Recently, there was a drama called "Qing Yu Nian", many people are addicted to this drama and can't extricate themselves, and the Douban score of this drama has also reached eight points. In the play, there is an institution that is only responsible to the emperor, and the rest are not allowed to interfere, and whether it is a civil and military official or a common people, all of them are discolored. Is this institution called the Examination Institute really existing in history? I'm here to talk to you today.
Duties of the Examining Chamber
According to the story in the play, the direct leader of the Inspection Institute is the emperor, and there is a dean under it, who is responsible for the daily operation of the entire court, and then divided into eight departments, each with different responsibilities. Except for the emperor, even the crown prince was not qualified to point fingers at the Inspection Yuan. In this way, the Examination Institute became the emperor's private service.
In the play, in order to interrogate Si Lili, the prince did not hesitate to break into the inspection court, but in the end he was stopped by Chen Pingping, the president of the inspection court. As a crown prince, he was not allowed to enter, which showed how strict the laws of the Inspection Court were.
Each of the eight divisions under the Inspection Institute has a chief and is then responsible for a matter.
In one place, it is specially responsible for supervising the hundred officials in Beijing, just like a pair of eyes staring at the officials of the DPRK and China, which makes people shudder. Therefore, the power of a place is the greatest, which makes officials very jealous.
The second division is specially responsible for intelligence work, collecting information on civilian and enemy countries, and then analyzing and providing intelligence support to the power center of Gyeongguk.
Three places, equivalent to the reserve ammunition depot of the entire agency, the various poisons and unpopular weapons they developed became the necessary artifacts for walking in the rivers and lakes in that era.
Four places, responsible for supervising officials outside Beijing, the scope of power can be said to be the largest, except for one, the four places are the departments that most headache officials.
The five places are the most important armed forces of the Inspection Institute, a black horse, specifically to protect the safety of Dean Chen Pingping. The combat power is the strongest, becoming the nightmare of countless people.
The six departments, which should be the most hidden, are dedicated to assassinations. Generally do not show their faces, but as long as they appear, they will definitely set off a bloody storm.
Seven places belong to the criminal law department, and the prisoners of the examination court are finally interrogated in seven places, and they will use various torture methods until the truth of the problem is obtained.
Eight, the mouthpieces of the Inspection Institute, are specifically used to control public opinion and the censorship of publications.
These different departments cooperated with each other to form an incomparably powerful organ of power, and Emperor Qing was at the center of power. Through the Inspection Institute, Emperor Qing seemed to open up the perspective of God and grasp everyone's every move. Even the protagonist, Fan Xian, was acting according to the route arranged for him by Emperor Qing.
The reason why Emperor Qing had all this was that the Inspection Institute was really indispensable. Looking at the ancient history, in fact, there are institutions like the Examination Institute, all of which are sharp weapons in the hands of the emperor. Today I will introduce you to this kind of institution of the Ming Dynasty.
Ming Dynasty secret service agency
The Ming Dynasty had three major secret service agencies, namely jinyiwei, east factory and west factory.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang vigorously engaged in secret service politics, and he deliberately set up the "inspection school" as the original secret service agency, whose duty was to specifically monitor the officials in Beijing to see if they had any illegal acts. In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Jinyi Guard, which was directly commanded by the emperor and was in charge of the guards, arrests, and prisons. In addition to these, they were also responsible for the personal safety of the emperor, and on some special occasions, such as sacrifice ceremonies, they were close to protecting the emperor.
Because of its particularity, Jinyiwei had great actual power, often arresting and interrogating some problematic officials, and even bypassing the Criminal Department and Dali Temple, which were in charge of criminal law. As a result, many people are afraid of Jinyiwei from the bottom of their hearts.
In the eighteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di established the East Factory and handed over the management of the East Factory to the eunuchs of the Si Li Supervisor, but in the end they were still responsible to the emperor. Compared with Jinyiwei, the jurisdiction of the East Factory is wider, and it can be said that it is completely the product of Zhu Di's desire for power, and through the East Factory, Zhu Di has created a very terrible anger. To the emperors behind the Ming Dynasty, the East Factory was still a sharp sword in their hands, especially during the period when Wei Zhongxian was in charge of the East Factory, the entire Ming Dynasty even reached the point where everyone talked about the discoloration of the factory. Many people died tragically under the clutches of the East Factory, and there was nowhere to seek justice.
The West Factory was established during the reign of Emperor MingXianzong, and its original head was the eunuch Wang Zhi. Because Emperor Mingxianzong felt that relying only on the strength of Jinyiwei and the East Factory would still not achieve the effect he wanted, he ordered people to form the West Factory. The nature of the West Factory is actually similar to that of the East Factory, but because it was valued by the emperor during this period, it temporarily surpassed the East Factory and the Jinyi Guard.
The three institutions, collectively known as the "factory guards", served as the emperor's ears and probed for the emperor's various intelligence. And, when necessary, do something for the emperor that is above the law. Through the factory guard organization, the emperor's power was unprecedentedly strengthened, and the control of the ministers was extraordinary.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty, just like the Qing Emperor, controlled the every move of countless ministers through the factory guard organization, and their life and death power was all within the emperor's thoughts.
Therefore, in some ways, the factory health institutions of the Ming Dynasty are the historical prototypes of the Inspection Institute.