Text/Qingcheng
The Xiongnu were a strong people, and there are many records about the Xiongnu in the history books, but to elaborate, every time they appeared, they caused headaches for the rulers of the Central Plains. Because every time they appeared, they either robbed the property resources on the border of the Central Plains or on the way to rob the property resources, and they came and went in a hurry, disturbing the border with no peace. So which ethnic group is this Hun who has played such an important role in history to this day?
First, the reason why the Xiongnu repeatedly harassed the borders of the Central Plains
When the word Xiongnu is mentioned, how many people think of them invading the Central Plains countless times and plundering them, they are brave and good at war, and they are extremely strong, which makes many rulers in the Central Plains very headache. So why did such a strong army invade the Central Plains countless times? Is it just because these Huns are good at fighting? Actually not, this should start from the place where the Huns lived.
Around the third century BC, the Huns gradually emerged, most of them living in tribes, and under a large tribe were attached to many small tribes, mainly living in the Ordos Plateau region east of the Altai Mountains. They live in the water and grass, and they are brave and good at war. As a result, this group of people began to multiply and thrive in this plateau area, becoming a strong nomadic people.
But the environment in which they live is not very good, because the eastern, western and northern sides of the Ordos Plateau are surrounded by the Yellow River bends, as if they are in the arms of the Yellow River, while the southeastern part of the Ordos Plateau is connected to the Loess Plateau and bounded by the Great Wall; its northern part is connected to the Kubuqi Desert, and the southern part is also the Maowusu Desert and the beach; the central part rises along the thirty-ninth degree north latitude, and the altitude is between 1,400 and 1,700 meters, which leads to a lower temperature here.
Because of the complex geographical environment and climate of Ordos, this area is not suitable for farming, so the Huns living in this area all live by animal husbandry, and where the water and grass grow luxuriantly, they drive cattle and sheep to that place to live temporarily, which is the life of their nomadic people living by water and grass. However, this kind of life also changes with the seasons, it is said that the autumn harvest is winter, and in the winter, the climate is even colder, the water grass at this time has long since withered, and the Huns who have no arable land naturally do not store too much grain to spend the winter. In such cold weather and lack of food, the Huns living in this area actually had a very difficult time.
As the seasons migrate back and forth, it is impossible to live in one place, so the Huns have always existed in the form of tribes, if in the era of no famine, they can survive safely, if they encounter extreme weather such as snow disasters, people may not be able to survive, let alone those cattle and sheep, and cattle and sheep are the main source of food for the Huns, without cattle and sheep, they will not be able to survive.
And the Xiongnu heard that in the Central Plains, the land is fertile, the grain is abundant, the winter is not as cold as here, people living in the Central Plains can be self-sufficient, will not be as hungry and frozen as they are, so after hearing about the prosperity of the Central Plains, this group of Xiongnu people have risen to the Central Plains to grab materials. This is why for many years the Xiongnu constantly harassed the central plains border.
Second, the war between the Xiongnu and the Central Plains Dynasty led to the decline of the Xiongnu
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, the situation in the Central Plains was very unstable, the masses were everywhere, the wars were continuous, the people were not happy, the Xiongnu saw this scene, and took advantage of the great opportunity of the civil strife in the Central Plains to invade the Central Plains, but at this time, the princes in the Central Plains had no time to take care of these invaders, and they were busy competing for their own interests. It was not until later, when Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, that the situation in the Central Plains was finally stabilized.
However, the newly established Han Dynasty simply did not have the ability to fight with these powerful invaders, and could only ease the relationship between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty with a policy of peace and affinity. During this period in the early Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu people flourished for a while, until the emergence of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After several generations of monarchs, the Han Dynasty has gradually become stronger and stronger, and it has the ability to fight invaders.
So Emperor Wu of Han took the initiative to attack and sent troops to attack the Xiongnu. During this period, Emperor Wudi of Han sent the general Wei Qing to recover the Henan region previously occupied by the Xiongnu to drive out the Xiongnu, and then Emperor Wudi of Han sent the general Huo Toyi to lead troops to raid the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu did not think that after the First World War, the Xiongnu were defeated, the casualties were heavy, and about 100,000 people surrendered to the Han Dynasty. The Huns thought surrender was over, but that was only the beginning. In 119 BC, Emperor Wu of han again sent the general Wei Qing and the hussar general Huo Quyi to attack the Xiongnu in two ways. Of course, the result of this battle was naturally a complete victory for the Han Dynasty army.
The Xiongnu fought countless battles of all sizes with the Han Dynasty, always losing more and winning less, which made many Xiongnu soldiers demoralized and demoralized. At this time, there were also problems within the Xiongnu, some people wanted to demand stability and survival, so they suggested that they submit to the Han Dynasty, while the other part of the people were more stubborn, insisting on fighting, but they were unable to defeat the Han army, so they repeatedly collapsed, and had no choice but to flee along the western side.
Later, this part of the Huns who were willing to submit to the Han Dynasty was called the Southern Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu who fled in defeat was called the Northern Xiongnu, after which Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty repeatedly sent troops to pursue this fleeing Northern Xiongnu, which also forced them to flee further west again. Since then, the Xiongnu recorded in China's history books have all been southern Xiongnu who submitted to the Han Dynasty, and the once powerful Xiongnu will inevitably fall apart in the end, and finally they will still bow down to the subjects.
Third, what happened to the Xiongnu with the changes of history
With the development of history, the Xiongnu who submitted to the Han Dynasty have gradually been Sinicized, and they have also lived an ideal and stable life, have their own land to cultivate, have a home to settle down, and do not need to continue to migrate. The Huns originally lived as tribes, and after the Southern Xiongnu returned to the Han Dynasty, they merged with the various ethnic groups in the northern region.
The so-called general trend of the world, long time will be divided, long time will be united. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains fell into civil strife, and the Southern Xiongnu took advantage of this civil strife to start a rebellion, but fortunately Cao Cao led his troops to clean up these rebellious Southern Xiongnu, and then in order to facilitate management and prevent them from rebelling again, they were divided into five parts, and then scattered to live in different areas of the Central Plains.
Later, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was the Wuhu Chaohua Incident, including some Xiongnu. Several of their tribal alliances went south in a big way, bringing great disasters to the Central Plains Dynasty. During this period, these allied tribes established dozens of small states in the Central Plains, such as the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, and later, after the Sui Emperor Yang Jian established the Sui Dynasty, these tribes were regulated and managed, allowing them to live in dispersion, and some Xiongnu even changed their Han surnames in order to better integrate into the Central Plains. Gradually, these Huns completely integrated into the Central Plains and lived the same life as the Central Plains. In the end, these people were gradually submerged in the long river of history, and even the word Xiongnu was gradually forgotten.
During the Han Dynasty, the ancients' impression of the Xiongnu was that they had a deep eye, a high nose and many beards, but since the collapse of the Xiongnu Empire, the Huns began to mix with other ethnic groups, at that time the Xiongnu gradually evolved into a multi-ethnic mixed alliance, some Of the Huns were gradually assimilated, and the other part of the Huns gradually formed a new nation.
After years of identification of the excavated Huns by archaeologists and anthropologists, they found that some of the Huns who migrated to the northwest region had Europa characteristics, while the Southern Huns left in the Central Plains had more characteristics.