Study On The Imperial Horse Guards Of The Ming Dynasty

The Imperial horse supervision was one of the 24 eunuch institutions of the Ming Dynasty.It was set up in the 17th year of Hongwu(1384).Among the 24 institutions of Ming Dynasty eunuch,the officiant and the royal horse warden are worthy of attention.The imperial horse warden plays an important role in horse administration and the command of forbidden soldiers.In the 28th year of Hongwu(1395),Zhu Yuanzhang redetermined the bureau of Supervision and Treasury,and expanded the duties of the imperial horse supervisor from the sole administration of the imperial horse husbandry at the beginning to " the management of imperial horses and receiving horses and mules from the husbandry house",and the Taifu Temple and Yuanma Temple were in charge of the internal and external horse management.As the imperial horse supervised the SiWei army camp of forbidden armies,their power were further expanded.Although they raised horses in the name,they were actually forbidden soldiers with some military functions.From the point of view of horse administration,the imperial horse supervise the imperial horse.Compared with Taipu Temple in charge of the official horses raised by ordinary people,Yuanma Temple in the border area in charge of official horses,imperial horse supervisor because of its own internal service for emperor,it can be described as the " direct relative part of horse politics ".By studying the number and distribution of the royal horse infrastructure such as stables,barns and pastures,as well as the specific operation of the horse administration,such as the source and use of horses and the scale of forage supply,this paper discusses the effect and cost of raising horses,compares the fiscal revenue and expenditure of the horse administration in the same period,and knows its position in the horse administration in the Ming Dynasty and its influence on the horse administration.From the point of view of the prohibition army leadership,since Yongle emperor commanded the strong person to enter the royal horse warden,they began to participate in the central military.Besides,TengXiang siwei,SiWei and YongShi army camp affiliated of it were set up successively.They were not attached to the military headquarters and the WuJun Governors’ offices,but guarded the palace or Squire.Its effect is obvious,for example,during the period of Yingzong,Oirats invaded Beijing.The fight happened in Zhangyi men is the soldiers of SiWei army camp and QiJun.At Chongzhen period,it became the pro-army of the Emperor to suppress the uprising.In addition,the imperial horse eunuch also like other eunuchs and took a large proportion,supervised the army went to war and guard towns,as well as tax collectors.In addition,XiChang which seted up and abolished twice were also supervised by the imperial horse eunuch.Among the twelve eunuchs,the imperial horse warden and the directorate of ceremonial were on equal terms.In the whole horse administration organization,the imperial horse superintendents in charge of royal horses in the inner palace played an important role.In the military aspect,the imperial horse superintendents,such as commanding the Forbidden Army of the SiWei army camp,also had an important influence on the Ming Dynasty.For the actual operated office of the Imperial horse,there were many drawbacks that could not be ignored.Moreover,the malfunctioning of the Imperial horse prison was not only the manifestation and result of the political corruption of the Ming Court,but also the cause of the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.