Mandarin Duck
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:53 pm
This post includes some notes on the Mandarin Duck formation and its significance for Chinese and Korean armies, then I'll add a suggested representation.
The most distinguished and best known general of the late Ming dynasty was Qi Jiguang (1528-1588)(aka Ch'i Chi-kuang), a hereditary officer on active service from 1544 to 1585. He was a top administrator, organizer, military engineer, manual writer, and field commander, with enough political skills in compromise to achieve some positive results within the restraints of the Ming system thanks to top-level bureaucratic patronage from Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng based on his successes. His military manuals were republished into the 19th century, and were the prime reference for the Korean military reorganization starting in late 1593.
The Mandarin Duck was a successful squad formation he developed between 1556 and 1560 while in command roles on the southern coast. It was designed primarily for street fighting and defiles against Wo-k’ou pirates, intended to obstruct their archery and melee attacks using skilled swordsmanship and defeat them with coordinated melee action and shooting (to avoid thoughts of retreat, if the squad leader died so did everyone in his squad). After Qi Jiguang was appointed to the north in 1568 it was adapted and used in Qi’s mixed brigade system, directed primarily against close combat with northern mounted tribesmen rather than expert infantry swordsmen. In each case, it involved multiple ranks of Chinese troops with complementary equipment focusing on defeating the front rank of their adversary.
Thread for info and illustration of the original Mandarin Duck formation (web searches will turn up other images as well, mostly more cryptic). Note that each company had some matchlockmen and each battalion had some cannon, and that the initial formation evolved towards integration of more firearms (which means fire lances & three-eyed guns as well as matchlocks at this point) in the mixed brigade context. Its significance is that troops trained in these methods were later effective and sought after in Korea and imitated by the Korean army.
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index. ... formation/
Qi’s Mixed Brigade
Qi’s reforms in Chichou focused on enabling formations of brigade size to deal with northern horsemen in generally open terrain, even when greatly outnumbered. His system was based on battle wagons, sometimes called “firearms chariots” by the Chinese, echoing the chariots of antiquity. Each wagon carried two standard fo-lang-chi light artillery pieces plus muskets (these might be of wall gun size). Building on the Mandarin Duck concept, each wagon had a crew of 20 men, half tasked to move and remain defending the wagon and use its firearms, and half tasked to act as an assault force including 4 with firearms (ideally matchlocks) and 6 with spears, swords and shields, and a bamboo tree branch still considered useful to obstruct an enemy. The matchlockmen also carried changdao (long swords similar to Japanese no dachi, considered anti-cavalry weapons). The infantry assault was intended to engage enemy cavalry close to the wagon once their charge halted. These assault troops did not venture more than a short distance from their wagons. Firearms included fire-lance equivalents (gunpowder propelled arrows), light mortars, blunderbuss equivalents and others.
The cavalry component of the brigade was also organized based on 10-men squads, those of 1/3 of the companies 8 men with changdaos (also equipped with muskets) and 2 men with tridents (also equipped with fire arrows) and the remainder of 4 men with single_handed sabers (also equipped with composite bows and arrows), 4 men equipped with spears, specially designed with downward curving hooking blades on both sides of the spearhead to unseat enemy horsemen (plus composite bows and arrows), and 2 men with tridents (also equipped with fire arrows).
As described in writing, his mixed brigade would include 3,000 cavalry (basically mounted infantry), 4,000 infantry, 128 battle wagons and 216 light (transport) wagons. The cavalry served to screen the infantry and wagons as they deployed in a square or circular wagon laager, with gaps between the wagons blocked by removable obstacles. The cavalry retired into the laager when a hundred or more Mongols approached, suggesting a very cautious and defensive tactic.
The most distinguished and best known general of the late Ming dynasty was Qi Jiguang (1528-1588)(aka Ch'i Chi-kuang), a hereditary officer on active service from 1544 to 1585. He was a top administrator, organizer, military engineer, manual writer, and field commander, with enough political skills in compromise to achieve some positive results within the restraints of the Ming system thanks to top-level bureaucratic patronage from Senior Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng based on his successes. His military manuals were republished into the 19th century, and were the prime reference for the Korean military reorganization starting in late 1593.
The Mandarin Duck was a successful squad formation he developed between 1556 and 1560 while in command roles on the southern coast. It was designed primarily for street fighting and defiles against Wo-k’ou pirates, intended to obstruct their archery and melee attacks using skilled swordsmanship and defeat them with coordinated melee action and shooting (to avoid thoughts of retreat, if the squad leader died so did everyone in his squad). After Qi Jiguang was appointed to the north in 1568 it was adapted and used in Qi’s mixed brigade system, directed primarily against close combat with northern mounted tribesmen rather than expert infantry swordsmen. In each case, it involved multiple ranks of Chinese troops with complementary equipment focusing on defeating the front rank of their adversary.
Thread for info and illustration of the original Mandarin Duck formation (web searches will turn up other images as well, mostly more cryptic). Note that each company had some matchlockmen and each battalion had some cannon, and that the initial formation evolved towards integration of more firearms (which means fire lances & three-eyed guns as well as matchlocks at this point) in the mixed brigade context. Its significance is that troops trained in these methods were later effective and sought after in Korea and imitated by the Korean army.
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index. ... formation/
Qi’s Mixed Brigade
Qi’s reforms in Chichou focused on enabling formations of brigade size to deal with northern horsemen in generally open terrain, even when greatly outnumbered. His system was based on battle wagons, sometimes called “firearms chariots” by the Chinese, echoing the chariots of antiquity. Each wagon carried two standard fo-lang-chi light artillery pieces plus muskets (these might be of wall gun size). Building on the Mandarin Duck concept, each wagon had a crew of 20 men, half tasked to move and remain defending the wagon and use its firearms, and half tasked to act as an assault force including 4 with firearms (ideally matchlocks) and 6 with spears, swords and shields, and a bamboo tree branch still considered useful to obstruct an enemy. The matchlockmen also carried changdao (long swords similar to Japanese no dachi, considered anti-cavalry weapons). The infantry assault was intended to engage enemy cavalry close to the wagon once their charge halted. These assault troops did not venture more than a short distance from their wagons. Firearms included fire-lance equivalents (gunpowder propelled arrows), light mortars, blunderbuss equivalents and others.
The cavalry component of the brigade was also organized based on 10-men squads, those of 1/3 of the companies 8 men with changdaos (also equipped with muskets) and 2 men with tridents (also equipped with fire arrows) and the remainder of 4 men with single_handed sabers (also equipped with composite bows and arrows), 4 men equipped with spears, specially designed with downward curving hooking blades on both sides of the spearhead to unseat enemy horsemen (plus composite bows and arrows), and 2 men with tridents (also equipped with fire arrows).
As described in writing, his mixed brigade would include 3,000 cavalry (basically mounted infantry), 4,000 infantry, 128 battle wagons and 216 light (transport) wagons. The cavalry served to screen the infantry and wagons as they deployed in a square or circular wagon laager, with gaps between the wagons blocked by removable obstacles. The cavalry retired into the laager when a hundred or more Mongols approached, suggesting a very cautious and defensive tactic.