UNIT: Ming Spec Ops in New TV Series "Win or Die" | 明特务《夜不收》



A few days ago the team that brought "The Longest Day in Chang An" series released the trailer for their new action- thriller "Win or Die" or in Chinese as Ye Bu Shou. And the quality looks quite up to par with their incredible reputation. The TV series is set beyond the Ming Great Wall and revolves around the Ming 夜不收 Ye Bu Shou, or Ming Spec Ops. If you are interested in subterfuge, double identities, and 2 civilizations poised at a sword's edge: this piece might be right up your alley. 













HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE MING NIGHT SCOUTS

The Premise is not hard to describe. If you have seen any of "Game of Thrones" it's similar to Jon Snow's missions going beyond the Walls and mingle among the wildlings and live among them. But will it ends in "Dance with Wolves," or something far more contentious? That's the question. 

THE LAST MING HOLDOUT IN THE NORTH

After the disastrous Tumu Crisis: Ming's grasp of the north shrank dramatically. Mongol armies of the Northern Yuan dynasty were soon able to harass Beijing- the Ming capital (and Yuan's old capital) with seasonal raids and the Ming court feared for another such calamity. As such the crisis spurred on the aggressive building of the Ming Great Walls. Wall building efforts rapidly snaked across the central back of the empire over the northern spine of the empire then expanded into the west and east- until nearly all of the north was obsessively compulsively sealed. 


Soon a vast series of deep entrenchment of forts and stations were added behind key hinges of the Ming Great Wall called the Nine Garrisons. However one area that this ambitious expansion left out was the Liaodong stretch beyond the Great Walls to the east, which did not receive as extensive of a fortification as the rest of the north. Instead, a humbler version of the wall was constructed around the territory. This does not mean that Liaodong was not seen as strategically important~ but rather, in comparison with the rest of the north, Liaodong as a whole became a heavily militarized front. 

A Frontier Entrenched. Liaodong was a site of constant heavy fighting and would see struggles with the Manchus until the collapse of the Ming dynasty. Late Ming saw several innovative commanders who were aggressive adopters of firearms at the Liaodong front including Mao Wenlong (his loyalist generals- turned rebels) and Yuan Chonghuan.


The key city of Shenyang was designated a "guard town" (militarized settlement) named Shenyang Central Guard (沈阳中卫; Shěnyáng Zhōngwèi) and it became one of the most important Chinese military strongholds beyond the Shanhai Pass. Another was Liaoyang, a vital fortress in the area. Many fortresses guarded the forks and tributaries of key rivers in the area. 


Precariously jutting out while surrounded by contending Mongol powers and unpredictable (later revealed to be mutinous) Jurchen (Manchu) vassals. Liaodong was beset on all sides and remained the lone Ming foothold in the north. As such it was a heavily militarized frontier. Against such lopsided odds, Ming was forced to employ both conventional military forces~ and special intelligence to forewarn them of threatening developments.

THE YE BU SHOU 夜不收

They played an important role in monitoring enemy developments, transmitting intelligence, scorched earth, and ensuring border security.

The word Ye Bu Shou was a slang from Sichuan which was literally translated as "Not Return at Night," or less formally translated as "Unaccounted at Night," usually a slang that describes nocturnal men who does not go home in the middle of the night and wanders outside. In the context of the Ming north the word came to describe a well trained deep infiltrator who would infiltrate far beyond the garrison into the hostile lands. The name is apt also because of their activities outside all night. They were stationed in military towns on the western and northern borders, they were also distributed in other areas.


In most cases Ye Bu Shou would be highly trained in martial combat to handle themselves but also fluent in Mongolian or Jurchen languages to seamlessly blend in. Additionally they would be well versed in steppe lifestyle and politics and embed themselves deeply into their attached tribes. They were not distinguished by any special clothing nor armament and externally appear and act as their steppe counterparts. Such an ethos was eloquently summarized in the trailer as "you can only wear the uniform once you die." Context: even before the Mongols conquered much of the known world centuries past they extensively made use of deep networks of spies. It was a daunting task going beyond the walls with such heavy missions. May the best spy wins and may this series be a thing of beauty!

Shanhai Pass, the illustration above corresponds to the end of the 16th century, when the Ming built expensive fortifications in this area. Shanhai Pass (shanhaiguan), also known as the "First Step under Heaven" served as the inner gate of northeastern China. Liaodong Garrison would serve as an outlying military province outside the Great Wall.



FOR MORE ON THE CONVENTIONAL DEFENDERS OF LIAODONG GARRISON
CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE ON MING GARRISON GUNNER HERE.





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Comments

Der said…
Looks awesome!

The Ming military was great, producing talents like Qi Jiguang and was able, even in the last decades of the Ming Dynasty was able to engage, defeat and repel the Japanese invasion of Korea during the Imjin War despite the Japanese samurai and ashigaru being amongst the most battle hardened military in the world at the time.

A pity that the Ming would eventually fall, but having read Timothy Brook's "The Price of Collapse: The Little Ice Age and the Fall of Ming China" the reason was not military or Manchus but rather climate change and the little ice age that destroyed the Ming.

Dragon's Armory said…
Well it was a Hellish age and Ming wasn't able to offset it unfortunately. Early 17th century also nearly destroyed the HRE and Muscovy as well- Thirty Years War and Time of Troubles. *And later the Deluge for the Poles. In fact Ming ended some 4 years before the 30 Years War was finally over and the consecration of Treaty of Westphalia. Most of the instances listed above was hellish for the polities involved.

It is a pity that Ming was not able to remedy its internal woes. If the likes of Li Zicheng and other rebels did not came about I think Ming would have done better against its foreign adversaries. Battered as it may it was still a power that tried to reform. I don't hate the Qing in fact I quite respect what it did for China in the 18th century but simultaneously I also never stopped imagine what Ming could have been if it knowingly reformed into their own modernity.
Walao said…
Thanks for alerting us to this. More Cao Dun is always good. Hopefully we'll be notified whenever there is worthy productions like these.

But it's not a movie but an 18 episode series. I hope this can actually broadcast unlike his movie which some speculate to have run into censorship issues because it depicts tibetans being antagonists.
Dragon's Armory said…
Really? Even better then, just re-edited with new info added.
That's super exciting to hear, this way we will actually get to flesh out many of the Mongol characters and have good back and forth character development. TV will actually allow much more of the deep infiltration aspect then and really winds deep into the society and culture the main character is attaching himself to.
Muramasa said…
Any idea where I can watch the movie Heroes of Dunhuang?
Dragon's Armory said…
Unfortunately no pal. Try to search it on on Bili Bili or IQiyi

If you do find them please let me know as well.
kol said…
I have a question Do you ever find any information on how they produced the Leather armor during the warring states. Specially to make it hardened and how lacquering help its protection Quality Since we have sources on how Mongol Leather armor is produced I don’t know no one has tried to re-create it and test it

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Kelvin said…
Hi, do you have any idea when this might be released? I'm a sucker for historically accurate TV series like this one. Thank you very much.
Dragon's Armory said…
Thank you for your interest
Sorry your message got delayed by the auto screening process on Blogger. Usually Im much faster on the draw in replies.

I am not sure about release date but it will be released on iQiyi, which is a channel on Youtube and they have their own streaming platform in China.

If you sub to their channel or at least regularly check in you should be able to see it. Hope this helps!
Raynor said…
Li Zicheng was in many ways a mini Manchu legion. The Chuang army was a Xibei horse bandit group essentially. Most of the leaders were ex-Ming military horse carriers/scouts.