Starting from the Western Zhou Dynasty , the Xiongnu invaded the Central Plains repeatedly. At the end of the Warring States period, Li Mu led the Zhaoguo army and gave them a severe lesson, and the Huns became honest for more than ten years. After Qin Shihuang unified China, he sent Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to the north to drive the Xiongnu out of the Hetao area. After the Qin Dynasty built the Great Wall , Meng Tian was stationed in Yulin, Shaanxi, guarding the border for more than ten years. The Xiongnu were afraid of being beaten by Meng Tian and did not dare to invade at all. The Western Han Dynasty was the most powerful period of the Hongnu Empire. Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu, but was almost killed by the Huns, so the Western Han Dynasty could only make peace with the Huns. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing, the god of war, appeared, and beat the Huns until they cried for their fathers and screamed for their mothers, and huddled in the area of Lake Baikal. It is a pity that after the death of Huo Qubing and Wei Qing, it was difficult for Han Dynasty to suppress the growth of the Xiongnu. Later, due to the outbreak of civil strife, the Huns were divided into two parts, the north and the south. Huhanxie Chanyu occupied the royal court of Mobei and expressed his submission to the Han Dynasty. This was the southern Xiongnu .
The Northern Xiongnu were led by Zhizhi Shanyu and then went to foreign countries to grab territory. As for where it is, we’ll talk about it later. During the Eastern Han Dynasty , the Southern Xiongnu was divided into two again. One part was led by Ri Zhu Wangbi and surrendered to the Han Dynasty. It was still called the Southern Xiongnu and lived in the Hetao area. To distinguish it, we will call it Southern Xiongnu 2.0. The other part remained in the Han Dynasty. Mobei , we call it Northern Xiongnu 2.08. After that, the Northern Xiongnu 2.0 were defeated by the Eastern Han Dynasty and gradually dispersed and moved westward. During the Rebellion of the Eight Kings of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Southern Xiongnu 2.0 occupied northern China and successively established the Han, pre-Zhao , and post-Zhao regimes. Various political regimes in the north fought back and forth, breaking up the Southern Huns 2.0. Since then, the Xiongnu regime disappeared from Chinese history. Next, let’s talk about where the Huns went and whether they evolved into other ethnic groups. We start with the first split of the Xiongnu Kingdom. After the Southern Xiongnu attached themselves to the Han Dynasty, the Northern Xiongnu brought their tribes to the Western Region area. However, due to the fierce pursuit of the Han Dynasty, they moved to Kangju in Central Asia, and also It is now Kazakhstan area. However, the Western Han Dynasty did not give up. It sent troops to attack Kangju in , killed Zhi Zhidan, and continued to move westward after the defeated Northern Huns.
But where did they go? When officials of the late Qing Dynasty the Red Army went on missions to foreign countries, they discovered Western historical records that the original group of Northern Huns established the Hun Empire on the Eastern European plains , which became a nightmare for European countries. However, it is unknown whether this record is reliable. Let’s talk about the Southern Xiongnu. The Southern Xiongnu split into Southern Xiongnu 2.0 and Northern Xiongnu 2.0 around AD 46. The Northern Huns 2.0 were defeated after a protracted war with the Eastern Han Dynasty, and fled to Wusun and Kangju. Some of them surrendered to the Han Dynasty one after another, and the remaining Xiongnu gradually integrated into Central Asia and other countries. Now let’s talk about the Southern Xiongnu 2.0 who were attached to the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao broke them up and divided them into five parts, which were placed in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei and other regions. During the period of the Five Hus and 16 Kingdoms, the Southern Xiongnu 2.0 entered the Central Plains. This period of time was quite chaotic. Let’s briefly introduce it. At this time, many ethnic groups emerged in the north, including the Xiongnu, Xianbei , Di people , Qiang . They fought back and forth and continued to surrender to hostility. As the Xiongnu established After the demise of the Zhao regime, the Southern Xiongnu 2.0 gradually integrated into various ethnic groups, so the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties was the last time the Xiongnu was active on this historical stage. So, how did the Xiongnu develop? Where did they rule? The supreme leader of the Xiongnu was called Shanyu , which was the same as the emperor of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Below the Chanyu there are the left and right wise kings, the left and right kings of Guli, etc. During the Shang and Zhou periods, the Huns were in the form of a tribal alliance. During the Warring States Period, the countries in the Central Plains were busy asserting their dominance, and the Xiongnu also took the opportunity to expand their territory and develop into a larger political power. Its sphere of influence stretched from outside the Great Wall to Russia's Siberia , Central Asia, and Northeast China. , like the buildings facing the lake, are gradually integrated into the Xiongnu.During the period of Qin Shihuang, the first generation of Chanyu Touman was born. He established a Xiongnu kingdom with its central area north of the Wula River and its sphere of influence in the areas north of Yinshan Road and Hetao. Later, his son Modu killed his father and seized the throne, becoming the Shanyu of Modu. He defeated the powerful East Lake Yuezhi, unified the vast Mongolian grassland , regained the territory captured during the Mengtian period, and also occupied the northern region of the Qin Dynasty.
At that time, the territory of the Xiongnu extended to the Liaohe River in the east, to the Pamir Plateau in the west, and to the Lake Baikal area in the north. This was the most powerful period of the Xiongnu Kingdom, with as many as 300,000 capable warriors under its command. They once besieged Liu Bang on Baishan Mountain. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the national power of the Western Han Dynasty increased. Huo Qubing expelled the Xiongnu to the Lake Baikal area, and the Xiongnu also turned from prosperity to decline. After that, the Han Dynasty united with the Yuezhi and other countries in the Western Regions to continuously reduce the living space of the Xiongnu, and even moved westward to the northern Gobi, desert and Siberia regions. Every time after being defeated by the Central Plains dynasty, the Huns would go to Kazakhstan to lick their wounds. As for how the Northern Huns defeated the Alans and Goths and how they harmed and enslaved European countries, there is no record in Chinese history.
