The Qi family army was named after the commander Qi Jiguang, which was a famous and victorious army in the late Ming Dynasty. So how did the Qi family army disappear? From two perspectives, the first is the leading figure Qi Jiguang, who was transferred to guangdong general soldier in the tenth year of Wanli because of the involvement of Zhang Juzheng's case, and he did not return to his hometown for a long time, and Qi Jiguang died of illness in the sixteenth year of Wanli. With the departure of Qi Jiguang, qi jiajun was greatly affected. The second is that in the "Jizhen Mutiny", the Qi family army was slaughtered by its own people, most of them died, and a small number were also drowned in the torrent of history.
During the Ming Dynasty, especially in the coastal areas, the Qi family army started by fighting the Wokou, and constantly attacked the Sea Frontier areas of Daming, and the common people were deeply affected by it.
Due to the ineffective conscription and suppression of officers and soldiers, the Wokou were infested and uncertain, as if they were in no man's land. Therefore, during the Jiajing period, the imperial court sent Qi Jiguang to serve as the governor of Zhejiang and manage the tun administration. Qi Jiguang also saw that Daming's army had poor combat effectiveness, so he thought of forming an army himself, he knew that the Yiwu peasants were brave and fierce, not afraid of death, so he gathered the people and formed an army, which was the Qi family army, also known as the Yiwu army and the Zhejiang army.
The Qi family army is different from the ordinary Ming army, they are ideologically defending the country and fighting to relieve the scourge of the people. Discipline is strict, and rewards and punishments are clear.
The key is that this army has a strong fighting capacity and a high combat quality. Qi Jiguang also created a new weapon, the "Wolf Trap", and trained a new formation, the "Mandarin Duck Array".
After forming an army, he rushed to the front line of the anti-Japanese war. It can be said that the Qi family army made a lot of merits in the war against the Wokou, almost winning consecutive battles, and dealing a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Wokou to plunder the coast of China. By the forty-third year of Jiajing (1564), the plague along the Fujian coast was basically settled.
After Emperor Mingmuzong ascended the throne, Qi Jiguang and Qi Jiajun were sent to Jizhou to train troops to repair the Great Wall and resist the attack of the Imperial Tatars. Qi Jiguang guarded the border for twenty years, and there was basically no war. However, the maintenance of border defense has played a considerable role.
However, after Zhang Juzheng's death, the imperial court set off an anti-Zhang Juzheng trend, which also involved Qi Jiguang, who was transferred out of the army and ended up depressed within a few years.
We know that the Qi family army is different from other armies, and the commander's influence on the army is very large. Although it will not be completely crushed, the combat effectiveness and mentality will change, and the Qi family army will gradually be marginalized.
However, qi jiajun was strictly disciplined and did not show so obviously. Subsequently, the Qi family army also participated in the Wanli Korean War, and its combat effectiveness was very strong, and its contribution was not small.
However, the Qi family army belonged to the southern army, that is, the army of the southerners, and it was not welcomed to see the Qi family army ask the imperial court for the monthly salary and money and grain that they deserved, but they were rejected by the imperial court.
Wang Bao, the chief soldier of Jizhou, was even more cruel in his means, and on the grounds of "mutiny", he wantonly slaughtered the Qi family army, which was called "Jizhou Mutiny" in history. At this time, the Qi family army was completely killed at the hands of his own people.