Many powerful characters in the middle and late Tang Dynasty served as emissaries, from Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing in the expedition to Central Asia, Ge Shuhan who lost Tongguan, to An Lushan, who disrupted the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, to Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, who recreated the Tang Dynasty, to Li Keyong, commander of the Crow Corps, until Zhu Wen, who destroyed the Tang Dynasty, was famous in Chinese history.
The jiedushi envoy can be said to be the most obvious official position in the Tang Dynasty, because in the dynasties after the Tang Dynasty, there was also the position of jiedushi envoy, but it was far less beautiful than the Tang Dynasty.
Guo Ziyi, who recreated the Tang Dynasty, served as the envoy of Shuofang Jiedushi
How powerful the Tang Dynasty's moderation was, you can know by making an analogy: when you are happy, you can be a loyal vassal of the Tang Dynasty, and when you are unhappy, you can be an emperor yourself. In comparison, the local officials of other dynasties are weak and explosive, what Han Dynasty state pastor, Sui Dynasty governor, Qing Dynasty governor, which one is not the central rules and regulations? No matter how strong it is, it does not dare to shake off the central authorities and talk to itself, at least on the surface, respect is still needed.
The first emissaries in Chinese history appeared in the second year of Jingyun in the Tang Dynasty (711 AD), when the emperor was Li Dan of Tang Ruizong, the son of Wu Zetian and the father of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji. The Tongdian, the Tang Huijiao, and Ouyang Xiu's New Book of Tang all hold this view.
Ge Shuhan, who served as an envoy to Hexi and Longyou, was forced to fight a decisive battle, lost Tongguan, and was defeated and captured
Tongdian (通典): Since April of the second year of Jingyun, He Bayansi was made the governor of Liangzhou and the envoy of Hexi Jiedushi. Since then, the various paths have been the same number.
"Tang Huijiao": After yonghui, except for the governor who takes the envoy to hold the festival, it is the moderation envoy, and the one who does not take the festival is not the moderation envoy. In April of the second year of Jing Yun, He Ba Yansi removed the governor of Liangzhou and filled the Hexi Festival. This began with the name of moderation, so it will not be changed to this day.
New Book of Tang: Since Emperor Gaozong's Yonghui, the governors have led envoys to hold festivals, which were originally called festival envoys, but they were not yet famous officials. In the second year of Jing Yun's reign, He Bayan was made the governor of Liangzhou and the envoy of Hexi Jiedushi. Since then, following Kaiyuan, the towns of Shuofang, Longyou, Hedong, and Hexi have all been placed in Jiedushi.
The above three authoritative historical works have a consistent and clear record of when the Jiedushi was set up: in the second year of Jingyun, that is, in 711 AD, the first person to be officially granted the Jiedushi envoy was Heba Yansi, that is, the Jiedushi as a formal official title also appeared in 711 AD.
Later Liang Taizu Zhu Wen (朱全忠), who served as an envoy of the Xuanwu Army of the Tang Dynasty
Before that, the jiedushi had also appeared, but it was a title, not a formal official name, sometimes called the jiedushi envoy, sometimes called the jiedu ambassador, and what was the deputy envoy of the jiedushi. Both the Tang Huijiao and the New Book of Tang mention that as early as the year of Emperor Gaozong's Yonghui, the title of Jiedushi had appeared. Yonghui was the first era name of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, at least half a century before the official establishment of Jiedushi.
As a title, there is still a big difference between the jiedushi and the official official position, but people who do not understand history will be confused - but even a great historian like Sima Guang still made a mistake on this issue, he believes that the first Jiedushi envoy in China was Xue Rengui's son Xue Rengui, the famous general of the Middle Tang Dynasty, and the era of Jiedushi was also one year earlier than the above three historical books:
Zizhi Tongjian Jingyun First Year October Record: Ding You, with Youzhou Zhen Shoujing Slightly Jiedu Ambassador Xue Ne as the General of Zuo Wu Wei and the Governor of Youzhou, Jiedushi made him
Name from
Nebula.
Obviously, the so-called Youzhou Zhen Shoujing Slightly Moderate Ambassador is a generic and informal title, and at this point Sima Guang confused the two. Moreover, if the time of the official appearance of the Jiedushi was determined according to Sima Guang's standards, it would have been many years earlier, because it had been called as early as the time of Emperor Gaozong's Li Zhi.
Sima Guang smashed the cylinder statue
From the first time he was officially appointed, HeBa Yansi, Jiedushi shouldered the heavy responsibility of consolidating border defenses and strategizing the four sides, and his power was unmatched, and he was a veritable feudal official, who could be described as a natural nobleman, and his debut was the peak. Soon after, during the Tianbao years, Jiedushi became a political star in the spotlight, and he was extremely favored when he came and went. With the disintegration of the prefectural military system, border generals can recruit soldiers on their own, and the proportion of border guards in the regular army is much greater than that of the central forbidden army. The famous "Tianbao" ten knots became the Great Wall of Steel defending the Tang Dynasty.
Schematic diagram of the ten knots of Tianbao
The above figure is called Tianbao Ten Knots Distribution Map, in fact, there is one less, and the one that is less is not called the Festival Degree Envoy, but the Lingnan Five Provinces EconomicAl Envoy, and the nature is similar to the Festival Degree Envoy. Therefore, it is included in the Ten Festivals of Tianbao.
Tianbao was one of the era names of Li Longji of Tang Xuanzong, and in his hands, the development of China's feudal society reached its peak. Tang Xuanzong liked to engage in part-time work by thrifty envoys, not the kind of their own posts + part-time jobs, because the moderatum envoys were originally part-time or "envoys", which will be discussed later in this article. For example, Wang Zhongsi, who he once valued very much, was once the envoy of the four towns of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, and Hedong, and one person controlled the vast territory of the northwest and north China of the Tang Dynasty, which was unprecedented; and the later hybrid Hu ren An Lushan did not hesitate to let go, one person was also the envoy of the three towns of Fanyang, Pinglu, and Hedong, with 200,000 troops, accounting for two-fifths of the total number of the Tang Dynasty's border defense army, and the strength of the force was breathtaking, and it was no wonder that he wanted to rebel, and whoever had so many troops could not avoid jumping to try. With a knife in his hand, he must have wanted to kill someone.
There are three towns under the jurisdiction of An Lu Shan
The splendid Tang Dynasty was ultimately destroyed by the strong knots, whether it was the Anshi Rebellion that turned the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, or the subsequent division of the feudal towns, or the final end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a strong participation of the knotted envoys. Immediately after The frightened Song Taizu took the throne, he "drank a cup of wine and released his military power", and the soft knife killed people, so that the Jiedushi envoys, who were originally in power, put down their arms and became big landlords, thus completely eradicating the threat of the Jiedushi envoys to the central government. After that, without fist and courage, there will be no big waves.
The last question is, the Tang Dynasty's moderation made the power so great, so how many officials is this?
In the Official System of the Tang Dynasty, it is impossible to find the grade of temperance envoy
This question has bothered me many years ago, and I have checked the "Hundred Officials" of the New Book of Tang and the "Official System" of the Old Book of Tang, as well as some historical materials in the Zizhi Tongjian and some historical materials in the corners and corners, but there is no answer. The official system of the Tang Dynasty was very systematic and very clear, from the three divisions and three dukes of Zhengyipin to the small officials from Qipin, and even some small officials who did not enter the stream could be found, but there was no grade of moderation.
It was not until I turned to the "New Book of Tang" once that I saw a passage about the source of the jiedushi envoy, and suddenly realized that the jiedushi envoy was a kind of "envoy position" in the Tang Dynasty, and the envoy position had no grade. Or rather, the Tang Dynasty's moderation makes it really just a temporary worker, just like the Chincha Minister, how many products do you say the Chincha Minister is? It was only with the passage of time, in the Northern Song Dynasty, because the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin successfully achieved the soft landing of the Jiedushi envoys and did not let them go to the place to sit on the throne, they lost their nature as "envoys" and slowly became a member of a bureaucratic sequence, and they also had a grade - therefore, the Tang Dynasty's Jiedushi envoys were of no quality, although their power was too great to be boundless.
The powerful feudal town jiedushi was on the verge of rebellion if he was not careful
In fact, looking back at the "Tang HuiJiao" and the "New Book of Tang", people have already said it very clearly:
Except for the governor who takes the envoy to hold the festival, he who does not have the festival is not the moderation envoy.
Since Emperor Gaozong's Yonghui, the governor has led envoys to the festival, which was originally called the festival envoy, but he is still not a famous official.
There is a grade of governor, and it depends on which level of governor it is, but the moderation envoy does not. The result of reading a book without care is like this, there are answers in the book, but you can't see it, who is to blame?