Xiongnu in Han Dynasty

If there are some tribes who are good at the tactics, then it can’t be the Asian countries like China, but must be the nomadic people living in the central plains in China, just like those the Rome and some other western countries that pledged wars to China. From 153BC to 134BC, arguments that how to deal with the dangerous Xiongnu people were on the rise in the imperial court of Han Dynasty.

The emperor of the Han dynasty was called “Tianzi”, with the support of 120,000 well-educated Han people, the emperor governed 50 millions subjects. The capital was located in Chang’an- nowadays Xi’an of Shaanxi province. Changan boasted more than 500,000, which was one of the biggest cities in the world and was comparable to the Rome in that time. Changan also boasts the magnificent buildings as well as some prosperous markets.

Being a nomad, the Xiongnu which is called “Shanrong” by the Han people quietly differentiate the Han nationality. Xiongnu people came from the landlocked Asian countries, which is believed as “Mongolia” in that time and the Xingjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Central Asia. And it is believed that the Xiongnu people have the blood relationship between the Mongol people. Xiongnu is superior to those Han people in terms of fighting. They have a good command of equestrianism, while the Han people usually use the infantries and chariots in war.

The first emperor in Han dynasty once experienced the brutality of Xiongnu. In 200BC, he led the army by his own to pledge a war with the Xiongnu with a through failure. So he had no choice but to make an alignment with the leader of Xiongnu, and they call each other brother. But actually, there were no fairness between them, and a beautiful princess was sent to the Xiongnu Tribe and married leader of Xiongnu. Moreover, Han leader also provided some food, silk, and wines for Xiongnu people, which are goods that Xiongnu desired but cannot produce. And the quantity of these kinds of goods is on the rise year by year. The past Xiongnu has some similarities with the North Korea, and it is a tough work to destroy it from external areas. From 135BC to 134Bc, there arouse conflicts between the Xiongnu and the Han Imperial court which was governed by the young emperor of the Han Dynasty called Liu Che. Liu Che was born with cruelty and grew up in the complicated family. So he couldn’t bear the Xiongnu, thus he made decision to pledge a war and defeat Xiongnu, and he bought millions of horses and he actually won a few times, But it was still hard to  defeat the changeable Xiongnu people. And the frustration caused the final stop of the war. And he began to lead his people to build the Great Wall to protect the Han from  Xiongnu. Two civil wars in Xiongnu Tribe caused the disruption. Xiongnu people emphasized the war trophies they will get from the war rather the defeating of the Han dynasty.