Preface
With the demise of the Ming Dynasty and the 150,000 Jinyi Guards becoming a mystery that has attracted much attention, where did they go? This question has plagued the curiosity of historians and ordinary people. The legendary Jinyi Guards were once the weapons of the Empire, but with the changes of the times, their traces have become mysterious.
Regarding the whereabouts of the 150,000 Jinyi guards, perhaps the truth is far more incredible than the rumors. Will they disappear, or will they quietly change their identities and continue to play a role in history?
The Beginnings of Jinyiwei: From a small team to a secret agent
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang realized that the stability of an empire required loyalty and deterrence as solid cornerstones. Therefore, he created a team of guards directly under the royal family, which later became known as the "Jinyi Guard".
The team started out as an inconspicuous group of a few dozen people, but they were tasked with protecting the town. Every member of the Jinyi Guard knew that their loyalty would mean the difference between life and death for the new emperor. This makes them feel both honored and pressured for their mission. They vowed to sacrifice their lives and die to defend the imperial power.
Zhu Yuanzhang gradually realized that this small team was his most trustworthy force. As a result, he continued to expand the size of the Jinyi Guards and expand their power.
Gradually, the Jinyi Guard became not only a palace guard, but also a secret spy organization, whose purpose was to extinguish all factors that threatened the imperial power. From a small group of guards, this team has gradually expanded into a dark force in the empire, and they have woven an impenetrable web that tightly envelops the entire dynasty.
Jin Yiwei: Spring and Autumn brushwork in the dark
When Zhu Di took over the throne, he saw the infinite possibilities hidden behind Jinyiwei. An empire needs to be both intimidating and holding on to power.
As a result, he began to expand the number of brocade guards, giving them the power to spy on hundreds of officials and eliminate dissidents. As a result, Jinyiwei has become a dark force, which is terrifying. Their eyes looked down on the court and the field like eagles, listening to every move behind the bright and clean windows.
The depths of Jin Yiwei's eyes shone with a chilling light. Their daily routine is to suppress dissent and imprison their minds. The people did not dare to make a loud noise, and the courtiers did not dare to discuss political affairs in vain, for fear of angering this unspeakable force. Obviously, there are a lot of things in my heart, so I can only hide at home and mutter. They are like ghosts that linger, omnipresent and pervasive.
For Jinyiwei, power is the god they believe in. No matter how corrupt and depraved they are, they will cling to this privilege and glory. The officials of the DPRK and China deeply felt the coldness of Jinyiwei's eyes, but they could only let this beast run wild. For this reason, they only dare to be obscure in the long scroll of history, and do not dare to express their hearts directly, which is their "Spring and Autumn Brushwork". They hid their voices in the cracks, carefully avoiding the shadows cast by the brocade guards.
Jin Yiwei: A behemoth who has fallen in corruption
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it was the heyday of Jinyiwei. Their numbers have skyrocketed to 150,000 and they are almost everywhere. However, everything flourishes and falls. Jinyiwei can't escape this law of history. They could have been as brilliant as the sun, but in the end they were as fleeting as fireworks.
The problems of expansion are endless. Internal divisions and corruption abounded, which became the beginning of Jinyiwei's degeneration. The political struggle in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was extremely fierce, and the various factions of Jinyiwei fought openly and secretly in order to compete for power, which seriously affected the effectiveness. At the same time, the magnanimity of the high-ranking officials caused them to gradually lose themselves and indulge in money and wine. They can obviously achieve fame and rank among the best in the court, but they are reduced to winning the emperor's favor by intrigues.
Such a large and decaying team became an unbearable task for the Ming Dynasty. When the Qing army in the north pressed the border, these 150,000 brocade guards were like a fragile sieve, unable to resist the iron hooves from outside.
They even became an important driving force behind the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and began to turn against each other and turn to hostile forces. The enormous power that could have turned things around has collapsed under internal and external troubles. They could have defused the crisis, but instead they became the trigger for disaster.
Nan Ming Meng: The end of Jinyiwei
At the moment when the Ming Dynasty fell, there were still a small number of Jinyi guards who were lucky and followed the Ming Dynasty to move south. They did not want to believe in the decline of this dynasty, and still wanted to create a new regime in the Southern Ming.
The regime that exists in name only symbolizes the last hope in their hearts. They would rather follow the apparition in self-deception than face up to the fact of their demise.
It's a pity that Nan Mingmeng is just a flash in the pan, and it can't support the crumbling dynasty in Jinyiwei's heart at all. Their shattered loyalty crumbled when the Qing army approached the city. Feelings, after all, can't resist the blow of reality. All they followed was a castle in the air, which eventually smashed to the bottom and fell apart.
When the Qing army broke through the last resistance of the Southern Ming, all dreams were wiped out in the fire and blood. The brocade guards looked at the tattered brocade clothes in their hands, and their hearts were like ashes. After a brief struggle, they chose to leave in silence. Since then, this formidable team has disappeared in the long river of history. Their reflections fade away and eventually merge into the flow of time.
epilogue
The rise and fall of Jinyiwei makes people have to face such a problem: the expansion of power will eventually lead to self-destruction. They were once the most powerful guards in the Empire, but greed and ambition led them to a dark path of no return. In the end, the alley was empty and disappeared
This is a silent warning from the law of the rise and fall of power. If the greed of human nature cannot be restrained, it will bring harm to others and to itself. The dismal end of Jinyiwei left endless melancholy for future generations, and people couldn't help but sigh. Each of us should take this as a warning and always be vigilant against the expansion of our inner desire for power in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
50,000 Jinyi guards were once the majestic elephants of the Ming Dynasty, and they shouldered the heavy responsibility of guarding the imperial power. However, the wheel of history does not always follow the path of justice. During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the powerful power of Jinyiwei brought relative tranquility to the imperial court, but it was also the beginning of the corruption of power schemes and the trend of darkness.
With the expansion of power, Jinyiwei gradually departed from its original purpose and fell into the quagmire of injustice. They may have been reduced to enforcers in order to maintain their rule, or they may have deviated from their original intentions in a complex conspiracy. The rise and fall of 50,000 Jinyi deeply reflects that in the face of power, justice and darkness often go hand in hand, and a single step can trigger irreversible historical changes.