The Jinyiwei is the Ming Dynasty's exclusive military and political intelligence collection agency. It was formerly the "Gongwei Division" established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and later renamed the "Pro-Military Duwei Mansion". It governs the Yiluan Division and is in charge of the emperor's guard of honor and bodyguards. . In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), the pro-military Duweifu and Yiluan Division were abolished and replaced by Jinyiwei. As the military organization of the emperor's bodyguard, the main function of the Jinyiwei is to "directly control the guards, patrol and arrest". Its leader is called the Jinyiwei Commander, who is usually a trusted general of the emperor and is directly responsible to the emperor. Anyone, including members of the royal family, could be arrested and interrogated in secret.
In order to strengthen the centralized rule, Zhu Yuanzhang specially ordered him to be in charge of criminal prisons and gave him the power of inspection and arrest. He set up a town and Fu department to engage in reconnaissance, arrest, interrogation and other activities. They also participated in the work of collecting military intelligence and instigating rebellion against enemy generals. For example, they collected a large amount of Japanese military intelligence during the Wanli Korean War. In the 20th year of Hongwu (1387), Zhu Yuanzhang paved the way for Prince Zhu Biao to inherit the throne. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Jinyiwei torture instruments to be burned, and the prisoners were transferred to the Ministry of Punishment for trial. At the same time, he ordered all internal and external prisons to be tried by the Three Justices Division, and Jinyiwei was abolished. During the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei was restored, and Beizhen Fusi was responsible for handling imperial edicts. Since the Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei has always existed. It lasted until 1661, when Emperor Yongli of the Southern Ming Dynasty's Jinyi Guard commander Ma Jixiang and the guard Ren Zixin were killed in the Curse Water Disaster, which can be said to have officially ended the 290-year history. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they followed the Ming Dynasty system and still established Jin Yiwei. In the second year of Shunzhi (1645), it was renamed Luan Yiwei. The Jinyiwei of the Qing Dynasty only existed for one year.
Inspection and arrest" is what distinguishes the Jinyiwei from other imperial guards of other dynasties. The Jinyiwei agencies responsible for investigating crimes are the South and North Town Fusi, among which the North Town Fusi was added in the fifteenth year of Hongwu. Set up to handle cases designated by the emperor. In the first year of Chenghua, the seal of Beizhen Fusi was added. All prisons did not need to be closed to Bai Benwei. Beizhen Fusi had its own imperial prison and could arrest, torture and execute on its own without going through the general judicial system. Organization. There are five guard posts under the Fusi of Nan and North Towns, and their commanders are called Qianhu, Baihu, Zongqi, and Xiaoqi, and the ordinary sergeants are called Xiaowei and Tingzhang. The ministers who had offended the emperor were dragged out of the Meridian Gate and beaten with a cane. The officer in charge of the execution was the eunuch who was responsible for the execution. The official who received the cane was stripped of his official uniform, tied with a straw rope, and lay on the ground. 80 sticks, and the execution captain changes the sticks every 5, and the final execution squad uses the expression and movement of the eunuch as the basis for the severity of the stick: if the eunuch's legs are spread out, the person who is to be punished will be punished. A life can still be left; if the eunuch's toes are close to each other, the person who is being tortured will be killed by the cane. In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial cane was used more than 500 times, and more than 50 ministers were killed.
As the emperor's personal guard, in order to ensure the emperor's safety, the Jinyi Guards must take precautions before they happen. They are therefore dispatched from time to time to detect behaviors and remarks that may threaten the imperial power and harm the court, and to arrest and interrogate suspects. Chartered by the emperor, it gradually evolved into the function of military agents.
Since the Jinyiwei were under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor, other officials in the court could not interfere with them, so the Jinyiwei could handle major cases involving court officials. And directly submitted to the emperor. Therefore, the officials in the court were mostly afraid of the Jinyiwei. However, the Jinyiwei's torture scope only targeted officials and officials, so they generally did not interrogate or arrest ordinary people. Criminal and civil cases were only handled through normal justice.
During the Hongwu period, because the Jinyiwei illegally insulted and abused prisoners, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to burn the Jinyiwei's torture instruments and abolished their function. After Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne, he restored all the powers of the Jinyiwei and restored them. It was strengthened. He established the Beizhen Fusi, which was responsible for the "prison" and could directly arrest and torture prisoners. Judicial organs such as the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate had no power to intervene. During the Chenghua period of Ming Xianzong, they were added. With the seal of the Beizhen Fusi, all prison sentences are submitted exclusively to the emperor and do not need to be conveyed through the commanding officer, making the Jinyiwei Beizhenfusi a judicial institution directly under the emperor's jurisdiction.
The Jinyiwei is responsible for reconnaissance and arrests. The official school is called "Tiqi". Due to the lack of restrictions on their power, they will use all means to expand the scope of their involvement and create countless unjust, false and wrong cases.
In addition, Jinyiwei has special privileges. Invisibly, they were allowed to act recklessly, take bribes and bend the law, and they were protected by the emperor's "barrier", which caused social chaos. Therefore, the death of the Ming Dynasty at the factory guard was one of the reasons that indirectly caused the demise of the Ming Dynasty.