About “New Treatise on Military Efficiency”
The Jixiao Xinshu, or New Treatise on Military Efficiency, is a 16th-century Chinese military manual written by General Qi Jiguang during the 1560s and 1580s. It emphasizes a combined arms approach to warfare, organizing infantry into five types: firearms, swordsmen, archers with fire arrows, ordinary archers, and spearmen. Support units include horse archers and artillery. The text also addresses the role of Chinese martial arts in military training, mentioning specific styles from Qi's time, such as the staff method of the Shaolin temple. It is one of the earliest East Asian texts to connect martial arts with military strategy. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)