In the movie "Dragon Gate Flying Armor", chen Kun played by the West Factory Factory has a very domineering line: "In a word, I want to manage the East Factory, and I have to manage what the East Factory can't manage, first cut and then play, the imperial power concession, this is the West Factory." "The West Factory is trusted by the emperor deeply, and its power is far greater than that of the East Factory, so why did Ming Xianzong have the East Factory, Jinyi Wei and other factory guards, and set up the West Factory in the thirteenth year of Chenghua (1477)?" Let's take a look at them one by one.
If you want to trace the establishment of the West Factory, you must start from a "fox demon case", the "History of Ming" only a few strokes of this case, and according to Zhu Zhishan's grandfather, Ming Xianzong led the civil and military officials to sacrifice in the twelfth year of Chenghua (1476), and the demon wind on the road was strong, cold and bone-chilling, and even froze to death. Although the emperor was safe in the car tent, the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt, and he sent someone to check it out, who expected that a strange event similar to the "fox demon rebellion" had occurred in the people, resulting in the death of many people. According to historical data, it is likely that the East Factory is responsible for tracking down this "fox demon case".
Therefore, the emperor had doubts about the ability of the East Factory to do things. In addition, the East Factory was not a secret service agency set up by Ming Xianzong himself, so Ming Xianzong hoped to use his own cronies and establish an organ above the hundred officials, specifically for himself and loyal to himself.
The direct reason for the establishment of the West Factory is said in the "History of Ming": "In the twelfth year of Chenghua (1476), in the palace of Hei Xi, the demon Li Zilong used spells to marry the eunuch Wei She to enter the Great Interior. The emperor's heart is evil, and he wants to know foreign affairs. That is to say, there was a vision in the palace, and the demon Li Zilong colluded with the eunuch to enter the palace, and was later discovered by Jinyiwei, and Li Zilong was killed. Ming Xianzong was very disgusted by this matter, an unidentified person entered the palace in this way, and there were rumors that Li Zilong had come to kill the king, which threatened his own safety, although he was eventually discovered by Jinyiwei, but the emperor was very concerned about this, thinking that the East Factory was not doing a good job, so "the emperor ordered (Wang Zhi) to change his clothes, and sent the lieutenants out to spy on one or two people, and no one knew." "Sent his own cronies Wang Zhi to dress up as civilians and listen to the news outside the palace."
At this point, although the West Factory has not yet been formally established, it can be seen that Emperor Xianzong has already had a gap with the East Factory, otherwise he could have sent the East Factory to do this. And Wang Zhi also understood the emperor's mind very well, investigated outside the palace, caught the wind and shadows, and sorted out a lot of secret information to report to the emperor, and the emperor was very satisfied with Wang Zhi's performance.
Therefore, this temporary "investigation team" was stabilized, and in the thirteenth year of Chenghua (1477), a new inner court institution was organized, the West Factory.
On a more macroscopic point of view, Ming Chengzu set up the East Factory in the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420), and by the time Emperor Ming Xianzong set up the West Factory, the East Factory had existed for more than fifty years, and various problems within the eunuchs were very tricky to solve. During the Ming Dynasty, however, the rule of officials tended to be corrupt, the oppression of the people by the ruling class became more and more intense, and there were signs of people's resistance everywhere.
In Ming Xianzong's view, Dongchang could not meet the needs of consolidating his rule, and urgently needed a more obedient, loyal, and efficient secret service to inspect the hundreds of officials and people for him. Moreover, at that time, the East Factory was extremely powerful, and I am afraid that the emperor also wanted the West Factory to divide the power and supervise each other, otherwise the West Factory would not have overpowered the East Factory in terms of personnel, terms of authority, and degree of privileges in just a few months.