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.
2. West Factory and Inner 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 set up an investigation network all over the country. The main target is officials inside and outside Beijing. Once someone is suspected, he will be arrested immediately without the prior consent of the emperor. After that, of course, it is torture, so that the bigger the case, the better. 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.
However, the days without the West Factory always made Xianzong feel insecure. After learning the emperor's mind, treacherous court official Dai Jin took the initiative to write to flatter Wang Zhi. Xianzong was overjoyed and immediately resumed the West Factory. It's only one month from waste to open. After Wang Zhi came back, he handled the case more severely, and Dai Gan was promoted.
In the following five years, Wang Zhi led the West Factory to set up numerous "major cases", cutting off courtiers such as Shang Lu and Xiang Zhong one by one, and his power reached its acme. However, as the saying goes, "extremes meet", Wang Zhi's extremely inflated power cannot but arouse the emperor's vigilance. In the subsequent power struggle, Wang Zhi lost, was transferred from Beijing, and the East Factory was dissolved. A few years later, Wang Zhi died in despair.
Tang Xianzong's grandson Wu Zong succeeded to the throne, and the eunuch Liu Jin came to power. The eunuch forces rose again, and the West Factory reopened, led by eunuch Gu Dayong. Ironically, although both the West Factory and the East Factory are under the command of Liu Jin, they are not cooperating with each other, but fighting for power and profit and tearing at each other. In order to change this situation, Liu Jin built an internal factory under his direct command. Its function is the same as that of Dongxi Factory, but the scope of investigation is wider, even including Dongxi Factory and Royal Guards. For a time, the four secret service agencies, namely the Royal Guards, the East-West Factory and the Interior Factory, were lying flat, twiddling around, and the world was in chaos. It was not until five years later, when Liu Jin fell, that Wu Zongcai ordered the cancellation of the West Factory and the Inner Factory.
As a temporary product, the West Factory disappeared forever in history.
Finally, a digression: the relationship between the emperor and the eunuch. Everyone must wonder why so many emperors used eunuchs in history. In fact, in a broad sense, the eunuch clique can also be counted as a part of the bureaucratic system. He has many advantages that the literati class does not have:
First of all, eunuchs are slaves of the emperor. Being in the inner palace is more convenient to communicate with the emperor, and it is more difficult to fathom the emperor's mind.
Secondly, eunuchs themselves are eunuchs and have no position in society. The only thing they can rely on is the emperor. Therefore, when they work for the emperor, they are often more loyal and more considerate of the emperor. Unlike the literati class, they often take saving the world as their own responsibility, and sometimes they don't buy the emperor's account.
Third, eunuchs are not illiterate, and quite a few eunuchs can't meet the standard of education. As the emperor's private secretary, they are fully capable and won't have as many objections as ordinary literati.
Finally, eunuchs are the main way for empresses to communicate with the outside world. Empresses must unite eunuchs if they want to exert influence on state affairs.
In short, out of the inherent needs of authoritarian regime, the emperor needs a force independent of bureaucrats for his own use, and the most convenient one is eunuchs. Therefore, as long as centralized autocracy exists, eunuchs will have their place. Although they often create chaos in state affairs, no clever emperor will give up this powerful tool easily, which is why eunuchs can be distinguished from consorts and have always played an important role in the history of China.