When it comes to the Ming Dynasty, perhaps what everyone remembers most is its terror politics, and as the spokespersons of the terror politics, Jin Yiwei and Dongxi Factory are even more famous. But for a long time, people have not been very clear about the history and functions of these three agencies. In many novels and TV series, they are often regarded as behind-the-scenes masterminds, spy organizations, etc. and moved around casually. In fact, there is a big difference between Dongchang and Jinyiwei, and Xichang only existed for less than ten years. This article will briefly introduce these three major spy agencies, trying to give everyone a clearer impression.
1. Jinyiwei
In chronological order, let’s first talk about Jinyiwei established by Zhu Yuanzhang. The military system in the early Ming Dynasty was relatively simple. Its basic units were "guards" and "suo". Each guard had about 5,000 regular sergeants. It had offices under it, which were divided into Qianhusuo and Baihusuo. The imperial guard station in the capital There are 48 guard stations under its jurisdiction. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to reform the imperial guards and established twelve pro-military guards, the most important of which was the "Jinyi Guards".
The leader of the Jinyi Guard is called a commander (or a commander, or a commander), and is usually held by the emperor's trusted generals, and rarely by eunuchs. Its function is: "Directly control the guards, patrol and arrest." A single number basically divides the Jinyiwei into two completely different departments. The Imperial Guards, who were in charge of guarding the bodyguards, displaying the guard of honor, and accompanying the emperor on tours, were basically the same as the traditional Imperial Guards. The more famous among them was the "General of the Han Dynasty". Although these people are called "generals", they are actually only responsible for standing in the palace, delivering the emperor's orders, and also doing security work. To put it bluntly, they are just stakes in the palace hall. Of course, these "stakes" are not ordinary people. They are generally tall and powerful, with strong backs and strong waists. They are full of energy, have loud voices, and look quite majestic in appearance. They have a certain deterrent effect on those who do not know the details of the Ming Dynasty. . The generals of the Han Dynasty formed their own battalion in the Jinyi Guards, with about 1,500 people at the beginning. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to the expansion of the bureaucracy, the number of generals of the Han Dynasty also increased to more than 5,000. As for "inspection and arrest", this is what makes Jinyiwei different from other imperial guards of other dynasties, and it is also the reason why it can be remembered by people. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang's original intention of establishing the Jinyiwei was just to record the ceremonial guard. However, due to his wanton slaughter of heroes, he felt that the traditional judicial agencies, the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate were not comfortable to use, so he upgraded the Jinyiwei's protective function. Making it the emperor's personal police. The Jinyiwei agency responsible for investigating crimes is the North and South Town Fusi. Among them, the North Town Fusi handles cases designated by the emperor and has its own prison (Edict Prison). It can arrest, torture, and execute on its own without going through the general judicial institutions.
There are five guard posts under the North and South Town Fusi. Their commanders are called Qianhu, Baihu, Zongqi, Xiaoqi, and ordinary sergeants are called Xiaowei and Lishi. When the captains and warriors perform the task of catching thieves and seducing traitors, they are called "Tiqi" (everyone must be familiar with this term). The number of Tiqi was at least 1,000 and at most as high as 60,000. The Jinyiwei Official School generally selects good citizens with strong military skills and no bad records from among the people, and then they are promoted step by step based on their abilities and qualifications. At the same time, the official position of Jinyiwei is also allowed to be hereditary.
The first two emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, had a strong desire to maintain imperial power that was not found in other dynasties due to the particularity of their origins. This allowed the Jinyiwei's "inspection and arrest" functions to expand indefinitely. Generally speaking, the work of the Jinyiwei is limited to detecting various intelligence and handling cases assigned by the emperor. However, once an ambitious and cruel commander comes to power, he will use his position to spare no effort to create trouble, which can both attack dissidents. , can also be used as capital for your own promotion. For example, Ji Gang during Chengzu's reign, Lu Gao during Yingzong's reign, Qian Ning during Wuzong's reign, etc. When they were in power, Tiqi came out from all directions, ranging from the prime ministers and vassal kings to the common people. They were all under their surveillance, and they were under their supervision. As long as his orders are violated even a little bit, families will be destroyed and people will be killed, and the whole country will be shrouded in an atmosphere of terror. The notorious Beizhen Fusi Prison was filled with all kinds of innocent people, and countless honest people died under the torture of Jin Yiwei. What is even more frightening is that this atmosphere of terror, unlike its short-term appearance during the Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian period, was almost continuous throughout the Ming Dynasty. This kind of uncontrolled arrests greatly affected the relationship between the emperor and the bureaucracy. , which caused the officials, people, army and emperor to alienate their moral integrity. No wonder some people said that the dynasty was not destroyed by rogue bandits, but by factory guards.
Another famous function of Jinyiwei is to "hold the imperial staff." The imperial rod system began in the Ming Dynasty and was a torture method used by the emperor to teach disobedient scholar-bureaucrats. Once an unlucky official offended the emperor and was declared to be imprisoned, he would immediately be stripped of his official uniform, his hands tied behind his back, and taken to the Meridian Gate where the execution would take place. There, the ceremonial supervisor, the eunuch in charge, and the commander of the royal guards were all ready on the left and right. The victim was wrapped in a big cloth, and with the word "beat", sticks fell like raindrops on his thighs and buttocks. The executioners are Jinyiwei captains. They have received strict training and are skilled in skills. They can accurately control the life and death of the victim based on the hints of the ceremony eunuch and the Jinyiwei commander. If the feet of the two people are spread out like a figure eight, it means that the person under the staff can survive; on the contrary, if the toes are drawn inward, the person under the staff will have no choice but to die.
After the stick is used, the four corners of the cloth wrapped around the victim must be lifted up and then dropped heavily. At this time, even if the person in the cloth is not dead, half of his life is gone. The punishment of the imperial rod was extremely harmful to the body and soul of the scholar-bureaucrats, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty never tired of it, and the generals of the imperial guard also had a special liking for it.
Looking at the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, although there were relatively upright commanders such as Yuan Bin and Mou Bin, in general, their main function was to act as an accomplice to the extreme autocratic system of the Ming Dynasty. . With such efficient tools as Jinyiwei, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty became more able to suppress the scholar-official class and the lower class people, but the price paid for this was a great reduction in social vitality. This is why even though the Ming Dynasty has a history of more than 200 years , but the main reason why there has been no progress or even some regression in the political system and economic system.
2. Dongchang
The inventor of Dongchang was Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. After launching the "Battle of Jingnan" to seize the throne of his nephew, Zhu Di's spirit has been in high tension. On the one hand, rumors that Emperor Jianwen was still alive did not appear. On the other hand, many ministers in the court were not satisfied with the new regime. Not very supportive. In order to consolidate his power, Zhu Di urgently needed a strong autocratic institution, but he felt that the Jinyiwei located outside the palace was not very convenient to use, so he decided to establish a new institution. When Zhu Di raised his army, some eunuchs and monks played a great role (such as the famous Zheng He and Dao Yan), so in his mind, he still felt that the eunuchs were more reliable, and they were in the palace, so it was easier to contact them.
In this way, after Ming Dynasty Emperor Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, he established an investigative agency headed by eunuchs. Because its address was located on the north side of Dong'anmen (today's Dongchang Hutong, north of Wangfujing Street), it was named For Dongchang. The function of the Dongchang is to "investigate conspirators and treacherous evil spirits, and share power with the Jinyiwei." At first, the Dongchang was only responsible for detecting and arresting people, and did not have the right to interrogate prisoners. The captured suspects were handed over to the Jinyiwei North Town Fu. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dongchang also had its own prison. The leader of the East Factory is called the eunuch in charge of the East Factory, also known as the factory owner and factory supervisor. He is the second-ranking eunuch after the eunuch in charge of the ceremony. In addition, there are one person for each thousand households, one for each hundred households, and several foremen, foremen, and room clerks in the East Factory. Those specifically responsible for the detective work are the sergeant and the sergeant. The sergeant is equivalent to the squad leader, also known as the stall head. , Fanya is what we commonly call Fanzi.
The scope of Dongchang's investigation is very wide. The imperial court will review major cases, and Jinyiweibei Town Fusi will torture serious criminals. Dongchang will send people to hear the trial; every yamen of the imperial court has Dongchang personnel on duty to monitor the officials. Dongchang has to send people to check every move of some important yamen documents, such as various side reports and pond reports from the Ministry of War; even the daily lives of ordinary people and the prices of firewood, rice, oil and salt are also within the scope of Dongchang's reconnaissance . The intelligence obtained by Dongchang can be reported directly to the emperor, which is much more convenient than the Jinyiwei who must report in the form of memorials. The layout of the Dongchang government office is quite funny. In the small hall next to the main hall, there is a statue of Yue Fei. On the screen wall on the right side of the hall, the story of the pancreas-style pancake table is engraved. The tablets of the previous owners of Dongchang are enshrined in the ancestral hall on the west side of the hall. There is also an archway in front of the hall that is "famous for centuries". It's a pity that the behavior of Dongchang personnel is far from that of idols like them. Dongchang fans are active in the streets and alleys of the capital every day, not entirely for the imperial court, but more for their own personal gain. They often fabricate false accusations against good people, and then resort to them and take advantage of the opportunity to extort money. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the scope of Dongchang's investigation even expanded to the whole country. Even in remote areas of distant states, "those in bright clothes and angry horses acting as capital whisperers" appeared, causing everyone in the country to be in danger and the people to live in dire straits. In terms of the relationship with Jinyiwei, Dongchang came from behind. Since the owner of Dongchang had a close relationship with the emperor and was located in the palace, it was easier for him to gain the emperor's trust. The relationship between Dongchang and Jinyiwei gradually changed from a level relationship to a superior-subordinate relationship. In the era when eunuchs were in power, the commander of Jinyiwei would even kneel down and kowtow when meeting the owner of Dongchang.
Finally, let’s talk about a digression: the relationship between the emperor and the eunuchs. Everyone must be puzzled as to why so many emperors in history reused eunuchs. In fact, in a broad sense, eunuchs can also be regarded as part of the bureaucracy, and they have many advantages that the scholar-official class does not have:
First of all, eunuchs are the emperor's domestic slaves and live in the inner palace. , it is more convenient to communicate with the emperor, and it is easier to understand the emperor's thoughts.
Secondly, eunuchs themselves are eunuchs and have no status in society. The only person they can rely on is the emperor, so they are often more loyal and considerate of the emperor when working for the emperor, unlike the scholar-bureaucrats, who often Taking it as his own duty to save the common people in the world, he sometimes doesn't like the emperor's fault.
Thirdly, eunuchs are not illiterate roughnecks. A considerable number of eunuchs are not well educated. They are fully qualified as the emperor's personal secretaries, and they will not have as many objections as ordinary literati.
Finally, eunuchs are the main channel for concubines to communicate with the outside world. If concubines want to exert influence on government affairs, they must unite with eunuchs.
In short, due to the internal needs of the autocratic regime, the emperor needed a force independent of the bureaucracy for his own use, and the most convenient one was the eunuch.
Therefore, as long as the centralized autocratic system exists for one day, eunuchs will have their place. Although they often create chaos in the government, no smart emperor will easily give up this powerful tool. This is why eunuchs can Different from relatives, the reason why they have always played an important role in Chinese history.
The most distinctive feature of the Jinyiwei is that they wear golden official uniforms, which are called flying fish uniforms to symbolize superior power, and wear embroidered spring swords.