Yong Ying



Yong Ying (literally meaning "brave camps") are a type of regional army which emerged in the 1800s in Qing dynasty army, which fought in most of China's wars after the Opium War and numerous rebellions exposed the ineffectiveness of the Manchu Eight Banners and Green Standard Army. The Yong ying were created from the Tuanlian militia.

Tuanlian history
Tuanlian (團練) is the Chinese term for localised militia which begun in the Zhou Dynasty, offered self-defense for the civilians. In May 1645, Ming rebel leader Li Zicheng (Chinese:李自成) was killed by tuanlian of local land owners in Hubei province.

In Qing Jiaqing Emperor reign, the corrupted  Eight Banners and Green Standard Army were incapable of curbing the White Lotus Rebellion, Qing court began to order the local gentry and land owners of all the ten provinces to organize Tuanlian for self-defense, both the funding and control were in the hands of local gentry and land owners.

Yong
Yong(Chinese:勇), literary "Braves", were the official name of the member of the militia, which were recruited from the local civilian. Yong(Chinese:勇) was not regarded as the official Imperial Army of Eight Banners or Green Standard Army, the funding and the logistics for them was provided by civilian society, not by the Imperial Court.

These "braves" were grouped into units (ying), known as the "Yong Ying".

The Xiang Army a "Yung-ying" army in Qing Dynasty China, separate from the Manchu 8 Banners and Green Standard Army. They used modern weapons and the officers were never rotated, so relationships formed between officers and the troops, unlike Green Standard and Banner forces.

It was recorded that "Although rations came from public funds, the yung-ying troops were nevertheless grateful to the officers of the battalion for selecting them to be put on the rolls, as if they had received personal favours from the officers. Since in ordinary times there existed [between the officers and the troops] relations of kindness as well as mutual confidence, in battle it could be expected that they would see ach other through hardship and adversity".

Zeng Guofan
During 1845's Taiping Rebellion, tuanlian militia was expanded by Zeng Guofan into an army force of thirteen battalions consisted of 6500 men, a navy of ten battalions consised of 5000 men, of a total of 17,000 men, was given the name of Xiang Army, with Zeng Guofan as the Commander-in-chief, accepting orders from Zeng alone. The new rule was termed "Soldiers followed the general, soldiers belonged to the general"(Chinese:兵隨將轉，兵為將有), contrary to the old military rule before the Northern Song Dynasty's "Soldiers had no fixed commander, commander had no fixed soldiers" (Chinese:兵無常帥，帥無常兵). This new military rule was the direct cause of the Warlord era. These Tuanlian were turned into the Yong Ying Xiang Army.

List of Yong Ying Armies

 * Chu Army
 * Xiang Army
 * Huai Army
 * Dian Army