Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was a very suspicious emperor, and during his reign, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out many reforms in the Ming Dynasty, bringing great prosperity to society, but he was very distrustful of his officials, even those who were born and died around him. At first, Zhu Yuanzhang still trusted the people around him, but after the Blue Jade case and the Hu Weiyong case, Zhu Yuanzhang did not trust anyone. In these cases of attempted rebellion, Zhu Yuanzhang killed more than 40,000 people, and because of these cases, he ended his position as prime minister and founded Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei were a military establishment directly under Zhu Yuanzhang, and their power was so high that they could arrest anyone, they only listened to the emperor's opinion, and the rest of the people had no way to manage the Jinyiwei.
Jinyiwei was born of suspicion and fell because of the East Factory
Although Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he was still very jealous of the ministers at his feet, and he let JinYiwei always keep an eye on the movements of these ministers, and it was precisely because of this that the Blue Jade Case and the Hu Weiyong Case could be easily broken, but with so many people involved, Zhu Yuanzhang's approach can be said to be very brutal. Later, after the end of these cases, Zhu Yuanzhang disbanded the Jinyiwei for a time, and waited until the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, ascended the throne before restoring the Jinyiwei. This time, the Jinyi guard was more powerful, and the ministers were very afraid of the Jinyi guard. During this period, jinyi guards had more and more positions, and they took care of everything. After Zhu Di restored the Jinyi Guard, more and more people joined the Jinyi Guard, and by the late Ming Dynasty, the number of Jinyi Guards even reached more than 100,000.
However, Zhu Di was also not assured that Jinyiwei had such great power, so Zhu Di founded the East Factory, which was also directly responsible for the emperor, and they had more power than Jinyiwei, because they were always by the emperor's side, monitoring Jinyiwei and the hundred officials of the imperial court for the emperor. Originally, Jinyiwei was a secret agent, Zhu Di also had to engage in a secret agent to monitor the secret agent, at this time the Jinyiwei was not easy to handle, the East Factory was still on an equal footing with them at first, but then gradually became their boss, Jinyiwei saw the people of the East Factory still had to bow their heads.
JinyiWei became Luan Yiwei, only because the times changed
In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the number of Jinyi guards reached more than 100,000 people, so after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, where did these Jinyi guards go? Jinyiwei did not participate in the Ming and Qing wars, and by the time of the Qing Dynasty, Jinyiwei actually still existed. However, the Jinyi wei in this period did not have much power, there was a big difference between the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the centralization of power during the Ming Dynasty was strengthened, so the emperor would set up such a secret service agency to do things for himself. During the Qing Dynasty, the power of the imperial court was dispersed, and the emperor had power, but the eight banners also had power.
Moreover, during his reign, the Shunzhi Emperor found that the demise of the Ming Dynasty had a great relationship with Jinyiwei and Dongchang, so after a year, the jinyiwei institution was abolished, but the jinyiwei people still stayed in the palace to work, and they became Luan Yiwei. Luan Yiwei is also the escort who manages the travel of people in the palace, and their responsibilities are very large, and the honor guard and protection work of the emperor's travel need to be borne by them. But by this time, there were already many new forces joining the Jinyi guards, and they no longer controlled the power like the Ming Dynasty.
The general manager of Luan Yiwei was also a high-ranking official in the imperial court, which showed that the emperor still attached great importance to this institution. I have to say that the Shunzhi Emperor's decision-making was very correct, after jinyiwei got the power, he did a lot of dirty things behind the emperor's back, their power was monstrous, even more than the emperor, and the civil and military officials were afraid of their existence. Moreover, in the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus themselves were nomadic people, and the Eight Banners of the Dynasty were even more courageous and good at war, and the task of defending the imperial palace was mostly entrusted to these Eight Banners disciples, and the Shunzhi Emperor trusted these Manchu brothers very much, and the Jinyi Guards had no power, only responsible for travel.