In AD 84 the Northern chanyu of the Xiongnu sent more than 10,000 cattle and horses to the frontier to trade with Han merchants.[1] The market was held at Wuwei with the permission of the Han court.[1] The Southern chanyu raided the traders, and the court had to decide what to do about the captives.[1]
The year before
In AD 83 a great man of the Northern Xiongnu, Jiliusi, came to the Wuyuan frontier with 38,000 people, 20,000 horses and more than 100,000 cattle and sheep. He surrendered to the Han.[1]
The market
In the first year of Yuanhe the governor of Wuwei, Meng Yun, reported that the Northern chanyu again wished to trade with the Han officers and people. The emperor allowed Meng Yun to send courier envoys to meet the Northern envoys, to console them and to receive them.[1]
The Northern chanyu then sent the Great Juqu, the Yimozi King and others, and they drove more than 10,000 cattle and horses to the frontier to trade with Han merchants.[1] Several of the Northern kings and chiefs came forward into the commanderies. The commanderies and counties along their road set up official lodgings for them, gave them rewards and treated them well.[1]
The raid
The Southern chanyu heard of the market. He sent light horse out of Shangjun, and they cut off the Northern people and plundered their cattle and horses. They drove them back inside the frontier.[1] The Hou Han Shu does not say how many head of livestock the Southern riders took, or how many people.
The court’s decision
In the winter of AD 85 Meng Yun reported to the throne that the Northern Xiongnu had earlier made a peace pact with the Han and that the Southern chanyu had raided them again. The Northern chanyu, he said, thought that the Han had deceived him and was planning an attack on the frontier. He proposed to return the captives that the south had taken, to calm the north.[1]
The emperor Zhang followed the advice of Yuan An, the Grand Servant, and issued an edict.[1] The edict recalls the old wars with the northern peoples. It says that earlier peace pacts had borne the name but never the slightest effect. It continues that the ruler and the Xiongnu had now fixed their relation as lord and subject, their words were courteous, their treaty clear, and their tribute had come repeatedly. The court should not break its trust and take the fault on itself.[1]
The edict ordered the general of the Liao crossing and the Leading Gentleman of the Court, Pang Fen, to compensate the Southern captors at double value for the captives and to return the captives to the north. The Southern chanyu’s beheadings and captures were still to be rewarded by the usual rule.[1]
Afterwards
The Southern side was not stopped. The Southern chanyu ordered the Aodi Rizhu King, Shizi, to ride out again with several thousand light horse and strike the north, and he took another thousand.[1] The Northern people took it from this that the Han favoured the south, and they heard that several thousand of their own surrendered each year.[1]
In the first month of AD 85 seventy-three groups of Northern chiefs had already fled into the frontier. The Hou Han Shu says that the north was weak and its followers were leaving. The Southern chanyu pressed it from the front, the Dingling from behind, the Xianbei from the left, and the Western Regions from the right.[1]
References
Sources
- Hou Han Shu, juan 89
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Northern Xiongnu Market at Wuwei (AD 84).” Turkic Atlas, revised 7 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/wuwei-market-84/
Last revised: 7 November 2026
