Introduction: The End of an Era

The Ming Dynasty’s Embroidered Uniform Guard, once the formidable secret police and imperial guard of China’s last native ruling house, experienced a dramatic transformation during the early 17th century. The deaths of two key figures—Lu Bing and Zhu Xiaoxiao—marked not merely the passing of individuals but the conclusion of what historians would later call the Guard’s golden age. This prestigious institution, which had operated with considerable autonomy for centuries, gradually lost its independent status and became subordinate to the Eastern Depot, the eunuch-controlled secret police agency. This power shift reflected broader changes in Ming political structure, where eunuch influence increasingly dominated court affairs. The transformation was particularly evident in the investigative branches of the Guard—the Eastern and Western Offices responsible for investigating sedition and capturing bandits—though even ceremonial and protective divisions eventually fell under eunuch supervision through appointments controlled by the Directorate of Ceremonial, which managed the Eastern Depot.

Historical Context: The Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot

The Embroidered Uniform Guard, established by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368, originally served as the emperor’s personal bodyguard and investigative force. With direct access to the throne and authority to arrest, interrogate, and punish without judicial review, the Guard wielded tremendous power throughout much of the Ming Dynasty. Their distinctive embroidered uniforms, from which they derived their name, became symbols of fear and respect throughout the empire.

The Eastern Depot, created in 1420 during the Yongle Emperor’s reign, represented the eunuchs’ counterweight to the Guard. While both organizations shared overlapping responsibilities in intelligence gathering and maintaining security, they often operated as competing power centers. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the balance of power shifted between these institutions depending on the emperor’s preferences and the strength of particular factions. By the early 17th century, this delicate balance was tipping decisively in favor of the eunuchs and their Eastern Depot.

The Wanli to Tianqi Transition: A Court in Crisis

The period between the Wanli and Tianqi reigns represented a critical juncture in Ming history, characterized by weak leadership, court factionalism, and administrative decay. The Wanli Emperor’s prolonged reign ended with his death on July 21, 1620, after 48 years on the throne. His successor, Zhu Changluo, ascended as the Taichang Emperor just ten days later on August 1, 1620, at the age of 38. He immediately signaled a break from his father’s policies by allocating one million taels from the imperial privy purse to fund military operations in Liaodong and recalling the widely despised mining, customs, and salt tax eunuchs who had plagued the countryside during Wanli’s reign.

These actions generated considerable goodwill among officials who had grown frustrated with Wanli’s reluctance to spend imperial funds on state affairs. Despite treasury shortages and urgent military needs in the northeast, Wanli had released only about 600,000 taels from the imperial coffers between 1616 and 1620. The new emperor’s additional allocation of another million taels for border defenses just two days after his initial disbursement suggested a more responsible approach to governance. Despite criticism of his personal indulgences, the Taichang Emperor initially appeared committed to addressing the dynasty’s pressing problems. Tragically, his reign would last less than a month, cut short by one of the most controversial episodes in Ming history.

The Red Pill Case: A Reign Cut Short

The circumstances surrounding the Taichang Emperor’s death became known as the Red Pill Case, one of the Three Major Cases that would dominate political discourse throughout the Tianqi period and beyond. According to historical records, particularly the Guoque, the emperor fell seriously ill just fifteen days after ascending the throne and suspended court audiences. Contemporary accounts attributed his decline to exhaustion from overindulgence with eight beautiful palace women presented to him by Consort Zheng, who allegedly sought to weaken the emperor because she feared he might seek revenge for her involvement in earlier plots against him.

The emperor’s condition worsened when Cui Wensheng, a eunuch director of the Imperial Medical Bureau who was possibly acting on Consort Zheng’s instructions, administered a strong laxative to treat what was described as a constipation disorder. This treatment caused the emperor to have thirty to forty bowel movements within twenty-four hours, leaving him severely weakened. Eight days later, on August 29, the emperor learned from attendant eunuch Wei Jinzhong that Li Kezhuo, a minister from the Court of State Ceremonial, possessed some miraculous pills. The emperor summoned Li and consumed several doses of these so-called red pills. Within two days, on September 26, 1620, the emperor was dead.

This mysterious death, occurring so soon after the controversial medical treatments, generated widespread suspicion and would fuel political controversies for years to come. The Red Pill Case exemplified the dangerous intersection of medicine, politics, and palace intrigue that characterized the late Ming court.

The Staff Attack Case: An Earlier Attempt on the Heir

The Red Pill Case was not the first controversy to surround Zhu Changluo. Five years earlier, in 1615, he had been at the center of another mysterious incident known as the Staff Attack Case. On the fourth day of the fifth month that year, during the evening hours, a man named Zhang Cha from Jizhou managed to breach security at the Palace of Benevolent Celebration, where Zhu Changluo resided as crown prince. Armed with a date wood club, Zhang injured the eunuch guard Li Jian before being subdued near the front hall by other attendants led by eunuch Han Benyong.

The assailant was handed over to Zhu Xiong, commander of the Eastern Flowery Gate guard, and eventually executed after interrogation. However, the investigation failed to definitively establish who had orchestrated the attack. Widespread speculation pointed to Consort Zheng and her brother Zheng Guotai, the Left Chief Military Commissioner, as the masterminds behind what appeared to be an assassination attempt aimed at clearing the path for Consort Zheng’s son, Prince Fu, to become heir apparent. The ambiguous resolution of this case further eroded confidence in the judicial system and demonstrated the vulnerability of even the highest-ranking figures to palace intrigues.

The Palace Move Case: Securing the Succession

The third major case, the Palace Move Case, unfolded immediately after the Taichang Emperor’s death. According to the Ming Tongjian, Lady Li, the emperor’s favored consort, had remained in the Qianqing Palace during his final days, attempting to position herself and her ally, the eunuch Wei Jinzhong , to control the succession. When officials arrived to pay their respects after the emperor’s death, they found themselves blocked by eunuchs loyal to Lady Li.

Through determined effort, officials including Yang Lian, Grand Secretary Liu Yijing, and Duke Zhang Weixian of England managed to secure the person of the crown prince, Zhu Youxiao, whose mother had died a year earlier. They escorted the fifteen-year-old heir to the Hall of Literary Brilliance, where officials performed the ceremonial obeisance, hailing him as emperor. The procession then moved to the Palace of Benevolent Celebration to prepare for the formal accession.

Lady Li, however, refused to vacate the Qianqing Palace, the traditional residence of the emperor, apparently hoping that the new sovereign would allow her to remain there after his enthronement. On September 2, officials including Yang Lian, Liu Yijing, Minister of Personnel Zhou Jiamo, Censor Zuo Guangdou, and Wang An, the Director of Ceremonial, jointly petitioned for Lady Li’s removal. Three days of pressure finally forced her relocation to the Huilu Palace, allowing the new emperor to take up residence in the Qianqing Palace. The following day, Zhu Youxiao formally ascended the throne as the Tianqi Emperor.

Upon Zuo Guangdou’s recommendation, the new emperor issued an edict on September 15 establishing a unique calendar arrangement: the period before August 1620 would retain the Wanli reign title, while the period after would be designated Taichang, with the new year to begin under the Tianqi reign title. This compromise acknowledged both his grandfather’s and father’s reigns while marking the beginning of his own.

The Tianqi Era: Eunuch Ascendancy and Imperial Neglect

The Tianqi period , when another young emperor came to power. Both the Zhengde and Tianqi Emperors ascended as teenagers—fourteen and fifteen years old respectively—and both displayed more interest in personal pursuits than governance. Where the Zhengde Emperor had been known for his intelligence and pleasure-seeking, the Tianqi Emperor demonstrated remarkable craftsmanship and passion for woodworking.

This disengagement from state affairs created a power vacuum that was filled increasingly by eunuchs, particularly Wei Zhongxian, who would become the most powerful and notorious eunuch in Chinese history. Under Wei’s dominance, the Eastern Depot tightened its control over the Embroidered Uniform Guard, using both institutions to suppress political opposition and enrich his faction. The Guard, once an independent power center, became merely an instrument of eunuch authority, conducting investigations and arrests at the Eastern Depot’s direction.

Legacy and Historical Significance

The Three Major Cases and the decline of the Embroidered Uniform Guard represented more than just political scandals or institutional changes—they symbolized the broader decay of Ming governance that would ultimately contribute to the dynasty’s collapse in 1644. The subordination of the Guard to eunuch control demonstrated the weakening of institutional checks and balances that had previously prevented any single faction from dominating the court completely.

These events also highlighted the vulnerability of the imperial system to manipulation when weak emperors occupied the throne. The Tianqi Emperor’s preoccupation with carpentry rather than governance allowed Wei Zhongxian to establish what amounted to a shadow government, using the Eastern Depot and subservient Embroidered Uniform Guard to eliminate opponents and control information. The political polarization and mistrust generated by the Three Major Cases would continue to plague the court through the Chongzhen reign and beyond.

Historians have debated whether the Ming Dynasty might have survived its challenges had the Taichang Emperor lived longer or had the Tianqi Emperor taken a more active role in governance. What remains clear is that this period of transition between reigns represented a critical missed opportunity for reform and stabilization. Instead, the court became increasingly divided and ineffective precisely when it faced growing external threats from Manchu forces in the northeast and widespread domestic rebellion.

The story of the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s decline thus serves as a microcosm of the larger Ming decline—a once-proud institution that lost its way through corruption, factionalism, and subordination to narrow interests. Its transformation from independent imperial guard to eunuch subsidiary illustrates how even the most established institutions can be undermined when political norms deteriorate and accountability disappears.

Conclusion: The End of a Tradition

The Embroidered Uniform Guard never regained the prestige and autonomy it had enjoyed during its golden age. Even after Wei Zhongxian’s fall from power and death in 1627, the institution remained subordinate to civil officials and later eunuch factions. The Guard continued to exist until the Ming Dynasty’s final collapse, but it operated as a mere shadow of its former self—a symbolic reminder of how far the dynasty had strayed from its founding principles.

The Three Major Cases continued to resonate through Chinese history as cautionary tales about palace intrigue, medical manipulation, and succession crises. They entered the cultural consciousness as examples of how personal ambitions could threaten state stability and how institutions could be weaponized for political gain. For the Embroidered Uniform Guard specifically, these cases marked its final transition from feared independent agency to subordinate tool—a decline that mirrored that of the dynasty it had served for nearly three centuries.

The legacy of this period reminds us that institutional integrity requires constant vigilance and that even the most powerful organizations can be compromised when political norms break down. The story of the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s decline remains relevant as a historical case study in how power shifts occur gradually through the accumulation of small changes rather than through single dramatic events—a process that continues to shape political dynamics across different societies and eras.