In China's dynasties, the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as an iron-blooded dynasty, which has always pursued iron-fisted politics in management, not only taking tough measures externally, but also ruling internally is also very strict. As a result, many secret service agencies have installed eyeliner throughout the country. For example, we are familiar with the Dongxi Factory and the Jinyi Guards, who protect the emperor while secretly supervising hundreds of officials, although the official position is not large, but it is still fearful. The Ming Dynasty also had another institution, the Neihang Factory, which existed for only five years (only two years after it was formed), but its influence was enormous and frightening.
Let's first look at the evolution of the Ming secret service. The Jinyiwei were the earliest secret service agencies that existed from the early Ming Dynasty until they were abolished more than 300 years later. After Ming Chengzu Zhu Di seized the throne, he felt that only one Jinyi guard was not enough, so he created the East Factory, an investigation agency controlled by eunuchs. The members of the East Factory were all eunuchs, because the eunuchs at that time had a wide range of activities and were most easily accessible to all kinds of personnel on weekdays, it can be said that they were the most easily connected to the emperor and the civil and military officials, and because the eunuchs were humble and did not arouse the suspicion of other officials, they were the most suitable candidates.
In 1477 AD, Emperor Mingxianzong no longer came forward to preside over the government, but chose to leave the administrative affairs to the powerful ministers, but he was worried that his imperial power was threatened, so he was very insecure, so in order to further supervise the words and deeds of large and small officials and big figures everywhere, but also to strengthen his rule, he chose to set up the West Factory, the power of the West Factory far exceeded the two major secret agencies of the previous dynasty, you can cut first, and the scope of activity is not limited to the emperor. It began to expand to all parts of the country.
By the time of Emperor Wuzong of Ming, he was dissatisfied with the political situation at that time and did not fully trust the Dongxi Factory and Jinyiwei. At the same time, the power struggle between the eunuchs intensified, so his close eunuch Liu Jin relied on the Jinyiwei to add another organization that could override the East and West Factories, the Neihang Factory, which had no chief and was directly under the emperor's will, and this organization could directly eliminate the factory guards, so even the powerful factory guards were obedient to them, and many officials saw the personnel of this position and directly knelt down to give way. This is because the insiders are not only powerful, but also act in a very vicious style, and they often use all kinds of torture in order to get the information they want.
However, the existence of the Inner Factory did not make the political power of the Ming Dynasty more centralized, nor did it strengthen the centralization of power, but because the personnel of the Inner Factory accepted bribes from traitors, they rarely enforced the law impartially, often persecuting the sages at that time, so that the Ming Dynasty lost a lot of shares. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty began to decline from the time of Emperor Mingwuzong, and it was not until after the fall of the powerful minister Liu Jin that only officials dared to write a statement about the crimes of the Inner Factory, so that Emperor Mingwuzong also realized the harm of this institution, so he completely abolished the Inner Factory.
This institution did not exist for a long time, but the impact was huge, that is, in this short period of 5 years (the actual operation was only 2 years), it was able to make the factory guard agency and the hundred officials of the DPRK dare not write to advise, because once their interests were damaged, they might be in a different place, and there was no such powerful institution as them in all dynasties, because the surveillance and trial at that time were operated by this one institution without having to report to the superiors, and it could be said that having such power at that time was almost the same as the emperor.