Chapter 537

The pacification army marched south from Baxian to Zunyi, and upon arriving, wasted no time in turning west toward Anshun Military and Civilian Prefecture. The military and civilian prefecture was a type of prefecture unique to the Ming Dynasty, first established during the Hongwu era. At that time, the ethnic minority populations in the southwest gathered as soldiers in times of war and dispersed as commoners in times of peace, making them difficult to mobilize swiftly. To address this situation, the Great Ming Dynasty established military and civilian prefectures locally. All commoners within the prefecture were enrolled in military registers, with every hundred men forming a squad led by a centurion. In peacetime, they farmed and hunted; in wartime, they were drafted into service. The Anshun Military and Civilian Prefecture originally fell under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Province, but was later downgraded to a direct prefecture under Yunnan Province. During the Yongle era, Anshun Prefecture was once again elevated to a military and civilian prefecture and transferred to the governance of Guizhou.