The Xianbei鮮卑
1The Xianbei
鮮卑
The Xianbei (鮮卑).
2The Xianbei as set down in the Book of Wei — the remnant of the Donghu
《魏書》曰：鮮卑亦東胡之餘也，別保鮮卑山，因號焉。其言語習俗與烏丸同。其地東接遼水，西當西城。常以季春大會，作樂水上，嫁女娶婦，髠頭飲宴。其獸異於中國者，野馬、羱羊、端牛。端牛角爲弓，世謂之角端者也。又有貂、豽、鼲子，皮毛柔蠕，故天下以爲名裘。鮮卑自爲冒頓所破，遠竄遼東塞外，不與餘國爭衡，未有名通於漢，而自與烏丸相接。至光武時，南北單于更相攻伐，匈奴損耗，而鮮卑遂盛。建武三十年，鮮卑大人於仇賁率種人詣闕朝貢，封於仇賁爲王。永平中，祭肜爲遼東太守，誘賂鮮卑，使斬叛烏丸欽志賁等首，於是鮮卑自燉煌、酒泉以東邑落大人，皆詣遼東受賞賜，青、徐二州給錢，歲二億七千萬以爲常。和帝時，鮮卑大都護校尉廆帥部衆從烏丸校尉任常擊叛者，封校尉廆爲率衆王。殤帝延平中，鮮卑乃東入塞，殺漁陽太守張顯。安帝時，鮮卑大人燕荔陽入朝，漢賜鮮卑王印綬，赤車參駕，止烏丸校尉所治寗下。
The Book of Wei (魏書) says: The Xianbei too are a remnant of the Donghu. They held Mount Xianbei (鮮卑山) apart from the others, and from this they took their name. Their speech and their customs are the same as those of the Wuhuan. Their land touches the Liao River in the east and faces Xicheng (西城) in the west.
In the last month of spring they always hold a great gathering. They make music by the water, give their daughters in marriage and take in wives, shave their heads, and drink and feast. Among their beasts, those that differ from China are the wild horse, the yuan ram (羱羊) and the duan ox (端牛). Bows are made from the horn of the duan ox, and this is what the world calls the jiaoduan (角端). There are also the sable, the na (豽) and the hunzi (鼲子), whose skin and fur are soft, so that all under heaven holds them the finest of furs.
After the Xianbei were broken by Modu they fled far beyond the border passes of Liaodong. They did not measure strength with the other states, and their name never reached the Han. They only bordered upon the Wuhuan. By the time of Emperor Guangwu the southern Chanyu and the northern Chanyu were striking at each other, and as the Xiongnu wore away the Xianbei at last grew strong.
In the thirtieth year of Jianwu the Xianbei great man Yuqiufen led his kinsmen to the palace gate and brought tribute, and Yuqiufen was made a king.
In the Yongping years Zhai Rong became Grand Administrator of Liaodong. He drew the Xianbei on with bribes and had them cut off the heads of the rebel Wuhuan Qinzhifen and the rest. At this all the great men of the settlements from Dunhuang and Jiuquan eastward came to Liaodong to receive rewards, and the two provinces of Qing and Xu furnished the money, two hundred and seventy million a year as the standing rule.
In the time of Emperor He, Wei (廆), Grand Protector and Colonel of the Xianbei, led the people of his division to follow Ren Chang, the Colonel of the Wuhuan, in striking the rebels, and the colonel Wei was made a King Who Leads the Host. In the Yanping years of Emperor Shang the Xianbei came into the border passes from the east and killed Zhang Xian, the Grand Administrator of Yuyang. In the time of Emperor An the Xianbei great man Yanliyang came to court, and the Han gave him the seal and ribbon of a king of the Xianbei, and a red carriage with a team of three, and settled him below Ningcheng (寗城), where the Colonel of the Wuhuan had his seat.
3The child born after she swallowed a hailstone
通胡市，築南北兩部質宮，受邑落質者二十部。是後或反或降，或與匈奴、烏丸相攻擊。安帝末，發緣邊步騎二萬餘人，屯列衝要。後鮮卑八九千騎穿代郡及馬城塞入害長吏，漢遣度遼將軍鄧遵、中郎將馬續出塞追破之。鮮卑大人烏倫、其至鞬等七千餘人詣遵降，封烏倫爲王，其至鞬爲侯，賜采帛。遵去後，其至鞬復反，圍烏丸校尉於馬城，度遼將軍耿夔及幽州刺史救解之。其至鞬遂盛，控弦數萬騎，數道入塞，趣五原寧貊，攻匈奴南單于，殺左奧鞬日逐王。順帝時，復入塞，殺代郡太守。漢遣黎陽營兵屯中山，緣邊郡兵屯塞下，調五營弩帥令教戰射，南單于將步騎萬餘人助漢擊却之。後烏丸校尉耿曄將率衆王出塞擊鮮卑，多斬首虜，於是鮮卑三萬餘落詣遼東降。匈奴及北單于遁逃後，餘種十餘萬落詣遼東雜處，皆自號鮮卑兵。投鹿侯從匈奴軍三年，其妻在家，有子。
The Hu market (胡市) was opened to them, and hostage halls (質宮) were built for the two divisions, north and south, and hostages were taken from the settlements of twenty divisions. After this they sometimes rebelled and sometimes submitted, and sometimes struck at the Xiongnu and the Wuhuan.
At the end of Emperor An's reign more than twenty thousand foot and horse of the frontier were sent out and stationed at the vital passes. Afterward eight or nine thousand Xianbei horsemen broke through the border passes at Dai commandery and Macheng and came in and harmed the chief officers (長吏). The Han sent Deng Zun, the General Who Crosses the Liao, and Ma Xu, the General of the Gentlemen of the Household, out beyond the passes to pursue and break them. The Xianbei great men Wulun and Qizhijian and more than seven thousand others came to Deng Zun and surrendered, and Wulun was made a king and Qizhijian a marquis, and they were given colored silks.
After Deng Zun had gone, Qizhijian rebelled again and surrounded the Colonel of the Wuhuan at Macheng, and Geng Kui, the General Who Crosses the Liao, and the Inspector of You province came to his rescue and freed him. Qizhijian then grew strong. With tens of thousands of bow-drawing horsemen he came into the border passes by several roads, made for Ningmo in Wuyuan, struck the southern Chanyu of the Xiongnu, and killed the King Zuoaojian Rizhu.
In the time of Emperor Shun they came into the border passes again and killed the Grand Administrator of Dai commandery. The Han sent the Liyang camp troops to be stationed at Zhongshan, and the troops of the frontier commanderies to be stationed below the passes, and chose out the crossbow officers of the five camps to teach fighting and shooting. The southern Chanyu led more than ten thousand foot and horse to help the Han, and they struck them and drove them back.
Afterward Geng Ye, the Colonel of the Wuhuan, led the Kings Who Lead the Host out beyond the passes to strike the Xianbei, and they cut off many heads and took many captives. At this more than thirty thousand tents of the Xianbei came to Liaodong and surrendered. After the Xiongnu and their northern Chanyu had fled away, more than a hundred thousand tents of the remaining tribes came to Liaodong and dwelt mixed among them, and all of them called themselves soldiers of the Xianbei.
Touluhou (投鹿侯) was away with the army of the Xiongnu for three years, and his wife, who stayed at home, bore a son.
4Tanshihuai takes all the old land of the Xiongnu
投鹿侯歸，怪欲殺之。妻言：「嘗晝行聞雷震，仰天視而雹入其口，因吞之，遂姙身，十月而產，此子必有奇異，且長之。」投鹿侯固不信。妻乃語家，令收養焉，號檀石槐，長大勇健，智畧絕衆。年十四五，異部大人卜賁邑鈔取其外家牛羊，檀石槐策騎追擊，所向無前，悉還得所亡。由是部落畏服，施法禁，平曲直，莫敢犯者，遂推以爲大人。檀石槐旣立，乃爲庭於高柳北三百餘里彈汗山啜仇水上，東西部大人皆歸焉。兵馬甚盛，南鈔漢邊，北拒丁令，東却夫餘，西擊烏孫，盡據匈奴故地，東西萬二千餘里，南北七千餘里，罔羅山川、水澤、鹽池甚廣。漢患之，桓帝時使匈奴中郎將張奐征之，不克。乃更遣使者齎印綬，即封檀石槐爲王，欲與和親。檀石槐拒不肯受，寇鈔滋甚。乃分其地爲中東西三部。從右北平以東至遼，東接夫餘、濊貊爲東部，二十餘邑，其大人曰彌加、闕機、素利、槐頭。從右北平以西至上谷爲中部，十餘邑，其大人曰柯最、闕居、慕容等，爲大帥。
Touluhou came back, thought it strange, and meant to kill the child. His wife said, "Once I was walking by day and heard a clap of thunder. I looked up at the sky, and a hailstone came into my mouth and I swallowed it. From that I grew with child, and after ten months I gave birth. This child must have something wonderful about him. Rear him for now."
Touluhou would not believe her. So the wife spoke to her own family and had them take the boy in and rear him, and he was called Tanshihuai (檀石槐). He grew up brave and strong, and his wit and his plans were beyond all the rest.
When he was fourteen or fifteen, Bufenyi, a great man of another division, plundered the oxen and sheep of his mother's house. Tanshihuai whipped his horse and gave chase and struck them, and wherever he turned none could stand before him, and he got back everything that had been lost. From this his settlement feared him and submitted. He set up laws and prohibitions and made crooked and straight even, and none dared break them, so in the end they raised him up as great man.
When Tanshihuai had risen, he made his court (庭) by the Chuoqiu River on Mount Tanhan, more than three hundred li north of Gaoliu, and the great men of the eastern and western divisions all came over to him. His soldiers and horses were very many. In the south he plundered the Han frontier, in the north he held off the Dingling, in the east he drove back Buyeo, and in the west he struck the Wusun, and he took all the old land of the Xiongnu. It was more than twelve thousand li from east to west and more than seven thousand li from north to south, and the mountains and rivers, the marshes and the salt flats he gathered in like a net were very wide.
The Han was troubled by this. In the time of Emperor Huan, Zhang Huan, the General of the Gentlemen of the Household for the Xiongnu, was sent to strike him, but he did not win. Then an envoy was sent again bearing a seal and ribbon, to make Tanshihuai a king and seek friendship with him. Tanshihuai pushed it away and would not receive it, and his raiding and plundering grew worse.
He then divided his land into three divisions, the middle, the east and the west. From Youbeiping eastward to the Liao River, touching Buyeo and the Yemaek in the east, was the eastern division, with more than twenty settlements, and its great men were called Mijia, Queji, Suli and Kuitou. From Youbeiping westward to Shanggu was the middle division, with more than ten settlements, and its great men were called Kezui, Queju, Murong and the rest, who were chief commanders (大帥).
5After the death of Tanshihuai
從上谷以西至燉煌，西接烏孫爲西部，二十餘邑，其大人曰置鞬落羅、曰律推演、宴荔游等，皆爲大帥，而制屬檀石槐。至靈帝時，大鈔畧幽、并二州。緣邊諸郡無歲不被其毒。熹平六年，遣護烏丸校尉夏育，破鮮卑中郎將田晏，匈奴中郎將臧旻與南單于出鴈門塞，三道並進，徑二千餘里征之。檀石槐帥部衆逆擊，旻等敗走，兵馬還者什一而己。鮮卑衆日多，田畜射獵，不足給食。後檀石槐乃案行烏侯秦水，廣袤數百里，停不流，中有魚而不能得。聞汗人善捕魚，於是檀石槐東擊汗國，得千餘家，徙置烏侯秦水上，使捕魚以助糧。至于今，烏侯秦水上有汗人數百戶。檀石槐年四十五死，子和連代立。和連材力不及父，而貪淫，斷法不平，衆叛者半。靈帝末年數爲寇鈔，攻北地，北地庶人善弩射者射中和連，和連即死。其子騫曼小，兄子魁頭代立。魁頭旣立後，騫曼長大，與魁頭爭國，衆遂離散。魁頭死，弟步度根代立。自檀石槐死後，諸大人遂世相襲也。
From Shanggu westward to Dunhuang, touching the Wusun in the west, was the western division, with more than twenty settlements, and its great men were called Zhijianluoluo, Yuelutuiyan, Yanliyou and the rest. All of them were chief commanders, and they were held in subjection by Tanshihuai.
By the time of Emperor Ling they were plundering the two provinces of You and Bing on a great scale, and there was no year in which the frontier commanderies did not suffer their poison. In the sixth year of Xiping, Xia Yu, the Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan, and Tian Yan, the General of the Gentlemen of the Household Who Breaks the Xianbei, and Zang Min, the General of the Gentlemen of the Household for the Xiongnu, were sent out with the southern Chanyu through the border passes at Yanmen. They advanced together by three roads and went straight on for more than two thousand li to strike him. Tanshihuai led the people of his divisions out to meet them and struck them, and Zang Min and the others were beaten and fled, and of their soldiers and horses only one in ten came back.
The people of the Xianbei grew more numerous by the day, and tilling, herding and hunting with the bow were not enough to feed them. Afterward Tanshihuai looked over the Wuhouqin River (烏侯秦水), which was several hundred li broad and long. It stood still and did not flow, and there were fish in it, but they could not catch them. He heard that the Han (汗) people of the north were good at catching fish, so Tanshihuai struck their state in the east and took more than a thousand households and moved them to the Wuhouqin River, and had them catch fish to help out the food supply. To this day there are several hundred households of the Han people of the north by the Wuhouqin River.
Tanshihuai died at the age of forty-five, and his son Helian ascended the throne in his place. Helian had not his father's talent and strength, and he was greedy and lewd, and his judgments of the law were not even, so that half his people rebelled. In the last years of Emperor Ling he raided and plundered again and again, and when he attacked Beidi (北地), a commoner of Beidi who was good with the crossbow shot Helian, and Helian died on the spot.
His son Qianman was young, so his elder brother's son Kuitou ascended the throne in his place. After Kuitou had risen, Qianman grew up and fought him for the state, and the people scattered apart at last. When Kuitou died, his younger brother Budugen ascended the throne in his place. From the death of Tanshihuai onward the great men passed their places down from generation to generation.
6Kebineng kills Fuluohan at the meeting
步度根旣立，衆稍衰弱，中兄扶羅韓亦別擁衆數萬爲大人。建安中，太祖定幽州，步度根與軻比能等因烏丸校尉閻柔上貢獻。後代郡烏丸能臣氐等叛，求屬扶羅韓，扶羅韓將萬餘騎迎之。到桑乾，氏等議，以爲扶羅韓部威禁寬緩，恐不見濟，更遣人呼軻比能。比能即將萬餘騎到，當共盟誓。比能便於會上殺扶羅韓，扶羅韓子泄歸泥及部衆悉屬比能。比能自以殺歸泥父，特又善遇之。步度根由是怨比能。
After Budugen had risen, his people grew weaker little by little, and his middle brother Fuluohan also held tens of thousands of his own and was a great man. In the Jian'an years, when Taizu settled You province, Budugen and Kebineng and the others sent up tribute through Yan Rou, the Colonel of the Wuhuan.
Afterward Nengchendi and others of the Wuhuan of Dai commandery rebelled and asked to join Fuluohan, and Fuluohan led more than ten thousand horsemen out to meet them. When they reached Sanggan, Nengchendi and the others talked it over. They thought that in Fuluohan's division the command and the prohibitions were loose and slack, and they feared they would not be saved, so they sent men again to call Kebineng.
Kebineng came at once with more than ten thousand horsemen, and they were to swear an oath together. But Kebineng killed Fuluohan there at the meeting, and Fuluohan's son Xieguini and the people of the division all joined Kebineng. Kebineng, knowing that he had killed Xieguini's father, treated him especially well. From this Budugen bore a grudge against Kebineng.
7Budugen is killed by Kebineng
文帝踐阼，田豫爲烏丸校尉，持節并護鮮卑，屯昌平。步度根遣使獻馬，帝拜爲王。後數與軻比能更相攻擊，步度根部衆稍寡弱，將其衆萬餘落保太原、鴈門郡。步度根乃使人招呼泄歸泥曰：「汝父爲比能所殺，不念報仇，反屬怨家。今雖厚待汝，是欲殺汝計也。不如還我，我與汝是骨肉至親，豈與仇等？」由是歸泥將其部落逃歸步度根，比能追之弗及。至黃初五年，步度根詣闕貢獻，厚加賞賜，是後一心守邊，不爲寇害，而軻比能衆遂彊盛。明帝即位，務欲綏和戎狄，以息征伐，羈縻兩部而已。至青龍元年，比能誘步度根深結和親，於是步度根將泄歸泥及部衆悉保比能，寇鈔并州，殺略吏民。帝遣驍騎將軍秦朗征之，歸泥叛比能，將其部衆降，拜歸義王，賜幢麾、曲蓋、鼓吹，居并州如故。步度根爲比能所殺。
When Emperor Wen ascended the throne, Tian Yu was made Colonel of the Wuhuan and given the staff of authority, to guard the Xianbei as well, and he was stationed at Changping. Budugen sent an envoy to offer horses, and the emperor made him a king.
Afterward he and Kebineng struck at each other again and again, and the people of Budugen's division grew few and weak, so he led his more than ten thousand tents and held Taiyuan and Yanmen commandery.
Budugen then sent a man to call Xieguini and say, "Your father was killed by Kebineng, and instead of thinking of revenge you have gone over to the house of your enemy. Though he treats you richly now, this is a plan to kill you. Better to come back to me. You and I are close kin of one flesh and bone. How can that be the same as an enemy?"
By this Xieguini led his settlement away and went back to Budugen, and Kebineng pursued him but did not catch him. In the fifth year of Huangchu Budugen came to the palace gate and offered tribute, and rich rewards were added to him. After this he guarded the frontier with a single heart and did no plundering or harm, while the people of Kebineng at last grew strong.
When Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he strove to soothe the Rong and the Di (戎狄) and to bring the campaigns to rest, and he did no more than hold the two divisions on a loose rein. By the first year of Qinglong, Kebineng had drawn Budugen on into a close friendship, and so Budugen led Xieguini and the people of his division and all joined Kebineng, and they plundered and raided Bing province and killed and carried off officials and common people.
The emperor sent Qin Lang, the General of Valiant Cavalry, to strike them. Xieguini turned against Kebineng and led the people of his division in surrender, and he was made King Who Returns to Right (歸義王) and given banners (幢麾), a curved canopy (曲蓋), and drums and pipes (鼓吹), and was settled in Bing province as before. Budugen was killed by Kebineng.