What is the East Factory?
origin
Ming Chengzu, the waist badge of Royal Guards in Mingdong Factory, failed to gain power, and illegally seized the power of Jianwen Emperor Jinling court by force, which led to social dissent. In the 18th year of Yongle (1420), in order to suppress the political reactionary forces, Cheng Zu decided to set up a new yamen called "Tokyo Factory", located in Dongchang Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing.
Establish background
The founder of the East Factory-Judy, the founder of Chengzu East Factory in Ming Dynasty, is Judy, the founder of Chengzu East Factory in Ming Dynasty. After the war in Jingnan, Judy ascended the throne. On the one hand, rumors that Wen Jian is not dead appear from time to time. On the other hand, many ministers in the imperial court were not very supportive of the new regime. Judy doesn't trust court ministers either.
He found it inconvenient to use the Royal Guards outside the palace, so he decided to set up a new organization. In the process of Judy's starting his army, some eunuchs and monks made great efforts (such as the famous Zheng He and Dao Yan), so in his mind, he still felt that eunuchs were more reliable, and they were in the palace, which was more convenient to contact. So Judy rebelled against Mao's ban that eunuchs should not interfere in politics and reused eunuchs.
In December of the 18th year of Yongle (1420), in order to suppress political opposition, Judy, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, decided to set up a new official position, named "Dongjingchang", and appointed trusted eunuchs as leaders. In order to consolidate the political power, Judy urgently needs a strong authoritarian institution.
◆ The establishment of the East Factory also has the intention of monitoring the Royal Guards.
◆ The deeper background of the establishment of the East Factory is the strengthening of centralization in the Ming Dynasty.
system
The leader of the East Factory is called the eunuch of the East Factory, also known as the factory official or governor, and is the second person among eunuchs after Li Si. Usually, the eunuchs in charge of the ceremony are the second and third divisions, and the official title is abbreviated as "Imperial eunuch in the East Factory" or "Prefect in the East Factory".
One of the subordinate officers of the East Factory is in charge of thousands of punishments, and the other is in charge of hundreds of punishments. They are served by thousands of Royal Guards, and they are called the officers who stick to punishments.
In addition, there are more than 40 supervisors, foremen and clerks assigned by the Royal Guards. They were divided into twelve maids and maids. Each housekeeper wore a round hat, soap boots and a brown shirt. Others have the same boots and hats, but they wear straight bodies.
Specifically responsible for detective work is the service director and fan service. The service chief is equivalent to the monitor, also known as the "platoon leader". * * *, more than one hundred people, also divided into twelve ugly heads, all wearing pointed hats, white boots, brown clothes and small tapestries. The commander-in-chief of the service has served many times and is also known as "Fan Zi" and "Director". These people are also composed of elites selected by the Royal Guards.
The East Factory is not only more lean and reasonable in organization and personnel allocation, but also has formulated a quite strict system in investigation and operation. 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".
The first owner of the East Factory can no longer take the exam. "History of the Ming Dynasty Chengzu III" records that "in the year of setting up the East Factory, the official was attacked."
Wang Zhen, Liu Jin, Feng Bao and Wei Zhongxian, great eunuchs in Ming Dynasty, once commanded the East Factory.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dongchang also had its own prison.
The function of the East Factory
The function of the East Factory is to "seek rebellion and abuse". And have the power with a security guard ". A person in charge was given the power to arrest and visit spies.
At first, Dongchang was only responsible for investigating and arresting people, and had no right to interrogate prisoners. The arrested suspects should be handed over to the security department of North Town of Jinyiwei for interrogation. But in the late Ming Dynasty, Dongchang also had its own prison.
Dongchang monitors various political forces such as government officials, celebrities and scholars, and has the right to report the monitoring results directly to the emperor. According to the information obtained from the monitoring, Dongchang can directly arrest and interrogate those political opponents with lower status without judicial trial; As for whether the opposition is a senior government official or a royal aristocrat, Dongchang can also arrest and interrogate with the authorization of the Emperor.
The investigation scope of Dongchang is very wide. The information obtained by the East Factory can be reported directly to the emperor, which is much more convenient than that the Royal Guards have to report by letter.
◆ The court came to judge the major case, and the North Town of Royal Guards tortured the recidivist. The East Factory should send someone to hear the case.
Every yamen in the imperial court has people from the East Factory on duty to monitor the officials' every move.
Some important yamen documents, such as various side newspapers of the Ministry of War and Tang newspapers, must be checked by the East Factory.
◆ The daily life of ordinary people and the price of daily necessities are also within the reconnaissance range of the East Factory.
Ming History Criminal Law: "Criminal law has its own ideas, indifferent to the ancient system, court staff, East and West factories, Royal Guards, and town officials. Just a few people, killing people to death, but the law is not beautiful. Give in and do it until you can't. It's a pity to hear the hands of a samurai and an official. " "The establishment of the East Factory began with Chengzu. The prison of Jinyiwei was used by Taizu, but it has been banned since then, and the reuse began in Yongle. The factory guards depend on each other, so the speaker is also called the factory guard. "
Government environment
The chief of the East Factory is an imperial eunuch, and his full-time title is: an imperial governor, the eunuch in charge of the official school of the East Factory. In the Ming Dynasty, he was called the waist tag of the East Factory and was respectfully called "the factory public" or "the supervisor". At first, eunuchs were appointed eunuchs by supervisors in Li Si. Later, due to complicated affairs, he was changed to two or three eunuchs by Li Si. One of the subordinate officers of the East Factory is in charge of thousands of punishments, and the other is in charge of hundreds of punishments. They are served by thousands of Royal Guards, and they are called the officers who stick to punishments. Li Yi and other officers (said to be the shift leader, foreman and secretary, with more than 40 people) and arrest affairs (said to be the service chief and the service model) are all deployed by the Royal Guards.
When the East Factory entered, a large portrait of Yue Fei was displayed, reminding the East Factory to handle the case in an idle way.
Similarities and differences between Dongchang, Xichang and Wei Jinyi
Dongchang, Xichang and Wei Jinyi in Yin Mu, Wei Jinyi in the Ming Dynasty were secret service agencies set up in addition to the three judicial organs of the Ministry of Punishment, Duchayuan and Dali Temple, which were directly subordinate to the emperor and in charge of the "imperial edict".
Royal Guards, the emperor's bodyguard organization. Formerly known as Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, it was set up by the Imperial Archway and the Guard Department. In the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1369), it was changed to the imperial court, and in the fifteenth year, the Royal Guards were established as the military organization of the emperor.
The West Factory only existed for a short time in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and a new imperial institution, the West Factory, was established during the Chenghua period in Ming Xianzong. Its power even exceeds that of the old East Factory.
The West Factory was cancelled only five months after its establishment, and was restored by Xianzong one month later. After Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty succeeded to the throne, eunuch Liu Jin came to power, eunuch forces revived, the West Factory reopened, Liu Jin fell, and Wu Zongcai ordered the West Factory to be revoked. As a temporary product, the West Factory disappeared forever in history.
The leader of the Royal Guards is called the Commander-in-Chief (or Commander-in-Chief), usually a military commander close to the emperor, and rarely a eunuch. Belongs to the foreign minister. The leaders of the East Factory and the West Factory are eunuchs, that is, internal ministers.
In the relationship with Royal Guards, Dongchang came from behind. Because the owner of the East Factory has a close relationship with the emperor and is located in the palace, it is easier to gain the trust of the emperor. Royal Guards reported to the Emperor that if you want to play the music, the East Factory can say so. The emperor also gave the supervisor of the East Factory the power to supervise the security personnel. The relationship between Dongchang and Jinyiwei has gradually changed from the same level to the superior-subordinate relationship. In the era when eunuchs were in power, the commander of the Royal Guards even knelt down and kowtowed when he saw the boss of the East Factory.
The East Factory, the West Factory and the Royal Guards have similar monitoring, investigation and suppression of officials' illegal activities. That is, "patrolling"
In short, due to the inherent needs of authoritarian regime, the emperor needs a force independent of the bureaucratic system for his own use, such as East Factory, West Factory and Royal Guards.