When Lao Shang (reigned c. 174–161 BCE), ruler of the Xiongnu (a powerful people of North China), defeated them and killed their king, the main body of the Yuezhi moved westward into Sogdiana and Bactria, putting an end to Greek rule in both regions.
In 446, while Emperor Taiwu was attacking the Xiongnu rebel Gai Wu (蓋吳), he found a large number of weapons in Buddhist temples in Chang'an.
In 2000, Alexander Vovin reanalyzed Pulleyblank's argument and found further support for it by utilizing the most recent reconstruction of Old Chinese phonology by Starostin and Baxter and a single Chinese transcription of a sentence in the language of the Jie (a member tribe of the Xiongnu confederacy).
Xiongnu |
The Battle of Loulan (樓蘭之戰) in 108 BC marks the earliest Chinese military venture into Central Asia, after a conflict of the Han Dynasty with Loulan and Jushi and a switch of allegiance to the Xiongnu.
In 75, on the death of the short-reigned Emperor Ming of Han, the Xiongnu with its allies seized their opportunity and captured Jushi and Liuzhong, and killed the Protector General Chen Mu.
Some Russian archaeologists have identified a Han-era Chinese-style palace unearthed near Abakan (in Southern Siberia) in 1941–45 as Lu Fang's residence after he had left China for the lands of the Xiongnu.
In addition to the Southern Xiongnu nomads, the state numbered 1,000,000 of other nomadic tribes, mainly Jie, Xianbei, Di, and Qiang, for a total of approximately 1,400,000 nomadic population, or 200 thousand yurts.
Juqu Anzhou (沮渠安周) (died 460) is viewed by some historians as a prince of the Xiongnu states Northern Liang, as after the state's territory was largely seized by Northern Wei in 439, and his older brother Juqu Mujian (Prince Ai) was captured by Northern Wei, Juqu Anzhou's brother Juqu Wuhui tried to hold out against Northern Wei, initially on Northern Liang's old territory, and later, after that attempt failed, at Gaochang.
Juqu Wuhui (沮渠無諱) (died 444) is viewed by some historians as a prince of the Xiongnu states Northern Liang, as after the state's territory was largely seized by Northern Wei in 439, and his older brother Juqu Mujian (Prince Ai) was captured by Northern Wei, Juqu Wuhui tried to hold out against Northern Wei, initially on Northern Liang's old territory, and later, after that attempt failed, at Gaochang.
Battle of Jushi, a battle between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu
An alternative identification would be that he was the chief who led the Huns to appear in the west near the Caspian sea, according to Tacitus at the turn of the 1st century AD, in retreat from the mad campaign of Ban Chao (班超) against the Xiongnu.
According to Hanshu, the various states of the Western Regions, including Yanqi, were controlled by the Xiongnu, but later came under the influence of the Han Dynasty after its show of force when it attacked Dayuan (Fergana) late 2nd century BC.
During the 119 BC Battle of Mobei of the Han–Xiongnu War, the famous Han general Wei Qing used armored wagons known as "Wu Gang Wagon" (武剛車) in ring formations to neutralise the Xiongnu's cavalry charges, before launching a counteroffensive which overran the nomads.
It was founded by the Xiongnu Juqu family, although they initially supported the Han official Duan Ye as prince, they overthrew him in 401 and took over the state for themselves.
During the Han–Xiongnu War, the Chinese established a military seat at Wulei, north east of present-day Bugur with an aim to protect the Indo-European Tocharian statelets of the region and kept them away from the Xiongnu's aggression in the northeastern steppe.
The princes also requested help from the southern independent kingdoms of Donghai (modern Zhejiang) and Minyue (modern Fujian), and the powerful northern Xiongnu.
First founded by Emperor Wu of Han in the wake of the successful reconquest of the area from Xiongnu tribes, it was dissolved during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and then reconstituted centuries later during the Northern Wei and Sui periods, before finally being dissolved during the Tang Dynasty.
The Xiongnu were a people who had migrated in and out of China proper, especially during times of turmoil, apparently at least since the days of the Qin.
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Even fragments of the Northern Xiongnu migrated well within the border to the Xihe plain, west of the Huang He and south of the Ordos Desert).
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They are mostly defined as: Xiongnu (匈奴), Xianbei (鮮卑), Di (氐), Qiang (羌), and Jie (羯); although different groups of historians and historiographers have their own definitions.
The most serious initial revolt, however, was Xiongnu chieftain Liu Yuan, who proclaimed the kingdom of Han Zhao in 304 as well, in the northern heartland of the Jin dynasty.
The regents of the young emperor, Empress Dowager Dou and her brother Dou Xian, favoured a more militaristic policy to the Northern Xiongnu problem.