This study analyzes three characteristics of the punishment system of the Ming dynasty, emphasizes their historical significance, and attempts to explain the linkage between them. First, the Ming dynasty adhered to the penalty system of the five punishments, but did not actually execute the corresponding penalties, and instead used amends by money, goods, or labor for the punishments. Second, the punishment of the soldiers and the civilians was strictly separated, and the army was punished as military exile, and the people were punished as amends of the five punishments. Third, after the Hongwu era, the number of crimes punished as military exile gradually increased, and it came to have a large volume in the punishment system. The keynote of the Ming punishment system began in the Hongwu era, and at that time, the five punishments for people were already read as amends, and the penal servitude and the ordinary exile of soldiers were read as military exile. Although the tone of the Hongwu era itself was maintained throughout the Ming era, there were changes in the actual method of execution. The penalties of the Hongwu era for the general public were to replace actual sentences with forced labor. However, after that, the method of paying goods appeared, and in the Hongzhi era, it can be seen that the amends by goods and labor was diversified. On the other hand, the military exile in the early Ming punished the criminal acts of soldiers with some exceptions. At that time, military imprisonment was set as equivalent to the penal servitude and the ordinary exile among the five punishments, but the internal grades in military exile were not so differentiated. However, the demand for actual execution, which existed under the circumstances of the Ming era when amends was common, led to provisions to punish a wide variety of criminal acts, regardless of whether they were civilians or soldiers. In the process, the placement of the military exile was gradually subdivided, and it became possible to evenly deal with the crimes of high and low strata. These characteristics of the Ming punishment system were basically the result of the Hongwu emperor's two pillars being maintained until the end of the Ming era. However, it cannot be denied that in the process, the method of amends and the role of military exile changed greatly. In the end, the changes after the Hongwu era were the product of flexible response to the actual situation while following the original law.