Xiongnu, Rouran, Xianbei, Xue Yantuo, Turkic, Oala, Mongolia , when you hear these names, everyone will often think of them as a lyrical lyric, Man, you are mighty and majestic", they are all nomads on horseback, but if someone puts them in a row, then most people will have a galloping horse.
research its reason , nothing more than the evolution of the northern grassland peoples is too complicated, many are chaotic. Even a senior history lover, even if he has a lot of national historical knowledge, often only stays at the level of knowing what is happening.
In view of this, the author intends to open a topic to briefly introduce the evolution and development of ethnic minorities in northern China (now Inner Mongolia) and other regions. The first article in the series mainly introduces the nomadic peoples in the northern grasslands. For the characteristics and the situation of the Huns, will be accompanied by a large number of maps for easy understanding.
1. The natural distribution of the northern grassland and the living habits of the nation
China’s Xia, Shang and Wednesday dynasties, the people of the Central Plains have "Dongyi", "Xi Rong", " The names of “Nanman” and “北迪” , after the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms and mixed one universe, some names such as Dongyi and Nanman no longer had specific references. Instead, the Xiongnu, Donghu, Baiyue, etc. Specific tribe (group) title. Among them, the Huns are ethnic minorities living in the north of China. The Huns and their tribes have had an important influence on the development of Chinese history.
The Xiongnu people live in today’s Inner and Outer Mongolia. There is a long desert zone from northeast to southwest on the border line between China and Outer Mongolia. is called quicksand in ancient times, and is now commonly called Gobi or desert. There are luxuriant pastures in the north and south of the desert, which are good places for nomads, so the names of Mobei and Monan were born.
In ancient times, When the Central Plains Dynasty was strong, it would occupy the Hetao and even the land of Monan. The local fortifications were built and cultivated to support the garrison ; when the Central Plains Dynasty declined , The nomads took the opportunity to invade south, destroy the city, waste acres of land, and restore the land of Monan to a pasture, until another new Central Plains dynasty rises, they retreat to Mobei.
Due to the existence of the Great Desert, it was difficult for the original dynasty of Zhong to maintain effective supply when it used troops against Mobei, let alone a large number of troops, so the Central Plains dynasty was often unable to build a stable in Mobei. The rule of the ancient Central Plains and the nomadic tribes in the north fell into an endless cycle of ebb and flow.
The grassland people and the farming people in the Central Plains are very different in terms of production, life, and customs . For this, the great historian Sima Qian once wrote in his book "Records of the History" more than two thousand years ago. "It reads:
(The Xiongnu people) migrated by water and grass. The city is not always a farming industry, but each has its own land. No paperwork, words are the constraints. Children can ride sheep and shoot birds and mice with bows; if they are young, they shoot foxes and rabbits: use for food. Snickers can be armored without a bow. The custom is wide, with the animal , because shooting birds and beasts is a livelihood, and when in a hurry, people learn to fight and attack, and their nature is also.
The long soldier uses the bow arrow, and the short soldier uses the sword. Gain gains and retreat, and don't be ashamed to escape. Where Gou Li is, I don't know how to do. From below the emperor, he eats animal meat in salty, clothing and leather, and is guilty. The strong eat fat, the old eat the rest. Expensive and strong, cheap, old and weak . When a father dies, his wife and his mother follow him; when a brother dies, his wife and wife are all taken. It has a well-known name and no surname.
According to Sima Qian’s account, the characteristics of the Huns can be summarized in the following three points: 1. Nomads, has no fixed residence, clothing and food come from nomadism and hunting ; Second, learning to ride and shoot since childhood, men are all soldiers who can fight , advocating power, despising the old and the weak ; three, fights and fights, advances if you are unfavorable, retreat if you are unfavorable, don’t be ashamed to go; four, has no text, culture is even more impossible to talk about ;五,进行收继婚, family ethics are weak, women's belly is not idle, if food is sufficient, it is easy to multiply a large population.
The situation recorded by Sima Qian is not only a true reflection of the production and living conditions of the Huns, but also the general situation of the production and life of the nomadic tribes in the north for more than two thousand years. was not until the Republic of China. There are many changes.
2. The origin of the Xiongnu tribe and the rise of the Xiongnu
According to archaeological research, about 10,000 years ago, the earth’s ice age ended and began to become warm and humid, and broke out. The "agricultural revolution" brought mankind into a settled agricultural production model. The millet population in northern China migrated north to the area north of today's Great Wall (the Great Wall Zone) for farming. During this period, there was frequent exchanges between the border of the grassland and the farming tribes in the inland, and pottery and stone tools in the north-south direction.
About 5000 years ago, the earth's climate turned cold for a time, and prompted the emergence of animal husbandry agriculture society. At this time, the area north of the formerly warm and humid Great Wall became cold and dry and no longer suitable for farming, so the local tribes were forced to start tame livestock and lead a life of nomadism. Although the northern tribes originated in the south, they have lived in the northern soil for a long time and engaged in nomadic pastoralism. If things go on like this, has formed an internal special cultural group, namely the grassland nomadic culture group.
In this issue, the relationship between regions has also changed. Archaeological discoveries indicate that the east-west communication between central and southern Inner Mongolia and the western part of the Liaohe River, which means that the north-south communication has become an east-west direction , They also communicated with the Yenisei language family and the Altaic language family tribes, so that inter-connected nomadic tribe groups that run through the east and west grasslands of the grassland appeared.
Since then, each tribe has various names, such as Linhu, Xunyu, Guifang, Yan Yun, etc. , but their tribes are scattered and lack With the combined efforts of organizations, even if they once attacked the cities of the summers, they could not be occupied for a long time, let alone become a confidant of the Central Plains regime. In the Warring States Period, the northern tribes of the Central Plains gradually condensed into the system of the Xiongnu. Although has increased power, it is divided into dozens of parts. The Central Plains countries still have an advantage over the Xiongnu.
At this time, the kingdoms of Zhao and Yan went north to open up their territories and build the Great Wall. , especially Zhao, controlled the land of Monan. Later, the Huns took advantage of Qin's destruction of Zhao and occupied some areas such as Hetao. The Huns' invasion could not be tolerated by the first emperor, so he sent troops to attack. On the one hand, Qin Shihuang’s move was for to eliminate the Huns’ threat to the Guanzhong area where the capital is located, and this was also the main reason; on the other hand, it was out of fear of "Qin died in Hu" proverbs.
For this reason, Qin Shihuang sent general Meng Tian commander 300,000 army to attack Xiongnu to regain the land in Henan. The Qin army used troops to bring down the remaining prestige of the Six Nations, and almost did not use complex tactics. The battle against the Huns was completely crushing of strength. After the Huns were defeated, they escaped north.
In the first year of the Second Qin Dynasty, Mao Dun [mò dú], the leader of the Xiongnu First Division, established himself by killing his father. After quickly unifying the Huns, he defeated Donghu to the east and drove the Yue family to the west, threatening The countries of the Western Regions became ministers, and established grassland hegemony.
Since the second year of the Qin Dynasty Chen Sheng Wu Guang Uprising broke out in the Qin Dynasty in July, After a few years, China fell into the struggle for hegemony between the Chu and Han Dynasty. When the Han emperor Liu Bang won, the Xiongnu People have even occupied Monan, including Hetao, and their power has grown stronger. After that, in the battle of Baishan Mountain, the Han army was almost annihilated. Liu Bang was forced to accept Chen Ping's plan and took bribes to escape the siege.
got out of trouble, Han Dynasty was forced to adopt a humiliating peace policy. used the method of sending women and money to buy peace. The Han Ting adopted the peace-marriage policy because of the following two reasons: 1. Weak national strength, "Since the emperor cannot have a junta, and will meet or ride in an ox cart"; 2. 诸侯王问题, internal Too much restraint, unable to go all out. The peace bought naturally cannot bring real peace. The Huns still invaded the mainland from time to time, and even pushed the capital city of Chang'an several times, which has become a confidant of the Han Dynasty.
III. The Han Xiongnu Peace War and the disintegration of the Huns Empire
"文景之治" , which lasted for about half a century, provided superior conditions for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to change the course and fight back against the Huns ：
First, the threat of the princes and kings was basically resolved. At the time of Emperor Jing, the central court of the Han Dynasty quickly quelled the "Seven Kingdoms", and made other kings dare not rebel, and Emperor Wu of the Han also implemented a Tweet Order. It also made the kingdoms fall into disintegration and could no longer threaten the central government.
二， The country has accumulated amazing wealth. Sima Qian recorded that when Emperor Wu of the Han came to the throne, "Unless floods and droughts occur, the people will give the family enough... The capital of the capital is a lot of money, and it is impossible to school. The millet of Taicang, Chen and Chen Xiangyin, are overflowing. Outside, corruption cannot be eaten", the national power of the Han Dynasty greatly increased.
Han Wudi counterattacked the Huns in three major battles. They were (1) 河套争战 conducted by the Weiqing Army. In this battle, the Han army seized the Hetao area and lifted the Huns’ threat to Chang'an. (2) Hexi Contest led by Huo Qubing, In this battle, the Han army seized the Hexi Corridor, which had three influences: Zhang Empire’s tuck, the Huns broke the right arm, and the Western Regions channel opened. (3) 摩北之战 jointly carried out by Wei Qinghuo Qubing. In this battle, the main force of the Huns was defeated. "The Xiongnu escaped far away, and there is no royal court in Monan." largely wiped out the Huns' threat to the inner core of Han .
During the battle against the Xiongnu, repeatedly adopted multiple lines of containment and strategic detours. This is very different from the Qin Dynasty’s “frontal and strong” combat method.
Since then, there have been many wars between the Han and Hungarians. After the Western Han Dynasty was set up as the Emperor of the Xuan Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty gained a huge advantage , which was basically suppressed. After the Huns, large-scale military use gradually came to an end . At this time, due to wars, natural disasters, the reduction of territory and population, the Huns were in an increasingly difficult situation, and internal disputes began to intensify.
Of course, during the Han-Hungarian War, the Western Han Dynasty had many different diplomatic actions. The most important of was Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions and Southern Huns’ leader Hu Hanxie’s surrender to the Western Han Dynasty. After Huhanxie led the people to descend to Han, the Han Dynasty placed his tribe in the land of Monan and gave marriages. This is the famous story of Zhaojun going out of the fortress. After Hu Hanxie died, his tribe once occupied Mobei, but split into two branches in the north and south.
Many of the successive leaders of the Southern Xiongnu were sons-in-laws of the Han emperors (the Han emperors sent nominal princesses, most of which were court ladies who gave them public names and then gave marriages). Neng received aid from the Han Dynasty, and in fact became the garrison tribe used by the Han government to deal with the Northern Huns in northern Xinjiang. The people in the interior of the Han Dynasty also ushered in lasting peace. Except for the period when Wang Mang usurped Han Han, its basic structure has not changed much.
After the Southern Huns descended to the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions were annexed, the stubbornly resisting Northern Huns of actually fell into a state of "big siege" , and thus became increasingly trapped. In 89 and 91 AD, the foreign relatives of the Eastern Han Dynasty Dou Xian, united with the Southern Huns, Wuhuan and other tribes, took advantage of the Huns' civil strife and defeated the Northern Huns twice. The Northern Huns were defeated and defeated. The tribes scattered, most of them fled westward. At this point, the threat of the Northern Huns to the Han Dynasty disappeared, and also disappeared from Chinese historical records.
So far, the battle between the Han and Hungarians that lasted for more than 100 years is over, The cause of the Huns in the East came to an end temporarily, set off a bigger wave in the West because of the great migration of the Eurasian peoples in the 2-5 century AD.
Fourth, the aftermath of the westward migration and southward migration of the Huns
Since the Northern Huns were driven out of the Mobei grassland, gradually migrated westward, squeezing the survival of the local nomads , Forcing those tribes to migrate outwards. Under the background of the earth climate turning cold, a series of ethnic migration waves were triggered. many nomadic peoples entered the farming civilization area one after another, destroyed many dynasties, and established Many dynasties had their peak in the 4th and 5th centuries. This was the reason for the "Five Random China" and the fall of Western Rome.
This statement inevitably raises a question. Why did the Huns migrate not be destroyed by the local people, but the Huns drive other peoples out?
This is because the Huns have powerful combat capabilities. The Huns are born fighters. They have a very high fighting power. The victory of the Han Dynasty against the Huns was not the suppression of the army’s fighting power. Integrated National Power’s Victory
The Han Dynasty was able to win because of 汉朝有tens of millions of people and wealthy financial , even after the loss of tens of thousands of troops, they can build up more than 100,000 troops within half a year, and the Huns can be all grown men. In its heyday, "the man who controls the strings" is only 300,000. Once it is lost, it often takes more than ten years before a new male will add , even if the Huns are replaced by three, one Change five, and in the end, they still can't afford to change.
Of course, the difference in combat capability between the Han army and the Huns also prompted the Han army to pay special attention to strategy and tactics in combat. In the long-term battle against the Han Dynasty, the Huns' combat power rose even more and naturally formed an advantage over the various ethnic groups in Central Asia.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the Southern Huns expanded southward and even reached the north bank of the Yellow River. For the stability of the north, Cao Cao divided the Southern Huns into five tribes in succession by . Each tribe selected a nobleman as the handsome, and chose another The Han people supervised him for Sima. Although this move temporarily divided its potential, but the root of the evil has not been eliminated. Liu Yuan of the Southern Huns (the Huns, whose mother is the princess of the Han, so he called himself surname Liu) later became to take the opportunity to become independent in the chaos of the eight kings , 311 In 316, Liu Yuanzi and Liu Cong captured Luoyang, and in 316, he captured Chang'an, and the Western Jin Dynasty fell. "Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms Period" began.
The Southern Huns were gradually assimilated in the fierce turmoil in the Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern Dynasties. The tribes that moved westward have also merged with the ethnic groups in Central Asia. There are even legends that the Hungarians in Europe today are the Huns.
Ending
When discussing the origin of the Huns, Sima Qian said that , the ancestor of the Huns, is a descendant of the Xiahou clan and is also a branch of the grandson of Yan and Huang. According to archaeological findings, five thousand years ago, the millet people who moved to the north turned into a livestock-type agricultural society due to the climate, and eventually formed the later Huns. This is roughly similar to Sima Qian's account, but the time is misplaced.
The Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu fought for more than a hundred years of war. Although The Han Dynasty split the Xiongnu and achieved victory , it could not completely eliminate the Huns. In the end Northern Xiongnu moved west. , which drove the great migration of the nations in the inner Asian world; the southern Huns moved southward, prompting the destruction of the Western Jin Dynasty. The Xiongnu also had no internal culture, so they were finally assimilated by the local people, and their nation was also dissipated in history.
It is worth mentioning that after the Xiongnu moved westward, the Xianbei people entered Mobei, including the homeland of the Xiongnu, and quickly took a seat. opened up the impressive performance of their nation in the Middle Ages. This will be The content of the next article.
Main reference:
Sima Qian: "Historical Records", Zhonghua Book Company 2011 edition.
Ban Gu: "Han Shu", Zhonghua Book Company 1962 edition.
[日]Miyamoto Kazuo: "Ancient Chinese Frontier History: Archaeological Research", China Bookstore 2000 edition.
[日]Tengaki Yokota: "The Cultural Exchange between East and West in Ancient China", Xiongshan Pavilion, 1983 edition.
[日] Hu Yafu: "Ancient Nomadic Empire", Zhong Gong's new book 1976 edition.
[日] Kenichi Kato: "The "Empire" of the Huns", the first study in 1998.
Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, edited by Wei Jian: "Han Dynasty Tombs in Central and Southern Inner Mongolia", China Encyclopedia Publishing House, 1998 edition.
