The Wuhuan and the Xianbei烏丸鮮卑

The Book of Documents says, "The Man and the Yi throw China into disorder," and the Book of Songs says, "The Xianyun are fierce indeed." Long have they been a trouble to China. From the Qin and the Han onward the Xiongnu were long a harm to the frontier.

Emperor Xiaowu did indeed make war abroad upon the four Yi (四夷). In the east he subdued the two Yue and Joseon; in the west he struck Ershi (貳師) and Dawan (大宛); and he opened the roads to Qiongzha (邛苲) and Yelang (夜郎). But all these lay beyond the wild domain (荒服), and could not weigh with China.

The Xiongnu, however, pressed closest upon the several Xia (夏). When the Hu (胡) horsemen raided southward, the three frontiers met the enemy at once. For this reason generals such as Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were sent out again and again to march deep into the north, to chase the Chanyu to the end and take from him his rich and open land. Afterward the Xiongnu at last guarded the border passes and called themselves a vassal (藩), and grew weaker with each generation.

In the Jian'an years the southern Chanyu Huchuquan came to court, and in the end stayed to serve within. The Worthy King of the Right was set to soothe his country, and the Xiongnu bowed their necks more than they had done under the Han.

But the Wuhuan and the Xianbei little by little grew strong again. This too was because the disorder at the end of the Han left China with much to do, and it had no leisure to strike abroad. So they had the land of Monan (漠南) at their will. They plundered the walled towns, raged, killed and carried off the people, and the northern frontier suffered their hardship again and again.

It happened then that Yuan Shao took all of Hebei. He soothed and held the Wuhuan of the three commanderies, favored their noted kings, and gathered up their finest horsemen. After that Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi also fled to Tadun. Tadun was fierce and strong, and the old men of the frontier all likened him to Modu. Trusting to his rough and distant country, he dared to take in fugitives, and so became the foremost among the hundred Man.

Taizu marched north with a hidden army. He came out where they did not look for him and settled them in a single battle. The Yi and the Di were struck with fear and submitted, and his might shook the northern land. He then led the host of the Wuhuan to follow him on his campaigns, and by this the people of the frontier could rest in peace.

Afterward Kebineng, a great man of the Xianbei, again held down and led the many Di, and took in all the old land of the Xiongnu. From Yunzhong and Wuyuan eastward as far as the Liao River, all of it became the court of the Xianbei.

Again and again they broke through the border passes and plundered the frontier, and You and Bing suffered from it. Tian Yu was once surrounded at Macheng, and Bi Gui was once beaten at Xingbei.

In the Qinglong years the emperor listened to Wang Xiong and sent an assassin, who stabbed Kebineng to death. After that the tribes broke apart and scattered, and raided and struck one another. The strong fled far away, the weak asked to submit. By this the frontier grew somewhat quiet and Monan had little trouble. There was still plundering now and then, but they could no longer stir one another to rise.

The Wuhuan and the Xianbei are what were anciently called the Donghu (東胡). Their customs and their earlier affairs were already set down and recorded by the man who made the Han ji (漢記). So only the affairs from the end of the Han and the beginning of the Wei are raised here, to set out in full the changes among the four Yi (四夷).