A Study On Pacification Messenger In The Late Tang Dynasty

The pacification messenger who was sent to local military governor in late Tang Dynasty was a temporary messenger sent by court to contact and deal with the issue of the local military governor whose subordinates included vice-messenger,assistant and secretary.The functions of the pacification messenger included pacifying,appointing,killing the generals of local military governor,comforting local officials and common people and so on.They would think about the official’s personal ability,background,messenger experience,attitude to the town and his own appearance and so on when the court was selecting pacification messenger.And at the same time,the current official also proved the social status of the pacification messenger,such as Gei shi zhong and Jian yi da fu.The power of judging pacification result was grasped by the emperor so that the pacification messengers wouldn’t be too aggressive or flinched which might influence the result of pacification.Through the activities of pacification messenger in the state of peace or war,it is known that the success or failure of the pacification is related to the ability and experience of pacification messenger.But the more important factors are the military and economic strength of the court and the local military governor,the separation and union between the local military governors,and the choice of the commander of the local military governors.The pacification messenger is an integral part between the court and the local military governors.The court need make use of the pacification messenger which represents the supremacy of the imperial power and the ruling of the court to emphasize its irreplaceable legitimacy.The pacification messenger was also like a chess piece,which was a key factor to break or maintain the current situation.