Organisation

Early in his rebellious years, Zhu Yuanzhang and each of his allies had military structures and recruitment methods of their own. Zhu himself, for instance, organized his troops through Military Affairs Commissioners (shumi[shi] 樞密[使]), administrators (pingzhang 平章), *chief military commanders (yuanshuai 元帥), route commanders (zongguan 總管) and brigade commanders (wanhu 萬戶). Each officer had to care for the weapons and mounts of his own unit.

The wei-suo system

After his adoption of the title of King of Wu 吳 in 1365, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to regularize the military organization of his forces. At the top were seventeen bodyguards (qinjun zhihui si 親軍指揮司; see bodyguards), each of which constituted of one guard (wei 衛). The route commands (zongguanfu 總管府) were transformed into battalions (qianhusuo 千戶所). In fact, battalions of the regional armies were, according to five-units-method (buwufa 部伍法), organized in units of different size, namely:

Table 1. Early organisation of Zhu Yuanzhang's army

指揮	zhihui	5,000	brigade
千戶	qianhu	1,000	battalion
百戶	baihu	100	company
總旗	zongqi	50	platoon
小旗	xiaoqi	10	squad

The system was known as the guard-and-battalion system (weisuo zhi 衛所制).

In 1372, Zhu Yuanzhang's army already consisted of 164 guard units, and 84 battalions. Guard units comprised more than 10,000 troops, but the size was reduced in 1374 to 5,600 troops per guard unit, and defined as 1,120 troops per battalion (Du & Fang 1996: 293). The emperor was protected by 12 guard units whose size was elevated to 22 by the Yongle Emperor 永樂帝 (r. 1402-1424), and expanded by 4 special units called the Charging Guard (tengxiang 騰驤) during the Xuande reign-period 宣德 (1426-1435). The capital guards were subordinated to the Chief Military Command (da dudufu 大都督府), while those in the provinces stood under the supervision of regional military commissions (du zhihuishi si 都指揮使司, brief dusi 都司) and "itinerant" or branch regional military commissions (xing du zhihuishi si 行都指揮使司, brief xing dusi 行都司). In 1380, Emperor Taizu split up the Chief Military Command into the Five Chief Military Commissions (wujun dudufu 五軍都督府), in order to curtail the power of any central military administration. At the same time, he decided to give up the distinction between the guards (wei) and the battalions (suo) system and replaced the brigades (zhihui) by the unit "guard" (wei):

Table 2. Organisation of Ming-period armies

五軍都督府	wujun dudufu		Five Chief Military Commissions
都司 (行都司)	(xing) dusi		(branch) regional military commission
衛	wei		guard
千戶所	qianhusuo	1000	battalion
百戶所	baihusuo	100	company
總旗	zongqi	50	platoon
小旗	xiaoqi	10	squad

The Five Chief Military Commissions were called according to directions (zhong 中, zuo 左, you 右, qian 前, hou 後), but their jurisdiction was not spread over geographical regions. Instead, each of the Commissions supervised several military units in the northern capital Beijing, the southern capital Nanjing, and the provinces. This was clearly an attempt at preventing secession of one region as based on military power.

By the Yongle reign-period, there were 21 regional military commissions (dusi), 2 capital guards (liushou si 留守司), 493 guard-and-battalion garrisons throughout the empire, and 359 defence (shouyu 守御), agro-colony (tuntian 屯田), and pasture (tunmu 屯牧) battalions, with a total number of 2.8 million troops (Du & Fang 1996: 294). With the settlement of dynastic succession, the Ming army went over from a conquest army to a peace-time army residing throughout the provinces (zhufang 駐防) that had to nourish itself and to carry out training in order to retain their fighting forces.

In 1388, Emperor Taizu proclaimed the agro-colony law (junwei tuntian fa 軍衛屯田法), according to which garrisons had to care for their food supply themselves, basically by engaging in agricultural activities in peacetime. The law was applicable for 80 per cent of regional troops, and half of the troops in critical regions (chongyao di 衝要地) and the guards of the princely establishments (wangfu huwei 王府護衛). In 1392, the order fixed the quota of agricultural work at 70 per cent, but only for garrisons in internal areas, not in the borderlands. The guard-and-battalion units had also the duty to transport tribute grain along the Grand Canal, as so-called "grain troops" (caojun 漕軍).

This system of self-sustainment led to the lack of fighting power of the guard-and-battalion units. During military campaigns, only the best fighters among the units were therefore sent out to war. The Yongle Emperor had special fighting units formed out of this practice, namely the so-called "Training Division" of the Five Armies (wujun ying 五軍營). They had a special status and belonged, together with the Division of the Three Thousand (sanqian ying 三千營), and the Firearms Division (shenji ying 神機營), to the Three Great Training Divisions of the capital armies (jingjun san da ying 京軍三大營).

There were practically two military systems during the Ming period, namely the guard-and-battalion system (weisuo zhi) that served as a kind of organizational pattern for military households, the organization of local defence, policing actions, and certain public work, and the division system (yingbing zhi 營兵制) that was applied to create military units ready for combat in veritable wars. In other words, weak and older troops of the weisuo garrisons cared for supplies, while the young and stronger ones did the fighting in special organizations, the divisions (ying 營).

The difference between the administrative organisation in guards and battalions and practical organisation in other units can also be seen in local and regional units. Their total number amounted to about 1.5 million troops (Du & Fang 1996: 305). In 1402, Emperor Chengzu split off the regional commands of Liaodong, Ningxia, and Guangxi, and thus created a parallel structure of the regular regional military commanders (dusi) and the special provincial commanders (zongbing guan 總兵官). They were not subordinated to the Chief Military Commissions.

Table 3. Local defence commands (zhenshu jun 鎮戍軍) and officers

Border regions (bianzhen 邊鎮)				Interior (neizhen 內鎮)
鎮守 (總鎮)	regional command	總兵官	regional commander	鎮守 (總鎮)	regional command	總兵官	regional commander
協守	vice command	副總兵	vice commander
分守	branch command	參將	branch commander	分守	branch command	參將	branch commander
		游擊將軍	mobile corps commander
		守備	commandant			守備	commandant
						把總	squad leader

The metropolitan army

The metropolitan army (jingjun 京軍) consisted of two parts, namely the metropolitan garrison troops (jingying 京營), and the imperial bodyguard (qinjun 親軍, also called shiwei shangzhi jun 侍衛上直軍 "guards on duty"). While the former were responsible for the defence of the capital, the latter had two functions, namely the protection of the imperial palace (huangcheng shouweijun 皇城守衛軍) and the imperial family (shiweijun 侍衛軍).

At the foundation of the Ming dynasty, the metropolitan army was organized in one chief military command (da dudufu 大都督府, also called da yuanshuaifu 大元帥府), which was later split up into five chief military commands (da dudufu 大都督府). These "Five Armies" (wujun 五軍) consisted of 48 guard units (wei 衛) with more than 200,000 troops (Du & Fang 1996: 296) that were trained in a larger and a smaller military school (da-xiao xiaochang 大小校場).

When the Yongle Emperor transferred the main seat of the Ming government from Nanjing to Beijing, he decided to have troops selected from relatively close wei-suo garrisons in Zhongdu 中都 xxx, Daning 大寧, Shandong and Henan to take over, in half-year turns, the duties of the capital guard. These troops of 80,000 strength were called "rotation troops" (banjun 班軍). The troops from these garrisons had thus two duties, namely to protect Beijing, and to participate in military campaigns. The complete capital guard units were called the Three Grand Garrisons (sandaying 三大營) and included the Five Guards (wujun 五軍), the Three-Thousand Guard (sanqianying 三千營), the the Firearms Division (shenjiying 神機營).

The northern region was a critical border region challenged by Mongol raids. Emperor Chengzu therefore transferred Nanjing troops to the north, thus achieving a strength of 72 guards (wei 衛) with more than 300,000 men (Du & Fang 1996: 297). For defence measures, they could be supported by the troops of eight close garrisons in the metropolitan province Jingji 京畿 (jineijun 畿內軍), with a strength of 280,000 troops, thus a achieving a total strength of 600,000 troops to defend Beijing, and including the rotation troops even as much as 700,000 (Du & Fang 1996: 297).

In 1410, Emperor Chengzu reorganized the capital troops - be they infantry or cavalry units - in to five units, namely the central guard (zhongjun 中軍), the left- and right-wing guards (zuoye 左掖, youye 右掖), and the left and right signal guards (zuosuo 左嗩, yousuo 右嗩). These training and fighting units were also called the "five armies" (wujun 五軍), but had nothing to do with the original wujun organisation that only served to train troops in the capital. The new five armies were also not subordinated to a Chief Military Command but were commanded by a *Grand Minister Superintending the Guards (tidu neichen 提督內臣) and two military ministers (wuchen 武臣) who were assisted by two heads of the signals (zhanghao touguan 掌號頭官), one *great garrison quarter master (daying zuoying guan 大營坐營官), and two battalion commanders (bazong 把總). Each of the five guard units were commanded by one quarter master (zuoyingguan 坐營官), a cavalry commander (madui bazong 馬隊把總), and an infantry commander (budui bazong 步隊把總). Twelve separate, smaller garrisons in the capital (shi'er ying 十二營) stood under a commander (bazong 把總) each. The handheld-weapons unit (wei shouzi ying 圍手子營) was responsible for the training of using arms. The underage unit (youguanying 幼官營) and the dependents unit (sherenying 舍人營) trained future troops most of which were expected to obtain posts in a hereditary mode. Finally, there were the unit of utmost loyalty (danzhongying 殫忠營) and the unit of efficient righteousness (xiaoyiying 效義營) for voluntary troops and younger brothers who would could expect a fix position. The usual arrangement of these units during military campaigns was that each one of the Five Guards camped separately, with the infantry troops in the middle, cavalry around, and firearms units beyond them. The outer circle were watch-guards (changwei 長圍). The highest command was in the hand of the sovereign, but from the mid-15th century on, a military minister (wuchen) formally took over the field command.

In 1452, the Five Guards were rearranged into ten garrisons (shi ying 十營), and in 1467 to twelve garrisons (shi'er tuanying 十二團營). In 1511, the twelve garrisons were split into two commands, namely the Eastern and the Western Command (dongguanting 東官廳, xiguanting 西官廳). In 1550, however, the original Three Capital Guards (sanying 三營) were revived as the metropolitan army (jingying 京營).

Apart from the Five Guards, the Three Capital Guards included the Three-Thousand Guard (sanqianying), and the Firearms Division (shenjiying). The Three-Thousand Guard consisted of 3,000 cavalry troops of non-Chinese tribes. The size grew later to several ten thousand. They were commanded by 2 Grand Minister Superintending the Guards (tidu neichen) and 2 two military ministers who were assisted by 2 heads of the signals (zhanghao touguan), 34 commanders supervising the training (jianzao bazong 見操把總), 16 commanders-on-duty (zhangzhi bazong 上直把總), and 4 commanders clarifying the armament (mingjia bazong 明甲把總). The guard was divided into 5 battalions (si 司), headed by company quartermaster (zuosiguan 坐司官). These companies operated according to the principle of labour division to protect the sovereign, transmit commands and crack enemy formations during battle.

The Firearms Division was established in 1407 when the Ming army took over firearms units from the succumbing Vietnamese army. It was composed of five units that were called like those of the Five Guards (wujunying 五軍營) and were commanded by one grand minister quartermaster (zuoying neichen 坐營內臣) and a military minister (wuchen). Each unit was again divided into three battalions (si 司, the zhongjunying in 4) with one grand minister supervising the guns (jianqiang neichen 監槍內臣) and 1 battalions commander (basiguan 把司官) and 2 xx (bazongguan 把總官). A special unit under the Firearms Division was the lower garrison of the five thousand (wuqian xiaying 五千下營) that consisted of 5,000 cavalry arranged in 4 battalions (si 司). The chief commander of the Firearms Division were 2 tidu neichen, and 2 wuchen.

One of the largest military campaigns of the Ming period was carried out in 1449, when almost the complete capital army of 500,000 was fielded and was trapped by the Mongols at Tumu 土木. But the mobile reinforcement system of the regions surrounding Beijing yielded a force of 430,000 men who could protect the capital when Esen Qaɣan (1407-1454) half-heartedly besieged Beijing. 150,000 elite troops were selected from the capital army and constituted ten field commands (tuanying 團營) commanded by one encampment superintendant (zuoying tidu 坐營提督) and three xx 都指揮 each. Each field command consisted of platoons (dui 隊) of 50 men led by platoon commanders (guanduiguan 管隊官). Ten platoons were one battalion commanded by a 把總指揮. Two battalions were commanded by a 都指揮. The function of 提督武臣 was usually taken over by the Minister of War 兵部尚書 or the Censor-in-chief 都御史. The troops remaining in the capital were called 老家. This organization was abolished in 1457. Emperor Xianzong 明憲宗 (r. 1464-1487) revived the selection of elite troops for military campaigns, but with the name 選鋒. The twelve field commands were divided into three groups of four battalions:

Table 4. The twelve field commands of the capital army (1450-1550)

四武營	The Four Battalions of Warriorship
奮武營	Battalion of Aroused Warriorship
耀武營	Battalion of Brilliant Warriorship
練武營	Battalion of Practical Warriorship
顯武營	Battalion of Manifest Warriorship
四勇營	The Four Battalions of Bravery
敢勇營	Battalion of Daring Bravery
果勇營	Battalion of Decisive Bravery
鼓勇營	Battalion of Empowering Bravery
效勇營	Battalion of Striking Bravery
四威營	The Four Battalions of Authority
立威營	Battalion Establishing Authority
揚威營	Battalion Wielding Authority
伸威營	Battalion Extending Authority
振威營	Battalion Exerting Authority

The function of encampment superintendant 坐營提督 was usually taken over by a 武臣侯，伯 or 都督. In peacetime, the training was supervised by 勳臣， 內臣 and 文臣, while jishizhong and 御史 took presided military reviews. During that time, the metropolitan army consisted of 380,000 troops, of which 140,000 were elite troops trained for fighting.

The downfall of this system was initiated in 1511, with the peasant rebellions in the region of Hebei. Because the field commands of the capital troops could not suppress the rebellion, the emperor called troops from the garrisons of Xuanfu 宣府, Yansui 延綏, Liaodong 遼東, and Datong 大同 whose cavalry units put down the rebels. Afterwards, 3000 of these local troops remained in Beijing, the so-called "four external units" (外四家軍). They were merged with 3,000 elite troops from the Beijing field commands (選團營) to the Eastern and Western Garrisons 東官廳 西官廳. In 1514, the Ministry of War selected 6,000 troops more from the field commands which were arranged in 前後二營 and added to these 3,000 selected troops from the 禁兵四衛營 and 勇士營 which where all attached to the Western Garrison and were trained there (Du & Fang 1996: 300). They were also called 威武團練營 and stood under the direct command of the emperor. These new units were seen as the "selected vanguard" (選鋒), while the former field commands were practically reduced to the status of stationary troops (laojia) that remained in Beijing. Because the number of troops could not be endlessly, not all posts in the old capital army were occupied, with the outcome that around 1520, of 380,000 nominal troops, only 140,000 posts were filled (Du & Fang 1996: 301).

Emperor Shizong 明世宗 (r. 1521-1566) went back to the original system, but the sanqianying was renamed 神樞營. The posts of 提督 and 監槍 were abolished. The 76 Guards 衛 and the households of the sanqian unit were reorganised into 30 ying that were directly subject to the sandaying. The tuanying and the dong-xi guanting were merged with the wujunying. In addition, 40,000 troops from the provinces of Jifu 畿輔, Shandong, Shanxi and Henan were drafted to refill the sheshuying and the shenjiying; 68,000 troops from the border garrisons were were likewise distributed to all capital garrisons. The central administration of the sandaying was in the hands of one civilian and one military general called 協理京營戎政; usually a Minister of Vice Minister of War, or a 都御史), and 總督京營戎政; usually a 勳臣), respectively. The number of quota troops 定額兵 was 140,000, that of reserve troops 備兵 146,600, and the number of officers 586 (Du & Fang 1996: 302).

The wuyingjun was commanded by a 大將 - a post usually occupied by the zongdu yingjing rongzheng- and controlling 10,000 troops, 2 副將 controlling 7,000 troops each, 4 參將 controlling 6,000 troops each, and 4 游擊將軍 commanding 3,000 each. It was divided into 4 領戰兵營, 4 車兵營, and 2 城守營, which makes for a total of 60,000 troops. A special officer called 備兵坐營官 was responsible for the recruitment of new troops to fill vacancies up to a quota of 66,600 troops. Other officers of the wuyingjun were 1 大號頭官, 1 監槍號頭官, 11 中軍官, 4 隨征千總官, 20 隨營千總官, 8 選鋒把總官, 138 把總, with a total number of 196 officers(Du & Fang 1996: 301).

The shenshuying and the shenjiying, each with 6,000 troops, were commanded by 2 fujiang, 4 canjiang (commanding 4,000 troops each), 4 佐將軍 and 擊將軍 (each commanding 3,000 troops), making a total strength of 40,000 regular troops 士卒 and 40,000 reserve troops 備兵. The shenshuying was led by 208 officers, the shenjiying by 182. The two units were divided into 戰兵營, 車兵營, 守兵營, with a total number of 10 (Du & Fang 1996: 301f.).

The imperial bodyguard

The imperial bodyguard (qinjun) comprised the 侍衛上直軍, the 皇城守衛軍, and the two units of the 四衛營 and 勇士營. The earliest contingent of Zhu Yuanzhang's bodyguard was commanded by Feng Yuoyong 馮國用 (1323-1358). These forces were restrengthened by those of Chen Zhaoxian 陳兆先 (d. 1363) and a company of sons of rich families from Wuzhou 婺州, Zhejiang, to build the "imperial palace forces" (yuzhongjun 御中軍). They were soon renamed 侍衛秦軍 and stood under the command of a 前親兵都指揮使. Over time the imperial guard was constantly enlarged, and when the Ming empire was founded in 1368, it consisted of the "ten upper guards" (上十衛), 金吾前後衛, 羽林左右衛, 虎賁左右衛, and 府軍前後左右衛 which were commanded by the 前親兵都指揮使, who was also called 留守司. He was nominally subordinated to the dadudufu, but could only receive orders from the sovereign, also via the Palace Secretariat (zhongshusheng) and the Ministry of War (bingbu). The original shiweijun were transformed into the huangcheng shouweijun, and the shiweishangzhi became step by step subject to the Brocade Guards (錦衣衛) and the 旗手衛.

The Brocade Guards originated in the 拱衛司 which was established in 1364 and was commanded by a 校衛. It was later renamed 儀鑾司 and became in 1369 part of the qinjun duweifu 親軍都尉府 with its five guards. In 1382, the qinjun duweifu was abolished, and with it the yiluansi. The latter was replaced by the jinyiwei. It was divided into the 南北鎮撫司 and 14 battalions (所). The 旗手所 was in 1385 enlarged to a 旗手衛. It was responsible for chariots, paraphernalia and insignia used when the emperor went out. In spite of these reorganisations, the command of bodyguard units and the metropolitan troops could be exchanged, and they also shared some responsibilities.

From the Yongle reign-period on, the imperial bodyguard consisted of the following units

錦衣衛大漢將軍 1507 persons 府軍前衛帶刀官 40 persons 三千營 (神樞營), with hongkui 紅盔將軍 2500, 把總指揮 16, 明甲將軍 502, 把總指揮 2, 大漢將軍 8 五軍營叉刀圍子手 3000, 把總指揮 8 勳衛 of 散騎舍人, younger brothers of the nobility 旗手衛 of 帶刀官 180. This total number of 8000 persons was reinforced to a total strength of 22 guards 衛, namely the jinyiwei, qishouwei, yulin 前左右, fujun 前後左右, jinwu 前後左右, 燕山前左右, hubi左, 大興左衛, 濟陽衛, 濟州衛, 通州衛. They shared the duty to protect the imperial city and to patrol the capital.

The core of the imperial guard, the 禁兵, were the 四軍 and the yongshiying who were commmanded by an 御馬監提督. It was built of carefully selected men from all garrisons throughout China and loyal Mongols. In 1431, the Yulin 三千戶 was built...

Recruitment

During the early Ming period, military households (junhu 軍戶) existed from whose male population soldiers were recruited. The military households were hereditary ones, which means that the progeny had automatically the duty to serve as troops – this was the hereditary military system (shijunzhi 世軍制). Even if the system remained until the end of the Ming period, it was gradually overshadowed by the enlistment system (mubingzhi 募兵制), where persons more or less voluntarily joined the army to become professional soldiers. These two recruitment systems corresponded to two different types of garrisons, namely the Guards-and-Battalions system (weisuo zhi 衛所制) and the garrison system (yingbingzhi 營兵制).

The early army of Zhu Yuanzhang, the rebel, consisted of troops contributed by himself and his followers. They were called "comrades in conquest" (congzhengbing 從征兵) and were given defined regions to guard (liushu 留戍). Troops of vanquished enemies that changed side and supported the cause of Zhu Yuanzhang were called "newcomers" (guifubing 歸附兵). Most of them had been troops under the Yuan dynasty or of other warlords and rebels. A third type of troops of the pre- and very early Ming era were delinquents who were convicted to by penal military service on a hereditary basis. They were known as "degraded and committed troops" (zhefabing 謫發兵), "soldiers by grace" (enjun 恩軍, as the death penalty was commuted to military service) or "eternal soldiers" (changshengjun 長生軍). While the first two types constituted the core part of Zhu Yuanzhang's army in the early phase and after the foundation of the Ming dynasty, convicted soldiers became more important after the dynastic consolidation. A fourth type of troops were "supplementary soldiers" (duojibing 垛集兵) which were drafted as one person from every three households (one "bunch" duo 垛). During the recruitment process, households with many male persons (zhenghu 正戶) were preferred over such that were not so blessed with men (tiehu 貼戶). Households from which a man (zhengjun 正軍) was drafted were spared labour service (yaoyi 徭役), while the other two households had to pay a compensation fee (junfei 軍費). If the soldier died, the other two households had to produce a person for replacement. From the Yongzheng reign-period on, the three households had to produce draftees in turn. The draft system was used to fill vacancies in the strength of military garrisons where the three other systems did not yield sufficient troops. To a certain extent, the process of supplementary troops was thus also a kind of hereditary system of recruitment.

In the hereditary system with "military households", only one man usually served as a soldier (zhengjun), while other males were his reserve (ciding 次丁, yuding 餘丁). The household registers of military households were compiled and administered by the garrison and the regional military commission (du zhihuisi 都指揮司), and copies were submitted to the Chief Military Command (dudufu 都督府) and the Ministry of War. The same data were collected by the local civil administration of the village defence organisation (lijia 里甲), the district, and the prefectural administration and handed over to the military administration for counter-checking.

This system ensured a constant and guaranteed flow of troops into the Ming army, but it had also substantial shortcomings. The whole system was inherited from the Mongols, a steppe people whose whole male population was seen as "professional" soldiers. But the system's application to the sedentary and highly differentiated society of China transformed soldiers practically into slaves. This was all the more serious in a society where civilian scholarship was highly esteemed and the business of war rated as unworthy. Regarding the "soldiers by grace", military service as a penalty for the misdoings of ancestors was utterly unfair, and deprived capable men of their chances to engage in civilian business. Finally, the fighting spirit of men condemned to do military service cannot be rated as the best. On top of this comes the use of troops for public construction work, courier service or the transport of grain barges along the Grand Canal.

The outcome of the whole system was a high number of deserters throughout the Ming period, and grew over time. Statistics from the time show desertion quota of 50 and even up to 80-90 per cent (311). In order to remedy the problem, the household register helped to either search and arrest (genbu 跟捕) the deserted man (goujun 勾軍) or to replace him (goubu 勾補) by another male person from his household.

Another solution was the increasing reliance on enlistment (mubing).

The enlistment system originated in two military emergency cases, namely the dynastic war between the xxx Emperor and , the eventual Yongle Emperor, the Jingnan War 靖難; and the Tumi Incident, when the Mongols threatened to conquer Beijing. After the settlement of the Tumu Incident, the enlisted troops were transferred to regular garrisons and – forcibly – made regular, hereditary soldiers in order to replace the great number of deserters.

Official advertisements (bangyu 榜諭) for enlistment of troops specifically included slaves, refugees (wangming 亡命), and convicted persons to voluntarily join the army, but in fact, these social groups only constituted a small number among the recruits. The greatest part of enlisted troops hailed either from military households, where "supernumerary" men (yuding) not obliged to serve listed voluntarily, or from the common populace.

Regularly enlisted troops (mubing) from among the common populace were given military pay and monthly rations of grain. Yet enlisted troops originating from military households (muminzhuang 募民壯) were trained and nourished by the garrison to which their brothers belonged as hereditary soldiers and were only given pay (in the shape of two bolts of fabric from which they could tailor their uniforms) and 4 dou 斗 of rice when they were dispatched for a military campaign. Their basic military equipment was provided by the state, but for everything else they had to pay themselves, even if their household was spared 5 dan 石 of tax grain and labour service. Because the enlisted troops hailed from the military households of the local garrisons, they were also known as "local troops" (tubing 土兵).

In the coastal provinces, the custom to recruit troops for local defence against pirate raids was widespread. Some of these militia enlisted voluntarily, but others were drafted according to the self-defence system (baojia 保甲). These early institutions of self defence were called "volunteer brigades" (minbing wanhufu 民兵萬戶府). The system was intensified in 1494 by the "Rules for Fillings Ranks by Enlistment" (qianchong minzhuang fa 僉充民壯法). It stipulated to produce "volunteers" according to a quota geared to the size of the prefecture. The forcibly enlisted troops of each village were trained and their household received tax waivers. In fact, this system imposed new types of labour services on the common populace, and degraded a system of voluntariness (jishen 及身) to a more or less hereditary one, in other words, an enlistment system to a draft system. Wealthy households were allowed to buy off the military service obligation.

The recruitment regulations (mu tubing tiaoli 募土兵條例) from 1437 stipulated an annual pay of 5 liang of silver per person (315, 318) and promised promotion to officers (and reinstalment of dismissed officers) who had recruited a certain number of troops. In later years, when more and more troops were enlisted, the pay rose to 1 liang per month or even 18 liang per year (318), which constituted a substantial burden on the state treasury. Of the 4-5 million liang of revenue, 2-300,000 liang were due for military payment of the enlisted troops (318).

Enlistment was very urgent for the border regions of the north, but also in the coastal provinces. In the sixteenth century, some provincial governments also requested to stop the regular payment to hereditary troops for military campaigns and instead use the money to pay enlisted troops. Gu Qiyuan 顧起元 stressed the advantages of enlisted soldiers over hereditary ones: The garrisons could enlist young men from the native place and for service close to their home villages, reduce causes for desertion, gather them quickly, dismiss old and sick persons without having to care for them, and it was possible to bring young, strong and unemployed men into the army and avoid that they become bandits.

The reasons why the central government did not abolish the hereditary troops by enlisted troops were the that hereditary troops served as the backbone of the whole army, that they nourished themselves by the agro-colony system (tuntian) and that some powerful military leaders like Li Chengliang 李成梁 or Qi Jiguang relied on enlisted troops as a kind of "personal army".