Treatise on Armament Technology, Volume 101

Military Equipment: Warfare — Banners and Flags, Part 3

The Flag Captain’s identifying flag is one foot five inches square, featuring slanted corners and a decorative border. The pole used for this flag is a long spear, fifteen feet in length. The flag itself is to be suspended at a height of eleven feet from the ground.
original: 旗總認旗方一尺五寸斜角有邊、桿用長鎗一丈五尺、旗懸高一丈一尺。 This entry follows the same pattern as the Squad Leader's flag but increases the dimensions and height, reflecting the Flag Captain's higher rank and the need for his signal to be visible to a larger number of men.

Flag Captainoriginal: 旗總 (qízǒng). A mid-level tactical officer in the Ming military hierarchy. A Flag Captain typically commanded five squads, totaling fifty men, plus specialized support personnel.

Identifying Flagoriginal: 認旗 (rènqí). These "recognition flags" were essential for maintaining the "Mandarin Duck Formation" and other complex tactical maneuvers, ensuring that individual squads could always locate their commanding officer during the movement of troops.

Slanted Corners and Borderoriginal: 斜角有邊 (xiéjiǎo yǒu biān). This describes the aesthetic and functional design of the flag, likely referring to the serrated or flame-like "tongues" (flammules) common on Ming dynasty banners which helped prevent the fabric from fraying in high winds.

Long Spearoriginal: 長鎗 (cháng qiāng). The use of a functional weapon as a flagpole was a hallmark of the Ming military reforms popularized by Qi Jiguang; it meant that the flag-bearer remained a combat-effective soldier rather than a purely ceremonial figure.

Measurements (Zhang, Chi, and Cun)original: 丈 (zhàng), 尺 (chǐ), and 寸 (cùn). Based on Ming dynasty standards, the flag itself was roughly 48 cm (1.6 feet) square, and the spear-pole was approximately 4.8 meters (15.7 feet) long.