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preface
Jinyiwei, everyone should have heard about it to some extent. They often appear in costume film and television dramas. Often, the guards are very handsome in appearance, and the costumes are particularly cool, which is completely different from the people in the city. Moreover, most of them are highly skilled in martial arts, and they can often fight more than one at a time, and even fly over the wall, coming and going without a trace. The impression of the Jinyi guards are decisive in killing, often according to some subtle clues can judge the escape trend of tracking suspects. He is handsome, strong in martial arts, and has a high IQ. The Jinyi guard in film and television dramas is often a countless powder! In history, Jinyiwei existed for nearly three hundred years, but when the time came to the Qing Dynasty, it was only a year, but it was abandoned. Follow this article and let's dive into what's going on.
origin
The term Jinyiwei appeared at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, they were established by Zhu Yuanzhang as the founding emperor, the purpose of the establishment is to protect the safety of the emperor alone, which can be understood as a group of "personal bodyguards" created by Zhu Yuanzhang for himself. Over time, the Jinyi guards were no longer just bodyguards to protect the emperor, and they gradually took over the responsibility of criminal investigation, arresting suspects, and interrogating suspects. It has slowly changed into the image of the Jinyi Guard in the film and television dramas that we are familiar with now. They were powerful, only at the behest of the emperor alone, and their competence was greater than that of other institutions. Arrests of anyone other than the Emperor are conducted in secret interrogations without public. It was an integral part of the Ming Emperor's consolidation of centralized power.
shift
The time came to the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was established at the beginning of the customs, borrowed from the institutional system of the Ming Dynasty that had been inherited. Therefore, the institution of Jinyiwei was also logically established by the Qing Dynasty. A year later, the Shunzhi Emperor ordered the abolition of the Jinyi Guard. It is shocking, and the abolition of the Jinyi Guard is not justified in a closer look. At the beginning of its establishment, Shunzhi hoped to learn from the reasons for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the lessons of the past. When reflecting on the summary, it was found that Jin Yi was one of the failures that led to the demise of the previous dynasty. What happened?
cause
First of all, the first point is that in the late Ming Dynasty, the Jinyi Wei was extremely powerful because it was the emperor's private organization. Because they obtained wealth for themselves and gained the trust of the emperor in order to seek merit and rewards, they did not hesitate to fabricate fake cases and create a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases that were uncountable, so as to expand their merit rate. And because of its enormous power, other officials and ministers did not dare to speak out despite seeing it, and allowed it to develop in large quantities.
Second, with his own "privilege", no one but the emperor can shake his own position, so jinyiwei can use the "barrier" given by the emperor to act arbitrarily in society, even lawless, not to mention the so-called bribery and perverting the law. Over time, it will shake the foundations of the whole society. Gradually, social unrest was made. From this point of view, it is not unreasonable for the Ming Dynasty to collapse.
Third, the Chongzhen Emperor gave the post of governor to a man named Luo Yangsheng. When the time came for Li Zicheng's army to invade the capital, the Chongzhen Emperor ordered Luo Yangsheng, who was in Tianjin, to return to Beijing to defend, although Luo Yangsheng hoped to avoid fighting with the plague in the capital, but was still recalled to fight. At that time, due to the epidemic, the army was scattered, and the casualties were heavy. And then we have to start organizing troops to resist the battle, and the generals are dejected and no one can fight. Luo Yang also began to fight passively, and even stopped obeying the emperor's orders. As a result, when Li Zicheng's soldiers attacked, some of the Jinyi guards even chose to stand by and let their Ming Dynasty collapse.
epilogue
From this point of view, the Shunzhi Emperor's order to abolish the Jinyi Guard is indeed a clear move. Since then, the JinyiWei, which has existed for nearly three hundred years, has disappeared.