Friends who often read martial arts novels must be familiar with the East Factory, the West Factory, the Jinyi Guard and the Six Doors. They were famous in the Ming Dynasty, and they were feared by those who heard about them, and they were real power departments that no one dared to provoke. They made it their mission to monitor military generals and collect news, and they were tools to maintain imperial power. So, what are the functions of these four departments? Who has the most power? I. Jinyi Wei Jinyi Wei is a secret service agency set up by Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, and was formerly known as the Yiluan Division engaged in honor guard work. It began as one of twelve Janissaries, specializing in monitoring the movements of hundreds of officials, gathering intelligence, and investigating and interrogating large-scale cases. During the Hongwu years, the four major cases, the "Hu Weiyong Case," the "Blue Jade Case," the "Guo Heng Case," and the "Empty Seal Case," jin Yiwei participated in the investigation and trial.
Jinyiwei was the emperor's personal secret agent and played a role in strengthening the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty. However, since it was directly accountable to the emperor and was not regulated by any other department, the resulting lack of power was constrained. In the daily interrogation and investigation, Jinyiwei used his identity to create many unjust, false and wrongly decided cases. Therefore, in the last years of Ming Taizu Hongwu,he had already detected this drawback and abolished the Jinyi Guard. However, during the Ming Dynasty Emperor Yongle years, it was restored again. Subsequent ming emperors set up a new secret service organization, the East Factory, in order to balance the Jinyi guards.
During the Yongle years of dongchang, Jinyiwei commanded ji gang to hide weapons privately and plot against him, but he was denounced by the eunuchs. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di lost trust in jinyiwei, so he wanted to set up a new organization to balance and divide the power of jinyiwei. And the leader of this new organization must be a eunuch. This organization is the East Factory. At the beginning of the establishment of the East Factory, under the support of the emperor, the power exceeded that of the Jinyi Guard. In addition to the commander-in-chief, most of the other managers of the East Factory were eunuchs living in the palace. Because they had no offspring and lived by the side of the Son of Heaven, the emperor trusted them even more. At this point, Jinyiwei is indeed beyond his reach.
The power of the East Factory has always suppressed the Jinyi guards, but there are exceptions in the middle. Lu Bing, the commander of the Jinyi Guards during the Jiajing period, was the emperor's savior and was therefore very favored. While he was there, the power of the Jinyi guards overwhelmed the East Factory. But this is just a special case. 3. The West Factory was established during the reign of Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Jianshen in order to balance the East Factory. The West Factory is only a temporary organization, but its power is very large, and the scope of interrogation is also very extensive, not only the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee, but also local celebrities, magnates, ordinary people, and even the Jinyiwei and East Factories, which are also secret service organizations, are within the reconnaissance scope of the West Factory.
After the establishment of the West Factory, the number of people soon surpassed that of the East Factory. In addition, he can reconnoiter Jinyiwei and Dongchang, so he is also a temporary power, and even if he arrests people, he does not need to ask the emperor. The famous Admirals of Xicheng, Wang Zhi and Gu Dayong, were both people who took advantage of the opportunity to make money and crack down on dissidents who brought calamity to the country and the people. Their power later aroused the emperor's vigilance, so it was later revoked. However, during the existence of the West Factory, it was the bearer of the Ming Dynasty's secret service community. Four, six doors, six doors, is actually a common name, referring to the three gates of Dali Temple, the Punishment Department and the Inspectorate. Because there were six gates in the ancient yamen, it was called six doors. The six doors belong to the regular gate and are law enforcers, but they are not higher than the law. Moreover, the people in the six doors are all serving the normal trial of cases, not spies who collect intelligence themselves, and their functions are somewhat similar to today's criminal police. Not only are they powerless, but they are the most law-abiding people.
The six gates were not independent of the judicial system, unlike the East Factory, the West Factory, and the Jinyi Guards, who were directly responsible to the emperor personally and were themselves higher than the law. Therefore, the people in the six doors generally have a good reputation, unlike the other three secret service agencies that are notorious. Then, the power of these 4 secret service organizations is easy to comment: the six doors have the smallest authority, the Jinyi guard is higher, and the East Factory is higher. The real most powerful is the West Factory, which has existed for the shortest time.