Editing Mercenary (section)

===East Asia===

====Warring States====
Mercenaries were regularly used by the kingdoms of the [[Warring States period]] of China. Military advisers and generals trained through the works of [[Mozi]] and [[Sun Tzu]] would regularly offer their services to kings and dukes.

After the [[Qin dynasty|Qin]] conquest of the Warring States, the Qin and later [[Han dynasty|Han]] Empires would also employ mercenaries – ranging from nomadic horse archers in the Northern steppes or soldiers from the [[Yue (state)|Yue]] kingdoms of the South. The 7th-century [[Tang dynasty]] was also prominent for its use of mercenaries, when they hired [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] and [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]] soldiers against invasion from the [[Göktürks]] and other steppe civilizations.<ref>''Ancient Chinese Civilization'' {{ISBN|978-1404280359}} p. 12</ref>

====15th to 18th centuries====
The Saika mercenary group<ref>雑賀衆, ''[[:ja:雑賀衆|saikashuu]]''</ref> of the [[Kii Province]], Japan, played a significant role during the [[Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji]] that took place between August 1570 to August 1580. The Saikashuu were famed for the support of [[Ikkō-shū|Ikkō]] Buddhist sect movements and greatly impeded the advance of [[Oda Nobunaga]]'s forces.

[[Ninja]] were peasant farmers who learned the art of war to combat the ''[[daimyō]]''{{'}}s samurai. They were hired out by many as mercenaries to perform capture, infiltration and retrieval, and, most famously, assassinations. Ninja possibly originated around the 14th century, but were not widely known or used till the 15th century and carried on being hired till the mid 18th century. In the 16th-17th centuries, the Spanish in the [[Philippines]] employed [[samurai]] mercenaries from Japan to help control the archipelago.<ref name="Álvarez">{{cite web |last1=Álvarez |first1=Jorge |title=The Sinking of the San Diego, the Spanish galleon that carried Japanese mercenaries to stop a Dutch invasion |url=https://labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/05/the-sinking-of-the-san-diego-the-spanish-galleon-that-carried-japanese-mercenaries-to-stop-a-dutch-invasion/ |website=LBV |date=11 May 2019 |access-date=26 May 2020 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029234348/https://labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/05/the-sinking-of-the-san-diego-the-spanish-galleon-that-carried-japanese-mercenaries-to-stop-a-dutch-invasion/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Abroad the wreck of one Spanish galleon, the [[San Diego (ship)|''San Diego'']], that sank in Filipino waters on 14 December 1600 were found numerous ''tsuba''s, the handguards of the ''katana''s, the distinctive swords used by the samurai.<ref name="Álvarez"/>

In 1615, the Dutch invaded Ai Island with Japanese mercenaries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wardsan.travellerspoint.com/s21/|title=Asia 2008–09|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530104033/http://wardsan.travellerspoint.com/s21/|archive-date=30 May 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?7626150|title=Merchant kings : when companies ruled the world, 1600–1900 / – University of Toronto Libraries|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=978-0312616113|year=2010|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629154836/http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?7626150|archive-date=29 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/lostworlds/timeline/lwstory7.htm|title=Lost Worlds Page 7 – From 1600–1700|first=Dan|last=Byrnes|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325034159/http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/lostworlds/timeline/lwstory7.htm|archive-date=25 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====19th century====
Between 1850 and 1864, the [[Taiping Rebellion]] raged as the Taiping (Heavenly Peace) Army led by [[Hong Xiuquan]], the self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ, engaged in a bloody civil war against the forces loyal to the Qing emperor. As Hong and his followers, who numbered in the millions, were hostile to Western business interests, a group of Western merchants based in Shanghai created a mercenary army known as the [[Ever Victorious Army]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China |date=1978 |publisher=KTO Press |location=Millwood |isbn=0527839507 |pages=43–44}}</ref> During the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing came close to losing control of China. It was common for the financially hard-pressed Qing emperors to subcontract out the business of raising armies to fight the Taiping to the loyalist provincial gentry, which formed the origins of the warlords who were to dominate China after the overthrow of the Qing in 1912.

The rank and file of the Ever-Victorious Army were Chinese, but the senior officers were Westerners. The first commander was an American adventurer, Colonel [[Frederick Townsend Ward]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China |date=1978 |publisher=KTO Press |location=Millwood |isbn=0527839507 |pages=60–61}}</ref> After Ward was killed in action in 1862, command was assumed by another American adventurer, [[Henry Andres Burgevine]], but the Chinese disliked him on the account of his racism and his alcoholism. Burgevine was replaced with a British Army officer seconded to Chinese service, Colonel Charles "Chinese" Gordon.<ref name="Faught">{{cite book |last1=Faught |first1=Brad |title=Gordon: Victorian Hero |date=2008 |publisher=Potomac Books |location=Washington D.C |isbn=978-1597971447 |page=29}}</ref>

A highly successful commander, Gordon won thirty-three battles in succession against the Taipings in 1863–1864 as he led the Ever Victorious Army down the Yangtze river valley and played a decisive role in defeating the Taipings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Urban |first1=Mark |title=Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The Modern World. |date=2005 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=978-0571224876 |page=157}}</ref> Through technically not a mercenary as Gordon had been assigned by the British government to lead the Ever Victorious Army, the ''Times'' of London in a leader (editorial) in August 1864 declared: "the part of the soldier of fortune is in these days very difficult to play with honour...but if ever the actions of a soldier fighting in foreign service ought to be viewed with indulgence, and even with admiration, this exceptional tribute is due to Colonel Gordon".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Urban |first1=Mark |title=Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The Modern World. |date=2005 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=978-0571224876 |page=158}}</ref>

During the French conquest of Vietnam, their most persistent and stubborn opponents were not the Vietnamese, but rather the Chinese mercenaries of the [[Black Flag Army]] commanded by [[Liu Yongfu]], who been hired by the Emperor [[Tự Đức]].<ref name="Karnow">{{cite book |last1=Karnow |first1=Stanley |title=Vietnam: A History |date=1983 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=0670746045 |pages=81–82}}</ref> In 1873, the Black Flags killed the French commander, [[Francis Garnier]], attracting much attention in France.<ref name="Karnow"/> In 1883, Captain [[Henri Rivière (naval officer)|Henri Rivière]], leading another French expedition into Vietnam was also killed by the Black Flags.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karnow |first1=Stanley |title=Vietnam: A History |date=1983 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=0670746045 |pages=84–85}}</ref> When the French conquest of Vietnam was finally completed in 1885, one of the peace terms were the disbandment of the Black Flag Army. Chinese flag rebels also fought in the [[Haw wars]] in Laos and northern Thailand.

[[Philo McGiffin]] served as a naval mercenary in the Sino-French War and First Sino-Japanese War.<ref>Davis, Richard Harding ''Real Soldiers of Fortune'' (1906)</ref>

====20th century====
In the [[Warlord Era]] of China, some British mercenaries like [[Morris Cohen (adventurer)|Morris "Two Gun" Cohen]], and [[Francis Arthur Sutton|Francis Arthur "One Armed" Sutton]] found employ in China.<ref>Drage, Charles ''General of Fortune'' (1954)</ref>

Easily the largest group of mercenaries in [[White émigré#In China|China were the Russian emigres who arrived after 1917]] and who hired themselves out to various Chinese warlords in the 1920s.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111">Fenby, Jonathan ''Chiang Kai-Shek China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost'', New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004 p. 111</ref> Unlike the Anglo-American mercenaries, the Russians had no home to return to nor were any foreign nations willing to accept them as refugees, causing them to have a grim, fatalistic outlook as they were trapped in what they regarded as a strange land that was as far from home as imaginable. One group of Russians wore Tartar hats and the traditional dark greycoats, and fought for Marshal [[Zhang Zuolin]], the "Old Marshal" who ruled Manchuria.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> White Russian mercenaries claimed that they had considerable effectiveness against ill-trained armies of the Chinese warlords; one White Russian claimed that when he and other Russians serving Marshal Zhang they "went through the Chinese troops like a knife through butter".<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/>

Chinese forces slaughtered most of a 350 strong White Russian forces in June 1921 under Colonel Kazagrandi in the Gobi desert, with only two batches of 42 men and 35 men surrendering separately as Chinese were wiping out White Russian remnants following the Soviet Red army defeat of Ungern Sternberg, and other Buryat and White Russian remnants of Ungern-Sternberg's army were massacred by Soviet Red Army and Mongol forces.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bisher|first=Jamie  |title=White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian |date=2006|edition=illustrated|publisher=Routledge |isbn=1135765960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=28iPAgAAQBAJ&dq=1921+350+men+Gobi+fell+in+combat+against+the+Chinese+army&pg=PA339|page=339}}</ref>

One group of Russian mercenaries led by General [[Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev]] were dressed in the uniform of the Imperial Russian Army and fought for General [[Zhang Zongchang]], the "Dogmeat General" who ruled Shangdong province.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> Zhang Zongchang had Russian women as concubines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|date=2003|edition=illustrated|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0743231449|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&pg=PA102|page=102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Weirather|first= Larry|title=Fred Barton and the Warlords' Horses of China: How an American Cowboy Brought the Old West to the Far East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UM3-CgAAQBAJ |year = 2015|publisher= McFarland & Company |location= Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn= 978-0786499137|page=42}}</ref><ref name="time2">{{cite news |date=24 September 1928 |title=CHINA: Potent Hero |newspaper=TIME |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928072,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=11 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923031317/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928072,00.html |archive-date=23 September 2009}}</ref> Nechaev and his men were infamous for their ruthlessness, and on one occasion in 1926, rode three armored trains through the Chinese countryside, killing everybody they met.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> When the Chinese peasants tore up the rails to stop Nechaev's rampage, he and his men vented their fury by sacking in an especially brutal manner the nearest town.<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan p. 111"/> Nechaev suffered a huge defeat at the hands of Chinese, when he and one armoured train under his command were trapped near Suichzhou in 1925. Their Chinese adversaries had pulled up the rail, and took this opportunity to massacre almost all Russian mercenaries on board the train. Nechaev managed to survive this incident, but lost a part of his leg during the bitter fighting.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bisher|first=Jamie  |title=White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian|date=2005|edition=illustrated|publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0714656909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8sdihXN47wC&dq=Nechaev+leg+bisher&pg=PA297|page=297}}</ref> In 1926 Chinese warlord Sun Chuanfang inflicted bloody death tolls upon the White Russian mercenaries under Nechaev's brigade in the 65th division serving Zhang Zongchang, reducing the Russian numbers from 3,000 to only a few hundred by 1927 and the remaining Russian survivors fought in armored trains.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kwong|first=Chi Man  |title=War and Geopolitics in Interwar Manchuria: Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian Clique during the Northern Expedition|date=2017|edition=illustrated|publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004340848|volume= 1 of Studies on Modern East Asian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBu9DgAAQBAJ&dq=actual+number+1927+hundred&pg=PA155|page=155}}</ref> During the [[Northern Expedition]] Chinese Nationalist forces captured an armoured train of Russian mercenaries serving Zhang Zongchang and brutalized the Russian prisoners by piercing their noses with rope and marching them in public through the streets in Shandong in 1928, described as "stout rope pierced through their noses".<ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|date=2003|edition=illustrated|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0743231449|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNJOxyP0SqEC&dq=armoured+train+stout+rope&pg=PA176|page=176}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China He Lost|date=2009|edition=reprint|publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0786739844|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2NKutuUlA8C&dq=armoured+train+stout+rope&pg=PA14-IA69|page=176}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved|date=2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0857200679|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhuNIR6GKPcC&dq=armoured+train+stout+rope&pg=PA176|page=176}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=Generalissimo: Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present|date=2008|publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0061661167|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VIUAQAAIAAJ&q=armoured+train+stout+rope|page=194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fenby|first=Jonathan  |title=The Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present|date=2013|edition=2, illustrated|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0141975153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f6YlUMjpWfUC&q=armoured+train+stout+rope|page=194}}</ref>

Alcoholic White Russian mercenaries defeated Muslim Uyghurs in melee fighting when Uyghurs tried to take Urumqi on 21 February 1933 in the [[Battle of Ürümqi (1933)]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101 |pages=101–103}}</ref> Wu Aitchen mentioned that 600 Uyghurs were slaughtered in a battle by White Russian mercenaries in the service of the [[Xinjiang clique]] warlord [[Jin Shuren]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&dq=white+russians+turban+heads+600+uighurs+defile&pg=PA294 |page=294}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wu|first=Aichen |title=Turkistan Tumult |date=1984|edition=illustrated, reprint|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195838394|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kvxwAAAAMAAJ&q=At+the+same+time+the+White+Russians+brought+off+a+fine+piece+of+work+when+,+learning+that+six+hundred+Turban+-+heads+carrying+scaling+-+ladders+were+marching+to+join+the+attackers+,+they+waylaid+them+in+a+defile+outside+the+city+,+and |series=Oxford in Asia paperbacks|page=83}}</ref> Jin Shuren would take Russian women as hostages to force their husbands to serve as his mercenaries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA100 |page=100}}</ref>

Hui Muslims fought brutal battles against White Russians and Soviet Red Army Russians at the [[Battle of Tutung]] and [[Battle of Dawan Cheng]] inflicting heavy losses on the Russian forces.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA121 |pages=120–121}}</ref>

Chinese forces killed many White Russian soldiers and Soviet soldiers in 1944-1946 when the White Russians of Ili and Soviet Red Army served in the [[Second East Turkestan Republic]]'s military during the [[Ili Rebellion]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Forbes|first=Andrew D. W. |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949 |date=1986|edition=illustrated|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=0521255147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA178 |page=178}}</ref>

During the early stages of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], a number of foreign pilots served in the Chinese Air Force, most famously in the 14th Squadron, a light bombardment unit often called the International Squadron, which was briefly active in February and March 1938.<ref>Ray Wagner, ''Prelude to Pearl Harbor: The Air War in China, 1937–1941'', San Diego Aerospace Museum 1991, p. 28</ref>