What did Jinyiwei, Dongchang and Xichang do in history and how were they formed?

The editor recently watched dramas and discovered that there is always a very powerful organization in Ming Dynasty dramas called Jinyiwei, so what do they do? Today, the editor will explore the whole story with you.

Speaking of the Ming Dynasty, everyone knows that the Ming Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty ruled by the Han people in China, and the feudal monarchy reached a new height.

However, because Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, came from a humble background, he suffered a lot from childhood. Therefore, after ascending to the throne, he hated corrupt officials very much. He not only abolished the prime minister system that had been in place for more than two thousand years, but also established many mysterious organizations to strengthen the central group and supervise judicial officials.

The establishment of Rudong Factory, Jinyiwei and Liumen is unprecedented and unprecedented. These organizations are both mysterious and unique.

First of all, let’s talk about Jinyiwei. It was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang in the 15th year of Hongwu. At the beginning, it was just one of the emperor’s twelve imperial guards, equivalent to what we call the Imperial Guard.

Later, in order to monitor the movements of officials in the DPRK and China, Zhu Yuanzhang gave the Jinyiwei supervisory functions and established the North and South Town Fu Divisions to specialize in supervision, arrests, interrogations, etc.

Let’s talk about the East Factory. It was established by Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, in the 18th year of Yongle. Because it worked in the Donghua Gate area of ????the capital and was engaged in arrests, it was called the East Factory, so it was called Dongchang. .

The main job of Dongchang is to apprehend key criminals, and it is worth mentioning that most of the officials in Dongchang are eunuchs in the palace, so they also take orders directly from the emperor. The purpose of establishing Dongchang in the early stage was to monitor civil and military officials and prevent them from plotting rebellion.

When it comes to the West Factory, its setting was completely accidental. In the twelfth year of Chenghua (1476), a minister named Li Zilong broke into the inner palace with ease. This made the suspicious Ming Xianzong feel very uneasy and believed that there was secret communication inside and outside the palace. In order to strengthen the rule of secret agents, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty added the "Xi Jisi Factory" in addition to the Dongchang in the following year (1477), referred to as the Xichang. The leader was the eunuch Wang Zhi, and other factory members were selected from Jinyiwei.

Finally, let’s talk about the Six Gates. It is the most mysterious organization. It is the collective name of Dali Temple, Si Xing Department and Ducha Yuan, because each gate in each yamen has three Each door has two doors, so it is called six doors.

Its personnel include both court officials and capable people, from the imperial court to the private sector. The main job of Liumen is to assist the court in handling some major and important cases. It has great influence, so it has great prestige among the people.

But for these four organizations, they all ended badly in the end. Especially the Dongchang had so much power that in the later period, the officials

had their power strengthened and no longer listened carefully to the emperor's words, resulting in turmoil.

Therefore, Shen Qitang, a scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, once said: "The Ming Dynasty was not destroyed by rogue bandits, but by factory guards."