The origin and development of Jinyiwei in history
The Jinyiwei is the commander of the Jinyi army, the bodyguard organization of the emperor. It was formerly the Imperial Guards Division established by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty. In order to monitor, investigate, and suppress the illegal behavior of officials, Taizu later appointed trusted civil and military officials to serve as "inspectors" to "examine the injustice and lawlessness of officials in the big and small yamen in Beijing, and report all the rumors." In the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty ( In 1369), the Ouchi Pro-Army Governor's Office was established, and in the fifteenth year (1382), the Imperial Guard was established as a military institution for the emperor's bodyguards. In order to strengthen the centralized rule, Zhu Yuanzhang specially ordered him to take charge of the criminal prisons, gave him the power of inspection and arrest, and engaged in reconnaissance, arrest, and interrogation activities.
The military system in the early Ming Dynasty was relatively simple. Its basic units were "guards" and "stations". Each guard had about 5,000 regular sergeants. It had stations under it, which were divided into thousand-household stations and hundred-household stations. , there are 48 guard posts under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Guard in the capital. 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".
A Jinyiwei official wearing a golden flying fish suit and a Xiuchun sword. The leader of the Jinyiwei is called a commander (or commander of fellow magistrates, commander of ministers). It 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 the Jinyi Guard 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 guards. 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 functions of the Jinyiwei and made them It became the emperor's personal police. The Jinyiwei agencies responsible for investigating crimes are divided into two towns, the north and the south. Among them, the north town fusi was added in the 15th year of Hongwu to handle cases designated by the emperor. In the first year of Chenghua, the seal of Beisi was cast, and Bai Benwei was not required to be imprisoned in all prisons. The Beisi had its own prison (Edict Prison) and could arrest, torture, and execute on its own without having to go 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 school captain and the strongman performed the task of catching thieves and raping, they were called "Tiqi". 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 high requirements for the maintenance of imperial power and the integrity of officials that other dynasties did not have due to the particularity of their origins. This allowed the Jinyiwei's "inspection and arrest" functions to expand indefinitely. Generally speaking, the work of Jinyiwei is limited to detecting various intelligence and handling cases assigned by the emperor. However, when an ambitious and cruel commander comes to power, he will use his position to spare no effort to create trouble, which can not only attack dissidents, but also It can 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 Fusi Prison in Beizhen 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. , so that the officials, people, army and emperor were alienated from morality. No wonder some people said that the dynasty was not destroyed by rogue bandits, but by factory guards.
Another famous function of Jin Yiwei is to "hold the imperial staff". The imperial rod was a form of torture used by emperors to teach disobedient scholar-bureaucrats, and it began in the Ming Dynasty. "History of the Ming Dynasty·Criminal Law Chronicles" calls it: "Ming Dynasty's own creation, not the ancient system." One sentence reveals the particularly authoritarian nature of the cruel government that ran through the Ming Dynasty. 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.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, there were not only relatively upright commanders like Yuan Bin and Mou Bin, but also lackeys and cruel officials like Ma Shun and Ji Gang. There were outstanding intelligence operations against the Wanli Sino-Japanese War and instigating rebellion against the Mongolian nobles. There were also despicable acts of relying on Dongchang and killing loyal ministers. But in general, its main function was to monitor the Ming Dynasty emperor. Its positive role was to punish corruption among the scholar-bureaucrats and prevent possible rebellions. It also shouldered a considerable part of national defense and intelligence work. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty had such an efficient tool as the Jin Yiwei to supervise the literati class, and the criminal activities of civil and military officials became more convenient, which also made lawless people and civil servant groups more fearful. The Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty were basically the political struggle tools of the two major Tongzhi groups, civil servants and eunuchs, and their main roles always changed with changes in national policies. Although there are certain positive effects, there are also considerable negative effects.
When the Jinyiwei was established in the Ming Dynasty, it was a famous cruel policy. "History of the Ming Dynasty·Criminal Law Chronicles" clearly stated that it was close to the imperial edicts of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The so-called imperial edict mainly refers to cases where a high-ranking official at the level of Jiuqing or County Sheriff is guilty and requires the emperor to issue an edict before he can be imprisoned. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought against the Xiongnu for many years and dragged the country into a wartime system. He often used Legalist cruelty and harsh punishments. According to "Historical Records: Biography of Cruel Officials" and other articles, in his later years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had as many as 26 prisons and imprisoned people. There were more than 100 high-ranking officials including county guards and jiuqing, and more than 100,000 people were implicated. However, in the Han Dynasty, this kind of cruel government was still only a relatively short-term phenomenon in the later years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After understanding the nature of the imperial edict, it is easy to understand why Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, set up imperial guards. "History of the Ming Dynasty: Officials 5" says: "The Jin Yiwei is in charge of guarding, arresting, and prison matters. He always uses the honorary Qidu to supervise them... thieves commit adultery and roam the streets in ditches. They arrest them secretly and save time." Taizu of the Ming Dynasty worried that he would die. Later, the next generation emperor could not control the civil and military heroes, so he went to jail several times, used various pretexts to kill and punish them, and almost wiped out all the civil and military heroes who assisted him in conquering the world. This type of case has a reason and no solid evidence. If it is left to the court officials to handle it according to the law, it may take a long time and even the case cannot be settled. Therefore, these cases were handed over to Jinyiwei as imperial edicts.
Looking at Jin Yiwei in this way, his nature is very clear. "Guards" are the emperor's personal soldiers; "prisoners" can break prisons themselves; and "secret arrest" also illustrates the nature of its secret service. During the imperial edicts of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, cases were still handled by court officials, but this was a policy error of harsh punishments. The imperial guards of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty aimed at eliminating meritorious officials, fabricated accusations, and put the innocent to death. "Youjie is cruel and cruel, and the harm is nothing more than this. In the time of Taizu, those who were arrested for serious crimes in the world were imprisoned in the capital, and there were many larger prisons. Most of them were punished by the envoys, and many were killed." "History of the Ming Dynasty·Criminal Law" "Zhi" said: "The case of Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu involved 40,000 people." This shows how cruel it is. The creation of figurines was the product of the emperor's excessive concern to safeguard imperial power and eradicate corruption, so its sequelae were particularly serious. Naturally, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty himself knew that such cruel policies could not be normal. Therefore, after the Lan Yu case, that is, after most of the heroes had been killed, in the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu (1393), he issued an "edict." No one in the inner and outer prisons can go to the Royal Guards, the Great and the Great Xianjing Dharma Administrators." However, the bad governance caused by the bad intentions at the time of the creation of the terracotta warriors was difficult to eradicate. When his son Zhu Di, King of Yan, took advantage of the special opportunity that all the civil and military heroes in the capital had been killed and severely weakened, he raised an army to seize Jian, the direct grandson of Ming Taizu. Emperor Wen's throne was for Ming Dynasty Chengzu, which inevitably required the massacre of upright bureaucrats loyal to Emperor Jianwen, but this required a secret service agency. Therefore, in the hands of Ming Dynasty Chengzu, the imperial guards were once again splendid. In the early Ming Dynasty, Jin Yiwei was reused in the two generations. After that, the Ming Dynasty made it difficult to get rid of this shortcoming.