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As a professional phrase, “chief, deputy, assistant and envoy” is also found in Shen Nong’s Classic of the Materia Medica ( Shén Nóng Bĕn Căo Jīng , 神农本草经). In this book, according to their different properties and applications, Chinese medicinals are differentiated into three categories of the heaven, the human and the earth based on the “chief, deputy, assistant and envoy”. That is, the heaven medicinals are the chief, the human medicinals are the deputy, and the earth medicinals are the assistant and envoy. The meaning of the “chief, deputy, assistant and envoy” is completely different to that applied in the principle of composing formulas. So the Basic Questions -Great Treatise on the Essentials of Supreme Truth indicates that “ The principle of the chief, deputy, assistant and envoy in composing formulas, … is not the three categories of the heaven, human and earth . ” (方制君臣，……非上中下三品之谓也) It means that the original meaning of “the chief, deputy, assistant and envoy” includes two aspects of the classification of medicinal properties and the theory of composing formulas.
The origin of the “chief, deputy, assistant and envoy” theory in composing formulas can be found in the book, the Inner Classic . It should be strictly differentiated. The theory of composing formulas during the period of the Inner Classic applied the different positions of the chief, deputy, assistant and envoy in state system to indicate the main or affiliated positions of medicinals in formulas.
“A medicinal aiming at the main syndrome is called the chief; a medicinal assisting the chief is called the deputy; a medicinal responding to the deputy is called the envoy.” It indicates that in a formula, the medicinals producing the main treatment effect are the chief, the medicinals assisting the chief are the deputy, and the medicinals responding to the deputy are the envoy. Different medicinals produce different effects, the main or the affiliated, in a formula, and the medicinals in the “chief, deputy, assistant and envoy” theory requiring different dosages, according to the different number of medicinals in formulas, the Inner Classic has further formally stipulated the composition of formulas, such as “one chief and two deputies” (君一臣二), “one chief with three deputies and five assistants” (君一臣三佐五) and “one chief with three deputies and nine assistants” (君一臣三佐九) etc. Thereby it supplies the principle for selecting medicinals and composing formulas.
Shen Kuo, in the Song Dynasty, indicated that when analyzing the principle of composing formulas, “ The theory of one chief, two deputies, three assistants, and five envoys, means that although there are many medicinals in a formula, just one of them mainly aims at the disease, while the others act as deputy, assistance and envoy according to their relations, and they control and restrict to each other in general as well, it is a proper way ”. (用药有一君、二臣、三佐、五使之说，其意以谓药虽众，主病者在一物，其他则节节相为用，大略相统制，如此为宜) Dream Creek Essays ( Mèng Xī Bĭ Tán , 梦溪笔谈) . It means that the chief, deputy, assistant and envoy are determined according to their respective importance in a prescription.
During the Ming Dynasty, He Bo-zhai further enriched the understanding, and said that“ The medicinals in therapy play their effects in different ways. The medicinal producing the main treatment effect is called the chief, the medicinal acting as an assistance for the chief in the treatment is called the deputy, the medicinal antagonizing and assisting the chief is called the assistant, and the medicinal guiding the other medicinals to the disease related meridian or the disease location is called the envoy ”. (大抵药之治病，各有所主。主治者，君也；辅治者，臣也；与君相反而相助者，佐也；引经及引治病之药至于病所者，使也.) ( The Inside of Chinese Medicine - Yī Xué Guăn Jiàn , 医学管见) He further illustrated the meaning of “chief, deputy, assistant and envoy”.