The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of networks. Provided are a message transmission method and apparatus, wherein the method is applied to a first network device. The method comprises: receiving a message, which is sent by a second network device; and forwarding the received message after the received message is cached for a preset duration. By applying the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, the adaptability of deterministic transmission to a WAN is improved.