Preface
Speaking of martial arts works about the Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei and Dongchang are characters that can never be avoided.
In countless literary works, these two organizations are like masters, and there are many shady scenes, which make countless people shudder!
But then again, what is the relationship between Jinyiwei and Dongchang, and who is the first spy agency of the Ming Dynasty?
First, the origin of Jinyiwei and the East Factory
First, let's talk about the background of these two organizations.
Although the formal establishment of Jinyiwei was in the fifteenth year of Hongwu, it actually had a prototype as early as the eighth year of Hongwu.
As for the reason, it's very simple, because the empty seal case, one of the four major cases of Hongwu, broke out in the eighth year of Hongwu!
It was also this big case that set off a bloody storm in the officialdom of the Hongwu Dynasty!
In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, the famous Hu Weiyong case kicked off!
Starting with the last prime minister in Chinese history being executed for rebellion, more than 30,000 people have been killed!
There are countless founding honors and nobles involved in this, and the highest level should be Zhu Yuanzhang's in-laws, the head of the founding ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and the Korean Duke Li Shanchang!
It is precisely because there are so many officials involved in this that the regular judicial department cannot give Zhu Yuanzhang the result he wants.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang simply set up Jinyiwei, which is responsible for supervising hundreds of officials and arresting criminals.
As for the effect, it is also very significant, in the case of Hu Weiyong's rebellion, Jin Yiwei did a good job of Zhu Yuanzhang's elimination of dissidents and suppression of courtiers.
Later, in the Lanyu case in the 26th year of Hongwu, Jin Yiwei completely contracted the one-stop work from reporting the rebellion, to arresting and interrogating, and sentencing, and finally sent tens of thousands of people to the west sky, showing extremely high efficiency.
But in his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished Jinyiwei, and also burned Jinyiwei's torture instruments in public, and said that Jinyiwei's illegal department would no longer exist in the future, and the monarch of later generations would rule the country according to law.
As for the result, we all know that after Zhu Di succeeded to the throne. Zhu Di, who was really insecure, appointed Ji Gang as the commander of Jinyiwei, and Jinyiwei immediately revived.
With the support of Zhu Di, the Jinyi Wei led by Ji Gang soon regained his strength, and became bigger and stronger, becoming a tyrant in Yongle!
But soon, Ji Gang floated, how hard did he float?
He and Yang Wuhou grabbed a beautiful woman, and under the argument between the two, they almost killed Yang Wuhou.
In addition, it is said that he also got involved with the emperor's show girl and used eunuchs in his home.
In the end, in the fourteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di made a decisive move, which was also a holy decree, and he put this vicious dog to death!
Then, Zhu Di was afraid of the dictatorship of Jinyiwei and the power was too great to control, so in the eighteenth year of Yongle, he asked his cronies and eunuchs to set up Dongchang as a containment of Jinyiwei.
Since then, Jinyiwei and Dongchang, the two spy agencies of the Ming Dynasty, have stepped onto the stage of history!
So then again, what's the relationship between the two? Which is stronger and which is weaker?
2. Which is stronger and which is weaker?
In fact, strictly speaking, although Jinyiwei has great extralegal privileges, its essence still belongs to the official institution of the Ming Dynasty.
The first commander of Jinyiwei, that is also the official of the Zheng Sanpin Imperial Court of the Ming Dynasty! As for the other Jinyi officials, they all have their own clear ranks, and they are serious court officials!
But in the roster of officials in the Ming Dynasty, you can't see this organization.
Yes, that's right, Dongchang should belong to the emperor's private detective agency, not to the official department.
In addition, Jinyiwei is not only responsible for supervising hundreds of officials to arrest criminals and interrogating and extorting confessions, but also belongs to one of the emperor's twenty-four personal guards, responsible for guarding the palace and accompanying the holy driver.
Therefore, in terms of influence on the whole country, Jinyiwei is by no means comparable to the East Factory!
You must know that at the peak, the number of registered Jinyiwei was as high as 150,000! From the northern border to the southern Suzhou and Hangzhou, from the coastal mines to the southwest toast, you can see the figure of Jinyiwei everywhere!
Moreover, the identity of Jinyiwei was actually quite popular in the Ming Dynasty, and many noble officials would find ways to find a nominal identity for their children and grandchildren, including Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, from the perspective of the overall situation of the country, the impact of Jinyiwei is quite huge.
In comparison, the East Factory is dwarfed in terms of size.
However, if you know something about the history of the Ming Dynasty, you can clearly feel that it seems to be more arrogant than Jinyi Weidong Factory.
Yes, that's right, although Jinyiwei and Non-East Factory can be compared in terms of volume, but in terms of political status, Dongchang can often overwhelm Jinyiwei.
As for the reason, it is also very simple, because Jinyiwei's backer is not hard enough.
The Jinyiwei command room is just a district with three products and five features, compared to the boss of the East Factory, it is really not enough to see.
The Admiral of Dongchang is strict, and it is not an official identity in the sense, but the Admiral of Dongchang generally has another part-time identity, that is, the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi.
What is the existence of the celebrant?
The answer is the Second Cabinet.
We all know that after Ming Yingzong succeeded to the throne, because the emperor was too young to handle the government affairs, the cabinet rightfully grasped the power.
Later, because the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were generally not so industrious, the power of the cabinet chief assistant also expanded rapidly, even if it was a setback, it had to be seen first.
To be honest, in this mode, it seems that the emperor can only choose to agree.
But the emperor is not a fool, and he is not willing to have no right to negotiate at all, so the celebrant stepped forward, and they were responsible for reviewing and approving the cabinet's handling opinions.
In other words, this model is quite similar to the three-province system of the Tang Dynasty, where the cabinet is the Zhongshu Province responsible for the proposal of the subordinate province, that is, the celebrant is responsible for reviewing and approving it.
Here, I want to whitewash Ming Xuanzong, although many people think that the Ming eunuchs began to intervene in the government and politics, which was started by Ming Xuanzong, but in fact, as early as the Hongwu Emperor, the Ming eunuchs have entered the political arena.
There's no way, you don't look at Emperor Hongwu's attitude towards officials, that's really a disagreement, destroy your nine clans, in this case, Zhu Yuanzhang must find some help, and eunuchs are naturally the best choice.
Well, then again, the eunuchs in the celebrant are not illiterate in our impression, they are all systematically trained professionals, and they are political masters who can wrestle with cabinet members.
In addition, the eunuch has accompanied the emperor since he was a child, and he is the closest person to the emperor, probably the one who is closer to the emperor's father.
Therefore, the eunuchs of the celebrant have always been an important political force in the Ming Dynasty, especially the eunuch with the palm seal of the first hand, who is known as the internal minister, and the eunuch who gives the first rank is roughly equivalent to the status of the cabinet.
That is to say, with the East Factory as a backer, the boss of the family can directly intervene in the central decision-making body of the empire!
As for Jin Yiwei, I'm sorry, it looks majestic, but in the final analysis, he is just an obedient executor.
It's clear which is stronger and which is weak!
So, what is the relationship between Jinyiwei and Dongchang?
3. Difficult to solve
How to describe the relationship between Jinyiwei and Dongchang? I guess a snake has two heads on it.
Because the scale of the East Factory is generally relatively small, the largest number of people is only three or four thousand, and it is mainly concentrated in the vicinity of Beijing.
Therefore, many times, when Dongchang goes to the local errand, it must call Jinyiwei to help.
So, will Jin Yiwei help?
In general, yes.
The emperor of the Ming Dynasty already had great trust in the eunuchs, which made the Jinyi guard, who only belonged to the emperor, had to kneel down obediently in the face of these eunuchs who were fake and powerful.
At that time, the commander of the Jinyi Guard made Ma Shun, so he really knelt in front of Wang Zhen and called someone godfather!
After that, except for the Jinyi Wei led by Lu Bing to suppress the East Factory, the rest of the Jinyi Wei basically became the subordinate organization of the celebrant and the subsidiary department of the East Factory.
This is also why the history books always refer to Jinyiwei and Dongchang as factory guards, because they are indeed a family.
However, it should be noted that although in terms of actual status, Dongchang has to overpower Jinyiwei.
However, the system of Jinyiwei has always been in the hands of the emperor, and the promotion of officials within it is still the responsibility of the officials and the emperor, rather than the eunuchs.
This is also the reason why, when the emperor wants to deal with some disobedient eunuchs, those brocade guards will also rebel mercilessly.
For example, when Yingzong was tossing the great eunuch Cao Jixiang and Emperor Chongzhen killed Wei Zhongxian, Jinyiwei fulfilled his responsibility as the emperor's loyal dog and helped the emperor kill these lackeys who were out of place.
epilogue
So, what should we make of these two secret services?
In fact, Jinyiwei is good, and Dongchang is good.
In the final analysis, they are all knives in the hands of the emperor, and they are all eagle dogs used by the emperor to control the world, so there is no need to be so entangled in their merits and demerits, let alone whitewash them.
People are originally the existence that the emperor used to do some secret things, if they are whitewashed into "beauty, strength and misery", I am afraid that it will be the biggest insult, right?
As for their role, it can only be said that it really cannot be ignored, but when the Ming Dynasty rots to the roots, they can only become rotten wood.