“以茶治边”政策是指我国古代封建王朝为加强对西北地区的统治,利用其茶叶经济垄断权对西北游牧民族实行的一项羁縻政策,是融荼法、马政、边政于一体的一种边疆统治政策。它随着唐宋时期茶法的形成、茶马贸易的产生开始萌芽,至明代臻于完善;它以西北游牧民族生活必需的茶叶作为经济武器,通过垄断茶马市场、“以茶赏番”等手段,“俾仰给于我,而不能叛”,成为“制西番以控北虏之上策”。 The policy of “treating tea by the side of the tea” refers to the policy of the ancient feudal dynasty to strengthen the rule of the northwest region and to use its tea monopoly power to implement the policy of nomadic ethnic groups in Northwest China. A border government policy. With the formation of the tea law in the Tang and Song dynasties, the emergence of the tea-horse trade started to sprout and reached the perfection of the Ming Dynasty. It took the tea necessary for the nomadic life in northwestern China as an economic weapon. By monopolizing the tea-horse market, And other means, “to give me up, rather than betray” and become “the superior policy of controlling Western Corps.”