What's the difference between East Factory and West Factory?

Dongchang was built in the Ming Dynasty, a.d. 1420. Dongchang was arrested by the secret service for "rebellion". At first, it was directly commanded by Ming Chengzu, and later the ruling power was transferred to eunuchs. Dongchang's "Jin Yi Guan Pai" (special agents) have a wide range of reconnaissance visits, from the government to the people, and they are everywhere. When they got the news, they immediately tipped off the emperor. Therefore, the emperor can know everything and say everything. In the lobby of the East Factory, there is also a large plaque of "the confidant of the imperial court".

In Ming Xianzong, the Ming government set up a west factory, and the number of gas (spies) was twice that of the east factory. The scope of their reconnaissance is not limited to Beijing, Wangfubian town, copper capital Dayi, even provincial capitals, county towns and even remote villages.

Second, the East Factory.

The inventor of the East Factory was Judy, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. Judy's spirit has been in a state of high tension since she launched the "Jingnan War" to seize her nephew's throne. On the one hand, the rumor that Emperor Wen Jian was not dead did not appear. On the other hand, many ministers in the imperial court were not very supportive of the new regime. In order to consolidate the political power, Judy urgently needs a powerful autocratic institution, but he finds it inconvenient to use the Royal Guards outside the palace, so he decides to set up a new institution. In the process of Judy's starting his army, some eunuchs and monks made great efforts (such as the famous Zheng He and Dao Yan), so in his mind, he still felt that eunuchs were more reliable, and they were in the palace, which was more convenient to contact.

In this way, after Ming Chengzu moved to Beijing, a detective agency led by eunuchs was established. Because its address is located in the north of Dong 'anmen (now Dongchang Hutong in the north of Wangfujing Street), it is named Dongchang. The function of the East Factory is to "seek rebellion and abuse". And have the power with a security guard ". At first, Dongchang was only responsible for investigating and arresting people, and had no right to interrogate prisoners. The arrested suspects were handed over to the government department of North Town of Jinyiwei for interrogation, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dongchang also had its own prison. The leader of the East Factory is called the eunuch of the East Factory, also known as the factory owner and factory supervisor, and is the second person among eunuchs after Li Si's supervision eunuch. In addition, there are 1000 households and 100 households in the East Factory, and there are also several team leaders, foremen and secretaries. The officer in charge of the investigation is the service chief and the service chief, who is equivalent to the squad leader, also called the platoon leader. Fan service is what we commonly call fans.

The investigation scope of the East Factory is very wide, the court will jointly try major cases, the North Town of Jinyiwei will torture repeat offenders, and the East Factory will send people to monitor; Every yamen in the imperial court has people from the East Factory on duty to monitor the officials' every move. Some important yamen documents, such as various frontier newspapers and Ministry of War Tang newspapers, must be checked by the East Factory. Even the daily life of ordinary people, the price of rice, oil and salt, is also within the reconnaissance scope of the East Factory. The information obtained by the East Factory can be reported directly to the emperor, which is much more convenient than that the Royal Guards have to report by letter. The layout of Dongchangfu is very funny. The small hall next to the hall is filled with statues of Yue Fei, and the story of the pancreatic case is engraved on the screen wall on the right side of the hall. Before, the memorial tablets of the owner of the East Factory were enshrined in the ancestral hall on the west side of the main hall, and there was a memorial arch in front of the main hall, which lasted for a long time. It's a pity that what the employees of East Factory do is far from their idols. Dongchang is active in the streets of Beijing every day, not entirely for the court, but more for its own self-interest. They often accuse Luo Zhi, falsely accuse good citizens, then extort confessions and take the opportunity to extort money. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Dongchang's investigation had even expanded to the whole country, and even in the remote areas of Yuanzhou, there was a phenomenon of "using fresh clothes and horses as the language of the capital", which made the whole country feel unsafe and the people in dire straits. On the relationship with Royal Guards, Dongchang came from behind. Because the owner of the East Factory has a close relationship with the emperor and is located in the palace, it is easier to gain the trust of the emperor. The relationship between Dongchang and Jinyiwei has gradually changed from the same level to the superior-subordinate relationship. In the days when eunuchs were in power, the Royal Guards even had to kneel and kowtow when they saw the owner of the East Factory.

Third, the West Factory.

The West Factory only existed for a short time in the history of the Ming Dynasty. During the Chenghua period in Ming Xianzong, a mysterious case of "the demon fox came out at night" occurred in Beijing, and then Li Zilong, a demon, used a side door to confuse people and even snared many eunuchs with ulterior motives. Although Li Zilong and his followers were finally caught by the Royal Guards, Xianzong was deeply influenced by the lack of stabbing power. So, Wang Zhi, a clever little eunuch beside him, was chosen and sent to the palace for information. Wang Zhi seized this opportunity, made innuendo everywhere, and collected many so-called "secret news" reports to Xianzong. Xianzong thought the news was very valuable. He was very satisfied with Wang Zhi's performance and asked him to continue.

A few months later, Xian Zong established a new court organization-West Factory, with Wang Zhi as the leader. The west factory is located in front of Ji Ling Palace, and the old ash factory is the headquarters of the factory department. The officers of the West Factory are mainly selected from the guards, who choose their own subordinates. In just a few months, the number of personnel in the West Factory is extremely inflated, and its power even exceeds that of the old East Factory.

The West Factory was originally set up just to get information for the emperor, but in order to promote a higher position and make a fortune, Wang Zhi tried his best to construct major cases, and the number, speed and number of people involved far exceeded that of the East Factory and the Royal Guards. West Factory has established a detective network throughout the country, mainly targeting officials inside and outside Beijing. Once someone is suspected, arrest him immediately, without the prior consent of the emperor, and then, of course, use torture to extract a confession, and make the case as big as possible. For ordinary people, as long as their words and deeds are not very good, they will be severely punished by the West Factory for swearing.

In this case, the West Factory was established only five months ago, and people in the government and the public were in a panic. The assistant ministers, headed by Shang Lu, a great scholar (that is, a talent with three yuan in the division), collectively wrote a letter complaining to Xianzong about the harm of Chenxi Factory and reporting to the extrajudicial authorities. Xianzong was shocked when he received the letter, so he cancelled the West Factory and dismissed its personnel.