eagle ship') was an unusual riverine warship that emerged from the shipyards around the estuary of the Yangtze River. Converted from a type of civilian ship known as Shuang Ta Chuan (雙塔船, lit. 'Double tower ship', Shuang Ta was the old name of Shangtazhen), differing in that Shuang Ta Chuan used yuloh whereas Ying Chuan used oars, it rose to prominence during Jia Jing Da Wo Kou (嘉靖大倭寇) period due to its utility in defending inland waterways against Wokou vessels that slipped pass larger naval warships like Fu Chuan (福船), with its use quickly spreading to Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang

Read more

Feng Zhou Zhan Jian (封舟戰艦) — The Ming ironclad

Illustration of a Qing period Feng Zhou, from 'Zhong Shan Chuan Xin Lu (《中山傳信錄》)'. It should be noted that Ming period Feng Zhou, above all the ironclad warship, likely looked very different from this illustration.

The so-called Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was a type of large warship built in 1568~1569 to counter the Wu Wei Chuan (烏尾船) of notorious Chinese pirate lord Zeng Yi Ben (曾一本) (Note: article available to my Supporter-tier patrons only), who had long terrorised the coasts of Guangdong Province and had outright defeated Ming navy on several occasions. 

Though unique in its kind, this formidable warships actually did not have a proper name to call its own, as it was simply referred to as "giant warship" in historical sources. It was only dubbed 'Feng Zhou Zhan Jian (封舟戰艦, lit. 'Investiture war ship') in popular discourse out of convenience, due to the fact that the warship was specifically constructed to the same size and/or quality standard as Feng Zhou (封舟, lit. 'Investiture ship'), ocean-going sailing ship specifically built for Imperial Chinese investiture missions to Ryukyu Kingdom. Despite the misleading moniker, Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was purpose-built from the ground up for war, rather than converted from existing investiture ship.

Size and construction

Information about Feng Zhou Zhan Jian's dimensions and design is very incomplete, as no known blueprints or other design documents of the ship exist. From the few descriptions that survived, it's known that Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had a beam of 4 zhang (roughly 12.52 m or 41.08 ft), and it was known to be fitted with masts of 17~18 zhang (roughly 53.21~56.34 m or 174.57~184.84 ft) in height. Thus, it can be inferred with high confidence that a Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was approximately 53~56 m/174~184 ft long with a beam of approximately 12.5 m/41 ft (Chinese junks are generally as long as their mainmasts are tall), which was roughly comparable to HMS Victory, and in line with known sizes of (non-combat) Ryukyu investiture ships of the time.

Since Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was built in Fujian, it most likely took the form of an oversized Fu Chuan (福船), i.e. a sailing war junk with a prominent multi-storey aftercastle, fully enclosed superstructure above its main deck, as well as protective bamboo palisade around the deck and the roof of the superstructure. Likewise, it was most likely built from Chinese fir, pine and camphor wood like its lesser cousins. At least some Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had two-layered bottom planking, in keeping with the standard practice of building Ryukyu investiture ship.

The masts of Feng Zhou Zhan Jian were constructed from joining together multiple pieces of timbers and reinforcing them with iron hoops, in part due to difficulties in sourcing enough tree logs of sufficient length for such a large ship. For sails, Feng Zhou Zhan Jian employed junk sailing rig with sails made of bamboo mat backed by thick sailcloth, which were quite different from rolled bamboo mat sails used by most other Fujian warships at the time. 

Perhaps the most interesting feature of Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was the iron reinforcement around its hull, which consisted of more than forty large iron bands running vertically from the keel to the gunwales, forming an external iron skeletal frame. This feature was already present on some Ryukyu investiture ships to improve hull integrity during long voyage, although for warship the amount of iron bands more than doubled (normal investiture ship only had twenty iron bands) as they now served as armour against ramming as well—a necessary precaution against Guang Chuan (廣船) built with significantly sturdier woods than ships built in Fujian.

Armaments

While Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was noted to be heavily stocked up with firearms in period sources, all but a handful of its armaments remain unknowable due to incomplete records. Only three weapons were confirmed to be equipped by Feng Zhou Zhan Jian, namely wooden Fa Gong (發熕), Pai Gan (拍竿), as well as Zhuang Liang (撞樑) for lateral ramming. However, based on inference from historical documents about war preparation against Zeng Yi Ben, it's almost certain that Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was also equipped with normal (i.e. metal) Fa Gong, Fo Lang Ji (佛郎機) and Bai Zi Chong (百子銃), iron-cased Peng Tong (噴筒) and rockets, as well as an assortment of handheld naval weapons for its crews including matchlock guns, grenades, javelins, bows and arrows, swords and shields, as well as spears.

On top of that, based on better-preserved records about diplomatic missions to Ryukyu, it is known that a contemporary Ryukyu investiture ship would be armed with 20 Fo Lang Ji, 10 Wan Kou Chong (碗口銃), 60 Xiu Chong (袖銃, lit. 'Sleeve gun'), 100 arquebuses, 1,000 javelins, 60 spears, 300 sabres, 100 rattan shields, 100 iron helmets, and 100 iron armours. It can be safely presumed that Feng Zhou Zhan Jian would be at least armed to a comparable standard as its diplomatic counterpart, if not better.

Given the time period and possible armaments of Feng Zhou Zhan Jian, it is clear that the warship wasn't designed with Age of Sail-style artillery broadside or line-of-battle tactic in mind. Instead, Feng Zhou Zhan Jian likely fought with more traditional tactics, namely using its considerable anti-personnel firepower to kill and suppress enemy ship crews, flamethrowers and rockets to set fire to enemy rigging, as well as ramming and boarding. While it did carry heavier Fa Gong, probably mounted as chase gun, that could inflict damage on enemy vessel directly, such role was generally given to smaller and more agile oared vessels in the Ming navy.

 

Crew

Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had a crew of 224, which consisted of a Bu Dao (捕盜, lit. 'Thief-catcher', this was the name for a warship's captain during Ming period), 3 Duo Shou (舵手, helmsman) and 220 sailors and soldiers. Other crew positions on the ship included Liao Ding Shou (繚椗手, sail and anchor operator), Zhao Dou Shou (招斗手, solider stationed to crow's nest or fighting top), Fa Gong gunner, Fo Lang Ji gunner, arquebusier, rocketeer, Pen Tong operator, shielded javelin thrower, archer and spearman, although regrettably it's unknown how many crews were assigned to each position.

Interestingly, for such a huge warship Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had a relatively small crew contingent.

Read more