Comrade Guevara
In the turbulent times of more than 100 years of the two Jin Dynasty, the Xiongnu people, as one of the main forces of the "Five Hu Chaohua", have successively established three regimes such as Han and Zhao (called Han in the early stage, Zhao in the later stage, also known as the former Zhao), Beiliang and Hu Xia, and all of them have left a strong mark in the official history. Among them, as the last Xiongnu dynasty in Chinese history, the Huxia Empire was founded by Helian Bobo and dominated the northwest for 25 years. So, how did Helian Bobo create Husha? How did his empire eventually come to an end?
1. Hu Xia founded the country
In the later period of the Western Han Dynasty, under the continuous blows of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the incomparably powerful Xiongnu weakened and gradually split into two major branches, the north and the south. Among them, the Northern Xiongnu continued to occupy the Mongolia Plateau and the Central Plains as enemies, and after the devastating blow in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty (87-89), they were forced to flee to Central Asia. The Southern Xiongnu became vassals of the Han Dynasty, initially nomadic in the Hetao area, and after Cao Cao took power, they were divided into five major divisions: left, right, south, north, and middle, and lived in the northern part of today's Shaanxi Province, the northern part of Shanxi Province, and the western part of Hebei Province.
Map of the internal relocation of Wuhu
Due to the long-term marriage between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty, the nobles thought that they had royal blood flowing in their bodies, so after the Southern Xiongnu moved into the interior, the nobles collectively changed their national surname from Liu, therefore, Helian Bobo's original name was Liu Bobo. According to historical records, Liu Bobo was born in the Tiefu Department of the Southern Xiongnu, and was a descendant of the Xiongnu Youxian King Qubei, and was of the same clan as Liu Yuan, the founder of the Han and Zhao dynasties. After the Former Qin unified the north, Liu Bobo's father Liu Weichen chose to return to Shun and was appointed by Emperor Fu Jian as Xidan Yu, supervising the various ethnic groups in Hexi and stationed in Dailai City (in present-day Dongsheng District, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia).
After the Battle of Weishui, the former Qin fell apart, and the north fell into chaos again. In the sixteenth year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (391), the Northern Wei Dynasty sent troops to capture the city of Dailai, captured and killed Liu Weichen, and Liu Bobo survived because he fled to Later Qin in advance. Because Liu Bobo was burly, handsome, and eloquent, he was deeply appreciated by the Later Qin Emperor Yao Xing, and his official titles were repeatedly promoted, and eventually he became the general of Zhijie, Anbei, and Wuyuan, responsible for guarding Shuofang County (located in present-day Dugui Tara Town, Hangjin Banner, Inner Mongolia) to defend against Northern Wei, and married the daughter of Duke Gaoping.
Helian Bobo betrayed Later Qin and founded the Huxia Empire
Liu Bobo served Yao Xing for 16 years, although he was deeply respected, but he never felt satisfied in his heart, once he was full-fledged, he wanted to call himself the king and emperor. In June of the third year of Yixi (407), taking advantage of the fierce battles between the Later Qin and Northern Wei dynasties and the defeat of both sides, Helian Bobo attacked and killed his father-in-law Wu Yiyu and his subordinates, and then proclaimed himself the king of heaven and the great Danyu. Since the Xiongnu considered themselves to be the descendants of the founder of the Xia Dynasty, Liu Bobo named the country "Great Xia", and historians called it "Hu Xia" because it was founded by the Hu people.
2. Dominating the Northwest
Liu Bobo was the queen of the founding of the country, and in order to survive and develop, he naturally put the expansion of the territory to the outside world on the agenda. At that time, among Hu Xia's neighbors, although the Northern Wei Dynasty was the number one enemy, it was too strong to compete with it, so it could only adopt a defensive strategy; Northern Liang is also a country founded by the Xiongnu, comparable to Hu Xia's brothers, and can only form an alliance with this, but cannot attack. In this way, Hu Xia's target for foreign troops is left with Nanliang and Hou Qin, and Hou Qin's strength should not be underestimated.
Helian Bobo led his army to fight in the south and the north, constantly expanding his territory
Considering the huge disparity in strength between Hu Xia and Later Qin, relying on conventional warfare to seize territory would only be a dead end. Therefore, Liu Bobo pragmatically adopted guerrilla tactics, constantly sent troops to harass the border garrisons in various parts of Later Qin, and adopted the strategy of killing and grabbing as much as possible to destroy as much of the enemy's vital force as possible and deplete its national strength. As it turned out, Liu Bobo's tactics were very effective, and Later Qin was tired of dealing with Hu Xia's harassment, and the army suffered heavy losses, and the city gates of the counties in Lingbei did not dare to open during the day, and Yao Xing was at a loss for anything.
While harassing the Later Qin, Liu Bobo did not forget to defend the Northern Wei Dynasty, so he levied 100,000 Hu and Han people in Lingbei, built the capital in the north of Shuofang Shuibei and the south of Heishui, and named it Tongwan, when it was in the ninth year of Yixi (413). Tongwancheng is located in Baichengzi Village, 58 kilometers north of Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, all built of steamed earth, because the chief engineer Gan Ali was very brutal, often killed craftsmen due to the quality of the project, so the city wall was built very strong. It was also in this year that Liu Bobo changed his surname to Helian, taking the meaning of "Yunhe Liantian".
Map of the heyday of Huxia
Under the continuous harassment of Hu Xia, the power of the Later Qin weakened and was finally destroyed by Liu Yu, a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in the thirteenth year of Yixi (417). After that, Liu Yu was busy usurping the throne and becoming emperor, so he led the main force to return east, and the affairs of the town guarding the pass were handed over to Liu Yizhen, the second son who was young and did not understand military affairs. Helian Bobo saw that there was an opportunity, so he personally led a large army to invade the south, Liu Yizhen was defeated in successive battles, and fled to Jiankang in a hurry after the whole army was annihilated, and Guanzhong was occupied by Hu Xia. At this time, Hu Xia's strength reached its peak, occupying the northwest, spanning Shaanxi, Gansu, Ning, Jin, Mongolia and other provinces, covering an area of nearly 500,000 square kilometers.
3. Towards perdition
The loss of Guanzhong shattered Liu Yu's dream of continuing to use troops to the northwest and then unify the world, and his prestige was greatly damaged. At the same time, however, Helian's prestige reached its peak and he ascended the throne as emperor in November of the 14th year of Yixi (418). After Helian Bo Bo was named, he carved a stone in the south of the capital to praise his merits, and named the south gate of Tongwan City as the Chao Song Gate, the east gate as the Zhaowei Gate, the west gate as the Fuliang Gate, and the north gate as the Pingshuo Gate, and its ambition to annex the world was clearly revealed
Helian Bo was brutal and often killed people at will
But the strange thing is that after Helian Bo became emperor, he did not use troops on a large scale, but hid in the city of Tongwan to enjoy himself, living a life of a sister with his left hand and his right hand, and throwing his ambition to unify the world out of the clouds. At the same time, Helian was so murderous that he often stood at the head of the city, with his bow and sword beside him, and killed anyone he felt disgusted and hated himself, and even as a noble minister, he would inevitably end up in a tragic death. As a result, the Hu people and Han people in Huxia were restless, and the people were struggling everywhere.
In the second year of Liu Song Yuanjia (425 years), the wine-colored Helian Bobo died of illness in the Yong'an Palace, at the age of 45, the crown prince Helian Chang succeeded to the throne, and posthumously called his father Emperor Wulie, and the temple number was Shizu. Due to the brutal rule of Helian Bobo, which led to the loss of popular support, coupled with the continuous strife within the imperial family, Hu Xia's national power declined rapidly. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Northern Wei Dynasty launched an attack shortly after Helian Bobo's death, captured Tongwancheng in the fourth year of Yuanjia (427), and captured Helian Chang, who had fled to Shangqi for refuge in the following year.
Stills of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty
Before the fall of Shangtai, Helianchang's younger brother Helianding fled to Pingliang, and after learning the news of the capture of the emperor's brother, he established himself as emperor in February of the fifth year of Yuanjia (428). After Helian was appointed to the throne, he sent envoys to the Northern Wei Dynasty several times to ask for reconciliation, but after being refused, he instead reconciled with Liu Song and agreed to unite to destroy the Northern Wei Dynasty. However, before Helian could wait for reinforcements from Liu Song, Pingliang was captured by the Northern Wei, forcing him to continue his flight westward and destroy the Western Qin (431).
As soon as Helianding destroyed the Western Qin, he couldn't wait to implement the plan of annexing the Northern Liang and occupying Liangzhou to contend with the Northern Wei, so he kidnapped more than 100,000 people of the Western Qin and prepared to cross the Yellow River from the city. But "the praying mantis catches cicadas and yellow finches are behind", just when Hu Xia's army was halfway crossing, the 30,000 cavalry of Tuyuhun who were ambushed on the shore suddenly attacked, and Helian Ding met the battle in a hurry, but was quickly defeated, and even he himself was captured. With the capture of Helianding, the Huxia Empire, which had been established for 25 years, came to an end.
Helian Ding was defeated and captured, and Hu Xia perished
Afterwards, Murong Mu, the Khan of Tuyuhun, sent his squire Xie Taining as an envoy to the Northern Wei Dynasty to present a recital to Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao to express the intention of reconciliation between the two countries, and used Helian Ding as a "bargaining chip" to obtain Tuoba Tao's consent. In March of the following year (432), Helian Ding was taken to Pingcheng and immediately ordered to be executed. With the murder of Helianding, the life of the last Xiongnu emperor in Chinese history came to an end. After that, the Xiongnu did not create a dynasty or political power, and gradually integrated into other ethnic groups.
bibliography
Fang Xuanling (Tang): Book of Jin, Zhonghua Book Company, 1974 edition.
Cui Hong (Northern Wei Dynasty): Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Commercial Press, 1937.
Sima Guang (Northern Song Dynasty): Zizhi Tongjian, Zhonghua Book Company, 2015 edition.