What's the difference between Royal Guards, East Factory, West Factory and Six Doors? Which is the best?

Let's briefly define the four major institutions of the Ming Dynasty:

Royal Guards refers to the military and political intelligence agencies that have the responsibilities of guarding the night, supervising officials, collecting internal and external information, investigating and arresting, and listening to imperial edicts. They were directly led by the emperor and set outside the palace gate, independent of the law.

East Factory refers to the privileged supervision organization, secret service organization and secret police organization, which has the functions of supervising officials and security guards, collecting internal and external information, investigating and arresting, and listening to imperial edicts. It is directly led by the emperor, led by eunuchs close to the emperor, and independent of the law.

West Factory refers to the privileged supervision organization, secret service organization and secret police organization, which has the functions of monitoring people, civil and military officials, guards, collecting internal and external information, investigating and arresting, listening to imperial edicts, etc. It is directly led by the emperor, led by eunuchs close to the emperor, and independent of the law.

Six gates refer to the yamen of the Ministry of Punishment, Duchayuan and Dali Temple (similar to the current public security law), and later extended to the yamen of the Ming Dynasty. Because the gates of the yamen in the Ming Dynasty were all composed of six openable doors, they were called six doors, which was the official department of the Ming Dynasty.

Functionally, Royal Guards, East Factory and West Factory are all privileged institutions that are independent of the law and directly led by the emperor. These three institutions belong to one category, while the six doors belong to the official departments of the Ming Dynasty under the leadership of the six departments, the five halls and the independent Douchayuan, and the six doors belong to another category.

The Royal Guards have the responsibility of supervising officials, including officials from six departments, five halls, Duchayuan and other institutions. The East Factory has the responsibility of supervising the Royal Guards and officials, while the West Factory has a wider scope of supervision, including the responsibilities of the East Factory and ordinary people.

The four functional departments supervise at different levels, with overlapping responsibilities. This is a powerful supervisory function of the Ming Dynasty. All four are for the imperial power. Because the four departments overlap in their specific responsibilities, they are different. At the same time, the responsibilities of the four departments in different periods are also different.

1. Jinyiwei is actually one of the twelve guards of Beijing Imperial Army. The military system of the Ming dynasty was based on the guards, each with about 5000 people. Royal Guards was originally equivalent to the regular army of the Ming Dynasty, and was later incorporated into the military and political intelligence agencies, starting with Zhu Yuanzhang. The main purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang's use of the Royal Guards was to crack down on corrupt officials.

The founder of Royal Guards is Zhu Yuanzhang, who is a commoner and hates corrupt officials. After the establishment of political power, Zhu Yuanzhang was worried that officials in the yamen of the Third Law Department, which was responsible for cracking down on officials' illegal activities, would protect each other. In order to picket officials, rectify official management and crack down on corruption, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Royal Guards in 1382.

The original duties of the Royal Guard were to accompany the emperor on trips, prepare ceremonial ceremonies and guard the palace. At the same time, they can also investigate and arrest illegal officials independently of the government offices of the three justice departments, and try illegal senior officials who are dealt with by the imperial edict. In Zhu Yuanzhang's Hu case and Aquamarine case, Jin Yiwei played a powerful role, and tens of thousands of people were killed in these two cases alone.

At first, the Royal Guards handled the case fairly formally, but it also formed a deterrent in the minds of officials. The personnel of the Royal Guards come from the imperial guards and honor guards, as well as men with no political innocence and criminal record selected from the people. The residence of the Royal Guards is outside the palace, and there is no eunuch to act as it, because in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, eunuchs were strictly forbidden to interfere in government affairs.

Because the Royal Guards can handle cases independently of the law and arrest senior officials without the consent of the emperor, there are some abuses in the Royal Guards. Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Royal Guards in 1393, and the Royal Guards only existed in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang 1 1 year. However, after Judy became emperor in the Jing Nan War, the Royal Guards were restored, and then they were destroyed until the Ming Dynasty.

At the beginning of its establishment, the Royal Guards were beautiful. They wore flying fish suits and embroidered switchblades around their waists. They have the privilege of the emperor's permission, and they can arrest anyone for trial. They are directly responsible to the emperor, accept the direct leadership of the emperor, and do not go through the three legal departments. The ministers in the DPRK were very afraid of the Royal Guards, which deepened the arrogance of the Royal Guards.

To some extent, Royal Guards, like the cruel officials in Han and Tang Dynasties, cracked down on illegal officials with severe punishments, which was a tool used by emperors to strengthen their rule. Royal Guards mainly targeted courtiers. The first order of Royal Guards put Mao Xiang in charge of Hu's case, and the second order put Jiang Xiang in charge of Aquamarine's case. These two cases were made into major cases, and many people were killed unjustly, which caused public outrage because too many people were killed. These two orders were later killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, which is the role of cruel officials.

Second, the full name of the East Factory East Factory is Dongji Stone Factory. The East Factory was established by the Ming Emperor Judy in 1420, which was 38 years later than the Royal Guards. Because Judy didn't rely on the battle of Jingnan, he gained power through war. It was inevitable that some people criticized Judy in the imperial court and local government, so Judy not only resumed the duties of the Royal Guards, but also added another organization with a larger scope of duties than the Royal Guards.

There are several differences between Dongchang and Royal Guards:

1. The officials of the Royal Guards are cronies personally promoted by the emperor, while the officials of the East Factory are eunuchs and eunuchs personally promoted by the emperor. One is an ordinary official and the other is a eunuch. Emperor Chu initiated the reuse of eunuchs, changed the strategy of Zhu Yuanzhang's era, and made eunuch autocracy one of the evils of the Ming Dynasty.

2. The residence of the Royal Guards is outside the palace, and the head of the East Factory is in the palace. Relatively speaking, the emperor trusts the East Factory more and can assign it to act at any time.

3. The Royal Guards supervise the officials, while the East Factory can not only supervise the officials, but also supervise the Royal Guards. In other words, the Royal Guards are monitored, but the East Factory is not. The responsibility of the East Factory exceeds that of the Royal Guards.

The officials and soldiers of the East Factory are all selected from the Royal Guards. At first, the East Factory only had the power to detect and arrest people, but it could not be interrogated. Later, Dongchang also had its own prison, where it could try prisoners by itself. Many famous eunuchs in the history of the Ming Dynasty were leaders of the East Factory, such as Wang Zhen of Ming Yingzong, Liu Jin of Ming Wuzong, Feng Bao of Ming Muzong and Wei Zhongxian of Ming Xizong.

During the heyday of the East Factory, Royal Guards had to be attached to the East Factory to survive. The influence of the East Factory extended to every corner of the imperial court. The Royal Guards interrogated the prisoners internally, and the East Factory had to send someone to listen. All departments of the imperial court and the East Factory should send people to work, which is actually monitoring. All ministers in the Ming Dynasty, regardless of rank or even relatives, were monitored by the East Factory.

Another interesting thing about the East Factory is that there is a huge portrait of Yue Fei in the organization of the East Factory. You should know that Yue Fei was a famous anti-gold star in the Southern Song Dynasty. He was loyal to the country and loved the people, but he was regarded as an idol by the East Factory, reminding the East Factory to enforce the law impartially when handling cases. In fact, East Factory didn't do it at all. As for the portrait of Yue Fei, it's just a decoration.

Third, the full name of West Factory is West Anti-smuggling Factory. Among all institutions, the West Factory has the shortest existence time and the latest establishment time. The West Factory was established by Zhu Jianshen, Ming Xianzong in A.D. 1477. At that time, Dongchang and Royal Guards already existed. Why should Ming Xianzong set up a western factory?

The establishment of the West Factory was due to an accident in the Imperial Palace. During the period of Zhu Jianshen in Ming Xianzong, there was a man named Li Zilong who was a demagogue and had many supporters in the imperial court. What's even more amazing is that this Li Zilong has no official position, but he can enter the palace, and it is said that he also means regicide. Later, it was discovered and killed by the Royal Guards.

After this incident, Ming Xianzong felt that the palace was unsafe and heavily guarded. How can outsiders enter the palace, and then they have doubts about the people in the existing palace, especially the Royal Guards and the East Factory. So Ming Xianzong sent the eunuch king whom he trusted, until the people secretly inquired about the news and understood the people's views on this matter. Wang Zhi has always been very active, and has also provided Ming Xianzong with a lot of useful information.

So Ming Xianzong thought, simply set up an organization to be responsible for intelligence reconnaissance and anti-smuggling. This institution was the West Factory, and the first magistrate was Wang Zhen trusted by Ming Xianzong. The West Factory was established when Ming Chengzu lost trust in the original Royal Guards and the East Factory. The personnel of the West Factory are also selected from the Royal Guards, and the number is more than that of the East Factory. At the same time, the responsibilities of the West Factory are equivalent to those of the East Factory and the Royal Guards, and have been extended. The West Factory can not only arrest ministers, royalty and relatives at will.

At the beginning of the establishment of the West Factory, in order to take credit, the West Factory headed by Wang Zhen began to expand rapidly, expanding the targets of attack, and achieved many major cases, arbitrarily arresting the ministers of the DPRK on suspicion and extorting confessions by torture. The atmosphere overwhelmed the Royal Guards and the East Factory, which caused a lot of opposition from courtiers. Only five months after its establishment, Shang Lu, a cabinet university student, wrote to the emperor together with courtiers to persuade the West Factory to be abandoned, and Ming Xianzong agreed.

A month after the abolition of the West Factory, some villains suggested that Ming Xianzong should restore the West Factory. Plus Ming Xianzong didn't trust the East Factory and the Royal Guards, so he restored the West Factory. It has existed in Ming Xianzong ever since. Later, because eunuch Wang Zhen was guarding Liaodong and was impeached by the East Factory, Ming Xianzong was wary of Wang Zhen, and Ming Xianzong dissolved the West Factory. The West Factory has existed intermittently in Ming Xianzong for five or six years, but its power has surpassed that of the East Factory and the Royal Guards.

During the Zhu Houzhao reign of Emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty, eunuch Liu Jin came to power and re-established the West Factory. The satrap is Gu Dayong, and Liu Jin, the commander-in-chief of the East Factory. At this time, the power of the west factory was not as good as before, and it was constantly fighting with the east factory, tearing each other apart. Later, Liu Jin set up a new inner factory, similar to the responsibilities of the East Factory, the West Factory and the Royal Guards. Together, they are called the four major factories, that is, the four major secret service agencies.

After the fall of Liu Jin, the West Factory and the Inner Factory were also abolished and disappeared from the historical stage. The West Factory, like the Inner Factory, was a temporary organization of the Ming Dynasty. Although Wang Zhen was very powerful, it was completely abolished after Ming Wuzong.

Four, six doors and six doors, as mentioned earlier, are the collective names of the yamen of the Ministry of Punishment, Duchayuan and Dali Temple in the Ming Dynasty, and later extended to the yamen of the Ming Dynasty. It is a formal government agency, mainly responsible for civil affairs, criminal law, trial and reconnaissance of ordinary people. As for the ministers related to the royal family, they can't manage all six doors, but they have to be managed by institutions such as Royal Guards, East Factory and West Factory. So the responsibility and authority of six doors are actually.