The Founding Vision: A Self-Sustaining Army

When Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368, he sought to create a military system that would not burden the state treasury. His solution was the Wei-Suo (Guard and Battalion) system, which tied military service to land cultivation. Soldiers, registered as hereditary military households (junhu), were allocated farmland—50 mu (about 8 acres) per soldier—along with tools and oxen. The system was designed so that soldiers would sustain themselves through farming while maintaining readiness for defense.

Zhu Yuanzhang famously boasted, “I maintain a million soldiers without consuming a single grain from the people.” Frontier garrisons followed a “three parts defense, seven parts farming” rule, while inland units split duties as “two parts defense, eight parts farming.” The harvest was divided: soldiers kept 12 shi (about 720 kg) of grain for subsistence, with the surplus funding officers’ salaries and reserves.

The Unraveling of a System

By the mid-Ming period, corruption and mismanagement eroded the Wei-Suo system. Military lands were seized by officers, local elites, and eunuchs. As Minister of War Lu Xiangsheng lamented:
> “Lands meant for soldiers now fill the estates of the powerful. Soldiers own no fields, and those who till are not soldiers. The strong grow richer; the state and the military grow poorer.”

External pressures worsened the crisis. The Tumu Crisis (1449) and repeated Mongol incursions forced garrisons into constant combat, leaving fields untended. Border conflicts with ethnic groups like the Manchus led to “fields lost beyond enemy lines.” Meanwhile, the collapse of the Kai Zhong salt monopoly—which incentivized merchants to supply frontier troops—destroyed the complementary merchant garrison system.

The Descent into Chaos

By the late 16th century, the Ming military was a shadow of its former self. Salaries went unpaid for years, prompting soldiers to sell weapons, children, or flee. A 1627 report from Shaanxi Governor Hu Tingyan revealed:
> “Soldiers once pawned clothes and arrows; now they sell wives. Once they begged in streets; now they desert. Once they whispered grievances; now they riot openly.”

Lu Xiangsheng’s 1630s inspections painted a grimmer picture:
> “Men stand guard in tattered clothes—no pants, no shoes. The wind cuts like arrows; they collapse from hunger. They no longer beg for pay. They know no one will listen.”

The Corruption Cascade

Three fatal flaws emerged:

1. The Rise of Private Armies
Officers diverted funds to create jiading (household troops)—elite soldiers personally loyal to them. These units, better armed and fed, became tools for personal advancement. As critic Dai Li noted:
> “Of 10,000 troops, 4,000 exist only on paper. The rest? Pocketed for bribes and private armies.”

2. Mutinies and Revolts
Chronic arrears sparked rebellions. In 1628, Ningyuan troops mutinied, torturing their general and driving the governor to suicide. By 1635, reports of “starving armies revolting daily” were routine. Many defectors joined peasant uprisings, transferring military skills to rebels like Li Zicheng.

3. Atrocities and Collapse
Discipline evaporated. Soldiers looted civilians “more brutally than bandits.” To claim rewards, officers massacred innocents—in 1631, a general presented 35 children’s heads as “rebel kills.” The phrase “bandits comb, soldiers shave” entered popular parlance, reflecting how troops stripped regions bare.

The Legacy of Failure

The Ming’s military collapse was both symptom and accelerator of its downfall. By 1644, unpaid garrisons opened gates to Li Zicheng’s rebels, while mutinous generals defected to the Manchus. The system’s failure underscored a broader truth: no empire can long endure when its defenders are starving, exploited, and stripped of dignity.

Ironically, Zhu Yuanzhang’s “self-sufficient” model—once a triumph of ingenuity—became a cautionary tale of institutional decay. Its lessons resonate today: systems built on fairness erode when corruption replaces accountability, and armies cannot protect nations they despise.