Shortly after the Western Jin Dynasty unified the Three Kingdoms, Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, died and was succeeded by his lowly son Sima Zheng, who was named Emperor Hui of Jin. The greatest contribution left by Emperor Hui of Jin to history was "why don't the people eat meat paste"...
Such a waste as emperor caused dissatisfaction among other Western Jin imperial families, and finally led to the Rebellion of the Eight Kings. The Rebellion of the Eight Kings brought heavy disasters to the Central Plains people, and when the Western Jin Dynasty imperial family was infighting, the foreign peoples who had submitted to the Han regime took advantage of the chaos, and northern China entered the dark Era of the Sixteen Kingdoms.
The first foreigner to establish political power in the Central Plains was Liu Yuan, from the Xiongnu. Some people may wonder, why is the surname of a Xiongnu liu, which is a Han surname, right?
In fact, the first Xiongnu surnamed Liu was not Liu Yuan, at least his father Liu Bao also took Liu as his surname. During the Middle Ping Period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (184-190), Liu Bao's grandfather Qiangqu Shan Yu sent his son Yu Fuluo to assist the Han Dynasty in suppressing the internal uprising, and as a result, a rebellion broke out within the Xiongnu on the way there, Qiangqu Shan Yu was killed, and Yu Fuluo had to live in Han.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, when the warlords were fighting, Yu Fuluo successively joined forces with Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao and other Central Plains warlords to fight against Cao Cao. After being defeated by Cao Cao, he chose to surrender, and died shortly after Yu Fuluo, and was succeeded by his brother Hu Jiquan as Shan Yu.
In order to break up the xiongnu's power, Cao Cao divided the forces of Hu Kitchenquan into five parts and stationed them in the area of Hanoi (present-day Shanxi). Yu Fuluo's son Liu Bao served as the King of Zuoxian and served as the commander of the Left Ministry.
Why Liu Bao took Liu as his surname actually had a lot to do with the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu of Liu Bao's branch were descendants of Mao Dun Shan Yu, who besieged Liu Bang at Bai Deng Mountain that year, and thus began a road of peace for more than a hundred years.
The Han Dynasty married princesses (mostly palace women) to the Xiongnu, and even if Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu later, the subsequent Han Emperors would still marry the princess to the Xiongnu Shan Yu, which played a role in co-opting and stabilizing the frontier.
The Xiongnu Shan Yu was a member of the Shu Clan, and the New Book of Tang dynasty lineage table records: "Han Gaozu took the daughter of the Emperor Mao Dun, and his laymen all took their mother's surname, because they changed to Liu. That is to say, in addition to the original surname of the Xiongnu, the descendants from Mu Dun Shan Yu also took Liu as their surname.
Of course, the reason why the Xiongnu were willing to take Liu as their surname was because the Han Dynasty was strong enough. For a long time after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Southern Xiongnu who were affiliated with the Han Dynasty mostly regarded themselves as "nephews of the Han Dynasty".
Liu Yuan established a state of Han, which was later changed to Zhao by his son. The reason why Liu Yuan wanted to inherit the name of the Han Dynasty was once such a dialogue: "The Han Dynasty ruled the world for a long time, and the grace was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, Liu Bei only occupied the land of one state, and he could compete with the world. ”
Liu Yuan believed that the Xiongnu were nephews of the Han Dynasty, and their ancestors had been brothers with the Han Dynasty, and the elder brother (Han Dynasty) had perished, and the younger brother came to inherit, so he still took Han as the state name and honored the later lord Liu Chan.
The emperor of the Han Dynasty was surnamed Liu, and Liu Yuan naturally did not change back to the surname of the Xiongnu. Facts have also proved that because Liu Yuan respected the Han Dynasty, he gained the support of the people of the Central Plains, and soon after destroyed the Western Jin Dynasty royal family...
Even after the fall of the dynasty established by Liu Yuan, the Xiongnu people of the Han Dynasty still took Liu as their surname and completely integrated into the Han culture.