明代自建國之初即深受蒙古的威脅，為了獲取足夠的軍馬，明廷即開始與各藏族展開以食茶易馬的茶馬貿易，除為了在軍事上能獲得戰馬之外，另一主要政治上的目的就是意圖「以茶馭番」，避免其與蒙古聯合為患邊鎮，所以邊茶已成為具有政治目的的戰略物資。 因為明朝官方是以貴茶賤馬的訂價策略來與西番易馬，形成極大的比價獲利空間，導致各方人士因私茶利潤豐厚而介入，以致私茶橫行。明廷為管控茶馬貿易，除了訂定嚴格律法管制外，並曾派遣各級官員來執行查緝業務，其中以巡茶御史最具代表性。 明代巡茶御史制度的形成，原先係朝廷為解決茶馬貿易所產生的弊端，但其職司內容與管轄範圍因時間演變而有所更改；從早期負責巡禁私茶及綜理茶馬貿易相關事宜，演進到後來更加入提督馬政的工作，舉凡與馬政相關事務皆由其全權負責，而巡茶御史的管轄範圍則是以陜西、四川與湖廣等三地為限，因時而有所異動。 總體而論，明代的茶馬貿易，之所以能持續運行到明末，並為國家提供所需之軍備戰馬，實因多數御史長期以來也都能克盡職守，實心任事於本分，故巡茶御史確實有其不可抹滅的貢獻。 The Mongols had always been a serious threat since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. To obtain enough warhorses, the Ming government began to trade tea for horse, the tea and horse trade, with the Tibetan tribes. Another main political purpose of the trade was attempting to control the Tibetan tribes and avert allying with the Mongols to invade borders. Thus the border-tea became a strategic material under political purpose. The Ming government enforced the tea and horse trade with high- priced tea and low-priced horse policy, which led to a huge profit and smuggled tea overran badly. To control the trade, the Ming government imposed strict laws against smuggling and sent officials to supervise. The most representative figure was the tea-inspecting supervisor. In the beginning, the Ming state established the tea-inspecting supervisor system to solve abuses in the tea and horse trade. During the early years, tea-inspecting supervisor took charge of smuggled tea and tea and horse trade affairs. However, commanding the politics of the horse management became tea-inspecting supervisor’s mission later. Tea-inspecting supervisor took full responsibility for everything regarded the horse policy and governed only three districts, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Huguang, then ambits altered during different periods. As most tea-inspecting supervisors did their best and practiced the law well, the tea and horse trade had been operated till the end of the Ming Dynasty, and supplied adequate warhorses for the Ming state. Overall, tea-inspecting supervisors had a great contribution on Ming’s history.
