Come to Yunchao to be the Queen

Chapter 195 Introduction to East Factory
Dongchang, signed by an official of the Ming Dynasty.That is, Dongji Incident Factory, a privileged supervisory agency, secret service agency and secret police agency in the Ming Dynasty of China.In the 18th year of Yongle (1420), Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty established the Dongjiji Factory (Dongchang for short), headed by a trusted eunuch.The location is located in the north of Dong'an Gate (in other words, next to Donghua Gate) in the capital (now Beijing).In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei and Dongxichang were juxtaposed, and their activities were strengthened, and they were often called "factory guards" together.The power of Dongchang is above Jinyiwei, and it is only responsible to the emperor. Without the approval of the judicial organs, it can supervise and arrest subjects at will, thus opening the way for eunuchs to interfere in politics in the Ming Dynasty.

In the late Ming Dynasty, class conflicts, ethnic conflicts, and internal conflicts within the ruling group intensified day by day, and the imperial power of feudal autocracy was facing a serious crisis.Wei Zhongxian selected eunuchs skilled in martial arts in the palace to form an armed team of 10 people as wings; outside, he recruited officials mainly from the Qi, Chu and Zhejiang parties as adopted sons and pawns, known as "eunuchs".Civil servants include Cui Chengxiu and other "five tigers", military generals such as Tian Ergeng and other "five young men", as well as "ten children" and "forty grandchildren", etc.He writes and criticizes the red, controls the government, from the first assistant to the hundred bureaucrats, he will be promoted and deprived at will; he has military power, and can appoint and remove governors and ministers at will; Warehouses, admirals, canals, and tax supervisors are sent out to search for people's wealth. "The internal and external powers belong to the loyal and virtuous".Going out to fight in chariots is like an emperor. Wherever they pass, the scholar-bureaucrats kneel beside the road and shout that Wei Zhongxian is nine thousand years old.The eunuchs and shameless officials also competed to build shrines for him in various places. A shrine cost tens of thousands or even [-] taels of silver.When Wei Zhongxian was in power, the factory security agents were even more arrogant than ever.

In terms of relationship with Jinyiwei, Dongchang came from behind.Since the owner of Dongchang had a close relationship with the emperor and was in the palace, it was easier to gain the emperor's trust.Jinyiwei reported to the emperor that there should be a report, and Dongchang could communicate directly orally; the emperor also gave the governor of Dongchang the power to supervise the Jinyiwei personnel.The relationship between Dongchang and Jinyiwei has gradually changed from equal to superior and subordinate.In the era when the power of the eunuchs was overwhelming, the commander of Jinyiwei even knelt and kowtowed when he met the owner of the East Factory.

One of the main tasks of factory guards is to monitor the bureaucracy.As for the privacy of the upper-class figures in society, and even the "worse things about family members", it is difficult to escape the eyes and ears of the factory guards, and they are often laughed at in the palace.The surveillance of the folks by the factory guards, especially the surveillance of the rich, is pervasive.Wu Yangchun relied on Huangshan to earn income and was a well-known wealthy household in Huizhou.His servants accused him of occupying Huangshan privately, and the income and taxes over the years amounted to more than [-] gold.Wu Yangchun was arrested and brought to Beijing, where he sought compensation according to the amount. He himself was tortured to death, his wife and daughter hanged themselves, and all the family property was collected.Many well-to-do households in the county also went bankrupt due to the involvement.Generally speaking, the relationship between authoritarian eunuchs, foreign bureaucrats, and wealthy households is very tense.

In the early days of the establishment of Dongchang, there was an objective anti-corruption effect, which greatly strengthened the imperial power.However, Dongchang has produced extremely bad historical influence.They have crossed the normal bureaucracy and carried out espionage activities. There are a lot of dark sides and artificially created a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases.Moreover, it provided conditions for the eunuch's monopoly, but in the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch was only an extension of the emperor's power.Due to the extremely cruel means of repression in Dongchang, and it was done because of seeking credit for the dictator or for his own self-interest, it was easy to create a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases, so that Dongchang had a very bad reputation in Ming Dynasty society.

I had another dream, the emperor built a cloud factory, and then...

(End of this chapter)