就一名錦衣衛首長人選而言，陸炳實具絕佳的條件。炳和父、祖三代追隨興獻王、明世宗父子，深獲倚重信賴；炳本人又機敏沉著、文武兼備。他因此能在政情詭譎多變的嘉靖中期屹立不搖十餘年，也成就了世宗英察御下之威名。陸炳除情報、刑獄等主要職掌外，還得兼顧監工、督儀等細務。在他以五十之英年暴卒前，炳確兢兢業業，克盡厥職，並挽救不少忠良文臣之性命。陸炳私下的活動，可能更為複雜。他用收賄、放貸等方式，積累龐大的財富，再以此為基礎，拓展綿密的社交網絡，操控人事運作，鞏固自身的權勢。透過對陸炳的全面探究，我們不但可進一步瞭解明代的特務政治，也能更深入檢討嘉靖政局，乃至明代國運由盛轉衰之關鍵。

As a head of the Embroidered-uniform Guard, Lu Bing (1510-1560) was excellently qualified. He, as well as his grandfather and father, diligently served the Emperor Jia-jing and his father, Prince Xing-xian, and as a result was trusted by the royal family. Lu Bing, a clever and tough man, exerted his duties for more than fifteen years in mid-Jia-jing period, a time full of political intrigues and military turbulences. The Emperor Jia-jing, with Lu Bing's faithful service, achieved the reputation as a ruler who had controlled his subordinates strictly. Besides those major works like intelligence, inquisition, and so on, Lu Bing also had to take care of trivial things such as supervisions on construction works and numerous rituals. However, before he died in the prime of his life, Lu Bing fulfilled his duties, and even saved some upright officials who outraged the emperor. Lu Bing's private activities were even more complicated and colorful. He, by means of bribery and usury, accumulated great wealth by which he expanded his social network and strengthened furthermore his political status. A thorough and balanced review on Lu Bing's career, as this study has accomplished, helps us deeply understand the political operations in the Jia-jing reign which resulted in the decline of the Ming Dynasty.