Abstract: During Emperor SHUNZhi’s reign in early Qing Dynasty, the promotion quota of military licentiates for garrison military schools in the capital was clearly prescribed, whereas the quota for schools in other provinces remained unfixed. Starting from the year of 1671, the promotion quota of military licentiates for all provinces was first assigned by reference to the counterpart quota of literary licentiates. During the reigns of Emperor Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the quota was frequently adjusted due to the establishment of new schools, upgrading of old schools, and changes of administrative regions. For every round approximately 22,000 military licentiates were admitted and affiliated to around 1,800 Confucian schools throughout the empire, and such a quota kept relatively stable, until the Taiping Rebellion during which the Qing government, rewarding public donations and supports for suppression, remarkably raised the in take to around 27,000. Before and after the Rebellion, the group population of military licentiates showed “remarkable increase in the South and modest increase in the North”, whilst its provincial distribution saw “increasing in the South but decreasing in the North”. A thorough investigation on the changes of the promotion quota, group population and geographical distribution of the military licentiates cannot only reveal the political context, but also reflect the dynamic of fostering and recruiting military talents throughout the Qing Dynasty.