Jinyi Wei ( Jinyi Wei ) , an intelligence agency of the Ming Dynasty for 300 years , was formerly known as the "Arch Guard Division" established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty.
In many modern film and television dramas, Jinyi Wei is depicted as a group of people with swords at the waist, with special skills, and omnipotent in heaven and earth. They swore allegiance to the imperial power to the death, and at critical times, they were able to help the emperor KuangFu Sheji. It is precisely because they are too loyal to the imperial power and often show an impersonal side when carrying out the emperor's orders. Therefore, they give people the impression of both good and evil, which is elusive.
This elite force, which was absolutely loyal to the imperial power, did what they did when Chongzhen hanged coal mountains and the Ming Dynasty fell, and where they went after that.
In 1644, Li Zicheng, the king of the Chuang Dynasty, stood outside the JuyongGuan Gate, and the Juyongguan guard tang Tong like an old woman, with tens of thousands of soldiers surrendered without a fight. After occupying Juyongguan, the next step was to reach the Beijing Division.
At this time, what are the people of Kyoshi doing? Of course, the common people greeted the king with joy, because the king did not pay for the grain when he came. Some of the ministers who were aware of the current affairs were also ready to switch to the Ming Lord, and only Emperor Chongzhen and his loyal troops Jinyiwei were deploying resistance.
The Jinyi guards became the last force defending the Kyoshi.
Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang invented the Jinyi Guard to monitor hundreds of officials, but its predecessor was the Royal Honor Guard, which was responsible for royal travel and security. Only later, because of the needs of imperial power, the Jinyi guards gradually became an intelligence force, which monitored a relatively special group, specifically monitoring the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu, and once they were found to have disrespectful words and behaviors, they were immediately arrested and imprisoned, and they had the authority to behead first and play later.
Because it can be cut first and played later, when Jinyiwei exercises his authority, all his actions will not be restricted by the Ming Dynasty Code. For a time, the Jinyi guards became a group of Manchu dynasty wenwu who were feared. It is not that they have special skills, but the ability to "come as they go" everywhere they go.
Jinyiwei is not all people who understand martial arts, many eunuchs are also the core members of Jinyiwei, those who are incomplete with six roots, and where is the unique martial art without the power of the chicken. When Li Zicheng was about to attack the Jing Division, the Jinyi guards who were busy torturing prisoners in the "Zhao Prison" were urgently assembled, and because the troops defending the city were seriously insufficient, they were filled into the ranks defending the city.
Li Zicheng put forward three conditions to Chongzhen, one was to divide the northwest to Li Zicheng and make him the king of the domain; the second was that Chongzhen would fund a million military salaries; and the third was to send troops to requisition and not to follow the edicts and not to enter Beijing.
Chongzhen listened, if there are millions of military salaries, I need you to send troops for me to fight Houjin. In March 1644, the terms of the peace negotiations between the two sides collapsed, and Li Zicheng ordered the shelling of the Beijing Division. At this time, the Ming Dynasty had become a dead end, allowing Li Zicheng's artillery bombardment without any power to fight back. Those who usually shouted five or six, and who came and went without any taboos, and the soldiers who guarded the city were killed in battle.
After Li Zicheng captured the Jing Division, a large part of the Jinyi guards survived. Hearing the news of Chongzhen's death, they made different choices, and some of the Jinyi guards died and followed the former emperor, such as Li Ruolian, who guarded chongwen gate in the town, who was the commander of the Fusi Hall in Nanzhen, and Gao Wencai, who led the whole family to swear allegiance to the Ming Dynasty.
A large part of the Jinyi guards chose to turn to Li Zicheng in order to "eat in gold clothes and jade food". They immediately changed into the official clothes of the Ming Dynasty and waited for Li Zicheng's summons, hoping to keep them rich and noble forever. Li Zicheng was not so easy to fool chongzhen, he opened the treasury and found that it was all empty, and he spent so much effort to capture an empty city, how could he give up.
He knew very well that the fact that the imperial court had no money did not mean that those Manchu Dynasty Wenwu who had drunk five or six drinks did not have money. Li Zicheng ordered the torture of the dignitaries and nobles, forcing them to take money from their families, including the Jinyi guards who surrendered.
Ming history records that The Jinyi Wei was in charge of the governor Luo Yangsheng (just by listening to the name is not a good man or a woman), in order to save his life, he was severely tortured by Li Zicheng and obediently handed over 30,000 taels of silver. In addition, the tang commanders Wang Pengchong and Qiao You also took out the Wanguan family wealth to honor Li Zicheng, so that they could survive in the world.
These Jinyi guards who could come up with money to satisfy Li Zicheng were already very fortunate, and many senior Jinyiwei officials were tortured to death by the Da Shun army because they were reluctant to take money, or could not come up with so much money. Like Zhao Sizhou, the commander of the East Factory, Liang Qinghong, the commander of the Northern Town Fusi Punishment, Liu Yingxuan, Ma Guoyao, and Qi Changguo, the commander of the Western Division, Sun Guang, the Viceroy of the Western Division, Ning Guanghong, the Governor of the Northern Town, and so on.
Li Zicheng worked as a Pawn in Yinchuan in his early years, and because he was bullied by the officials of the Ming Dynasty, he pulled the flag against the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, he was never merciful to the dignitaries of the previous dynasty, and he knew very well how powerful the Jinyi guards were in the Ming Dynasty, and if they did not have money, there was no reason.
Li Zi cost Ming can kill a thousand by mistake, can not misplace a person, the Jinyi guards were brutally tortured, many Jinyi guards really did not pull much money, and finally because they could not take out the ransom money, they were tortured to death.
Coincidentally, Jinyiwei invented a lot of torture devices to deal with prisoners, and finally all of these tortures were used on himself, which really verified the sentence "After playing with the eagle for a lifetime, I was finally blinded by the eagle poke."
After Li Zicheng's "layer by layer screening", only a few people were finally spared. A Jinyi wei named Wang Shide once wrote a memoir called "Chongzhen Testament". According to Wang Shide's recollection in the book, he was the commander of the Jinyi Guards, and after the king entered the city, his wife threw his daughter into the well, and seventeen members of the family jumped into the well one after another and died. Finally, it was Wang Shide's turn. Because he could not make up his mind, he disguised himself and fled to Yangzhou to escape the disaster.
There are not a few Jinyi guards like Wang Shide, who are hindered by the identity of the former dynasty, although they are fortunate to have escaped a disaster, they can only hide their names in this remnant.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Jinyi guards were still retained, and they simply engaged in the function of honor guard. It didn't hold back soon. In the second year of Shunzhi, considering that the reputation of Jinyiwei was too poor, the Qing Dynasty changed Jinyiwei to Luan Yiwei in order to ease the relationship between kings and subjects.
The Jinyi Wei, which has been in place for 300 years, has completely disappeared into the long river of history.