Shiji

Translation

When Modu was established, the Donghu were strong and flourishing. They heard that Modu had killed his father and set himself up, and sent envoys to tell Modu that they wished to have the thousand-li horse that Touman had owned.

Modu asked his ministers, and all the ministers said: “The thousand-li horse is the treasure horse of the Xiongnu. Do not give it.” Modu said: “How can one live next to another country and begrudge it a horse?” So he gave them the thousand-li horse.

After a while the Donghu thought that Modu feared them, and sent envoys to tell Modu that they wished to have one of the chanyu's consorts.

Modu again asked those around him, and all were angry and said: “The Donghu are unprincipled, to ask for a consort! We beg to attack them.” Modu said: “How can one live next to another country and begrudge it a woman?” So he took the consort he loved and gave her to the Donghu.

The king of the Donghu grew still prouder and advanced west. Between them and the Xiongnu there was a waste land, uninhabited, more than a thousand li across, and each side settled along its edge and made an ouduo (border post) there.

The Donghu sent envoys to say to Modu: “The waste land beyond the ouduo on the border between the Xiongnu and us is not somewhere the Xiongnu can reach. We wish to have it.”

Modu asked his ministers, and some of them said: “It is waste land. It is all right to give it, and it is all right not to give it.”

At this Modu was greatly angered and said: “Land is the root of a state. How can it be given away?” All those who had said to give it he beheaded.

Modu mounted his horse and ordered that anyone in the country who lagged behind be beheaded. Then he rode east and attacked the Donghu.

At first the Donghu made light of Modu and made no preparations. When Modu arrived with his troops and attacked, he utterly crushed and destroyed the king of the Donghu, and took his people and livestock as captives.

Translation

The chanyu had an heir named Modu. Later he had a favoured consort who bore him a younger son, and the chanyu wished to set Modu aside and make the younger son heir, so he sent Modu as a hostage to the Yuezhi.

When Modu was a hostage among the Yuezhi, Touman attacked the Yuezhi hard. The Yuezhi wished to kill Modu, but Modu stole one of their good horses, rode it and escaped home.

Touman thought him brave and put him in command of ten thousand horsemen.

Modu then made whistling arrows and drilled his horsemen in shooting. He gave the order: “Whoever does not shoot, all of them, at what the whistling arrow is shot at will be beheaded.”

When they hunted birds and beasts, he beheaded at once anyone who did not shoot at what the whistling arrow was shot at.

Then Modu shot his own good horse with a whistling arrow. Some of those around him did not dare to shoot, and Modu at once beheaded those who had not shot at the good horse.

After a while he shot his own beloved wife with a whistling arrow. Some of those around him were rather afraid and did not dare to shoot, and Modu again beheaded them.

After a while Modu went out hunting and shot the chanyu's good horse with a whistling arrow, and all those around him shot at it too.

Then Modu knew that all those around him could be used.

He went hunting with his father, the chanyu Touman, and shot Touman with a whistling arrow. All those around him followed the whistling arrow and shot the chanyu Touman dead. Then he put to death his stepmother and his younger brother and all the ministers who would not obey.

Modu set himself up as chanyu.

Translation

They set up Worthy Kings of the left and right, Guli Kings of the left and right, Great Generals of the left and right, Great Commandants of the left and right, Great Danghu of the left and right, and Gudu Marquises of the left and right.

The Xiongnu call “worthy” “tuqi”, and so the heir is always made Left Tuqi King.

From the Worthy Kings of the left and right down to the Danghu, the greatest had ten thousand horsemen and the smallest several thousand. There were twenty-four chiefs in all, and their title was “Ten Thousand Horsemen”.

All the high officials held office by inheritance. The Huyan clan and the Lan clan, and later the Xubu clan: these three families were their noble stock.

The kings and generals of the left lived in the east. Those facing Shanggu and beyond bordered the Huimo and Chaoxian to the east. The kings and generals of the right lived in the west, facing Shangjun and westward, and bordered the Yuezhi, the Di and the Qiang. The chanyu's court faced Dai and Yunzhong. Each had his own allotted ground and moved after water and grass.

The Worthy Kings of the left and right and the Guli Kings of the left and right were the greatest, and the Gudu Marquises of the left and right assisted in government.

Each of the twenty-four chiefs also set up for himself chiefs of a thousand, of a hundred and of ten, assistant petty kings, chancellors, enfeoffed commandants, danghu, juqu and others of that kind.

Translation

In the first month of each year the chiefs held a small gathering at the chanyu's court and made sacrifice.

In the fifth month they held a great gathering at Longcheng and sacrificed to their ancestors, to Heaven and Earth, and to ghosts and spirits.

In autumn, when the horses were fat, they held a great gathering at Dailin and checked the count of people and livestock.

By their law, whoever drew a blade by a foot was put to death, and whoever was convicted of theft had his household confiscated. For other crimes the minor were punished by crushing and the major by death.

Those held longest in prison were held no more than ten days, and the prisoners of the whole country were no more than a few.

In the morning the chanyu came out of his camp and bowed to the sun as it first rose, and in the evening he bowed to the moon.

In sitting, the senior sat on the left and faced north. Of the days they esteemed wu and ji highest.

For burial they had coffin and outer coffin, gold, silver and robes of fur, but no grave mound or planted trees and no mourning dress. Favoured courtiers and concubines followed the dead in death, as many as hundreds or thousands.

When they undertook an enterprise they watched the stars and the moon: when the moon was full and strong they attacked and fought, and when it waned they withdrew their troops.

Translation

Zhang Qian was a man of Hanzhong. In the Jianyuan era he became a court gentleman.

At that time the Son of Heaven questioned the Xiongnu who had surrendered. All said that the Xiongnu had defeated the king of the Yuezhi and made his head into a drinking vessel, and that the Yuezhi had fled and ever hated and resented the Xiongnu, but had no one to join them in attacking them.

The Han were just then wishing to set about destroying the Hu, and on hearing this they wished to open communication by envoys.

The road necessarily passed through the Xiongnu country, so they recruited someone able to go as envoy.

Qian, a court gentleman, answered the call and was sent to the Yuezhi. Together with Ganfu, a (former) Hu slave of the Tangyi family, he left through Longxi.

Passing through the Xiongnu country, he was seized by the Xiongnu and sent on to the chanyu.

The chanyu kept him and said: “The Yuezhi are to my north. How can the Han send an envoy there? If I wanted to send an envoy to Yue, would the Han allow me?”

He kept Qian for more than ten years and gave him a wife, and he had a son, yet Qian held on to the Han tally and did not lose it.