Historically, the Chinese civilization that we are familiar with has experienced many dynastic changes such as the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and has experienced the Qin Emperor Han Wu, as well as the Tang Emperor Song Zu, as well as the great kings such as Ming Taizu and Cheng Zu. But the history of East Asia doesn't stop there, especially in China. The history of China is not only the history of The Agricultural Civilization of China, but also the three-thousand-year civilization of the Snowy Region, as well as the ancient civilizations such as Dianqian and Qian, and the rich and incomparable grassland nomadic culture.
Like the history of China, the history of the grassland is also very colorful, and it has gone through countless eras, with lows, glories, divisions, and unifications. Starting with the Eastern Hu tribes and the Xiongnu Khanate, to Wuhuan and Xianbei, then to Ruoran and Turks, then xueyantuo and Hui, and then the Khitan and Mongols. For more than two thousand years, the rise of tribes, the migration of tribes, and the tribal struggle have been carried out uninterruptedly, writing the legendary northern nomadic culture.
Just as the Chinese civilization had different great leaders in different eras, the grassland civilization also had extremely strong leaders in many glorious times. Some of them rose up in the chaotic world, some rose up among the masses, and some laid down a vast territory and wrote a historical story that can be sung and wept.
Next, let's briefly understand some of the most powerful "steppe kings" in the history of Northern China and see what kind of legends they all have.
Morton Single Yu
1. Mouton
Mao DunDan Yu, the most powerful ruler in the history of the Xiongnu, this legendary figure who lived in the Qin and Han dynasties, was the first great monarch in Chinese history to unify the steppe.
Because his father had the intention of abolishing the long and young, so his father established himself and became the lord of the Xiongnu, at the beginning of The reign of Mao Dun, the Xiongnu were attacked on all sides, with the powerful Donghu in the east, the Ding Zero tribe in the north, the Yue clan in the west, and the Qiangqin in the south. At the time of danger, Heton opened the road of a generation of legends.
Mao Dun first defeated the strong Eastern Hu tribe with a weak victory, the King of Eastern Hu was killed, the territory, livestock and population of the Eastern Steppe were all returned to the Huns, and through a series of wars, Eastern Hu was driven to the east of the Daxing'an Mountains, which is today's northeast region. After taking Donghu, Mou dun did not stop, but continued to lead the Xiongnu expansion. Attacking the Yue clan to the west, the powerful offensive forced the Yue clan to move west from the Hexi Corridor to Central Asia, and the Xiongnu solved the threat from both the east and the west in one fell swoop. Taking advantage of the westward migration of the Yue clan, the Xiongnu took more than 20 countries such as Loulan and Wusun and Hujie in the Western Regions in one fell swoop.
Subsequently, Mao Dundan attacked many nomadic peoples in the north, conquering the countries of Hun Len, Qu Zhi, Ding Zero, Mane Kun, and Salary Plough. After annexing the Hetao region, the south bordered the Western Han Empire, and took advantage of the civil strife in the Western Han Dynasty to attack the Western Han Dynasty from the south, humiliating the Han Emperor Liu Bang at the siege of Baideng.
Mao Dundan led the Xiongnu cavalry to occupy a vast area from the Yin Mountains in the south, lake Baikal in the north, the Liao River in the east, and the Onion Ridge in the west, claiming to control 300,000 strings and establish the strongest empire in the steppe.
Sandalwood locust
The sandalwood locust period is humble
2. Sandalwood locust
Although Xianbei became famous during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, from Duanbu Xianbei and Yuwen Xianbei to Murong Zhuyan, as well as Tuguhun and Nanliang, all the way to Tuoba's Northern Wei and Yuwen's Northern Zhou. However, when it comes to the greatest kings in the history of Xianbei, they are not Murong Xi and Murong Hui, nor are they Tuoba Tao or Yuan Hong, nor are they Yuwen Tai and Yuwen Yong. Instead, in the distant Eastern Han Dynasty, a generation of male lords in the stage of the rise of Xianbei, Sandalwood.
After being elected as the leader, Tan Shi Huai formulated the decree and began the road of humble entrepreneurship. Establishing a royal court at The Bomb Khan Mountain, with its strategy and strategy, taking advantage of the fact that the Xiongnu were destroyed by the Eastern Han Dynasty, Tiger Steppe Steppe stepped into the grassland and began the road of conquest on all sides, first plundering the declining Eastern Han Dynasty to the south, defeating the Ding Zero tribe to the north, and driving Ding Zero into the forest.
To the east, it defeated the old buyeo of Donghu, occupied the northeastern land, and then defeated Wusun to the west, extending its power to Central Asia, and the Xianbei territory after the development of tanshi locust was more than 14,000 miles from east to west, and more than 7,000 miles from north to south, that is, from the Sea of Japan in the east to central Central Asia in the west. It stretches north of Lake Baikal in the north and reaches the Loop region in the south. And defeated the Eastern Han army many times, and was quite strong in diplomacy with the Eastern Han.
In addition, according to rumors, Tanshi Locust once invaded the Uighur Kingdom and plundered thousands of people. However, Tan Shi Huai's ruling ability was not high, and his political talent was limited, he laid a huge territory, but he was unable to manage it, and finally failed to integrate Xianbei together, and after his death, Xianbei split into three major tribes of Eastern Xianbei, Northern Xianbei and Western Xianbei, until more than a hundred years later, it re-emerged and entered the Central Plains.
QiuDoufa Khan
3. Qiudoufa Khan
Rouran, rising after the Xianbei split and before the northern Wei dynasty, that is, in the middle and late period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, briefly dominated the northern Chinese steppe. And the rise of Rouran, the merits of one person can not be indelible, this person is the most powerful monarch in the history of Rouran, Yu jiu lu Shelun, known as Qiu Doufa Khan.
Qiu Doufa Khan was originally the heir of the nomadic tribe, and his ancestors were taken captive by the Xianbei nobles in the early years and became the slaves of the Xianbei people, and then became the Xianbei cavalry by virtue of their bravery in battle, and then later defected to the neighboring department of Qitu and called themselves Rouran. After several generations, Rouran passed through the hands of Yu Jiulu Shelun after wars and changes.
Yu Jiulu Shelun was brave and good at war, leading the crowd to attack and kill Pihou Bao, and then led the Rouran cavalry to conquer the north and south, across the desert, conquering Gaoche and the remnants of the Xiongnu, and then marched east, expelled Donghu and other forces, expanded the territory to the vicinity of Daxing'anling, and then northern expedition, defeated the Ding Zero and other tribes. Qiudoufa Khan established a slave state with a territory stretching from the Daxing'an Mountains in the east to the Alta mountains in the west, Lake Baikal in the north, and near the Yin Mountains in the south.
Subsequently, he conquered the tribes of Tiele and Shule. However, soon after Rouran's prosperity, he caught up with the rise of Northern Wei, and Tuoba Jue led the Northern Wei Iron Horse to destroy Rouran's army. Unfortunately, a powerful steppe king, QiuDoufa Khan, died on the way home from defeat. Since then, Rouran Khan's generation has been inferior to a generation, and he has challenged the Northern Wei Dynasty several times, but he has been beaten to the point of blue nose and swollen face, and has almost been suppressed by a generation of fierce people Tuoba Tao.
Tumen Khan
4. Tumen Khan
Tumen Khan, real name Ashina Tumen, the founder of the Turkic Khaganate, Ashina Tumen In the early years, the Turks were only subordinate to a nomadic tribe in Ruoran, mainly responsible for giving Rouran iron and grazing, after Tumen succeeded as the leader, the Turks opened the border to do business with the Central Plains Dynasty, the Western Wei in order to resist Rouran, deliberately co-opted and supported the Turks, Tumen took this opportunity to vigorously develop the economy, while subduing Tiele, the strength increased by nearly half.
Subsequently, Rouran gradually declined, and Tumen led the Turks to prosper, and in between, the Turks had become a force that could compete with Rouran. Tumen resolutely broke with Rouran and married Princess Of Western Wei after being rejected for her low status. Later, the Turks went to war with Rouran, and the Tumen army attacked Rouran, defeating Rouran in the north of Huaihuang, forcing the Rouran Khan Anaji to commit suicide, and the remnants surrendered to northern Qi for refuge, which had just been established.
Subsequently, Tumen established a Turkic Khanate, calling itself Yili Khan, and then the Turks, on the basis of Tumen, developed over several generations, established the Great Turkic Khaganate from the east to the Canghai and most of the West covering most of the Great Turkic Khaganate in Central Asia, dominating the steppe for decades, until the Sui Dynasty was defeated by the Central Plains Dynasty and led to division, Tumen contributed to the rise of the Turks.
Turkic peak
Wooden pole Khan
5. Wooden pole khan
Muzhan Khan, the son of Yili Khan and the brother of Yishiji Khan, truly carried forward the foundation laid by Yili Khan. In 553, because the heir died of illness a year after the ascension to the throne, and the heirs were young, they passed the throne to his brother Ashina Qianjin, known as muzhan khan, and the Turks entered an era of barbaric expansion.
After Muzhan Khan took the throne, the first thing he did was to beat up the falling water dog and eliminate the remnants of Ruoran step by step. Then, together with the Western Wei Dynasty, they broke through the Tuguhun near the Hexi Corridor. Later, it expanded westward, defeating the descendants of the Yue clan, the Syr darlings, and expanding its power to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers near the Aral Sea.
At the same time, the Mugan Khan expanded eastward, defeating the fledgling Khitans and crossing the Daxing'an Mountains, encompassing most of the northeast, reaching the Sea of Okhotsk. To the north, the Cheku was conquered, and the troops pointed directly at Siberia. The Turkic Khaganate reached its peak during the time of the Mugan Khanate.
Jeroboam
6. Jeroboam
Khitan, after the Eastern Turks that occupied the Mongolian plateau were crushed by the Tang Dynasty, there were only two forces left on the steppe, and the Khitan in the far east, with the vicinity of Hulunbuir as its foundation, gradually expanded in all directions. To the west, uighurs gradually expanded to the east, based on the Altay region. When the Tang Dynasty was still relatively powerful, both sides relied on the Tang Dynasty and developed obscenely. When the Tang Dynasty declined, the Hui and Khitan began to encroach on the fertile grasslands.
Later, due to the brutal rule of the Hui, the various tribes in the country rebelled, and eventually died in civil unrest. The Khitan ushered in a golden period of development, and by the time of Yelü Abaoji, the Khitan had reached the strength to dominate the steppe. The Khitan cavalry led by Yelü Abaoji was invincible to the world, and successively conquered Xiaohuang Murongwei and broke through the Wu, Wugu, and Liuxi tribes. Later, he personally conquered the Turks, Tuguhun and Dangxiang and other departments, and made great military achievements.
After that, Yelü Abaoji broke through the ministries of Muro Wei, Yu Jie, and Xi Shuai, and basically unified the grassland. On this basis, he unified the Khitan tribes, established a hereditary khanate, and led a large army south, invaded the Yan Dynasty region, and once invaded the east of the river, and then conquered the Xi tribe, breaking in one fell swoop, and it was during this period that he also took advantage of the situation to defeat the Jurchens. In 925, he invaded the Bohai state in the east, forcing the king of Bohai to surrender and establish the eastern Dan state in the bohai homeland.
Genghis Khan
7. Temujin
Genghis Khan was one of the most well-known nomadic leaders in the steppes of Northern China, and even in the whole world, it was a well-known existence, after all, it was portrayed by the European Church as the whip of God, not an honor that anyone could get.
When Temujin was young, the various parts of Mongolia were divided into conquests and the outside was in the same situation, and the brutal rule of the Jin State was outside, and the policy of reducing the number of Mongolian tribes was unbearable. When Temujin became an adult, he became the head of the tribe and then opened the road to unifying Mongolia, and in the process of conquest, he gathered many famous generals such as Muhuali, Nagaa, Tetsubetsu, and Subutai, and it was with the help of these people that Temujin was able to defeat the same excellent Zamu and unify Mongolia. After the unification of Mongolia, Temujin's army began to fight against the Western Xia and Jin kingdoms.
Since the Battle of Wild Fox Ridge, after the Mongol cavalry gave full play to their mobility advantages to break through the main army of the Jin Dynasty, they immediately began the first Mongol expedition to the west, and Temujin first conquered the western region and destroyed the Western Liao and Gaoche. Subsequently, the Western Expedition destroyed huarazimo, which had been based in Central Asia for a thousand years, and developed its power on the Black Sea.
In his later years, Genghis Khan also carried out the Western Xia, and finally destroyed the Dangxiang clan regime that occupied Hexi for nearly 180 years.
Wokoutai Khan
8. Wokoutai
Genghis Khan defeated almost all the enemies around Mongolia, from Jin, Western Xia, Western Liao, and Huarazimo, all of which submitted to the iron hooves of Mongolia, but what really brought the Mongol Empire to the most powerful era was Genghis Khan's successor Wo Kuotai, during the reign of this Great Mongol Khan, the Mongolian east and west lines blossomed together, while entering the Central Plains, while destroying countless countries in the west.
After sitting firmly on the throne of the Great Khan, Wo Kuotai first launched a war to destroy the Jin Kingdom, and after entering Guanzhong, the south bypassed Tong Pass, directly took the hinterland of the Central Plains, broke through Kaifeng and Guide and CaiZhou, and finally destroyed the Jin Kingdom. After that, he launched the western expedition of the eldest son, extending the territory of the Mongol Empire all the way to the Rhine river and other places in Central Europe, and attacking the Balkans, shaking all of Western Europe.
At the same time, Wokoutai was the most accomplished king of the Mongol Empire, the most accomplished king of Wenzhi, reusing Yelü Chu materials, adopting Han law, establishing a centralized system, carrying out new policies, and adopting a fiscal and taxation system, laying the foundation of the Yuan Dynasty.