本文讨论的是节度使体制形成前，唐王朝对北疆的经略与应对。在充分结合军事地理和民族战争的大背景下，以“皇帝天可汗体系”与“都护—羁縻府州”体制的交替变化为线索，通过梳理唐廷与北族的军政互动过程，试揭橥出唐王朝成功维持北疆数十年统治，以及最终走向节度使体制的深层内涵。太宗贞观时期是“皇帝天可汗体系”占主导的时期。基于东突厥汗国的内外交困，贞观四年唐军虽一举将之覆灭，但其有生力量却得到了基本保存。更关键的是，这些降众在身份意识上，仍认为己身是属于突厥系统。这就要求唐廷在对待突厥降众的整合和治理上，不仅要依靠军政等硬实力，也需形塑出双方共通的基本意识。贞观四年，西北诸蕃尊奉唐太宗为“天可汗”，太宗迫不及待的要求以大唐天子身份“下行可汗事”，目的之一就是为了快速整合突厥降众。此后十数年间，唐廷敢于允准突厥降众复国，平定吐谷浑后保存其王统，灭社尔答布政权后不置郡县，“皇帝天可汗体系”是其统合西北诸蕃的重要依凭。贞观末年至永徽初期是“皇帝天可汗体系”与“都护—羁縻府州”体制双轨并行的阶段。贞观二十年，薛延陀汗国在唐铁（勒）联军的打击下覆亡，唐廷顺势在漠北核心地带建置了羁縻属性的六府七州，以及负责导引宾贡的燕然都护府，结束了此前中原王朝对漠北草原的统而不治，确立了都护临边的御边体系。然而，接受统合并设置羁縻州府的漠北各部，在划入统治范围后，其地域自身传统的延续性依然很强，先有回纥部署置官吏、私称可汗，后有突厥系车鼻政权在漠北右翼地区的做大。故而唐廷在发挥都护御边的硬实力外，还需继续借助“皇帝天可汗体系”的统合作用。其中，回纥被迫去可汗号，接受唐廷“都督俟利发”的册封，体现的正是“皇帝天可汗体系”对“都护—羁縻府州”体制的补充。高宗时期是“都护—羁縻府州”体制不断调整和强化的阶段。永徽元年，车鼻政权被扫灭，大漠南北全部归化，北疆羁縻府州随之激增。高宗君臣遵循以碛为界的分治原则，先后以“燕然都护府与定襄、云中二都督府”“单于都护府与安北都护府”管治大漠南北。在具体治理方式上，则是不断强化“中国法”的治理准则，其中麟德元年单于府号的更革，永隆二年集体处决漠南突厥叛酋，体现的正是对“善守中国法”的践行。至武后、中睿时期，随着军事武力征战背后的制度演进与华夷之辨后的文武转向，北疆御边战略被迫转换为被动防御，最终在玄宗开元时期，形成了以守为主，组织严密、城防坚固的北疆防御体系。

This paper discusses the strategy and management of the Tang dynasty on the northern frontier region before the formation of the system of the provincial governor. Against the background of military geography and ethnic wars, this paper takes the alternating changes of the "emperor Tiankhan's system" （皇帝天可汗体系）and the "protectorate - Indirect governance"（都护—羁縻府州） system as a clue to sort out the military and political interactions between the central government and the nomadic tribes in the north. It tries to unveil the deeper connotation of the Tang dynasty's success in maintaining the rule of the northern frontier for decades and finally moving towards the system of the provincial governor.The period of Emperor Taizong's reign was dominated by the "emperor Tiankhan system". Based on the internal and external difficulties of the Eastern Turkic Khanate, the Tang army was able to destroy it in one fell swoop in the fourth year of Zhenguan, but its living forces were preserved intact. More crucially, these Turkic（突厥） Surrender people still considered themselves to be part of the Turkic system in terms of their sense of identity. This required the Tang court to rely not only on military and political strength, but also on a basic sense of commonality between the two sides in the integration and governance of the Turkic peoples. In the fourth year of ZhenGuan, the northwestern provinces honored Tang TaiZong as "Heavenly Khan" and TaiZong took the initiative to "use the khan's power" as the son of Tang, one of the purposes of which was to quickly integrate the Turkic peoples. In the following ten years, the Tang court dared to allow the restoration of the Turkic surrendered peoples, to preserve their kingship after the pacification of the Va-Zha（吐谷浑）, and not to create counties after the destruction of the Sheldab regime（答布政权）, and the "emperor's system of heavenly khan" was an important basis for the unification of the northwestern provinces.From the end of ZhenGuan to the beginning of Yong Hui is the stage of "Emperor Tiankhan system" and "protectorate - Indirect governance" system in parallel. In the 20th year of ZhenGuan, Tardush（薛延陀） Khanate was destroyed under the strike of Tang Dynasty and the Tille （铁勒）tribes alliance army, and the central government of Tang Dynasty set up 13 Indirect governances in the core area of northern Desert and Yanran Prefecture which was responsible for receiving and guiding the northern Desert tribes to Tang Dynasty's attack, which ended the nominal rule of Central Plains Dynasty over the northern Desert and established the system of defending the frontier by the Prefecture. However, the continuation of the regional own traditions of the north desert ministries, which accepted the rule and set up the tie-up states and prefectures, remained strong after they were classified into the scope of rule, firstly, Uyghur（回纥） ministry set up officials and called itself Khan, and later, there was the hegemony of the Chebei （车鼻）regime of Turkic system in the right wing of the north desert. In addition to the hard power of the Tang court in ruling the border, it also needed to continue to rely on the unifying role of the "emperor Tiankhan system". Among them, Uyghur was forced to remove the title of Khan and accept the title of "governor and Iitber" of Tang court, which is the complement of "Emperor Tiankhan System" to "protectorate - Indirect governance " system.During the period of Emperor GaoZong, it is the stage that the system of "protectorate - Indirect governance" is adjusted and strengthened continuously. In the first year of Yong Hui, CheBei regime was swept away, and all the north and south of the desert were merged into the territory of Tang Dynasty, and the number of tie-up prefectures in northern border was increased. Following the principle of governance with moraine as the boundary, "YanRan（燕然） Capital Protection Office and Dingxiang（定襄）and Yunzhong（云中） protectorate" and "Shangyu（单于） protectorate and Anbei protectorate" govern the north and south of the desert successively. In the specific way of governance, the Tang court continued to strengthen the "Chinese Law" of governance, including changing the name of the Shangyu Prefecture in the first year of LinDe（麟德）, and beheading 54 leaders involved in the rebellion in the first year of KaiYao（开耀）, in violation of the practice of treating captives preferentially, which reflected the practice of the "Chinese Law". The practice of the "Chinese law" is reflected in these initiatives.