Qing Dynasty Army Formation

Mainly the Eight Banners and Green Battalion systems.

The Eight Banners

The form of social organization of the Manchu in the Qing Dynasty of China. The ancestors of the Manchu women to hunting as a profession, every year to the fishing season, to clan or village as a unit, by the prestigious people as a leader, this blood and geography as a unit of collective hunting organization form, known as the cattle record system. Chief called cattle record amount of real (cattle record means big arrow; amount of real, also known as ? real, meaning the Lord). Qing Emperor Nurhachu in the Ming Wanli twenty-ninth year (1601) was formally created, the initial establishment of four banners: yellow flag, white flag, red flag, blue flag. 1614 because of the "return to the service of the benefit of the broader" will be changed to four banners of the yellow, white, red, blue, and set up inlay yellow, inlay white, inlay red, inlay blue four banners, collectively referred to as the eight banners, the rate of the Manchu, Mongolian, Han Chinese Army. Provides that every 300 people for a cow record, set up a cow record Eizhen one, five cow record for a Jiala (team), set up a Jiala Eizhen (senator) one, five Jiala for a solid mountain, set up a solid mountain Eizhen (President, the flag Lord) one person, the deputy position of a person, known as the right and left Meilu Eizhen (Deputy President).

Huang taiji succeeded to the throne in order to expand the source of soldiers in the Manchu eight banners on the basis of the creation of the Mongolian eight banners and eight banners of the Han army, the establishment of the same with the Manchu eight banners. Manchu, Mongolian, Han eight banners **** 24 banners constitute the whole of the eight banners system in the Qing dynasty. Manchu Qing Dynasty after the entry of the eight banners of the army and divided into the eight banners of the forbidden brigade and the eight banners of the garrison.

The Green Battalion

The Qing Dynasty was organized by the Han people in the local armed forces, using the green flag as a symbol.

One of the standing armies of the Qing Dynasty. In the early years of shunzhi, the qing court in the process of unification of the whole country will be collected ming army and other han soldiers, with reference to the old system of ming army, to camp as the basic unit for the formation of the green flag as a symbol, known as green battalion, also known as green flag soldiers. The total number of green battalion soldiers, from time to time increase or decrease, in the Xianfeng before about 600,000 or so, compared with the eight banners soldiers more than three or four times. In the early Qing dynasty, especially in the early Kangxi to pacify the three feuds of the rebellion and in the Ganlong before the middle of the war, the green battalion had played an important role. Green Battalion is mainly infantry, divided into two kinds of soldiers and guards, in addition to horsemen (cavalry) and sailors. Its battalion system is divided into standard, association, battalion, flood four kinds, the governor, governor, governor, the general belongs to the standard, vice general belongs to the association, generals, guerrillas, the Secretary, the guard belongs to the battalion, thousands of generals, generals, foreign committees belongs to the flood. The standard, association jurisdiction ranging from one to five battalions, battalion below a number of flood. The number of people in each battalion is less than two or three hundred, more than six or seven hundred people. According to the road near and far, counting the land and water rush, flood defense. Its establishment is divided into three aspects of the capital, provinces, border areas. The capital set up five battalions of patrols, unified in the infantry commander. In the mainland provinces, there are green soldiers stationed, but the system and the amount of soldiers is not the same, of which the most extensive Min Guang, Anhui least. Green Battalion of the military position, to the Governor as the highest, control of the General below all levels of officers. The provinces and districts green battalion, since the governor, governor, the general soldiers below the standard, collectively under the control of the governor. In principle, the governor did not control the townships. However, in the provinces without a governor and the governor of the provinces can control the town association. In addition, jiangsu, hunan, fujian, taiwan, gansu, xinjiang and guizhou provinces, the governor also has the right to control the general army. Governor, governor, governor, governor, general soldier in addition to the jurisdiction of the standard officers and soldiers, but also has jurisdiction over a number of camps. Individual provinces of the eight banners garrison generals, such as the general of Ili, Chengdu General also govern, control part of the green battalion soldiers. In the border areas, Xinjiang, Mongolia and Tibet established a garrison system. The basic task of the local green battalion is "prudent patrol, ready for the draft", but also bear the poor service, the Northwest with soldiers, the Southeast sea defense and border defense, garrison, river engineering, transportation, guarding the mausoleum and other tasks. The green camp of this set of tightly organized system, play the arm of the repressive function, become the main pillar of the Qing dynasty to maintain its rule and armed forces.

At the same time, the Qing rulers in order to prevent the clans and towns, arrogant and domineering, in the Green Battalion took a series of preventive measures. The first is to civilian control of the military, local green battalions at all levels of military officers are under the jurisdiction of the highest local civilian officials or control. The second is the establishment of a set of mutual separation of powers, mutual restraint system. Such as the governor has the right to control the governor, governor, the general army, and the governor and part of the governor can also control the general army below all levels of military officials. So decentralized and limited the governor's command. Another example is that the governor, governor, governor have the power to deploy troops, but, in addition to the jurisdiction of a small number of soldiers, are not directly under the jurisdiction of other towns and camps. Heavy troops are led by the general soldier, and although the general soldier has the position of leading troops and horses, but not the power to deploy troops and horses. This was to prevent too much centralization of military power. Thirdly, the system that all soldiers were indigenous, the generals were transferred to the Ministry of War, and the registration of soldiers and the payment of wages were all under the Ministry of War was implemented. Thus, the generals were not allowed to have private soldiers, the soldiers were not owned by the generals, and all the power was vested in the central government.

Before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Green Battalion was still called elite. But later Cheng Ping day long, the camp is slack, increasingly corrupt. Since the early years of the Jiaqing suppression of Sichuan Chu White Lotus uprising has been unable to force, to the Xianfeng suppression of the Taiping Army, more repeatedly defeated. So since the Tongzhi to the Guangxu years through the elimination, and finally was reorganized as a patrol battalion, lost the role of the standing army, the system of green battalions only exist in the name of the empty.