Er Chanyu came to the Xiongnu throne young. The Xiongnu called him the Child Chanyu. He reigned three years. In those years his left commandant plotted to kill him. A winter of heavy snow killed the herds. A Han army came into the steppe and was lost.[1] Er Chanyu put the plotter to death. His troops destroyed the army of Zhao Ponu. He died of illness on the way to attack the Han city of Shouxiang.[1]

Accession

Wuwei died after ten years on the throne. His son Wushilu was installed as chanyu. The Shiji dates this to the sixth year of Yuanfeng, 105 BC. It also says that he was young and was called the Child Chanyu.[2] From this time on, the chanyu moved his court farther to the north-west. The Xiongnu left wing faced Yunzhong. The right wing faced the commanderies of Jiuquan and Dunhuang.[1]

Some scholars hold that he perhaps came to the throne before he was of age.[3] They find that the Xiongnu nobility accepted his rule without question, because his authority apparently came from his father’s will.[4]

The envoys of condolence

When the Child Chanyu was installed, the Han sent two envoys: one to condole with the chanyu and one to condole with the Right Worthy King. According to the Shiji, the Han meant to set the Xiongnu state against itself. The Xiongnu took all the envoys to the chanyu. He was angry and kept them all.[1] More than ten Han envoys were held among the Xiongnu one after another. Each time a Xiongnu envoy came to the Han, the Han kept him in return.[1]

Snow and the commandant

In that year Wudi sent Li Guangli, the general of Ershi, west to attack Dayuan, the country of Ferghana. He also sent the general Gongsun Ao to build the city of Shouxiang, the City of Receiving Surrender, outside the frontier.[5] The annals of the Han Shu record the building of the city and the start of the Dayuan march in the same year. The Shiji chapter on Dayuan calls that year the first of Taichu, 104 BC.[6] That winter heavy snow fell among the Xiongnu. Many of their animals died of hunger and cold.[1]

The Shiji describes the Child Chanyu as young and fond of killing and war. It adds that many in the country were uneasy.[1] The Left Great Commandant wanted to kill him. He sent a man secretly to tell the Han that he wished to kill the chanyu and surrender. The Han, he said, were far away. If a Han army came out to meet him, he would act at once. The Han had heard this and had built Shouxiang for the purpose. They still thought it too far.[1]

It has been argued that the Child Chanyu’s fondness for killing caused general unrest among the Xiongnu ruling class. They also hold that his rule led to the rising of a powerful group under the Left Commandant.[7]

Zhao Ponu, 103 BC

According to the Shiji, the Han sent the Marquis of Zhuoye, Zhao Ponu, out of Shuofang in the following spring, with more than twenty thousand horse. He was to march north-west for more than two thousand li and reach Mount Junji by an appointed day. Then he was to turn back.[1] The annals of the Han Shu place the march in the autumn of the year after the Dayuan march began, which is 103 BC. They give the general the title of Junji General.[8]

Zhao Ponu reached the mountain on the day and turned back. The Left Great Commandant meant to strike, but the plot was found out. The chanyu put him to death. The chanyu then sent the troops of the left wing against Zhao Ponu. Zhao Ponu took several thousand heads on the way. On his return, four hundred li short of Shouxiang, eighty thousand Xiongnu horse surrounded him.[1]

That night Zhao Ponu went out himself to look for water. Xiongnu scouts took him alive. The Xiongnu then attacked his army hard. In the army, the officers Guo Zong, its protector, and Wei Wang, a chief, agreed that the officers dreaded the execution that awaited them if they came home without the general. They also agreed that nobody would urge a return. The army was lost to the Xiongnu.[1] The Shiji chapter on Dayuan and the Han Shu place the loss of Zhao Ponu’s twenty thousand in the following summer. At that time the Han court was arguing about whether to break off the Dayuan campaign and turn on the Xiongnu.[9]

The Child Chanyu was delighted. He sent a raiding force to attack Shouxiang, but it could not take the city. It raided the frontier and went away.[1]

Death

In the next year, the chanyu wanted to attack Shouxiang himself. He fell ill before he got there and died.[1] He had been on the throne three years. His son was young. The Xiongnu raised the Right Worthy King Xulihu, the younger brother of Wuwei, to the throne.[2] The Shiji does not name the son.

Some scholars count this succession among the four departures from the line of father to son. The throne passed to the Child Chanyu’s uncle because his son was a minor and could not rule.[4]

Name

The Shiji writes his name 烏師廬. It calls him 兒單于, the Child Chanyu. The Han Shu writes 詹師廬. A note of Xu Guang to the Shiji says that in one text the first character, 烏, is written 詹. This accounts for the second form.[2] No Xiongnu form of the name is recorded. Nothing in the sources fixes its language.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shiji, juan 110
  2. ^ a b c Shiji, juan 110; Han Shu, juan 94
  3. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 136
  4. ^ a b Sinor 1990, p. 137
  5. ^ Shiji, juan 110; Han Shu, juan 6
  6. ^ Han Shu, juan 6; Shiji, juan 123
  7. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 138
  8. ^ Han Shu, juan 6
  9. ^ Shiji, juan 123; Han Shu, juan 61

Sources

Literature

  • Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)

Related

What links here3

Persons
Wuwei Chanyu · Xulihu Chanyu
Institutions and Titles
Livestock Losses in the Annals

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Er Chanyu.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/er-chanyu/

Last revised: 8 November 2026