21. A Bitter Defeat
Modu Chanyu unified the eastern Steppe’s nomadic tribes and founded the Xiongnu Empire. It stretched from Central Asia to Manchuria, and its warriors’ plunder expeditions terrorized the Chinese to their south for centuries. That led to the establishment of a complex relationship that alternated between trade and raid, marriage treaties and tribute and war. In 200 BC, China’s Emperor Gaozu tried to bring the Xiongnu to heel, but it ended in catastrophe – the worst setback suffered by the Han Dynasty’s founder. In a rare idiot move, the emperor let Modu Chanyu lead him on a merry chase through the Steppe.
In the meantime, the nomads harried the invaders’ supply lines and kept their forces on constant edge with frequent skirmishes. When the Chinese were exhausted, Modu ambushed and trapped them in a disadvantageous locale, cut off from resupply and reinforcement. Surrounded, Emperor Gaozu was forced to buy his life with an appeasement treaty known as the Heqin that recognized Modu and the Xiongnu Empire as equals, and defined The Great Wall as the mutual border. It also sent the Xiongnu leaders Chinese princesses as brides, and sought to buy them off with regular tribute payments, face-savingly referred to as “gifts”.