Page "Green Standard Army" Paragraph 2

From the 18th century on the Green Standard Army served primarily as a gendarmerie or constabulary force, designed to maintain local law and order and quell small-scale disturbances.

However, it was also contributing the bulk of forces dispatched in major campaigns.

The Green Standard Army was extremely fragmented, with literally thousands of large and small outposts throughout the empire, many with as few as twelve men.

It was divided into garrisons of battalion size, reporting through regional brigade generals to commanders-in-chief ( 提督 ) in each province.

Governors and governor-generals each had a battalion of Green Standard troops under their personal command, but their primary duties lay in the judicial and revenue areas rather than coping with invasion or rebellion.

During peacetime, it was rare for one officer to command more than 5, 000 men.