Qi Jiguang

Also known as Zi Yuanjing · Hao Nantang

Qi Jiguang, courtesy name Yuanjing, styled Nantang and later Mengzhu, came of a family from Dingyuan that held a hereditary command in the Dengzhou garrison. Sent to Zhejiang as a regional commander in 1555, he recruited farmers and miners from Yiwu and nearby counties into a new force, the Qi Family Army, and drilled them in formations such as the mandarin-duck squad. When pirates raided Taizhou in 1561 he won a string of victories, then moved into Fujian and with Yu Dayou and others destroyed pirate bases at Hengyu and Pinghaiwei. From 1568 he trained the troops of Jizhou, Changping and Baoding, and in sixteen years at Jizhou he added hollow watchtowers along the Great Wall. After Zhang Juzheng's death he was moved to Guangdong and soon dismissed, and he died at home in Dengzhou in January 1588. He wrote the New Treatise on Military Efficiency (Jixiao xinshu) and the Record of Military Training, and the History of Ming pairs him with Yu Dayou, calling both fine generals.