In July 1555, Qi Jiguang, who was only 27 years old, was transferred by the imperial court to the secretary of the capital of Zhejiang, let us learn the historical story of this outstanding general.
At that time, the Zhejiang region was one of the most severely invaded areas by the Japanese invaders, and the governor Zhang Jing was falsely accused and killed by Zhao Wenhua, a henchman sent by the minister of power, Yan Song. In this situation, Qi Jiguang was ordered to take on the task of resisting the Japanese in Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Taizhou.
Although Zhao Wenhua claimed to have succeeded in both the water and land battles, in fact, the news of the defeat in the Zhezhi region continued to reach the imperial court. The imperial court once again sent ministers to Jiangnan to supervise military affairs, Yan Song was worried that his bad deeds would be exposed, and recommended Zhao Wenhua to go, Zhao Wenhua** dismissed the then governor Yang Yi, and Hu Zongxian replaced Yang Yi as the governor.
Hu Zongxian deeply appreciated Qi Jiguang and proposed that he be appointed as the general of Ning Shaotai, and Qi Jiguang, who was only 29 years old, shouldered a heavy responsibility. Although the burden was heavy, he confidently took up this burden with his enthusiasm for serving the country, rich military knowledge and superb military skills.
Soon, the Japanese invaded Longshan, and Qi Jiguang led his troops to resist, showing his talent and courage.
Qi Jiguang was ordered to take charge of the Longshan area and quickly led his troops there. Encountering the enemy at Gaojialou, thousands of officers and troops were defeated. Qi Jiguang stood on the high stone and fired three arrows in succession, knocking down three Japanese robbers and thwarting the enemy.
The Ming army gathered together to fight the enemy, but only drove the enemy away. In September, Qi Jiguang and the general soldier Yu Dayou led their troops to pursue the enemy, but encountered an ambush at Yanmen Ridge, and the officers and soldiers of all units were defeated.
Although Qi Jiguang's troops were not defeated, they were unable to pursue the enemy. Qi Jiguang realized that due to the lack of training and moderation of the guards, they were unable to fight, the generals and soldiers were at odds, the soldiers were redundant, they did not obey orders and commands, they had no armor on their bodies, they had no martial arts in their hands, they did not bring dry food on the march, and the garrison had no camp walls, so they could not resist the powerful Japanese invaders.
In this regard, Qi Jiguang drafted the "Ren Linguan Request for the Establishment of the Barracks for Public Transfer" in November of the same year, and put forward suggestions for training troops to his superiors. He thought that "killing thieves and training soldiers can be done in parallel" and asked him to train 3,000 soldiers.
At the same time, he demanded the creation of barracks so that the troops could adjust at any time and advance and retreat freely. In addition, he called for the establishment of a firehead army, and the soldiers carried dry rations and could cook at any time.
In February of the 36th year of Jiajing (1557), he put forward a proposal to his superiors to train Zhejiang soldiers, believing that there must be loyal and brave men in Zhejiang, who could train 3,000 people, and after three years of training, it was enough to resist the enemy and save the cost of hiring guest soldiers.
However, when Qi Jiguang asked the people around him for advice, they all frowned and advised him not to make this suggestion; Colleagues also burst into laughter. It has been said that it is the responsibility of the governor and governor to defend against the pirates, and that they have never been heard of to be destroyed, and that only when they have had enough of plundering can they pursue them, perhaps they will be able to atone for their sins and gain foreign wealth.
Hearing this, Qi Jiguang was deeply emotional, and believed that the generals should train the conscious people so that they can fight, just like a silk practitioner who trains raw silk well. Moreover, "the great creation of the Japanese will not be able to be eradicated in the end", and only by completely eliminating the Japanese can we truly solve the problem.
Qi Jiguang proposed to Hu Zongxian for military training, and Hu Zongxian was initially unimpressed, but considering that he might bear the responsibility for not training, he finally allocated 3,000 soldiers to Qi Jiguang.
After Qi Jiguang's training, this unit won many battles, but because some soldiers killed innocents indiscriminately, Qi Jiguang severely punished them to maintain the justice and dignity of the army.
With his comfort, the families of the slain were comforted. He took off his military uniform, wrapped the slain, and led his officers and soldiers to pay tribute, which allowed him to redeem his influence and inspire the soldiers.
For his experience in the Battle of Cen Gang, Qi Jiguang was deeply touched. In October of the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing, the king went to Hu Zongxian. Hu Zongxian originally wanted to appease Wang Zhi, but there was opposition inside and outside the court, so he had to arrest Wang Zhi in the first month of the 37th year.
According to Wang Zhiyu's party in Cen Gang, Zhoushan, it was learned that its leader** killed Xia Zheng, the envoy sent by Hu Zongxian, and rebelled again. Hu Zongxian ordered the general Yu Dayou and the general Qi Jiguang to lead the army to attack Cen Gang.
At that time, there were only more than 700 Japanese invaders, and the Ming Zhulu army attacked on their backs, but they could not attack for a long time. In July, Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang were dismissed, and the Ming court ordered them to annihilate Wang Zhiyu's party within a month.
This punishment was a great blow to Qi Jiguang, because he was bent on carrying forward his ancestral business, but now not only did he not do it, but he lost his official position. This prompted him to study the military books more diligently and study the reasons for the victories and defeats of the soldiers of the past dynasties.
He carefully studied the characteristics of the Shaoxing soldiers he trained, and found that although these soldiers were agile and impressive, they were very afraid of the enemy.
Qi Jiguang recruited new soldiers to fight against the Japanese and found that the Shaoxing soldiers were too cowardly, so he decided to choose brave, fierce, and honest people. He had heard that there was a large-scale armed fight in Yiwu, and the Yiwu people showed the spirit of hatred and courage in the armed fight, and Qi Jiguang decided to guide this spirit to fight against the invading Japanese invaders.
In the process of recruiting new soldiers, Qi Jiguang encountered some resistance, but was supported by the local county commander Zhao Dahe. Qi Jiguang and Zhao Dahe, the magistrate of the county, recruited troops together, and the two became "irreversible friends".
Qi Jiguang knew that if he could really recruit the brave and fierce among the people, he must first bring the local leaders over. So, he went to Chen Dacheng with a gift, and Chen Dacheng readily agreed, and other people also followed.
Wang Rulong and other miners also went out of the mountains to enlist, and the recruitment ground was crowded with people, showing extremely high enthusiasm and courage.
Qi Jiguang conducts rigorous training for the recruits. In order to form his own set of training methods, he began a comprehensive training of soldiers on the basis of two years of actual military training.
The soldiers he recruited should be white-faced and clever, and the city fools who saw that the government had no scruples should not be; He wanted honest people from the countryside who looked big and stout, with solid skin and flesh, and who had the color of farming.
The Qi family army is selected by the sentry officer, the captain is selected by the sentry chief, and the soldiers are selected by the captain, and the troops are registered and organized one by one. The chosen person sits on the floor and is not allowed to move. Six tables were set up, and each person was registered which officer, which post, which team, as well as the address, age, facial features, scars, height, strength, and so on.
Start with the first outpost and the first team, and proceed one by one. After the team is formed, the personnel will be fixed, and all future actions must be subject to the constraints of the captain, and no random movement is allowed.
In order to stabilize this newly recruited team, Qi Jiguang asked Hu Zongxian to let Zhao Dahe, the magistrate of Yiwu, supervise the army. Because Zhao Dahe also proposed to recruit people from the county as soldiers, he has prestige among the people, and he has the household registration of the whole county, and if the soldiers escape, he can arrest them.
Qi Jiguang began strict training for the recruited recruits. Qi Jiguang conducted this training on the basis of two years of actual military training. The practice of military training in the past two years has enabled him to accumulate rich experience in military training and gradually form his own set of training methods.
He was to train the soldiers' ears, eyes, hands, feet, hearts, and battalions. Train the ears and eyes so that the soldiers absolutely obey the command and carry out the order. In ancient times, generals relied on flags and drums to command operations, the so-called "night battles with many fire drums, and day battles with many flags".
Qi Jiguang prescribed various signals for the flags and drums. In order to train the troops to recognize these signals and act according to them, Qi Jiguang first engraved these regulations into a pamphlet and distributed them to all teams, so that each team could gather together at night, and the literate people would read and explain them to the illiterate people, so that everyone could memorize them.
Then Qi Jiguang personally assessed, if the soldier didn't remember one thing, he would be beaten with a board, and if he made a small mistake, he would be exempted from beating a board if he could memorize one, so as to urge everyone to study.
In the management of the army, Qi Jiguang emphasized the extreme importance of execution, and he asked the soldiers to obey only the orders of the golden drum and the banner, even if the commander-in-chief gave instructions verbally.
In his opinion, victory in the battle could be ensured only if orders were strictly followed. Through rigorous training and assessment, he ensured that his soldiers were able to obey orders and follow commands, thus creating an army with excellent martial arts and strong physique.
Qi Jiguang also emphasized that soldiers must not only have strong martial arts, but also have a firm will and solid skills. To this end, he practiced the training method of "straining their muscles and bones, starving their bodies" to strengthen the soldiers' physique and will.
In addition, he also paid attention to the spiritual training of the soldiers, emphasizing that the soldiers should be close to the generals, have high morale, and fight bravely. In daily life, Qi Jiguang set an example for the soldiers, respected and loved them, and thought about them everywhere.
His impartiality won the trust and love of the soldiers, who were willing to serve him until the death. In general, through strict training and management, Qi Jiguang has built an army with both superb martial arts and firm will and solid skills.
His management methods and ideas still have important enlightenment and reference significance for modern military management.
Use soldiers like gods, work together, and overcome strong enemies. Martial arts training is the foundation, but it is difficult to defeat a strong enemy only if you fight alone. Defeating a strong enemy requires collective strength, and working together can win the victory.
According to the characteristics of the terrain of the Japanese and the southern water network, Qi Jiguang created a variety of formations, such as the Mandarin Duck Formation, the Large and Small Sancai Formation, and the One Head, Two Wings and One Tail Formation, as well as strategies such as ambush prevention and ambush.
In the training, he emphasized gradual progress, starting with individual training and then gradually transitioning to collective training, so as to improve the combat capability of soldiers. At the same time, he also implemented clear rewards and punishments, rewarding soldiers for excellent performance and punishing soldiers who violated discipline, so as to motivate soldiers to improve the effectiveness of training.
After his meticulous training, the more than 4,000 people he recruited became an elite division with strong combat effectiveness, strict discipline, and obedience to command, and was known as the "Qi Family Army".