"Ninety million people slaughtered in blood, and only because of this order were ordered to serve the Emperor Heaven." The Jinyiwei group was a relatively special group in the Ming Dynasty, and their actions made many people afraid. It is often possible to see the figure of Jinyiwei in some film and television works related to the Ming Dynasty. In these film and television works, Jinyiwei is often the kind of image that vows not to give up and brutally kills Zhongliang in order to achieve the goal. So what about the JinyiWei in real history?
Jinyi was established as the imperial power
The Ming Dynasty was the late period of the feudal era, and it was also an era of extremely strong monarchy, and Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister in order to strengthen the absolute monarchy, and the emperor commanded the six ministries. For Zhu Yuanzhang, the abolition of the prime minister was not enough, Zhu Yuanzhang set up a Jinyi guard to govern those ministers who disobeyed discipline, and when it came to Jinyiwei, he had to mention a major case of the Ming Dynasty: the Hu Weiyong case.
Zhu Yuanzhang murdered Hu Weiyong, the current chancellor, for the crime of misdeeds. Hu Weiyong's case did not end solely in Hu Weiyong's personal death. At that time, after Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu Weiyong, he also cursed his Nine Tribes, and executed some founding heroes who were good with Hu Weiyong and destroyed his henchmen. In The case of Hu Weiyong, Zhu Yuanzhang killed nearly 30,000 people, which at that time could be said to have caused a very big fluctuation, and Jinyiwei, as a force under the emperor, also participated in these major cases of the Ming Dynasty.
For the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinyi Wei was a double-edged sword, both helping the outlaws they governed and threatening their own rule. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang then ordered the burning of Jinyiwei's torture equipment and let the Punishment Department manage these cases.
However, the establishment of the Jinyi Guard did not stagnate because of Zhu Yuanzhang's obstruction. Because the historical trend at that time was that the absolute monarchy was constantly strengthening, and the existence of the Jinyi guard was a tool to assist the continuous strengthening of the absolute monarchy. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang alone could not stop this grand historical trend.
After Zhu Di, the King of Yan, seized the throne, in order to consolidate his rule, he further restored the Jinyiwei and reused the Jinyiwei. It can be seen from this that the development of the Jinyiwei is to serve the imperial power, and it will not be terminated by the obstruction of an emperor.
Strict preparation on top of the brocade
The Jinyi wei seen in the film and television works is very domineering, and there is no concern about investigating the case. In fact, in real history, the first thing the Jinyi guard had to do was to defend the emperor, at that time, the Janissaries were divided into four gates of the imperial city, and the Jinyi guards were guarding day and night outside the noon gate. Therefore, the most important duty of the real historical Jinyi Guard is not to investigate the case, but to guard the imperial city.
When the emperor went out for some reason, the Jinyi guard also had to protect the emperor's side and was responsible for patrolling or passing on messages. In some ancient paintings of the Ming Dynasty that have been handed down, the figure of the Jinyi guard responsible for protection at the emperor's side can be seen
Some friends know About Jinyiwei because they know Jinyiwei's flying fish suit or embroidered spring knife. In fact, the reason why the Jinyi guards are so gorgeous is because in addition to their functions of defending the emperor, they also have the function of honor guards.
As an honor guard, the costume of the Jinyi Guard is naturally gorgeous, and the Jinyi Guard wears a flying fish suit and wears an embroidered spring knife around the waist. And this flying fish suit is not only the beauty of the appearance, it is a symbol of status, the flying fish suit is a grand dress second only to the python robe, the Officials of the Ming Dynasty must have a certain grade to wear the Flying Fish Suit. In addition to looking very domineering, the embroidered spring knife also has a very high use value, but the embroidered spring knife is not something that ordinary people can wear, and it must be worn with the permission of the emperor.
A very important function of the real historical Jinyi guards is actually to defend the emperor in gorgeous costumes, and they are both honor guards and the emperor's janissaries.
The power of the brocade changes with the situation
When watching some film and television works, it is often seen that Jinyiwei is very cold to kill people, or directly to slaughter villages. In fact, in real history, the rights of the Jinyi guards are not so unscrupulous, their rights are constrained, and the size of their rights changes with the times.
When Zhu Yuanzhang first designed the Jinyi Guard, the Jinyi Guard had only three functions, the first of which was to guard the duty station, the second was to investigate and arrest, and the third was to interrogate prisoners.
The original Jinyi guards, whether it is handling cases or daily inspections, they have certain powers and constraints. Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that Jinyiwei had abused his power, so he deprived Jinyiwei of the right to interrogate prisoners. It can be seen that in the real history, the Jinyi guards did not really reach the right under one person and above ten thousand people, and they could not kill innocents at will, they were subject to certain constraints.
History continues to develop and the powers of the Jinyi guards have also expanded, they can play directly to the emperor, and before they could not play directly to the emperor, they had to go through the command of the capital to make the hand.
During the Jiaqing period, the rights of Jinyiwei were greatly expanded, and the rights of Jinyiwei were even greater than those of Dongchang. In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the Jinyi guards, there was also a major force that was eunuchs. The East Factory under the control of eunuchs can be described as a very special existence in the Ming Dynasty. Even sometimes The East Factory could control the emperor, but during the Jiaqing period, the power of the Jinyi Guard even exceeded that of the East Factory, and the East Factory also had to obey the Jinyi Guard. From these changes, it can also be seen that the rights of Jinyiwei have changed with the changes of the period, and in the Jiaqing period, the rights of Jinyiwei have been greatly expanded.
The power of the Jinyi guards did not continue to expand in this way, in the later period, with the development of eunuch power. Jinyiwei began to obey the East Factory and slowly became a vassal of the East Factory.
For example, the grand eunuch Wei Zhongxian was a powerful and oppositional official at that time, and he was called 9,000 years old. At that time, it was Liu Qiao, who was the commander of the Jinyi Wei Zhenfu Division, who was a righteous person, because Liu Qiao refused to flatter Wei Zhongxian and refused to obey Wei Zhongxian's command, So Wei Zhongxian dismissed him from his post.
At that time, a man named Tian Ergeng turned to Wei Zhongxian, and he even called himself Wei Zhongxian's son, and later Wei Zhongxian appreciated him, and he became the governor of Jinyiwei. It can be seen from this that the lifting and dispatching power of even the highest commander of the Jinyi Guard at that time was also in the hands of the East Factory.
During the Wanli years, and even after that, the power of the Jinyi guards declined sharply and became the real vassals of the East Factory. In history, the Jinyi Guard was set up to strengthen imperial power, and it was a special institution that had the nature of both a Janissary and an honor guard, and could be responsible for investigating cases.
But with the passage of time, they sometimes have a high degree of power, and sometimes they will become vassals of the East Factory, becoming a knife in the hands of others. However, looking at the overall situation of this system, it can be seen that its development also reflects the development of imperial power in China's feudal society, and because of the fluctuation of its status, it also reflects the fluctuation of imperial power to a certain extent.