In the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), Zhu Yuanzhang underwent institutional reform, and an unprecedented institution was created, which was the Jinyi Wei that made the officials of the imperial court change their faces. At the beginning of the establishment of Jinyiwei, "directly driving the guards, patrolling and arresting", mainly had the three functions of guarding the duty, reconnaissance and arrest, and canonizing the prison. The Jinyi Guards were the Emperor's most trusted guards, responsible for the Emperor's security work and procuratorial officials. For example, if the officials of the imperial court said anything or did anything, they could not hide it from Jinyiwei.
Their power is spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital, and they may be the bodyguards and maids of officials, or the peripheral personnel of the Jinyi guards. At that time, the Jinyi guards wanted the wind to be windy and the rain to be rainy, which was very powerful, but such a powerful Jinyiwei, in 1644 AD, when Li Zicheng, the king of the Chuang Dynasty, attacked Beijing and the Manchu Qing Iron Rode into Beijing, where did they "hide"?
The predecessor of Jinyiwei was the "Arch Guard Division" established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor, who was mainly responsible for collecting intelligence, and in 1382 AD, there was Jinyiwei. Jinyiwei accompanied the Ming Dynasty and continued until 1661, when the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty lasted for 290 years. Jinyiwei and Dongchang are in a competitive relationship, and the two sides supervise each other. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei was reduced to a subordinate unit of the East Factory, only responsible for capturing Qin criminals, and the power of Jinyiwei at this time was greatly reduced.
During the Chongzhen period, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Jinyi Wei commanded the envoy Luo Yangsheng. His ancestor Luo An and father Luo Sigong both served as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and the commander of the Jinyi Guard for generations. In 1624, Luo Yangsheng became the Jinyi Wei Hundred Households, and after Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, he was reused and took charge of the Jinyi Wei with the title of Zuo Du, becoming the actual ruler of the Jinyi Wei. There is no record of Luo Yangsheng's evil deeds in history, and he does not have other Jinyi wei commanders who make Mao Jun, Ji Gang and others notorious, and he is a relatively upright person.
In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), Xiong Kaiyuan, deputy of the Pedestrian Division, and Jiang Xi, the deputy of the Pedestrian Division, impeached Zhou Yanru to the Chongzhen Emperor, angering the Chongzhen Emperor and being arrested and imprisoned. Suddenly, one night, the Chongzhen Emperor sent a small eunuch to pass on an order to Ling Luo to secretly execute the two officials. Luo Yangsheng felt inexplicable, and he also knew that it was inappropriate, so he played:
"If an official is guilty, he shall be punished with the canon and forsaken it with the whole world." Tonight he paid the courtiers with a piece of paper and killed the second counselor, but the ministers did not dare to obey the edict. ”
Luo Yangsheng refused to carry out the Chongzhen Emperor's holy will, and instead of being an ordinary person, he did not dare to talk to the moody Chongzhen Emperor like this, in case he angered the emperor, his life might be lost. If it is another Jinyi guard commander, it only needs to carry out the emperor's holy will to the letter, there is no need to care about right and wrong, and you can also please the emperor and add officials to the knighthood. Presumably, Luo Yang was also bold and outspoken. After Chongzhen read Luo Yangsheng's recital, his anger dissipated, and he did not blame Luo Yangsheng, nor did he kill these two officials.
In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), three years after the Yanguan Incident, Zhou Yanru's governor went out of Beijing to engage the Qing army, did not dare to fight, and even lied about the great victory and deceived the emperor. After the Chongzhen Emperor read the report, he also thought that Zhou Yanru was in command and was a great meritorious man, and he was given the title of a knight. At this time, Luo Yang's Jinyi Wei found out the truth about Zhou Yanru's war with the Qing soldiers, so he made a message to the Chongzhen Emperor. Chongzhen was furious and exiled Zhou Yanru, who soon committed suicide.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, and Luo Yangsheng, as the commander of jinyiwei, was responsible for guarding the capital, and soon the city of Beijing was captured. After the Chongzhen Emperor was hanged, he had to surrender, handed over 30,000 taels of silver, sought self-preservation, and was still imprisoned.
After a few months, Wu Sangui, in order to avenge the Chongzhen Emperor, led dorgon Qing troops into Beijing, and Li Zicheng left. At that time, Luo Yang and Shen Weibing, the official attendant in the capital, and other courtiers thought that Wu Sangui had returned to The Capital to succeed to the throne, so they set up the Chongzhen Spiritual Seat at the Noon Gate, made a memorial, and prepared luan Yi to drive the fa, leading the officials and people to the Chaoyang Gate to greet the driver. Surprisingly, they welcomed not the crown prince, but the regent of the Qing Dynasty, Dolgun.
At that time, many Ming officials felt deceived, so they quietly slipped away, and Luo Yangsheng and others made a mistake and pushed the boat along the water to submit to the Qing Dynasty, and welcomed Dorgon to the Wuying Hall for worship. It is a great irony that the Ming Emperor's closest Jinyi Wei commander made Luo Yangsheng not resist and submit to the Qing Dynasty.
Regardless of Luo Yangsheng's considerations, when Li Zicheng entered the capital, he did not fulfill his loyalty, but surrendered to the Dashun regime, and later submitted to the Qing Dynasty, which is not right, and it is a stain that is difficult to erase in his life.
When Li Zicheng attacked the capital, Luo Yangsheng obeyed the chongzhen emperor's will and guarded the capital. However, due to the fact that the enemy was outnumbered, the capital had just suffered from the plague, ten rooms and nine empty spaces, and its combat effectiveness was low, so naturally it was not the opponent of Li Zicheng's army. Jinyiwei was good at spying on intelligence, and was not good at fighting between the two armies, so he could not save the capital.
In any case, the Jinyi guards were much stronger than the eunuchs who opened the gates of Beijing to Li Zicheng, who surrendered after being defeated in battle. Therefore, at the time of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinyi guards, under the command of the envoy Luo Yangsheng, "hid" on the walls of Beijing and fought until the fall of the country. After the fall of Daming, some of Jinyiwei were killed in battle, some surrendered to Li Zicheng, and later submitted to the Qing Dynasty.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it began to imitate the Ming Dynasty system at the beginning, and still set up Jinyi Wei. Only one year later, in the second year of Shunzhi (1645), the Qing Dynasty changed the Jinyi Wei to Luan Yi Wei. The era of Jinyiwei is over, which is the fate of Jinyiwei for nearly 300 years.