Treatise on Armament Technology, Volume 80

Formation and Training System

Training, Part 12
Teaching Flags, Part 5

The Methods of General Qi Jiguang of Our Dynasty

Once the "ears and eyes" This refers to the soldiers' ability to hear the drums/horns and see the flags. have been trained, the men can respond in time to the rhythms of the signals. Now, they must be taught through field exercises. To this end, I have composed these chapters on Field Drills.

The first drill concerns the cavalry original: 馬兵 Mabing. We shall use one battalion original: 哨 Shao; a tactical unit which in this context is defined as consisting of 3,000 men as our example. Whenever the signal horn sounds once, the officers and soldiers shall gather their gear and prepare. Upon hearing a single blast of the trumpet original: 哱囉 Bolo; a brass signaling instrument similar to a horn or clarion, everyone shall stand up. When the trumpet sounds once more,