preface
Many people like to study history, and many people like that history originates from a certain person and an era, or even an event. Perhaps it is precisely because of the existence of these stories that people see history no longer as a withered old man, but a vibrant child, who is eccentric and intelligent, and makes people want to explore what kind of mystery he has. In many film and television programs, we will see an official organization - Jinyiwei, such an organization arose from the Ming Dynasty, and its existence can be described as frightening.
The existence of the Jinyi guards is actually equivalent to our current secret agents, the main duty is to spy on intelligence, they are a team directly under the emperor's orders, not subject to other constraints. Jinyiwei is extremely famous, like the previous hit TV series "Under the Jinyi", which is about the Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei. Their original name was not Jinyiwei, but a pro-military lieutenant, who was mainly responsible for serving as the emperor's bodyguard and acting as an honor guard.
01
However, the history of the Jinyi guard more than these roles, according to the "History of Ming" in the "Criminal Law Chronicle", the role of the Jinyi guard can be quite huge, the Jinyi guard of the prison is responsible for the arrest and interrogation of criminals, and the trial method is very cruel, almost to the extent of "forced confession", but because it only obeys the emperor,so the people who enter the prison are generally offended by the emperor and arrested. Because of this, Jinyiwei is also known as "the emperor's eagle dog", which is actually a knife in the emperor's hand, sharp and fierce.
Jinyiwei was terrible for the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, because Jinyiwei had no small rights, and as the direct spokesman of the emperor, their rights were also real. The main reason why Zhu Yuanzhang set up the post of Jinyi Wei was because he was suspicious, and he had extreme distrust of his ministers, especially after experiencing the "Hu Weiyong" case, which made him worry that these courtiers would threaten his position and fear that they would form a party for personal gain and be unfavorable to him.
Therefore, the Jinyi guards also had an important task, that is, to monitor the ministers' every move, whether it was the degree of clothing and consumption in ordinary days, or words and deeds, they must be reported to Zhu Yuanzhang in detail. Seeing this, it is not difficult for us to imagine what kind of fearful and frightening days the former Great Ming courtiers lived every day. Zhu Yuanzhang strictly enforced the law, and also required his courtiers to abide by the rules and not to exceed the rules, even if they treated their own relatives, they also enforced the law like a mountain and would not tolerate it. But in the society at that time, the emperor did not say anything, and many people could not resist.
02
The status of the Jinyi guards is extremely special, they are not like ordinary ministers, they are bound by other institutions, they are directly under the emperor's orders, and they will not be merciful because of anyone, and their rights are so great that they can be cut first and played later. The Guards had their own prison cells, and their cells were different from the usual ones. After entering an ordinary cell, there is still a possibility of living, but as long as you enter the Prison of jinyiwei, there is almost no possibility of living, and occasionally there are few lucky people who can survive.
Jinyiwei has a torture, according to the "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", Jinyiwei usually uses the method of extorting confessions and torture to make people who enter it confess guilty, and the most special kind of torture is called "playing the pipa". Jinyi Wei invented this kind of torture, which is said to be very cruel, but how cruel is it? It is said that every time it is used, the person who is tortured will be completely broken. This kind of torture is to first cut the chest of the prisoner, and then use a special knife to scrape the exposed ribs back and forth, the ribs of the person are very fragile and sensitive, such a punishment makes it worse than death. And this is also the usual means of coercion used by the Guards of Jinyi, which is specially used to pry open the mouths of those who have hard mouths.
epilogue
In the eyes of the Jinyi guards, there were only things they wanted, and they only cared about what they felt was valuable, because they were only responsible to the emperor. Many of Jinyiwei's tortures were hidden with the demise of the Ming Dynasty, but they were not lost. During the Qing Dynasty, these tortures were excavated again and continued to be used. So at that time, people went to jail and lost their lives, which was common.
bibliography
Ming Shi And Criminal Law Chronicle
The Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang