Abstract:
After the An and Shi Rebellion, the military governorship grew rapidly under the rule of the Tang Dynasty. In order to politically strengthen imperial power and control local governments, the imperial court of the current Tang Dynasty extensively introduced the imperial supervising envoyship, which resulted in co-government of military governorates, hence the “one-position-with-two-chair” system of military governorship. Under this system, the imperial supervising envoy acted both as a “cooperative partner” to the military governor by coordinating various relationships and helping him deal with daily business, and as an important force to balance and restrict the military governor’s power. Thus, the most significant role of the imperial supervising envoy was to share the military governor’s decision making and participate in administration of the agenda in the military governorate to guarantee the central effective rule of military governors.
