Follow the editor of the History Encyclopedia to explore the real Jin Yi Wei in history.
The Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty has appeared in various film and television works, but it is generally portrayed as a negative image. Due to the influence of these things, the Jinyiwei is also notorious in the minds of modern people. Let’s talk about the origin of the Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei today.
In the eyes of most people, the Jinyiwei is usually a spy agency. In TV dramas and movies, people often see the Jinyiwei as the emperor’s lackey and do all sorts of evil deeds. Indeed, from its birth to its downfall, the Jinyiwei basically did some bad things. Although the Jinyiwei sometimes did good things, they couldn’t resist a group of spendthrifts who did too many bad things, so their reputation naturally declined. The full name of the Jinyiwei is “Jinyiwei Commander’s Office”, also known as “Tiqi”. At the beginning, the Jinyiwei was just the emperor’s ceremonial guard. Whenever the emperor went, they were responsible for setting the scene, so they represented the face of the royal family. Their image and clothing were definitely not to be taken lightly, so Zhu Yuanzhang named them “Jinyiwei”. After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he came from a poor family and was worried about the civil and military officials, fearing that they would rebel and embezzle. Therefore, he came up with a bad idea. In the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, he established the Jinyiwei as a military institution for the emperor’s guards, which was specifically tasked with managing prisons, granting the power of inspection and arrest, and setting up the Zhenfu Department to engage in reconnaissance, arrest, and interrogation activities without going through the judicial department. And the Jinyiwei had an army, a prison, and was directly responsible to the emperor. In other words, it was a knife in Zhu Yuanzhang’s hand, and he always held it in his own hand. The leader of the Jinyiwei is called the Jinyiwei Commander, appointed directly by the emperor and accountable directly to him.
Influenced by film and television works, the Jinyiwei has two famous equipment: the Flying Fish suit and the Embroidered Spring Knife. In fact, the clothing of the Jinyiwei is not just a flying fish suit, and not all Jinyiwei can wear flying fish suits. Only senior officials can wear them. There are three types of clothing for senior Jinyiwei officials: python suit, flying fish suit, and bullfighting suit. The python robe is a gift from the emperor, who rewards whoever he finds pleasing. Next is the Flying Fish Robe, which is a grand costume second only to the Python Robe. It is also the most handsome uniform in ancient China, which is why it frequently appears in film and television works, leading people to believe that all Jinyiwei are wearing Flying Fish Robes. The bullfighting suit is a rare official attire bestowed upon a first-class official. Another famous equipment of the Jinyiwei is the Embroidered Spring Knife. Xiuchun Knife is a general term for official knives issued by the imperial court to the Jinyiwei for use. The prototype of Xiuchun Knife is Tang Knife, but it has been improved on this basis. Xiuchun Knife only has a straight spine and a slightly curved blade.
During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the main functions of the Jinyiwei were to gather information and monitor civil and military officials. And the Jinyiwei also has the right to patrol and arrest. As long as it thinks you have problems, it can arrest, torture, and execute you on its own without going through other judicial institutions, and is only responsible to the emperor. This also led to the fear of the Ming Dynasty ministers towards the Jinyiwei, so they recklessly slandered them. Now that we think about the poor reputation of the Jinyiwei, we cannot do without the help of these ministers.
Although the Jinyiwei was established by Zhu Yuanzhang, he was still a smart person. As a founding emperor, he knew that the Jinyiwei was a well behaved and evil dog in his hands, and it was not necessarily uncontrollable in the hands of his descendants. Therefore, in Zhu Yuanzhang’s later years, the Jinyiwei was abolished. But human calculation is not as good as heaven’s calculation. His son Zhu Di snatched the throne from his grandson Zhu Yunwen and never found him. Zhu Di also had a hard time living, after all, it was a stolen throne, so no one believed it. Fortunately, there was such a useful institution left by his own father, which immediately restored all the rights of the Jinyiwei. And it has been strengthened, which has led to the famous Jinyiwei that has lasted for nearly three hundred years.
