In August of the fifth year of the Taiping Revival of the Northern Song Dynasty (980), Emperor Taizong of Song received a secret letter signed Wang Renzhen;
In this secret letter, Wang Renzhen, who was then the third division (minister of finance), exposed the crime of collusion between the inner court and foreign nobles and officials, relying on privileges, and illegally conducting business.
After reading it, Emperor Taizong of Song was furious, and after you verified that it was true, he dealt with a cadre of people and so on. In fact, in this case of internal and external collusion, several of the corruption cases were headed by Zhao Guangyi's personal internal court officials, including the two top commanders of Wu Desi: Liu Zhixin, the envoy of Wu De, and Dou Renbao, the deputy envoy of Wu De.
A year later, in November of the sixth year of the Taiping Revival (981), the bad Wu Desi caused resentment among the courtiers and the people, and Zhao Guangyi immediately issued an edict to reorganize the Wu Desi.
As a result, a new institution will replace the Wude Division, and on its basis, develop into a secret service agency that existed for more than three hundred years in the Two Song Dynasties, the Imperial City Division.
At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, after completing the unification of the Sichuan and Shu regions, Song Taizu, in order to ensure the effective control of this old power area, followed the old system of the Middle Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, and founded the detective agency "Wu Desi". It aims to complete the monitoring of remote Western Shu areas through this institution to "stab corruption" to prevent changes.
The creation of the Wude Division largely compensated for the gray area that the public monitoring agency and the Goshidai could not reach. In addition to the legal and transparent channels of information collection, a non-public intelligence collection channel was re-established, making it one of the important forces for the emperor to monitor the whole country.
Like the Jinyi guards of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Desi only obeyed the emperor's orders. While spying on local political and military intelligence, they also shoulder the task of monitoring local governors and public opinion.
In the song taizong period, Wu Desi was reorganized into the Imperial City Division, but its private inspection and detective function did not end there, and the mantle of private inspection was invisibly passed to the latter as Wu Desi was reorganized into the Imperial City Division.
In the late Taizong Dynasty, there were gradual distortions within the Imperial City Division, colluding with local forces and causing trouble to one side, which happened repeatedly;
In the third year of Chunhua (992), Wang Bin, the yongqiu lieutenant, openly arrested the personnel of the Imperial City Division and sentenced him to punishment. As a result, under the compulsion of public opinion, the scope of activities of the Imperial City Division gradually shrank to a corner of the capital. Its basic function was to act as the emperor's personal bodyguard, responsible for the safety and security of the palace. On this basis, a series of core functions such as detective, arrest, and prison are assigned. The object of its surveillance also gradually changed from local officials to Beijing officials in the dynasty, as well as the political trend of the entire capital.
The personnel of the Imperial City Division are roughly composed of three parts: officials, officials, and soldiers. The supreme governor has always been directly appointed by the emperor and has not been removed by the Zhongshu Provincial Hall. At the beginning of the establishment of the Imperial City Division, the highest official was the Imperial City Division (during the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to avoid Emperor Gaozong's contrivance, it was renamed Ganban or Gandang Imperial City Division).
In the last year of the Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong added the Imperial City Division and the Imperial City Division to the Imperial City Division, with the Imperial City Division as the highest official. Under normal circumstances, the ratio of personnel is "one for lifting officials, two points, and five for doing things". But at different times, it will also change.
The third-level chieftain "Goo Dang Imperial City Division" was generally filled by military ministers and eunuchs, and the highest rank was Zheng Si Pin (正四品). But in fact, this grade can be achieved by very few people, most of them are positive six products, or positive seven products, and even once there was a positive eight products of the Imperial City Division;
The second-level chief "raised the Imperial City Division", and the grade was significantly improved, between the second product and the seventh product, but most of them could only remain from the fifth product;
As a first-level official, the "Lifting Imperial City Division" is much higher in grade than the first two, and is between the positive five products and the positive two products. During the reign of Emperor Huizong, he issued an edict to crown prince Zhao Kai as the imperial city division, and the official Zhizheng Yipin was promoted. Since then, Zheng Yipin has become the highest grade of the Imperial City Commander, but there is only one case in the Song Dynasty, and most of them can only remain in the second grade.
Below the imperial city division chief, Xu officials became one of the key factors to ensure the normal operation of the imperial city division. The Song HuiJiao records that the Imperial City Division "had one officer each, four in the front, six in the back, and two in the surveyor, for a total of fourteen." After the Southern Song Dynasty, this number increased to thirty-one.
Xu officials generally presided over the daily specific affairs of the division, and during the Northern Song Dynasty, they were mainly responsible for formulating and implementing the division's ordinances and books, and were responsible for the work of table chapters and chapters. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the power was further enlarged, and the power of case handling, daily affairs, official documents, account accounting, and judicial disposal within the Imperial City Department was gradually controlled by Xu officials.
In fact, the composition of the Xu officials was extremely complex, among them there were "first households" who were familiar with the way of officials, but most of them were selected from the local states and supervisors. These officials are of very low status compared to those who were born in the Imperial Examination.
Taking the leader of the Xu officials, the "hook officials", as an example, if you want to transfer from a hook official to a formal official, you must go through layers of assessment and inspection, and it will take at least seventeen years to formally turn regular, while other low-level Xu officials have almost no channel for ascension.
After entering the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, especially after the beginning of the Xi Ning Reform Law, the corpses of officials were vegetarian, not seeking merit, but seeking no fault. A large number of administrative affairs were entrusted to Xu officials. Moreover, officials generally change over several years, coming and going like passing passengers, but Xu officials often inherit from generation to generation, live in the yamen, have deep influence, and can easily grasp the weaknesses of the chiefs, suppress them, and form the authority of the Xu officials who abuse the people from above and below.
Under the Xu officials, those who were specifically responsible for the operations and a large number of field work were the low-level soldiers selected from the forbidden army. The Imperial City Division has set up pro-subordinate officials and pro-affairs officers, with pro-subordinate officials as the superior, and the two men each lead 2,500 people, which are the main operational forces of the Imperial City Division.
If it is said that Xu's status is an unruly civil servant, then the low-level soldiers are miscellaneous servants driven by others. He is in charge of the palace gate key, responsible for the inspection of the palace, the guard and the sweeping of the palace, and even the internal food procurement and toilet cleaning of the palace. Most of the time, they just cope with some daily chores.
The emperor was the most strict with these low-level soldiers. First of all, in the selection of personnel, the main recruitment target is the children of the military squad in Beijing, although it was once openly recruited to the public, but the composition of social personnel is complex and difficult to control. During the reign of Emperor Huizong, the children of the people were completely prevented from entering the Imperial City Division's army, and all of them were recruited to the forbidden army. And there are extremely strict requirements for the age, physique and image of soldiers.
At the same time, seventy-two articles of the "Penalty Article" were promulgated, including: no drinking, no gambling, no party formation, no absconding, no witchcraft, no poultry, and so on. Its purpose was to strictly control the army's contact with the outside world and ensure the absolute loyalty of the army to the emperor.
In practical work, whenever illegal personnel are detected, the pro-subordinate officials are responsible for arrest, the Imperial City Division is responsible for interrogation, and the Xu officials are responsible for specific paperwork, and finally the lawbreakers and criminals are thrown into the Imperial City Division. Such a set of procedures combined detectives, justice, and prison collection, which was almost the same as the official law enforcement departments at that time, such as KaifengFu and Dali Temple.
In fact, in terms of the nature of work and the object of work, the Imperial City Division is no different from the Jinyi Guards of the Ming Dynasty. From the loss of the government and the government, to the folklore anecdotes, up to the relatives of the emperor and the state, down to the common people, they are all the targets of its detectives. All the spies "changed their clothes" and wore civilian clothes to investigate privately. The things explored should be extensive and detailed, and they should not be tired of being cumbersome.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanhe of Huizong, a vegetable seller was under the gate of xuande in the capital city, and after a few words in a confused way, the pawns of the Imperial City Division "arrested and arrested Kaifeng Prison" and eventually died in prison;
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong Shaoxing, Qin Ju ordered hundreds of pawns of the Imperial City Division to roam the city, and when they heard rumors and cursed their traitors, they were arrested and sent to Dali Temple to be imprisoned and killed;
During the reign of Emperor Renzong, some people in the imperial camp forbidden army shouted loudly and rebuked the emperor (generally referring to the emperor). At dawn the next day, the Imperial City Department arrested him in Kaifeng Province with a secret decree, and the crime was confirmed, and the death penalty was immediately executed;
Among them, the reconnaissance of the Privy Council of the National Military Decision-Making Body by the Imperial City Department can best reflect the situation in each case;
In the first year of Emperor Zhezong's reign, Yushi Cai fu impeached the Privy Council with the rumors that "many officials are not purged". The Privy Counsellor Zeng Bu hurriedly explained that he was useless and virtuous, and had been living in the Privy Counsellor for a long time. However, since he was appointed As Privy Counsellor, he has worked diligently and diligently in personnel matters and side affairs. If it is true as the Imperial City Division's secret report, he will bear the guilt himself.
But what is interesting is that Emperor Zhezong neither Shen Yu Zengbu nor dismissed Cai Shuo, but just smiled at Zeng and said, "Cai Yuyun He? Zeng Bu replied, "Words are not solemn." Zhezong thought about it, but he only smiled quite meaningfully...
In fact, after the reorganization of Emperor Taizong, the initial scope of activities of the Imperial City Division was only limited to the Inner Imperial City, that is, the scope of the Emperor's daily activities. In the Outer Imperial City, that is, within the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Province, the Imperial City Division had no law enforcement powers. However, this restriction could not be effectively supervised, and as a pro-subordinate official in charge of arrest, he often crossed the inner imperial city and extended his hand to Kaifeng Province, or even outside the city.
During the xianping years of Emperor Zhenzong, the pro-subordinate official MaHan claimed that there were thieves in the capital and arrested them on a large scale. At the time, people said that it had three harms:
The urban tycoons are afraid of their pickets, and they often bribe them generously; every time they receive stolen goods, they are only partially handed over to the government and most of them are included in their own private pockets, and the second is that they are fed up with the scoundrels and act as their own reconnaissance pawns, and the third is the evil party.
With these three points, Zhenzong did not pursue responsibility, but only ordered him to stop the work of catching thieves and hand it over to the Kaifeng government, and strictly ordered him not to act on his own in the future, so he gave up.
In fact, if it only has the power of reconnaissance and arrest, then the Imperial City Division is only an intelligence agency close to the center of power. In fact, the power of interrogation, imprisonment and sentencing is the most important power of the Imperial City Division, which is called "Feng Prison".
Under normal circumstances, the Imperial City Division is responsible for the chief judge, the attendant or the Imperial Medicine Court is the deputy judge, the Imperial City Division is responsible for invoking legal provisions and records, etc. After the prison equipment, it is also necessary to go through the review of the Imperial History and so on.
The interrogation process of the Imperial City Division is secret and private, especially some scandal cases involving the harem and the imperial family, which are often not tried by the Three Laws Division (Punishment Department, Dali Temple, and Yushitai), but by the Imperial City Division. The interrogation methods are also full of blood and slaughter;
Empress Meng's "Spell Case" during the reign of Emperor Zhezong: "There are thirty eunuchs and rich concubines, and the list is plundered, and the limbs are broken, and there are those who have broken tongues." Prison cheng, ordered to serve Yu Shi Dong Dun Yi to record, the sinner passed through the court, the breath belonged only, no one can make a sound", the cruelty of the means is no less than the Jinyi guard.
The essence of a special institution such as the Imperial City Division is that the emperor's own private servants are the eyes and ears of the emperor and the black gloves for handling some private events. But when this form or group becomes a permanent institution over time, it is bound to be constrained within the bureaucracy, which the emperor is happy to see.
Although the Imperial City Division was powerful and powerful in the capital, it was full of minions. However, Kaifeng Province, which is also an important administrative organ in the capital, has a natural repressive nature. In non-special cases, the results detected by the Imperial City Department were generally handed over to the Kaifeng Government for arrest and imprisonment, and there was a vague sense of superiority and inferiority. Once there is a problem within the Imperial City Department, it will be directly handed over to the Kaifeng Government for examination and handling. The commander of the Imperial City Department could easily fall out of favor and become a prisoner of the Kaifeng Province.
But there is no denying that the bureaucracy is too capable of infiltrating and assimilating into each other. After the restoration of the Dali Temple, Shinjong participated in hell in order to achieve a situation of balance between the three divisions. However, in most cases, the Dali Temple instead had to attach itself to the Imperial City Division in order to achieve its original purpose of establishing an institution. Kaifeng Province, which is also the supervisory body, has gradually slipped into the latter due to the special status and functions of the Imperial City Division.
After experiencing the vigorous development of the Shenzong and Huizong dynasties, the Imperial City Division entered a new peak after the Southern Crossing of the Song Dynasty. During the Jing Kang Revolution, King Zhao of Kang fled south, and a large number of government agencies lost their basic structure, but the Imperial City Division was able to reopen another drum in Lin'an with a relatively complete structure. In addition, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song and Jin wars were frequent, and the Imperial City Division launched an important function of spying on enemy intelligence, and was active in the Song-Jin War at that time.
During the Shaoxing period, especially after Qin Ju came to power, the Imperial City Division gradually became a political tool for controlling public opinion and persecuting dissidents. So much so that a hard rule was made: "If you do not detect things in ten days, you will be determined to do things"... "So there are many small pieces; everything is not too big and small to play", resulting in "often the victims of the fate of the flying language"
For a time, the entire Southern Song Dynasty society was under the high-pressure rule of "The whole society of the Southern Song Dynasty was under the high-pressure rule of "The People of the Southern Song Dynasty were all over the capital, the reports were numerous, and the prisons were filled with prisoners", "all the people were worried, did not dare to speak occasionally, and were conscientious, and could not protect themselves", and "those who looked after each other for ten years". The arrogance of his power once dared to call out to the current prime minister.
After emperor Gaozong's reign, the records of the Imperial City Division began to gradually decrease. Only in the two dynasties of Emperor Xiaozong and Emperor Ningzong, there were occasional records of changes in their powers and personnel. By the time of Emperor Lizong of Song, the entire country had to deal with military pressure from the Mongols in the north, and a large number of state resources were converted into military power and put into the battlefield. The Emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty had no time and could not restart this secret service agency, and the Imperial City Department gradually declined and lost its former authority. Eventually, with the collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was also buried in the dust of history.
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