Military leader famed for combat against Japanese pirate invaders

Military leader famed for combat against Japanese pirate invaders

Qi Jiguang (November 12, 1528 - January 5, 1588), with the character Yuanjing, was born in Dengzhou, Shandong Province (now Penglai City, Shandong Province), and his ancestral home is Dingyuan, Haozhou (now Dingyuan County, Anhui Province). Ming Dynasty Anti Japanese general, national hero, outstanding strategist, calligrapher, poet.

Qi Jiguang is a romantic and elegant man. He is fond of reading. He is a hereditary commander of Dengzhou guards. He has united with Yu Dayou and others to fight against Japanese pirates for more than ten years. He has eliminated the Japanese invaders who have been plagued for many years and ensured the safety of life and property of the people along the coast. He has guarded the north and fought against the inner criminals of the Mongolian tribe, guaranteed the security of the Northern Territory and promoted the peaceful development of the Mongolian and Han nationalities. By virtue of his military achievements, he moved to Zuo Dudu, Shaobao and Taizi Taibao. In the 10th year of Wanli (1582), after the death of Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, he was transferred to Guangdong. In 1585, Qi Jiguang was impeached and recalled to his hometown. Wanli 16 years, died at home, when 61, posthumous title Wuyi.

He is the author of 18 volumes of Jixiao Xinshu, 14 volumes of Shiji, zhizhitang collection. At the same time, Qi Jiguang was an outstanding weapon expert and military engineer, who transformed and invented all kinds of fire attack weapons; built large and small warships and chariots, which made Ming army's water and land equipment superior to the enemy; creatively built hollow enemy platform on the Great Wall, which was a very distinctive military project.

(< I > photo source: Portrait axis of Qi Jiguang painted by Ming Dynasty < / I > < I > Shandong Provincial Museum < / I > < I > collection < / I >)

Life of the characters

Early experience

Qi Jiguang was a romantic boy with a strong personality. Although his family was poor, he liked to read books and was familiar with Confucian classics and historical records.

In 1544, Qi Jiguang inherited the position of his ancestors and became the commander of Dengzhou Wei.

In the 25th year of Jiajing reign (1546), Qi Jiguang was responsible for the management of the garrison affairs of Dengzhou garrison. At that time, the coastal areas of Shandong were burned, killed and looted by Japanese pirates. Qi Jiguang wanted to kill thieves and wrote a poem "it's not my intention to be a Marquis, I hope haiboping".

In 1553, Qi Jiguang was recommended by Zhang Juzheng to take the post of commander Jin Shi in the Department. He managed 25 garrisons of Dengzhou, Wendeng and Jimo battalions to defend against Japanese pirates along the coast of Shandong Province.

In the 34th year of Jiajing reign (1555), Qi Jiguang was transferred to the capital of Zhejiang Province and served as a general to defend Ningbo, Shaoxing and Taizhou.

Japanese pirates in the South

In the 36th year of Jiajing (1557), Japanese pirates invaded Yueqing, Ruian, Linhai and other places. Qi Jiguang led his army to rescue. However, because of the isolation of roads, there was no time, so the imperial court did not punish Qi Jiguang. Later, Wang Zhiyu's party made trouble in Cengang. Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou joined forces and went to besiege. However, they did not attack for a long time, so the imperial court dismissed Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and others and let them kill the enemy with their crimes. The Japanese pirates stationed in Cengang could not resist the attack of Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, so they planned to escape.

In the 37th year of Jiajing (1558), the Japanese pirates built a big ship and prepared to run away at night. Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang took the opportunity to attack and sink the ship, and the rest of the party fled to southern Fujian. The Japanese pirates who fled from Cengang burned, killed and plundered in Taizhou. Luo Jiabin and others impeached Qi Jiguang for deliberately releasing the Japanese pirates from Cengang, which is suspected to be connected with the Japanese. Just as he was about to get ready for punishment, Qi Jiguang was restored to power because of his efforts to pacify Wang Zhi. He asked Qi Jiguang to guard the three prefectures of Shoutai, Jin and Yan.

After Qi Jiguang went to Zhejiang to take up his post, he found that the soldiers in the garrison had average combat ability, while the people in Jinhua and Yiwu were relatively tough. So Qi Jiguang went to recruit 3000 people, and under Qi Jiguang's guidance and training, he trained them into an elite army, later known as "Qi's army". Qi Jiguang made the formation according to the geographical characteristics of the swampy south, and equipped his troops with firearms, weapons, warships and other equipment, which made Qi's army famous all over the world.

In 1561, the Japanese invaders attacked Taozhu and Qitou on a large scale. Qi Jiguang led his army to guard Taozhu and defeated the Japanese invaders in Longshan. Qi Jiguang pursued them all the way to Yanmen mountain. After the Japanese pirates fled, they attacked Taizhou in vain. Qi Jiguang took the lead and killed the leader of the Japanese pirates. The rest of the party were desperate and fell into the gualing River and drowned. Qi Jiguang led his army to annihilate the Japanese pirates in Xianju. After the great victory in Taizhou, Qi Jiguang was promoted to the third rank. After that, the Japanese pirates from Fujian and Guangdong provinces flowed into Jiangxi and caused chaos. Hu Zongxian, the governor, was unable to calm down. So he asked Qi Jiguang to reinforce them. Qi Jiguang led his troops to shangfangchao to destroy them. The Japanese pirates ran to Jianning and Qi Jiguang led them back to Zhejiang.

In 1562, the Japanese invaders invaded Fujian, and joined forces with the Japanese invaders from Funing and lianjiang to capture Shouning, Zhenghe and Ningde. The Japanese invaders from Nan'ao, Guangdong, joined forces with the Japanese invaders from Fuqing and Changle to capture xuanzhongsuo, and invaded Longyan, Songxi, Datian, Gutian and Putian.

The Japanese pirates were so powerful that the local officers and soldiers did not dare to attack, so Hu Zongxian ordered Qi Jiguang to lead the troops to suppress the pirates. Qi Jiguang led his troops to attack Hengyu. The waterways on all sides of Hengyu were dangerous and difficult to pass. Qi Jiguang ordered his soldiers to carry a bunch of straw and fill the trench. They broke the Japanese pirates on Hengyu and decapitated more than 2200 levels. After that, Qi Jiguang took advantage of the victory, killed Fuqing, destroyed the cattle fields, and took the Japanese pirates' nest. The rest of the Japanese pirates fled to Xinghua in a hurry. Qi Jiguang pursued them all the way, destroyed more than 60 battalions and beheaded countless people.

After Qi Jiguang calmed down the Japanese invasion in Fujian, his team returned to Zhejiang and traveled to Fuqing. When he met a small number of Japanese invaders from dongying'ao, Qi Jiguang led his troops to attack and beheaded 200 people. After several battles, the Japanese pirates in Fujian and Guangdong were almost killed by Qi Jiguang.

After Qi Jiguang returned to Zhejiang, the new Japanese pirates from Japan were waiting for an opportunity to invade again. After their growing number, they attacked Xinghua, but they did not attack for several months. At this time, Liu Xian sent eight people with letters to Xinghua to convey information. They were stopped and killed by the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates changed into Liu Xian's emissary's clothes and cheated them to open the gate of the city, taking the opportunity to capture Xinghua City.

After the Japanese invaders captured Xinghua, Liu Xian led his troops close to Xinghua, but because of the small number of soldiers, Liu Xian did not dare to attack the city without authorization, but was impeached and charged. Yu Dayou, Fujian general, also said that a large army was needed.

In 1563, the imperial court took Tan Lun as the right censor and governor of Fujian, and came to support him. However, Ouyang Shen, the commander of the imperial court, was ambushed by Japanese pirates and died. The Japanese pirates then occupied pinghaiwei. In April, Qi Jiguang led Zhejiang soldiers to support. After Qi Jiguang arrived, Tan Lun immediately prepared for the general attack on the Japanese pirates. First, he set up a fence on each sea route to block the return of the Japanese pirates. Then Tan Lun took Liu Xian as the left army, Yu Dayou as the right army, Tan Lun led the central army, and Qi Jiguang as the vanguard, besieged pinghaiwei, and killed more than 2000 soldiers. Qi Jiguang and other soldiers led the pursuit. The road of the Japanese pirates was blocked, and more than 3000 people were killed. So Liu Xian and others revived Xinghua. The imperial court took Qi Jiguang as the governor, Tongzhi, and Shiqian as the commander in chief instead of Yu Dayou.

In February of the 43rd year of Jiajing reign (1564), the remaining Japanese pirates gathered more than 10000 people to besiege Xianyou. After fighting for three days, Qi Jiguang led his troops to get rid of the siege. The Japanese pirates were defeated. Qi Jiguang led his troops to chase them to wangcangping, beheaded more than 100 people, and many people fell to the cliff and died. Thousands of Yudang people fled and occupied caipiling, Zhangpu. Qi Jiguang was divided into five sentinels (the ancient military establishment unit) to climb the rock. He fought with the Japanese pirates and killed more than 100 people. The remaining Japanese pirates plundered the fishing boats and fled to the sea, then invaded Funing. Qi Jiguang led Li Chao and others to defeat them, and then took advantage of the victory to pursue Yongning, killing more than 300 people.

In the same year, the Japanese pirates in Chaozhou gathered 20000 people to plunder Chaozhou with the pirate Wu Ping. Yu Dayou led his troops to kill the Japanese pirates and recruited Wu Ping to garrison in Meiling. But not long after, Wu Ping, together with Lin Daoqian and Zeng yiben, made landfall in zoumaxi and bopuao successively, looting Nancun fort and Gangkou village. Qi Jiguang immediately led his troops to encircle and suppress Meiling. When Wu Ping learned of this, he gave up Meiling, where he had been defending before. He gathered more than 100 large ships and fled to Nan'ao, where he built a stronghold for defense.

In 1565, Yu Dayou led the Navy and Qi Jiguang led the infantry to encircle Wu Ping. Wu Ping was defeated and fled to Fenghuang mountain alone.

Northern tartar

In the first year of Longqing (1567), Wu Shilai proposed to let Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and others train the soldiers in Jimen. However, the court decided to appoint only Qi Jiguang. So the imperial court appointed Qi Jiguang as Deputy General of Shenji camp. At that time, Tan Lun had just recruited 30000 infantry in Liao and Ji areas, and another 3000 soldiers in Zhejiang Province. He asked Qi Jiguang to train him and obtained permission from Mu Zong.

In 1568, Mu Zong of the Ming Dynasty asked Qi Jiguang to train soldiers in Jizhou, Changping, Baoding and other places. All the officials below the commander in chief were controlled by Qi Jiguang. After Qi Jiguang took office, there was Guo Hu, the chief soldier in Jizhou. Qi Jiguang was the prime minister, so he could not give a unified order. So the imperial court transferred Guo Hu away and took Qi Jiguang as the chief soldier to guard Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhai and other places. Before Qi Jiguang broke Wu Ping, he became the right governor. When the northern barbarians invaded Qingshankou, Qi Jiguang led troops to repel them.

In the first year of Wanli (1573), the little prince of Beiman and Dong fox conspired to invade, but they refused to ask for a reward from tingsuo of Ming Dynasty. So they burned, killed and plundered in xifengkou. Qi Jiguang went to pacify the rebellion and almost caught Dong fox alive. In the summer of the same year, Dong fox invaded Taolin and was repelled by Qi Jiguang. Then Dong ChanGang, Dong Fox's nephew, invaded Jieling and was defeated. Dong fox has repeatedly harassed the border

Chinese PinYin : Qi Ji Guang