At the beginning of the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's accession to the throne, he liked to talk with his courtiers about the way ancient and modern kings treated their courtiers. Taishi made Liu Ji (Bo Wen) say: The ancient official doctor violated the criminal law, and the monarch only gave him a sword and advised him to cut himself behind closed doors, and never insulted him easily. This practice is mainly to safeguard the dignity of literati. Zhan Tong, a bachelor of work-study program, also presented Zhu Yuanzhang with the story of Dai Li and Jia Yi, a famous minister in the Western Han Dynasty, and tactfully pointed out that in ancient times, "being punished as a doctor" did not mean that the scholar-officials were guilty, but did not want to humiliate them, so as to encourage people to develop an atmosphere of being ashamed of themselves. Only in this way can we show the king's generous kindness. In this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang deeply agreed.
Liu Ji and Zhan's suggestions are not aimless, but for a reason. After Zhu Yuanzhang, a monk, ascended the throne, some punishment methods were unacceptable to many ministers who were monks. For example, one of Zhu Yuanzhang's important inventions in criminal law is the so-called "imperial aide", that is, the minister who committed the crime of breaking the dragon face in the court. Imagine what a humiliating and embarrassing situation it would be to bear the sticks of the warriors naked in a solemn palace in full view! This is more painful than going to hell for China scholar-officials who believe that "a scholar can be killed but not humiliated". Although the pain of flesh and blood is small, the dignity of being a minister has been lost! This kind of punishment of "court aides" is inevitable even for princes and dignitaries. In the Ming dynasty, many outstanding ministers died tragically under the scepter.
Compared with "Zhang Ting", another invention of Zhu Yuanzhang made people in government and public more frightened. This is the "Royal Guards", that is, secret secret service organizations and prison institutions. Zhu Yuanzhang is suspicious by nature, and he is even more insecure after being your master. He is afraid that his men will be unfaithful to him, and he is even more worried that the hard-won Jiangshan and splendor will go up in smoke, so he is always full of vigilance and never misses his every move. He not only asked his ministers to be respectful, obedient and loyal to him, but also asked them to supervise and master his words and deeds after returning to the government. To this end, Zhu Yuanzhang took great pains to send spies to patrol around to ensure that the ministers' movements were reported to him as quickly as possible.
"Water Cave Diary" recorded such a thing, which typically reflected the great power of Zhu Yuanzhang's spies: Minister Qian Zai was ordered to compile "Mencius Festival" and felt very tired after working for several days. After returning home from a day's scattered pilgrimage, his poem generate showed a cloud:
Bulging out their clothes all around,
It's too late to show up before noon.
When can you hear idyllic music,
Sleep until people are cooked.
This is an honest job. After the poem is written, Millennium will take a rest after taking off his coat. Unexpectedly, Zhu Yuanzhang saw Qian Zai the next morning and said with a smile, "Ai Qing wrote a good poem yesterday, but I don't think you were late. Is it better to use the word' worry'? " This made Qian Zi jumpy. He quickly kowtowed and apologized, feeling glad that he didn't talk nonsense yesterday, otherwise his head would be in danger today.
If Zhu Yuanzhang only sent his cronies to spy on the privacy of his liegeman, it was obviously not enough to constitute a serious deterrent to the ruling and opposition parties. At first, Zhu Yuanzhang's trusted spy was called "Proofreading", whose task was to investigate and spy on extrajudicial injustices. All government officials in Beijing, big and small, heard it, regardless of size. In the 15th year of Hongwu (1382), the famous royal secret service yamen-Wei Jinyi was officially listed.
The so-called "imperial guard" is also called the emperor's pro-army, but the task of the Royal Guards is not to protect the personal safety of the emperor, but to specialize in illegal news. The greatest leader of the Royal Guards is the commander, and his rank is among the three. Assistant ministers include Tongzhi, Zhao, Qian Hu and so on. , subordinates include generals, Lux and a captain. Royal Guards consists of Experience Department and Zhen Fu Department. The Experience Department is responsible for the entry and exit of documents, and the Zhen Fu Department is its core part, which is responsible for prison proceedings. It is divided into the north and the south, and the north is responsible for criminal prisons. The greatest advantage of Royal Guards is not that they can report directly to the emperor, but that they have independent courts and prisons. In other words, while directly obeying the emperor, they can set up their own courts and have the right to detain and interrogate criminal suspects. This is the so-called "royal prison", that is, the royal prison.
If the world is good, it will inherit the wind. The establishment of the Royal Guards provided a useful place for courtiers who were willing to serve as court slaves. Many people are favored by Zhu Yuanzhang for this reason. For example, Gao Jianxian, Yu Xia, yang xian and Yue Ling were all famous for their "fighting" for a while, and even the governors who had made great achievements were afraid of three points. But it won Zhu Yuanzhang's favor. He once proudly said, "Only these people, such as evil dogs, are afraid." This metaphor is very apt. In order to save Zhu's country, Zhu Yuanzhang took great pains to contain his ministers in an evil way by means of "fighting poison with poison". Facts have proved that Jin Yiwei is indeed Zhu Yuanzhang's effective accomplice in eradicating dissidents and wantonly killing. Most of the heroes killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, Luo Zhi Dayu, were generals of the Royal Guards. Zhu Yuanzhang set up a Royal Guards to monitor the illegal activities of officials at all levels. It is impossible for the emperor himself to seriously hear every case reported by the officials of the Royal Guards, so the conviction and sentencing are entirely in the hands of the officials of the Royal Guards. Zhu Yuanzhang especially likes to use torture, and the officials of the Royal Guards can be said to have done everything they can in practice. As the old saying goes, "If you want to add a crime, you can always find it." Under severe punishment, you can't ask for death. How can I not be falsely accused? As a result, torture became a tool for these royal agents to vent their arrogance. Lux, the captain of the Royal Guards, is called "Tiqi". He is "powerful in the capital, good at controlling the length, giving more eyes and ears, and quarreling is broken". Covered in clothes, angry at horses, bullying. Later generations said: "Quiet and cruel, the harm is worse than this", which is the most harmful part of the criminal law system in Ming Dynasty.
First of all, the establishment of the Royal Guards itself is a great destruction of the judicial supervision system in the Ming Dynasty. The judicial system of the Ming Dynasty inherited from the previous generation and was called the "Three Legal Departments", namely, the Ministry of Punishment, Duchayuan and Dali Temple. The Ministry of Punishment is responsible for the trial of all criminal cases in the world, the Douchayuan is responsible for picketing the cases of officials, and Dali Temple refutes the trial results of specific cases. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he paid great attention to the trial of cases in the world. He also claimed that in order to prevent the case-handling officials from arbitrarily framing and extorting confessions by torture, it was specially stipulated that all major cases must be tried by him face to face. Therefore, during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, most important cases were tried by him personally, and the "Three Legal Departments" had no right to interfere, which virtually deprived and weakened the power of the "Three Legal Departments". It is impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to handle all the cases himself, so all the affairs fall into the hands of officials of the Royal Guards. In this way, from the disclosure of the case to the trial, the three legal departments are often shelved and controlled by the Royal Guards.
Secondly, the Royal Guards directly obey the emperor, and other officials have no right to interfere with their actions. So in fact, the Royal Guards have the supreme umbrella, and their arrogance can even ignore the "three laws". However, in order to hide the world from the public, the Royal Guards often hand over the trial results to the punishments. Therefore, in the eyes of people at that time, the Royal Guards and the "Royal Prison" became the highest criminal trial institutions. "The Ministry of Justice can be empty, and the criminal police team is redundant!" The power of the "Three Legal Departments" was deprived by the emperor and the Royal Guards, which actually led to the destruction of the legal system, and the legal power of the imperial court became a tool for the officials of the Royal Guards to run amok. At the end of Zhu Yuanzhang's life, in view of the fact that Jinyiwei "abused the law and killed many people", Zhu Yuanzhang explicitly prohibited "calling for prison" and returned the judicial power of the dynasty to the "Three Legal Departments". However, Zhu Yuanzhang's act of mending after the sheep is dead did not make the "imperial edict" die. Later emperors, according to their own needs, made the scourge of the Royal Guards and the "imperial edict" worse and worse, which became one of the notorious evils of the Ming Dynasty.
The reign of Yongle Emperor Judy was an important period for the development of factory sanitation system in Ming Dynasty, and it was also the beginning for eunuchs to take charge of factory sanitation institutions. After Zhu Yuanzhang died. Crown Prince Zhu Biao died in the 25th year of Hongwu (1392), and Zhu Yunwen, the great-grandson of the emperor, succeeded to the throne, known as "Your Majesty" in history. As an uncle, Judy, the prince of Yan, coveted the throne for a long time and rebelled in the name of "the frontier of the Qing army", which was the famous "Jingnan War" in the history of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, Judy won the battle for the throne. However, many ministers loyal to Emperor Wen Jian strongly opposed Judy. In order to suppress the dissatisfaction of the government and the people, Judy completely restored the power of the Royal Guards, that is, re-established the "Imperial Prison". After Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, abolished the "imperial edict", the status of Royal Guards was greatly reduced, and they no longer participated in criminal law, just like other pro-military emperors. Judy promoted Ji Gang, a close confidant, as the commander-in-chief in charge of all affairs, in charge of the royal family and soldiers, and "restored the code to govern prisons". From then on, Ji Gang came to power, and began his career of trapping and killing people. The scourge of the Royal Guards reached a new climax.
Ji Gang, Judy's proud "evil dog", inherited Judy's legacy, brutally persecuted eunuchs and military commanders that Judy hated, tried every means to sue Luo Zhi, and was determined to put him to death. In fact, the Royal Guards have become an excellent tool for Judy to eliminate dissidents and collect money by Ji Gang, which is completely above the judicial institutions such as the Ministry of Punishment.
With the privilege of the Royal Guards, Ji Gang's audacity has sometimes reached the point of jaw-dropping. If he is ordered to leave the property of the former kings of Jin and Wu, he not only ransacked a lot of treasures for himself, but also put on the ransacked royal robes and crowns, gave a banquet in the palace, and ordered the actors to perform the song and dance "Long live", just like an emperor. Once, Ji Gang wanted to buy a young and beautiful female Taoist as a concubine. Unexpectedly, Commander-in-Chief Lv Xue stepped forward, and Ji Gang was furious, vowing to avenge himself. One day, I met Lv Xue in the palace. Jigang suddenly hit him on the back of the head with an iron melon. Lv Xue was covered in blood and almost died. They all commanded the dumb to be dissatisfied with Ji Gang's misconduct. Once, they happened to meet a group of people on the rampage in the street. He refused to give way and made Ji Gang bear a grudge. Later, he was framed as dumb, lost his job and got a reward for his work. He was imprisoned and killed.
With Judy's support, Ji Gang was arbitrarily framed and bullied, which was hated by the world. Judy herself is not ignorant, but Judy, like his father Zhu Yuanzhang, just wants to use these "evil dogs" to suppress the dissatisfaction of the world. When this goal is basically achieved, the existence of Ji Gang is insignificant. At that time, there were eunuchs in the palace who held a grudge against Ji Gang for a long time, waiting for an opportunity to tell Judy that Ji Gang had the heart of "rebellion". Judy, who hated Ji Gang, was furious and ordered the court to impeach the suggestion and set up a trial in Douchayuan. The result was conclusive, and Ji Gang was punished on the same day.
The appearance of Ji Gang was entirely the result of Judy's instigation and connivance. However, after this incident, Judy came to the conclusion that the foreign secretary was unreliable. Therefore, he was full of vigilance against foreign court ministers. Therefore. The spy politics of Ming Dynasty was not weakened by the death of Ji Gang, but developed by leaps and bounds. Judy did not abolish the Royal Guard, but created a secret service agency led by eunuchs. The purpose is to supervise each other with the Royal Guards, that is, the East Factory.
"Ming History" records: "Since the Yongle period, Ming eunuchs have the power to send envoys, collect exorbitant taxes, supervise the army, divide towns, stab people and hide things." By the Ming Dynasty, when Judy was in office, the reuse of eunuchs had begun to take shape. The right to "stab people and hide things" refers to the establishment of the East Factory. In August of the 18th year of Yongle (1420), the East Factory was formally established outside Dong 'anmen, Beijing. "If it is supervised from the inside, it will be arbitrary for the official, so it cannot be copied."
The mission of the East Factory is to "arrest, visit, seek evil words, commit heinous crimes, and have the same rights as the Royal Guards". The eunuchs in charge of the East Factory are all Judy's confidants, and they are called "factory bosses" or "supervisors". The male emperor of the factory specially awarded a seal tooth seal, which must be struck on the emperor in case of important events, so that it can be sealed and sent to the emperor directly without any formalities. The internal mechanism of the East Factory is quite simple. Under the leadership of the factory, only one person is responsible for punishing thousands of households, one person is responsible for punishing hundreds of households, and there are also team leaders and foremen. The backbone of the East Factory is the service captain (also called the head guard) who goes out for inspection and visit, with more than 100 people, and each service captain has several people (also called Fan or director). The East Factory has a total of more than 1000 people. These captains and their sons were originally the "lightest and smartest" selected by the Royal Guards. It can be seen that the establishment of the East Factory is an important measure for Judy to directly deprive and restrict the Royal Guards. The East Factory was directly subordinate to the emperor, and no external court organization was allowed to exercise restraint. Except the emperor, all the officials and people in the world are the targets of the East Factory.
The East Factory is not only more lean and reasonable in organization and staffing, but also has formulated a quite strict system in inspection. For example, on the first day of each month, the East Factory should concentrate on the investigation of the month, and the factory attendant will draw lots in the East Factory to decide the site he is responsible for. It can be found in the literature that the types of work in the East Factory have special names. For example, people who monitor officials of various ministries in North Korea and Jin Yiwei's interrogation of criminals are called "listening records", people who visit local officials are called "sitting records", people who record what an official has done, or people who arrest important criminals at the gate of a city are called "fighting things".
In the daily life of any era, it is impossible to have thrilling events all the time, so factory workers who have nothing to do will record daily trivia without intelligence value and report it to the emperor. If there is a fire or lightning strike somewhere, the emperor can know it that day. By the end of each month, the factory affairs will also report the prices of grain, rice and oil in the capital of that month. Usually, after the factory servant reported it, the factory official first reviewed it, polished it and gave it to the emperor. However, if there is something important, even after the palace gate is closed in the middle of the night, you can let the factory servant plug it in, and the imperial secretary will give it to the emperor immediately after receiving it. Therefore, the efficient work of the staff in the East Factory made the emperor who lived in the inner court of the palace know everything that happened outside. Obviously, the establishment of the East Factory brought the spy politics of the Ming Dynasty to a new stage, and Judy surpassed his father in discovering the secret affairs of his subjects.
The disgraceful activity of spying on other people's secrets attracts a large number of local ruffians, who are always making trouble in the local area. These people naturally became the service chief of the East Factory and the accomplices of the fans. So they colluded and used the identity of the royal eagle dog to blackmail. When these scoundrels find out that a family is hiding something, they call it "issuing the number", and Fan Zi is responsible for reporting to the service chief (that is, the head guard), who pays money according to the intelligence value. This is called "buying the starting number". Then, these scoundrels led Fan Zi to monitor around the house. After finding some clues, Fan Zi rushed home and arrested him for questioning. If you don't pay enough bribes immediately, you will be punished in private. And instructed him to frame rich people around him. If he can get enough money, he will be fine. If there is no oil and water to squeeze, he will be handed over to the Royal Guards Prison for disposal, and his life is hopeless.
The establishment of the East Factory fully shows Judy's extraordinary scheming. On the one hand, both the company and its subordinates have only the right to investigate, but not the right to judge and dispose of. On the other hand, the investigation scope of the East Factory is very wide, but it only reports to the emperor and is not bound by other imperial institutions. In this way, the emperor's monitoring and control over his lieutenants were greatly enhanced, and all decisions were made by the emperor himself, thus fundamentally putting an end to any arbitrary infringement by any institution (including the Royal Guards). Therefore, in this sense, the East Factory is a veritable secret service.
During the reign of Yongle and Judy, the internal changes of the Royal Guards were mainly reflected in the expansion of the power of town officials. After Judy acceded to the throne, she added Beizhen government office, "specializing in imperial edict prison". In the 14th year of Chenghua (1478), after the Jigang Incident, Judy made a special provision: "Add the seal of the Northern Fourth, and all criminal prisons will not accept the guards." In other words, Fuji Beizhen has the right to handle the prison independently without the decision of the Chief Royal Guards. As a junior official under the Royal Guards, Beth naturally dared not decide the case at will. Therefore, Judy authorized Beisi to directly ask the emperor for instructions, and the Royal Guards were not allowed to interfere, resulting in a situation of "low town position and heavy rights and interests". Judy's tactics are quite clever. The privileged Zhen Fu Department has become the controller and supervisor of the Royal Guard. The Royal Guards must always be on guard against the Zhen Fu Department, so naturally they dare not act arbitrarily. Therefore, the "imperial edict" is also the prison of the town magistrate. In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang burned the instruments of torture of Jinyiwei in view of his "illegal and indiscriminate use". After Judy ascended the throne, she not only restored the privileges of the Royal Guards, but also turned Zhenfu Temple Prison into a hell on earth where people were brutally harmed.
Amin writer Shen Defu described the shocking and tragic situation of the prison in detail in his book Supplement to Wan Yeli: Although the prison is called Zhao Prison, its living conditions are much worse than Sanfasi Prison. Its prison room is built underground, with solid walls and several inches thick, and excellent sound insulation effect. Even if the next room screamed, the next room was silent. Every time a prisoner wants to buy something, he has to go through several inspections and food is often detained. And it is stipulated that prisons can't light their own fires. Although in severe winter, prisoners can only eat cold food. Prisoners' families are not allowed to visit, so they can only watch their relatives from a distance when the town sheriff interrogates them. According to the Records of Criminal Law in Ming Dynasty, after the officials and people were arrested in the prison of the town magistrate, their families were told the time limit. If you can't pay enough gold and silver within the prescribed time limit, the prisoner will be punished in full. The so-called "full punishment" is divided into five categories, namely, machinery, shackles, sticks, shackles and pliers. At that time, the whole punishment was called "five poisons". When the prisoner was sentenced, his voice boiled, his flesh festered and he died unsatisfied. It can be said that once you enter the "prison summons", you will have a narrow escape, and the prison summons is strictly confidential, and family members often don't know the date of death. Therefore, whenever a prisoner enters the prison, his family often looks at the prison gate and cries bitterly, burning incense and offering sacrifices, which is terrible. The cruelty of summoning prisoners in Ming Dynasty was a prominent manifestation of the abuse of power by feudal emperors in China. "Why can't you be imprisoned under the action of poison?" From this point of view, the establishment of Royal Guards and "Imperial Prison" is not only the destruction of the feudal criminal law system, but also an effective tool for feudal emperors and their minions to implement terrorist rule.
The Chenghua period in Ming Xianzong was another important period for the development of factory hygiene system. In the 12th year of Chenghua (1476), Li Zilong, a demon, was once famous for his "Left Way", with many followers in the ruling and opposition parties, and even eunuchs Bao Shi and Zheng Zhong were deified. With the help of the latter, Li Zilong had the opportunity to go deep into the Inner Palace and wait and see in a place like Long Live Mountain. It is said that a bad attempt to assassinate Xian Zong was discovered by a captain of Royal Guards, and he was immediately put into prison. When Ming Xianzong learned about this, he was terrified and was on tenterhooks all day. In order to avoid similar incidents, Xian Zong, who lived in the inner palace, wanted to know the movements of the subjects in the outer palace, so he ordered the eunuch Wei to dress up and patrol the palace.
This small-scale furtive investigation can't have much practical effect. In the first month of the second year, Xianzong simply established a special organization-West Factory, headed by Wang Zhi, and its members were selected from the Royal Guards. However, the number of twips (that is, a captain of the Royal Guards) was more than twice that of the Eastern Factory, and its power was far more than that of the Royal Guards. It takes the functions and powers of Royal Guards and Dongchang as a whole, records and reports all major political events and minor matters, dialects and dialects, and gives priority to the trivial matters of fighting cocks and dogs among the people. In other words, the West Factory not only has the right to investigate the "improper" words and deeds of local officials and people, but also can detain, arrest and severely sentence them. You can imagine the harm caused by combining the functions of special agents with those of courts and prisons. "When the causes of death are interrelated, courtiers dare not speak out", "There are several prisons in Luo Zhi, and the subjects have to rest". At that time, the influence of Wang Zhi and West Factory was rampant. Every time Wang Zhi goes out, he has many followers, and he is arrogant and overbearing. When an official or a doctor meets the Tao, he avoids it. West Factory arrested courtiers at will, often without inviting Xian Zong. There is no law and order. What's more, the investigation scope of West Factory is not limited to Beijing. His captains are all over the imperial court, north and south of the river, and the imperial palace and border defense towns have also become places where they monitor and abuse their power.
Extremes must be reversed. The West Factory put aside the imperial court and the "Three Legal Departments" and exercised its power at will. This special power actually posed a fatal threat to the autocratic dynasty, which some honest ministers could not bear, reflecting this serious situation. In May of that year, Shang Lu, a university student, said in his lecture: "Recently, factories and guards are too cumbersome, government decrees are too urgent, and the punishment network is too dense. People are suspicious and fearful. Your Majesty listened to Wang Zhi completely, and Wang Zhi sent his eyes and ears to the clique. There have been no unexpected changes in security at home and abroad. " When Xian Zong first saw this performance, he didn't agree. He flew into a rage and said, "Can eunuchs endanger the country?" Eunuch Wynn was ordered to deliver his will in person and denounced Shang Lu. Shang Lu argued, uncompromising way: "Courtiers, big or small, are guilty and must ask for instructions, but Wang Zhi dared to arrest Beijing officials above the third level without asking for instructions. Datong and Fu Xuan are our gates facing north, and the garrison can't leave for one day, while Wang Zhi robbed several garrison officials in one day. The ancestors of Nanjing were all important places, and the ministers who stayed behind could not escape Wang Zhi's hand. Even the emperor's attendants were very close to him, and Wang Zhi dared to change them privately. Wang Zhi is not embarrassed, the country is not dangerous? " Wynn was deeply shocked by the sound of this speech, and every sentence made sense. After returning to the palace, report to Xianzong truthfully. Xianzong seemed to wake up from a rude awakening, ordered the cancellation of the West Factory and ordered Wynn to reprimand Wang Zhi face to face. The guards of the West Factory and the school were sent back to the Royal Guards. However, the West Factory quickly revived and was still presided over by Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi, who regained power, drove away the ministers who opposed him. At that time, dozens of ministers were forcibly promoted and dismissed, and the West Factory began to run rampant again. When Xian Zong went on strike in the West Factory, he was still partial to Wang Zhi and secretly ordered him to stab him in the back. Therefore, it seems reasonable to reopen the West Factory. Wang Zhi, who leans to China and foreign countries, is even more arrogant, and everyone dares to be angry but dare not speak. A eunuch, ugly and humorous, is often performed by Heifen in front of Xianzong. One day, I dressed up as a drunk in front of Xianzong, and someone else died: "An official came." Ah Ch 'ou ignored it and called names as usual. Also reported: "Holy Drive!" Ah Ch 'ou is still in full swing. The eunuch next to him finally said, "eunuch Wang is here." Ah Ch 'ou suddenly panicked and got drunk. The viewer can't help but ask, "What is the reason to be afraid of eunuch Wang?" There is something in Ah Ch 'ou's story: "You know there is a king eunuch, but you don't know there is a son of heaven." Looking at xian zong, he smiled on the surface, but his heart was extremely unhappy. By manipulating the West Factory, Wang Zhi ran amok. If he obeyed me, he would succeed. If he resisted me, he would die, completely ignoring Xianzong. This kind of imperial power is too arrogant, which is unbearable for any emperor. From then on, Xian Zong was full of vigilance against Wang Zhi.
It must be pointed out that after the establishment of the West Factory, the East Factory and the Royal Guards continued their original spy missions, and the violence was no less than that of the West Factory, and the final strike of the West Factory was also related to its contradiction with the East Factory. Meng Sen, an expert in the history of Ming and Qing Dynasties, once said one thing, which reflected Dongchang's arrogance: When Dongchang official school investigated Zuo Sheng's private affairs in Yunnan official school, the confession involved Zhang Wenzhi, the general political adviser and minister of industry. For such an important official in the imperial court, the Royal Guards Official School put him in the Royal Guards Prison without any scruples, even without knowing it. The minister of industry was taken away without authorization. How does the Ministry of Industry operate internally? Zuo, He Cong and others, in desperation, signed a letter asking for forgiveness on the grounds that they were in charge of the seal of the Ministry of Industry. At this time, Xian Zongcai knew that Zhang Wenzhi was arrested and immediately ordered him to be released. In March, the Royal Guards fined the minister for "seizing the minister without authorization", but ignored the agents of the East Factory. Mr. Meng said with emotion: "The factory and the guards are integrated. The minister is in prison, but the emperor doesn't know. If he knows, he will only be punished by the guards. The punishment ended in March, and the literati waited for it. "
Once, a robber crossed the imperial city and entered the west, and was caught by a captain of the East Factory. Eunuch Shang Ming invited Xian Zong to reward him, and Xian Zong was very happy and rewarded him heavily. Wang Zhi flew into a rage when he heard this. "It is my promotion. How dare you take credit behind my back! " Hearing this, Shang Ming was worried that Wang Zhi would retaliate, so he secretly reported Wang Zhi's evil deeds to Xianzong. At that time, Wang Zhi was serving as an army supervisor in Datong, and he took this opportunity to expose the evil of the West Factory. Xianzong also began to hate Wang Zhi, so in the eighteenth year of Chenghua (1482), he ordered the abolition of the West Factory. Without the protection of western factory minions, Wang Zhi could not vent his arrogance. In addition, Xian Zong's sparring with other internal officials declared the end of Wang Zhi. In August of the following year, Xu Yong, the censor, made a general liquidation of Wang Zhi's crimes: "Wang Zhi, Wang Yue and Chen Yue (two right-hand men of Wang Zhi) became intimate and contradictory. Luo Zhi's article inspired Fu Wei, with an army connecting the north and the south and people trapped in the southeast. People all over the world know that there is a western factory but don't know that there is a court, but they know that they are afraid of Wang Zhi and don't know that they are afraid of your majesty. It will be chilling to gradually become wings. I beg your majesty to punish me. I think traitors form a ring of the party. " Wang Zhi was deposed.
Fundamentally speaking, the establishment of "factory guards" is based on the psychological needs of autocratic emperors seeking a kind of "super" force to completely restrain their officials, because neither the officials who have no right nor the criminal law system-"Three Laws Division" restricted by the dynasty laws can meet his needs. It is this strong and almost abnormal demand of autocratic emperors that leads to the prosperity of the next generation of "factory guards" Every monarch has no intention of abolishing it completely, just as they have a soft spot for eunuchs. These emperors got what they needed from the "factory guards" organization. From Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, they could not get rid of the bondage of this abnormal psychology, because even in the feudal dynasty, where autocratic imperial power was extremely developed, the emperor could not do whatever he wanted without scruple. There are many restrictive factors, including moral and ethical concepts, dynasty decrees, etc., which are often manifested through the remonstrance of ministers, and this remonstrance often puts the emperor in an extremely embarrassing position. The abuse of power by "factory guards" is an excellent means for emperors to extricate themselves. We can find that the more the emperor is flawed in character and conduct, the more he relies on and favors the factory guards and eunuchs, and even uses his minions to compete with the foreign minister.
After Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty ascended the throne, the brutality of eunuchs and factory guards became more prominent. One of the main reasons is that Emperor Wuzong himself likes leisure very much and doesn't care about state affairs at all. Ministers summarized his characteristics as "being addicted to alcohol and neglecting ambition, being brave and neglecting body". Since Wu Zong was very disgusted with the frequent admonitions of courtiers, he ordered eunuch Liu Jin to be in charge of Silijian and Ma Yongcheng to be in charge of the East Factory. Gu Dayong took charge of the West Factory (re-established at this time) and began to abuse and persecute honest courtiers. There is only one purpose, to suppress speech and make General Wu have fun. The day when Liu Jin and the "factory guard" eagle dog were poisoned was the happiest time for Wu Zong.
After the death of Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty, Sejong ascended the throne, namely Jiajing Emperor. At the beginning of Sejong's accession to the throne, he had the intention to cheer up and seek treatment. However, the good times did not last long. Sejong is not a descendant of Wu Zong, but the son of Xing Xian, the younger brother of Xiao Zong. Therefore, he wanted to give his biological father a noble posthumous title, but he was strongly opposed by ministers, and the two sides were at loggerheads, which was called "big ceremony" in history. In the end, Sejong, who became angry from embarrassment, ordered the Royal Guards official school to slap a group of officials or put them in jail, and finally temporarily suppressed the opponents. Sejong also has a special hobby, that is, he hopes to live forever and loves magic. To this end, he visited the alchemist everywhere. If he was a guest of honor, he set up a fast in the palace day and night, which was very dedicated. This naturally caused opposition from many ministers, and the stubborn Sejong still used "factory guards" and "imprisonment" to attack the ministers who made suggestions. For example, the Ministry of Military Science paid a high salary for this matter and said that the alchemist was illusory. Sejong was furious and "ordered the prison to be looted." Qing Yang, the servant, remonstrated at the top, saying, "I will give you a prison and a heavy staff. I will die before my staff is finished." After the suggestion, Glory was careless and advised Sejong not to listen to the false signs of "auspiciousness". Unexpectedly, Sejong is also furious, and he will "raid the prison" next week. After such a cruel blow, few people dared to let Yan Qiang remonstrate. Finally, the famous honest official Harry risked his life to appear in Public Security, and was also arrested and imprisoned. Fortunately, Sejong was terminally ill because he was poisoned by taking Dan medicine for a long time. It can be seen that the existence and development of "factory guards" in Ming Dynasty was the result of the highly developed autocratic imperial power. Almost every emperor wants to control his deputy to the maximum. When they make absurd moves against the dynasty, they need institutions and minions like Royal Guards and Dongchang. Therefore, the influence of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty fluctuated frequently, but the status of Royal Guards and Dongchang was quite stable and their power was constantly expanding. This is the crux of the problem.
Royal Guards and Dongchang are the most effective and cruel tools to maintain the "super" power of autocratic emperors. They are completely obedient to the emperor himself, and the court institutions composed of many ministers become the objects of their monitoring and coercion. An autocratic emperor can dispose of ministers at will beyond the limits of dynasty decrees, which naturally makes the king eager to act rashly satisfied and comfortable. For a lonely person living in the inner court of the palace, having such power is enough to make the huge empire fall into the quagmire of discipline disorder, but its greatest harm lies in the transfer of super power. No monarch can completely control such a special institution as factory guards. While enjoying luxury and dealing with the affairs of state affairs, they live in a palace with a deep courtyard, although they are keen on the "gossip" and trivial matters reported by the Royal Guards official school every day. They can't verify the report of the Royal Guards, they can only listen to one side of the story, which will provide the chief Royal Guards with information about the situation and Luo Zhi's trap. Moreover, the Royal Guards set up their own courts and prisons, in which they captured life and death. The emperor did not intend to pursue the charges brought by the copying of the Royal Guards, resulting in countless unjust, false and wrong cases. The Royal Guards and their minions acted as imperial eagles. Dare to commit violence against any court official, making the judicial system of the dynasty useless. As a super supervision and judicial institution, Royal Guards has extraordinary super power, which poses a serious threat to the operation of the formal bureaucracy and the autocratic imperial power.
The eunuch's monopolization and stealing power is one of the stubborn diseases that China feudal dynasty can't cure. The Ming dynasty became the most tragic dynasty in which eunuchs ravaged.