Early life Qi Jiguang was born in the town of Luqiao in
Shandong province (now in
Weishan,
Jining) to a family with a long military tradition. His forefather served as a military leader under the
Hongwu Emperor and died in battle. When Zhu Yuanzhang became the founding emperor of the
Ming dynasty, he bestowed upon the Qi family the hereditary post of commander-in-chief of
Dengzhou Garrison, a district of the present day
Penglai. Qi Jiguang's father Qi Jingtong () (1473–1544) was a skilled martial arts expert and an upright and devoted military general. Strongly influenced by his family, Qi Jiguang took an early interest in the military. As a child, he built ramparts from clay, piled up rubble to form barracks, and made flags from bamboo sticks and paper to play war games with his friends and himself as the commander. When his father died, Qi Jiguang took over the commandership of Dengzhou Garrison at the age of 17. As his siblings were still young, he married Lady Wang and left domestic affairs to her. Besides building up the naval defense at the garrison, he also led his troops in the defense of
Jizhou (薊州, east of present-day
Beijing) against
Mongol raiders during spring time from 1548 to 1552. At the age of 22, Qi Jiguang headed for Beijing to take part in the martial
imperial examination. During this time, Mongol troops led by
Altan Khan broke through the northern defenses and laid siege to Beijing. Candidates participating in the martial arts exam were mobilized to defend the nine gates of the capital. Qi Jiguang twice submitted defense proposals to the emperor and was noted to have displayed extraordinary valor and military cunning during the battle, and saw the defeat of the invaders.
Battles against the wokou pirates -pirates on
China during Qi Jiguang's time (blue). In 1553, Qi Jiguang was promoted to Assistant Regional Military Commissioner () of Shandong's defense force against
wokou pirates. The marauders that terrorized the Eastern coastlines were hardly pirates. They constructed inland bases on land and besieged walled cities. They conducted continuous raids for at least two decades. Additionally, they weren't just Japanese. Most of the time, they worked together with mixed Chinese bands, with the latter frequently dominating. Even Chinese explorers provided their leadership. However, the Japanese pirates were the main combatants. Japan served as the base of the invasion, and the Japanese provided all military expertise and equipment. When Qi Jiguang took over the command of
Shandong's coastal defense, he had less than 10,000 troops at hand, though the recorded strength was 30,000. Furthermore, many of his soldiers who were young and strong men deserted to make a living elsewhere, leaving behind the old and the weak. The troops also lacked training and discipline, while the defense works were dilapidated due to years of negligence. In the fall of 1555, Qi was sent to
Zhejiang where the pirating situation had spiraled out of control. Together with two other generals,
Yu Dayou and
Tan Lun, Qi led Ming forces to a decisive victory at Cen Harbor () in 1558. Henceafter, his troops continued to deal blows to the pirates at Taozhu (),
Haimen Garrison and
Taizhou. After the victory at Cen Harbor, not only was Qi not credited for his valor, he was almost demoted over slander that he liaised with wokou pirates. With the situation in Zhejiang under control, Qi shifted his focus to drilling his soldiers. He drafted mainly miners and farmers from the county of
Yiwu because he believed these people to be honest and hardworking. He also oversaw the construction of 44 naval vessels of various sizes to be used against pirates at sea. In 1555, he wrote the poem
Written on Horseback to summarize his life as: The first trial for Qi's new army came in 1559. After a month-long battle with wokou pirate in Taizhou Prefecture, the pirates suffered over 5,000 casualties, while Qi's army established a name for itself among both the people of Zhejiang and its enemies. Partly as a result of Qi's military success in Zhejiang, pirate activities surged in the province of
Fujian. More than 10,000 pirates had established strongholds along the coast from
Fu'an in the north to
Zhangzhou in the south. In July 1562, Qi Jiguang led 6,000 elite troops south into Fujian. Within two months, his army had eradicated three major lairs of wokou pirates at
Hengyu (),
Niutian () and
Lindun (). However, his own army also suffered significant losses of nearly a hundred men due to fighting and disease. Seeing the pirate infestation in Fujian subdued, Qi then returned to Zhejiang to regroup. The pirates took the opportunity to invade Fujian again, this time succeeding in conquering Xinghua (興化, present day
Putian). In April 1563, Qi Jiguang led 10,000 troops into Fujian and reclaimed Xinghua. Over the next year, a series of victories by Qi Jiguang's army finally saw the pirate problem in Fujian resolved. In September 1565, a major battle against wokou pirates was fought on the island of
Nan'ao, which lies near the boundary between the provinces of Fujian and
Guangdong. There Qi joined arms with his old comrade Yu Dayou again to defeat the remnant of the combined Japanese and Chinese pirate force.
Years on the northern frontier at Badaling, which Qi Jiguang reinforced. After eliminating the pirate threat, Qi Jiguang was called to Beijing in late 1567 to take charge of training the imperial guards. With the revolt against the
Yuan dynasty in mid-14th century, the Hongwu Emperor drove the
Mongols north beyond the
Great Wall and founded the
Ming dynasty. However, he did not manage to eliminate Mongolian power, which continued to pester the northern frontier for the next two hundred years. When Qi was in
Beijing in 1550,
Altan Khan, ruler of the
Tumed Mongols, broke through the northern defenses and nearly devastated Beijing. In 1571, the Ming dynasty bestowed the title "Lord Shunyi" () upon Altan Khan and established trade with the Mongols. Altan Khan then forbade his subordinates from raiding Chinese settlements. However, other Mongols led by
Jasaghtu Khan continued to test Qi's defenses, though without much success. In the next year, he was given command of the troops in Jizhou to defend against the Mongols. Qi oversaw the repair work on the segment of the
Great Wall between
Shanhai Pass and
Juyong Pass. He also directed the construction of watchtowers along the wall. After two years of hard work, more than 1,000 watchtowers were completed, giving the defensive capability in the north a great boost. In the winter of 1572, Qi also conducted a month-long military exercise involving more than 100,000 troops. Based on his experience with the exercise he wrote the
Records of Military Training (), which became an invaluable reference for military leaders after him. During the early reign of the Wanli Emperor (1570s), the Mongol army led by Dong Huli, chieftain of the Duoyan tribe, continuously invaded the Ming territory. Qi Jiguang's troops defeated them many times and captured Dong Huli's younger brother Changtu. When Dong Huli brought his nephew and 300 clansmen to beg tearfully for mercy at the outpost, Qi Jiguang accepted their surrender. Dong released captives from his previous plunders and vowed to never invade Jizhou again.
Death Qi was politically connected to
Zhang Juzheng and fell out of favor with the Wanli Emperor after the death of Zhang. In early 1583, Qi was relieved of his duty. His wife left him soon after and he spent the rest of his years in poverty and ailing health. He died on 17 January 1588. == Legacy ==