If it had not been for An Lushan's rebellion, would the festival have made this system feasible? If we look back at the history of the development of this system, we will find that it is not reasonable.
In ancient China's feudal society, as an important local management system, the system of jiedu made a profound impact on the political pattern of the Tang Dynasty and even the later Liao Dynasty.
Although the system was criticized for the abuse of power and excessive concentration of power, especially in the aftermath of the An Lushan Rebellion, it reflected to some extent the political needs of the time and the realities of local governance.
The system originated from the governors of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. At that time, in order to strengthen local control, the central government established a governor, giving him the power to command local government affairs and the military, and concurrently served as the governor of the prefecture where he was located.
By the time of the Northern Dynasties, this position was renamed "Governor", and the responsibilities remained the same, however, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of Sui abolished the position of Governor, and this position disappeared for a time.
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the position of governor was restored, and he was renamed the governor in the seventh year of Wude (624).
In the early days of the Li and Tang dynasties, the governor was mainly responsible for the local military defense, and did not fully control the local government affairs like the previous governor, until the reign of Emperor Gaozong Yonghui of the Tang Dynasty, the governor began to hold the festival, symbolically representing the emperor to deal with the local military, thus evolving into a real festival envoy.
With the changes in the social environment and frontier situation of the Tang Dynasty, the power of the Jiedu envoys continued to expand.
During the reign of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Jiedu envoys were not only in charge of local military affairs, but also gained control over local finances, thus having greater power than the governors or governors of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which led to the continuous expansion of the scale of institutions under the Jiedu envoys, and finally formed a unique Jiedu envoy system.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, there was an increase in wars in the border areas, which led to a surge in the number of border guards. This objective situation caused the power of the local governor to swell, which provided the soil for the expansion of the power of the Jiedu Envoy and also strengthened the strength of the Jiedu Envoy.
Since the Wu Zetian period, corruption in the Tang Dynasty has become increasingly serious, and there are two reasons for this.
On the one hand, the frontier generals were keen to wage war for personal gain, and on the other hand, corrupt magistrates needed more powerful superiors to restrain them, so the power of the jiedu envoys was further consolidated, especially when they took control of the local finances.
In the process of implementation, the Tang Dynasty's system of equalizing land gradually existed in name only, and a large amount of land fell into the hands of landlords and heroes, who in order to protect their own interests, these landlords and heroes have made friends with local powerful envoys and sought refuge.
Since it was difficult for the imperial court to fully control these landlords, the Jiedu envoy was firmly supported at the local level.
The excessive expansion of the system led to the rise of local separatist forces, weakened the authority of the central government, and posed a serious threat to social stability.
An Lushan's rebellion is a typical example, and in addition, Tang Suzong Li Heng failed to learn from the Anshi Rebellion, but instead promoted the rebel forces, resulting in the formation of separatist forces such as the three towns of Heshuo.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Jiedu system did not disappear completely, and the Jiedu system during the Liao Dynasty inherited the system of the Tang Dynasty to some extent, and at the same time innovated.
The Liao Dynasty's festival degree envoy is divided into two categories: real power festival degree envoy and virtual title festival degree, including palace tent festival degree, tribal festival degree envoy and other types, the Liao Dynasty's festival degree system is more complex, but its nature has been different from the Tang Dynasty period of the festival degree system.
Although the system brought many problems during the Tang Dynasty, such as local secession and the weakening of the authority of the imperial court, this does not mean that the system itself is useless.
In fact, it reflects the practical needs of local management in the social environment at that time, and to evaluate the quality of a system, it needs to be comprehensively considered in a specific historical context.
At the same time, the continuation and development of the system in the Liao Dynasty also shows that the system has adapted to the political needs of different periods and regions to a certain extent.
