There were many failed arrangements for the Ming Dynasty, and these arrangements also indirectly had a lot to do with the demise of the Ming Dynasty, such as the appointment of eunuchs, such as the Jinyi Guards, these people can be said to have accompanied the Ming Dynasty, but there is another one that is as old as the JinyiWei, and the Ming Dynasty ministers will tremble when they hear this name, which is Zhao Prison. Mention zhao prison as long as you have some understanding of the Ming Dynasty to know this place, now there are many records about Zhao prison in the historical materials, some can even make your scalp tingle, and what is the main thing in Zhao Prison? It is to punish ministers who are at fault. But we don't know exactly what the environment and tricks of the Zhao Prison were, but we can use the descriptions of witnesses in the Ming Dynasty at that time to see what it looked like.
First of all, tell you about the origin of Zhao Prison, and when you mention it, you have to mention two other familiar names, Kinyi Wei and Beizhen Fusi. Jinyiwei needless to say was founded by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, and its role has been recorded in many historical records. The relationship between the three is that the Kitajin Fusi is a special institution in the Kinnikushi. Hokujin Fuji is in charge of The Shōjō Prison, so they are affiliated. During Zhu Yuanzhang's time, jinyiwei had already been established, but at that time, the jinyiwei had relatively small powers and did not have the final right to convict crimes, and had to be handed over to the Punishment Department, and later under the advice of Zhu Yuanzhang's grandson Zhu Yunjiao, the Jinyiwei, which had existed for only ten years, was revoked by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Dijing restored the Jinyi Guard after the disaster, and set up a special Beizhen Fusi to manage the Zhao Prison historical materials also known as the ZhenfuSi Prison, which is equivalent to the Jinyi Wei began to be independent of the Ming Dynasty's Three Laws Division, but you don't look at the temple of the Beizhen Fusi, his status is extraordinary. In the Jinyi Guards, it is not to see whose position is greater, but to see whose hands the Zhao Prison is in, because the administrators of the Zhao Prison are directly under the command of the Junshang and are not subject to the control of the Chief of the Jinyi Guards.
It would be too abstract to use the word miserable to describe Zhao Prison, so let's take a more intuitive look at what the legendary Zhao Prison looks like from the perspective of a more intuitive witness. Shen Defu Wanli 6 years, born in Beijing, studied in Hanlin Academy, also served in the Ming Dynasty, because his father was a historical official in the Ming Dynasty, so he also liked the story of the court, and he had many friends of Xun Gui, and Dong Qichang was also a very good friend. In the thirty-fourth year of the Wanli Calendar, he compiled a book "Wanli Ye Zhi Zhi", which recorded the author's witnesses and experiences, and some things were more detailed than the Ming history records, to put it bluntly, this is only a private diary, but his historical value is very high.
In this book, the situation of Zhao Prison is described, "Zhenfu Si Prison, its room is humbled to the ground, its walls are thick, that is, the next door howls, quietly hear"... After too much to directly talk about this general meaning, this passage describes the appearance of Zhao Prison, half of it is built underground, all year round do not see the day, this is mainly to create an atmosphere that makes you shudder, and its walls are several inches thick, which is mainly for sound insulation, not to cry too far. The entry inspection of people is even more strict, to go through several security checks, family members are never allowed to visit, if the family members are allowed to see in the process of torture, this is also a more cruel side. Those who have seen daming style should know what the prison inside is like, similar to that.
And the Zhao Prison of Beizhen Fusi, not to mention personal experience, as long as you have seen it from the side, it is enough to make you unforgettable for a lifetime. It has its own set of a total of eighteen kinds of tools, the book specifically introduced a tool [zǎn], the specific operation is to use the person's ten fingers to clamp in the nest, and then tighten, but this is different from what we usually think, and its peculiarities, if it is tight, the meat goes but does not hurt the bone, if you use a slightly wider stool, then ten fingers are folded, this is still the lightest in the entire 18 sets, a person generally bears one or two sets of almost the same, eighteen sets of try again should be few people. This also reminds me of the scene when Shi Kefa entered Zhao Prison to see his teacher Zuo Guangdou, sitting on the ground wall, through the face can hardly see that it is Zuo Guangdou, the denomination is scorched and unrecognizable, and the muscles are exhausted" But at this time, Zuo Guangdou was still alive, and after he died, everyone could see clearly that it was simply incomplete, through this example, it can be seen that Zhao Prison is undoubtedly the same as Yan LuoDian, and it is no wonder that some people say that if you go from Zhao Prison to the Prison of the Punishment Department, it is simply heaven.
Reading Shen Defu's records has not made you shudder, the dark underground space, there is only a scattered torch and people's wailing. Just thinking about it now makes me feel a chill in my back. The existence of such a place in the late Ming Dynasty became a nightmare for disobedient courtiers. Zhao prison had to be said to be a major failure of the Ming Dynasty, so that Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it was not appropriate to remove it together with the Jinyi Guard, but when Zhu Dijing was unsuccessful, in the face of the courtiers below were mostly people in the Jianwen period, although they surrendered superficially, they still had views on Zhu Di in private, and Zhu Di had no way, so he could only use the Jinyi Guard, set up a special Beizhen Fusi, to spy on the hidden affairs of these ministers and punish them.