An Epic Insult
After Emperor Gaozu’s death in 195 BC, Modu Chanyu sent an offensive marriage proposal to his widow, the dowager empress. Incensed, she and her court were all for a declaration of war, as her generals urged the extermination of the obnoxious nomads. However, calmer voices reminded everybody of Modu’s victory just a few years earlier, and that the Xiongnu army was actually more powerful than China’s. The empress reconsidered, wrote back a humble declination of the proposal, and sent the nomad leader a gift of imperial carriages and horses.
So badly had Modu beaten the Han, and so memorable was the defeat, that further Chinese attempts at a military solution were abandoned. Instead, the humiliating Heqin system that sought to buy off dangerous nomads with princesses and tribute became the bedrock of Chinese diplomacy for centuries. The appeasement continued even after the Xiongnu Empire collapsed and the Xiongnu vanished into history’s mists. Chinese princesses and Chinese “gifts” continued to be sent regularly to Steppe chieftains for over a thousand years, and the last recorded instance of Heqin occurred as late as 883 AD.