At that time in the Tang Dynasty, the Jiedu envoys held great power, especially in the middle and late periods, and their power was much greater than at the beginning. What are the specific manifestations? Let me tell you:
Military bigwigs are envoys, they are in charge of border military from the beginning. These bigwigs are the big bosses of the army in the jurisdiction, and they can command how they want, including mobilizing the army, fighting, selecting generals, and daily training and management. In short, the Jiedu envoy is the military boss, holding heavy power, and making every word!
Executive power has evolved over the course of history. Later, this position gradually had the overall management power of the military, civilian, and financial aspects. Not only do they command the army, but they also have to handle local civil affairs and manage finances and taxes. Some of them even held important administrative positions in the Assassin or elsewhere, effectively becoming the supreme leaders of the region.
They are not only fully responsible for the collection of local land and taxes, but also make decisions on financial expenditures, and have considerable freedom in the allocation and use of resources in the local area. It can be said that the festival plays a vital role in the economic activities of the region.
In terms of diplomacy, some Jiedu envoys have a certain amount of diplomatic power when dealing with neighboring minority regimes or neighboring countries. Not only could they sign agreements on behalf of the Tang Dynasty, but they could also handle various affairs on the border and ensure the smooth and smooth diplomatic relations of the country.
In certain circumstances, the festival has special judicial powers. They have the power to adjudicate on certain levels of officials and cases, which is not small.
That being said, the power of the Temperance Envoy was theoretically tightly controlled by the central government. The imperial court was responsible for the appointment and dismissal of the envoys, and they had to follow the laws and rules of the imperial court when doing things, and they had to accept regular inspections by the imperial court. In this way, the power of the Jiedu envoy is actually quite limited.
In fact, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, because the power of the central government began to become less centralized, many jiedu envoys slowly began to control the power themselves, forming a situation of separating feudal towns. They became more and more independent, and even some of them were able to work against the central government. Let's take the "Anshi Rebellion" as an example, that is, Jiedu caused An Lushan to make a big rebellion, which also shows how serious the consequences will be after Jiedu makes the power greater.
During the Tang Dynasty, the number of soldiers and horses under his command was not fixed. Due to differences in localities and tasks, coupled with the changes of the times, the size of the army is large and small, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Therefore, the size of the army of this festival envoy depends on the specific situation.
Generally speaking, the number of soldiers and horses under the command of the Tang Dynasty was between 20,000 and 100,000. For example, those Jiedu envoys who are close to the frontier areas, especially those who are at the junction with powerful opponents such as Turkic, Tibetan, and Khitan, often have a large number of troops under their command, about 70,000 to 90,000. Take the Fan Yang Jiedu envoys as an example, before the Anshi Rebellion broke out, their army had reached a staggering 91,400 people.
In the south or in those remote areas, the size of the army under the Jiedu is smaller, about 20,000 people. However, this force is not static, and as the days go by, the situation is constantly changing, and the number of troops of the Jiedu envoy will fluctuate and adjust accordingly.