The Jizhou Garrison (), also known as Ji, was one of the Nine Garrisons established during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. It was under the command of Jiliao. The garrison was established during the reign of the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...

(r. 1402–1424). Its headquarters likely located at Santunying, northwest of Qianxi in

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. The garrison's main responsibility was to defend the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against vario ...

in the

Yan Mountains The Yan Mountains, also known by their Chinese name Yanshan, are a major mountain range to the north of the North China Plain, principally in the province of Hebei. The range rises between the Chaobai River on the west and the Shanhai Pass on ...

, stretching from

Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...

in the east to the

Juyong Pass Juyong Pass () is a mountain pass located in the Changping District of Beijing Municipality, over from central Beijing. The Great Wall of China passes through, and the Cloud Platform was built here in the year 1342. Mountain pass Geography ...

north of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. The section of the Great Wall under the jurisdiction of the Jizhou garrison was divided into 11 sections and 27 sub-sections. These included well-known sections such as

Badaling Badaling () is the site of the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, approximately northwest of Beijing's city center, in Badaling Town, Yanqing District, Beijing municipality. The portion of the wall running through the site was ...

, Shui Pass, Huanghuacheng, Jiankou,

Mutianyu Mutianyu () is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Huairou District within the city limits of Beijing northeast of the center of the city. The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is connected with Jiankou in the west and Lianh ...

, Baimaguan Fort,

Gubeikou Gubeikou Town () is a town of Miyun District in northeastern Beijing, traversed by G101, bordering with Luanping County, Hebei to the north and the Beijing towns of Gaoling () to the west, Xinchengzi () to the east and Taishitun (). The area i ...

Jinshanling Jinshanling () is a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping County, Chengde, Hebei Province, 125 km (78 miles) northeast of Beijing. This section of the wall is connected with the Simatai section t ...

Simatai Simatai (), a section of the Great Wall of China located in the north of Miyun District, 120 km northeast of the city center of Beijing, holds the access to Gubeikou, a strategic pass in the eastern part of the Great Wall. It was closed in ...

, and Huangya Pass. The garrison was responsible for a total of 600 or possibly 700 kilometers of the wall. As the capital city of Beijing was located south of the garrison's defensive line, the wall in this area held great strategic importance. Construction of the Great Wall in this region began in 1551 and underwent significant renovations and expansions from 1567 to 1572, led by General

Qi Jiguang Qi Jiguang (, November 12, 1528 – January 17, 1588), courtesy name Yuanjing, art names Nantang and Mengzhu, posthumous name Wuyi, was a Chinese military general and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is best known for leading the defense on th ...

. The Jizhou Garrison shared borders with the Liaodong Garrison to the east and the

Xuanfu Garrison The Xuanfu Garrison () was one of the Nine Garrisons established by the Ming dynasty to defend the northern border and Great Wall of China. The area of responsibility was the defense of the outer stretch of the Great Wall, spanning from Juyong ...

to the west.

References

{{Reflist Military history of the Ming dynasty History of the Great Wall of China Military history of Hebei

See also

References