Nine Ming garrisons

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The Chinese Walls and the Nine Garrisons

The nine garrisons of the Ming or Jiubian ( Chinese  九 邊  /  九 边 , Pinyin Jiǔbiān  - "nine borders"), also Jiuzhen ( Chinese  九 鎮  /  九 镇 , Pinyin Jiǔzhèn  - "nine garrisons"), were a military system for guarding the Great Wall of China , which was founded in the Ming Dynasty under Emperor Hongzhi .

The system of garrisons

Through constant expansion and improvement, the Great Wall became a defensive network during the Ming Dynasty, supported by a sophisticated system of military administrative structures. The dispatch of special troops to maintain military security enabled the Ming leaders to keep the mainland away from the looming threats of attacks and attempted invasions.

The system of this defense network consisted of nine garrisons , which were stationed one after the other on the sections of the wall. The garrison towns were expanded militarily, parts of the fortifications are still there today.

The nine garrisons were:

Later, under Jiajing , two more garrisons were sent from the Ji garrison to the northwest, so that ultimately eleven garrisons were stationed at the Great Wall:

The garrison structure

The garrisons were subordinate to three commanders, the so-called Generals Jiliao , Xuanda and Shaanxi Sanbian . The names of these generals were derived from the respective garrisons that were under them. Under the control of "General Jiliao" were Liaodong, Jizhen, Changzhen and Zhenbao, the "General Xuanda" were under Xuanfu, Datong and Taiyuan; and "General Shaanxi Sanbian" finally had the garrisons of Yansui, Ningxia, Guyuan and Gansu under them. Under their command was a finely structured network of lower military ranks. The higher officers were recruited from the nobility and high-ranking military, the city administrator of the respective garrison town was a civilian.

The garrison commander ( Zhenshou ) was above various sub-commanders ( Fenshou ), who in turn were responsible for the commanders of the individual fortresses ( Shou ). The chain of command extended over the troop captain ( Zongbing ), his deputy ( Fu zongbing ) and other ranks down to the individual soldier. A total of around 300,000 soldiers and officers were deployed in the garrisons.

The garrison structures

The Great Wall at Shanhaiguan

The headquarters in the fortified garrison towns as the top level of the defense structure administered a system of subunits ( Lu ), which varied in size depending on the situation. They consisted of a system of pass fortresses, castles, watch and signal towers and other defensive facilities. For example, the Ji garrison was subordinate to the Shanhailu subunit , which included the pass fortresses Shanhaiguan , Nanhaikouguan , Nanshuiguan and its watchtower, Hanmenguan , Beishuiguan and the associated watchtower, Jiaoshanguan , Sandaoguan and Sieryuguan .

The military structures and facilities in or on the wall were just as clearly structured as the troop system. The pass fortresses were of particular importance. The importance of the pass fortresses was determined by their particular strategic location. They were built in easily defendable places such as hill tops or mountain tops, on cliffs, river bends and in or near gorges and narrow valleys. Some of them were in use before the Ming and were reinforced by them or, as in the case of the Yanmenguan, even relocated and rebuilt. In the event of an attack or other military emergency, the generals and high-ranking military commanders stayed here.

The garrisons

Liaodong Garrison

The commander of the unit was in Liaoyang province Liaoning stationed. The section of wall guarded by the garrison extended from Jinshan am Yalu in the east to Shanhaiguan in the west and was 975 kilometers long.

Xuanfu Garrison

This garrison was located near what is now Xuanhua County in Hebei Province and was rated as one of the most important garrisons. Its wall section had a length of 510 kilometers and began at Juyongguan in the east and extended to the Xihun He river northeast of Datong in the west. Due to the strategically important location in the north-west of the capital, the walls in this section were extremely solid, in some sections nine walls had been built in a row, each of them occupied by strong troops.

Datong Garrison

The garrison was in Datong in the province of Shanxi stationed and was responsible for more than 330 km section between Zhenkoutai in the northeast of the circle Tianzhen and Yajiao Shan in circles Qingshuihe in Inner Mongolia .

Yansui Garrison

The headquarters of Yulinbao ("Fortress of Yulin") was in Yulin . The troops monitored the section of the wall between Qingshuiying near Qingshui in Inner Mongolia in the east to Huamachi (today Yanchi , Ningxia ) in the west over a length of about 885 kilometers.

Ningxia Garrison

The garrison headquarters was in Yinchuan , Ningxia. The section of wall she controlled was more than 1,000 kilometers long and stretched from Dayanchi (now Yanchi ) in Ningxia in the east to Lanjing in Gansu Province .

Large parts of this section are now buried under sand that was blown by the wind from the Gobi desert , only in the area of Helanshan long sections have survived. At one point near Shizhuishan , the displacement of the wall by several meters due to the earthquake can be observed.

Gansu Garrison

Jiayuguan Fort

The more than 800 kilometers long section between Jincheng on Huang He (now Lanzhou , Gansu) in the east and the Jiayuguan Pass in the west was guarded by the Gansu garrison stationed in Zhangye in Gansu. Here, too, many sections are sunk in the sand, although some areas are still well preserved. A good example are Shandan's twin walls, which are ten meters apart .

Jizhou Garrison

The barracks of the garrison was moved several times and finally was in Santunying in circles Jixian in Hebei. The section of the wall between the Shanhaiguan and Juyongguan passes was more than 600 kilometers long at its endpoints. If the section of the Changping garrison is included, the total length is about 880 kilometers.

Changping Garrison

The Changping Garrison was located in Changping, northwest of Beijing , and was therefore considered to be the guardian of the capital and the imperial tombs . The approximately 230 kilometers long section began in the east and ran to Zijingguan in the west.

Zhenbao Garrison

The Zhenbao garrison was stationed in Baoding and guarded the approximately 390-kilometer section between Yanhekou (today in Mentougou , Beijing) to Lululingkou in Shanxi, where, for example, the Longguan and Niangziguan crossings are located.

Taiyuan Garrison

The garrison was also known as the Shanxi Garrison and had its headquarters in Ningwu on Pianguan (Pian Pass). The approximately 800 km long section of the wall lies between the banks of the Huang He near Hequ in Shanxi and Huangyuling (today east of Heshun , Shanxi). It was exceptionally well fortified and included the "Three Outer Passes" Pianguan, Ningwuguan and Yanmenguan as well as the crossings of the Pingxingguan , Longquanguan and Guguan , and finally the Laoyingbao Fortress . The wall section lay in the south of the Datong and Xuanfu garrisons and was therefore also called the "Inner Great Wall".

Guyuan Garrison

The troops of the Guyuan garrison, starting from Guyuan near present-day Huaishupu in Pingding County of Ningxia Autonomous Region, monitored a section of wall more than 500 kilometers long between Jingbian in Shaanxi in the east to Gaolan in Gansu Province in the west.

Except for the area around the Guguan Pass, the wall of this section is in poor condition and can hardly be seen in the terrain.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Denis Twitchett , Frederick W. Mote: The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7 - The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 Part 1. Cambridge University Press, 1988. p. 373
  2. ↑ Xuanhua Town  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: dead link / en.hebeitour.com.cn  
  3. ↑ Buchun Zhang, Yuhua Liao, Shunmin Guo, Robert E. Wallace, Robert C. Bucknam and Thomas C. Hanks: Fault scarps related to the 1739 earthquake and seismicity of the Yinchuan graben, Ningxia Huizu Zizhiqu, China. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 76, No. 5, pp. 1253-1287, October 1986 ( abstract )
  4. ^ The Oral History Project: Robert E. Wallace. Connections, The EERI Oral History Sites, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. (PDF; 3.1 MB) Photo p. 170

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