Hulü Khan

Hulü was the brother of Shelun. After the founder’s death he ruled the Rouran for four quiet years. A marriage that he had arranged then led to his deposition.^[1]

Accession

When Shelun died on the road in 410, his son Duba was too young to command the people. The tribes set up Shelun’s younger brother Hulü, with the title Aikugai Khan. The Wei glossed the title as “of fine appearance and disposition”.^[1] A modern account gives the same succession: the brother took the throne because the sons were too young. There he is known by his title, as Aikugai.^[2]

Reign

He extended the state in two directions. In the north he absorbed the country of Heshuyegu. In the east he broke the Pilichen tribes.^[1] In 411, several hundred of his own clansmen, led by Yuehou Duodigan, went over to the Wei.^[1] Toward the Wei he was cautious. The chapter says that he feared their might, kept to himself and did not dare raid south. It adds that the northern frontier was quiet.^[1]

Deposition (414)

In 414, Hulü made a marriage alliance with Feng Ba, the ruler of the Northern Yan at Helong. Feng Ba took Hulü’s daughter as his betrothed wife.^[1] Buluzhen, the son of Hulü’s eldest brother, told the khan that a young girl sent so far away would fall ill from longing. He added that the daughters of the great ministers Shuli and Wudiyan should be sent with her as companions. Hulü refused.^[1] Buluzhen went out and told Shuli and the others that Hulü intended to send their daughters to a distant country as companions.^[1] Shuli and his fellows conspired. At night they sent strong men to Hulü’s tent. The men seized him when he came out. They then sent him to Helong together with his daughter, as an escort for the bride.^[1] After that, they set up Buluzhen.^[1]

At Helong, Feng Ba made Hulü marquis of Shanggu. The chapter does not say what became of him and his son there.^[1] According to some scholars, whose account draws on the records of the Northern Yan, he set out north again with three hundred horsemen.^[3] Wanling, the man sent to escort him, shrank from the long road. At the Black Mountain he killed Hulü.^[3] They date the killing to 416. The Zizhi tongjian, by contrast, has 414.^[3]

Assessment

The episode is the first recorded deposition of a Rouran khan by his own nobles. Its mechanism, a nephew’s intrigue among the great ministers, recurs in the house down to the murder of Chounu a century later. The episode also shows that by 414 the khaganate was already a court that neighbouring rulers sought in marriage. Feng Ba’s proposal was one such approach.