The jiedushi (Chinese: 節度使; Korean: 절도사; romaja: Jeoldosa; Vietnamese: Tiết độ sứ, Old Turkic: Tarduş) or jiedu, was a regional military governor in China; the title was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty.
Originally introduced in 711 to counter external threats, the jiedushi were posts authorized with the supervision of a defense command often encompassing several prefectures, the ability to maintain their own armies, collect taxes and promote and appoint subordinates.
Even after the difficult suppression of that rebellion, some jiedushi such as the Three Fanzhen of Hebei were allowed to retain their powers due to the weakened state of the court.
The jiedushi were one of the primary factors which contributed to the political division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, a period marked by continuous infighting among rival kingdoms, dynasties, and regional regimes established by jiedushi.
Wang Junchuo (王君㚟), Xiao Song, Niu Xianke, Geshu Han, and Cui Xiyi (崔希逸) were jiedushi of Hexi.
Its territory lay primarily in Tianjin north of the Hai River and parts of Beijing.
An Lushan was promoted to jiedushi of Pinglu, Fanyang (in north Hebei), and Hedong (central Shanxi) with an army of 150 000.
Li Guangbi was promoted to jiedushi of Fanyang after recovering much territory from the rebels in Hebei, but he died soon after in 764.
Li Huaixian, former general of An Lushan, delivered Shi Chaoyi's head to the Tang and surrendered in 763, becoming jiedushi of Youzhou and Lulong.
Hedong Jiedushi was created in 730 and headquartered in Taiyuan, controlling Shi, Lan, Fen, Xin, and Dai prefectures in central and north Shanxi.
In 883 Li Keyong was appointed jiedushi of Hedong after recovering Chang'an from Huang Chao.
It controlled Hong, Jiang, Xin, Yuan, Fu, Rao, Qian, and Ji prefectures, covering mostly Jiangxi.
In 761 it moved to Xuanzhou (Xuancheng, southeast Anhui), 787 to Runzhou (Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), and 808 to Hangzhou (Zhejiang).
The jiedushi of Zhenhai Army, Du Shenquan, played a pivotal role in defeating the rebel Pang Xun.
He surrendered to Tang and retained control over central Hebei east of the Taihang Mountains.
Li Weiyue requested succession of Chengde Army in 781 and was denied, so he rebelled, and was killed a year later by his subordinate general Wang Wujun.
The Biansong Jiedushi was headquartered in Bian Prefecture (Kaifeng), and governed Shangqiu as well as east Henan.
In 781 its seat was moved to Song Prefecture (宋州) (south of Shangqiu, east central Henan).
Li Zhengji became the jiedushi of Ziqing-Pinglu after the An Lushan Rebellion and worked together with Tian Yue to curtail the imperial court's attempt to weaken local powers.
Weibo Jiedushi was created in 763 and headquartered in Wei Prefecture (northeast of Daming County and southeast of Handan, south Hebei).
Surviving the Battle of Talas in 751, Duan Xiushi went on to become the jiedushi of Jingyuan until he was dismissed in 780 by Yang Yan.
Shannan West Circuit Jiedushi was created in 780 and headquartered in Liang Prefecture (梁州) (east of Hanzhong, Shaanxi).
It was headquartered in Cangzhou (southeast Hebei) and controlled Cang, Jing, De, and Di prefectures.
Xiasui Jiedushi was created in 787 and controlled Xia, Sui, Yin, and You prefectures in Shenmu and south Ih Ju League, Inner Mongolia.
Xiangyang Jiedushi controlled Xiang, Deng, Fu, Ying, Tang, Sui, Jun, and Fang prefectures in north Hubei and southwest Henan around 813.
In 851 the Guiyi Army Jiedushi was created from territories reclaimed by Zhang Yichao from the Tibetan Empire.
Liu Congxiao was made jiedushi of Qingyuan Army in 949 after Wang Yanzheng's fall.
In 951 Bian Hao crushed Chu and was promoted to jiedushi of Wu'an Army (in Hunan).