The 'secret formation,' a predecessor to Qi Jiguang's Mandarin Duck formation. The five man team consisted of a leader armed with a shield, a man wielding a wolf brush, and three pikemen. 'Secret formations' were deployed on flat terrain in large blocks so that the shieldmen and wolf brush soldiers protected the pikemen from arrows and melee weapons.Qi Jiguang's 'mandarin duck formation' in standby and combat. It consisted of two teams of five, one leader, and one porter. Each team consisted of one swordsman who was the leader, one wolf brush soldier, two pikemen, and one trident soldier.Qi Jiguang's 'new mandarin duck formation.' This modified formation was created to suit the conditions of North China where the primary opponents were mobile horse riding nomads. Due to their high mobility, firearms were not heavily emphasized and only two men wielded firearms: a matchlock and a tiller gun[clarification needed]. Except for the squad leader, the archer, the rest stand ready to engage in melee combat.Qi Jiguang's 'infantry squad' – a contingent of armored soldiersQi Jiguang's 'killer squad.' The killer squad was a reconfigured Mandarin Duck formation. It was often used in conjunction with the 'firearm squad' to provide melee support.Qi Jiguang's 'firearm squad.' The firearm squad consisted of one squad leader, ten troopers, and one porter.Unarmed fighting as depicted in the manual, which includes postures such as the elbow wing block from Nanquan(on the right) and rising elbow(顶肘, Dǐng zhǒu)from Bajiquan(on the left)
The Jixiao Xinshu (simplified Chinese: 纪效新书; traditional Chinese: 紀效新書; pinyin: Jìxiào xīnshū) or New Treatise on Military Efficiency[1] is a military manual written during the 1560s and 1580s by the Ming dynasty general Qi Jiguang. Its primary significance is in advocating for a combined arms approach to warfare using five types of infantry and two type of support. Qi Jiguang separated infantry into five separate categories: firearms, swordsmen, archers with fire arrows, ordinary archers, and spearmen. He split support crews into horse archers and artillery units. The Jixiao Xinshu is also one of the earliest-existing East Asian texts to address the relevance of Chinese martial arts with respect to military training and warfare. Several contemporary martial arts styles of Qi's era are mentioned in the book, including the staff method of the Shaolin temple.
