Xiongnu history (1)

For most people in China, the word "Asian" is easily associated with an "orthodox" image of the yellow race. They are of medium height, short stature, sparse hair, light yellow skin, slender eyes, inconspicuous brow ridges and straight but not high noses. This is a typical image of Northeast Asians, mainly distributed in northern China, North Korea and Japan. We think this is a "pure" yellow race. The history and culture of Asia is mainly their history and culture. They created Asia and gave it the meaning of "Asia". Other Asians are mixed-race physically and culturally. West Asians were crossed by Indo-Europeans, and South Asians were crossed by Negro. It is easy for us to associate this orthodox Asian with a long history and cultural origin, intensive agriculture and gentle and subtle personality. They are not fit and muscular, although there may be many personal types of tall bodies, they are generally not stout. No matter in history, culture, social life or physique, it seems too slender and seems to be influenced by a precocious civilization. There seems to be a feminine feature in the visual image of Asia. It should be said that this is an incomplete or inaccurate impression. The slimness and femininity of Asia may come from the continental climate and its agricultural production mode. In fact, the real North Asians are nomads, and they have never been gentle and subtle, too civilized and somewhat feminine "Asians" like us. They are an aggressive, provocative and bloody people. Although they have not developed a good agricultural culture, their wisdom is no less than ours. Ordinary westerners and western anthropologists define the representatives of Asians as Mongols, which makes us so-called "orthodox" Asians somewhat puzzled. We wouldn't be surprised if we knew something about the history of the west. You know, the nomadic people in the grassland of North Asia left a deep impression on them, saying that they will never forget it too much. The Mongols they mentioned, whether in the pre-civilization period or in the recorded historical period, all migrated to the west on a large scale, or simply invaded and swept away. North Asians are good at exploring and have been widely distributed in Eurasia since the early days of human civilization. The Lapps in Western Europe and the Eskimos in the Arctic, as well as the Finnish-Ugric language family, Hungary and Bulgaria in Central Europe, Turkey at the turn of Europe and Asia, and the Mongolian faces and cultural characteristics of Russians are all the results of their activities. From the recorded history, there are four military invasions to the west by the grassland nationalities in North Asia. The first time was the westward migration of Huns; The second and third times marked the beginning of the history of Hungary and Bulgaria respectively; The fourth expedition was a Mongolian expedition. In this case, the first time and the fourth time were directly or indirectly related to China. The most unforgettable nightmare for Europeans is that Mongols conquer the world. We in China are no strangers to the Mongolian campaign in the13rd century. Genghis Khan's ambition led to the Yuan Dynasty being inserted into the chronology of China's history, which was a huge empire unique in human history and spanning Eurasia. The advanced military technology and science of the Han people make the Mongolian expedition unstoppable, and their military advantage over westerners is no less than that of the United States in the Gulf War against Iraq. Although their civilization enlightenment was later than our Han people, the Mongols never lacked wisdom. Genghis Khan was never a careless hero who only knew how to shoot an eagle with a bow. This is the first time that Mongols have applied the idea of systems engineering to war. We can imagine that such a huge exploration plan would be impossible without the idea of systematic engineering. Reliable logistics support system, unique engineering troops commanded by Han people at that time, advanced military tools and communication means, careful campaign plan, their natural bravery and arrogance, and monotonous and backward material enjoyment enabled them to gallop across Eurasia like a hurricane. This is a real Mongolian hurricane, and it is still a "yellow disaster" for westerners. Despite the huge scale of Mongolian conquest, I think that among the Asian yellow race who marched westward into Europe, the westward migration of Huns was the most tragic and poetic, with immeasurable historical significance. Whether westerners are willing to accept this view or not, in fact, Huns contributed to the turning point of European historical development. They put Germanic Man Zi in the jungle on the historical stage, and together with the latter ended the era of the Romans. The history of the empire disappeared, the pluralistic feudal state politics began, and the main division pattern of a European country that has lasted almost to this day was formed. Attila, the last Hun king, was unanimously called "the whip of God" by Romans and Germans, expressing the fear and helplessness of Europe. However, don't forget that it was the Huns who waved the first whip of the European historical chariot, which is a veritable whip of God. Huns built a huge empire in Europe, but their empire was short-lived. Their historical fate in Europe seems to be only a turning point in history. When this turning point was completed, their empire collapsed, and even the whole nation was digested in the history and culture of Europe and no longer appeared. The story of Huns who emigrated to Europe is very dramatic. This nation ended itself at the most glorious moment in its life, leaving an unforgettable legend. In western vocabulary, Huns are synonymous with extremely fierce people. During World War II, Hitler's German soldiers were called Huns. However, in this land once ruled by Huns, people still admire and cherish Attila's heroism. Attila is still the name used by boys in Hungary and Turkey, and some even claim to be descendants of Attila. The Huns left another thing for Europe. Attila attacked Aquila, Italy, the year after failing to conquer Gaul (the only failure in his life). Some farmers and fishermen (called Venetians) came to a swamp-filled peninsula along the Adriatic Sea to escape the war. After hundreds of years of operation, they established the most beautiful and developed city-state in Europe here, which is the Republic of Venice. We in China are no strangers to Huns. They are northern nomadic people living in the Mongolian plateau, also known as the Hu people in history. They have been traced since the recorded chronicles. In the Yin and Shang Dynasties, it was once called Ghost Fang, Dog Rong and so on. The ancients in China thought they were descendants of the Yellow Emperor like us, descendants of the Xia people who were driven to the north by the Yin people. According to Records of the Historian Biography of Xiongnu, "Xiongnu is also a Miao descendant of its ancestor Xia Hou". "Shan Hai Jing Huang Da Bei Jing" says: Quan Rong and Xia are of the same clan, both from the Yellow Emperor. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and even to the Sixteen Countries Period in Wuhu, the Huns constantly harassed the south. In the twenty-fourth year of Jianwu (48 BC), a small number of Huns, about 5,000 households, split up and joined the Han Dynasty. They are called the Southern Huns. Most of the Huns left behind, that is, the northern Huns, were defeated by the Eastern Han Empire in 89 AD. In order to maintain the integrity of their own nation, these Xiongnu people who moved westward struggled for more than 200 years in the prairie around the Caspian Sea in order to find a new home. In the second half of the 4th century (AD 360), their power suddenly broke out. The Huns, led by a king named Balambier, entered the territory of Alang people, a powerful kingdom between the Volga River and the Don River, belonging to the Turkic nomadic people. Huns defeated Alan's allied forces along the Don River, killed King Alan, and took Alan's army as their ally through treaty bondage and military threats. The Huns then began to move westward, and their next conquest was ostrogoths. Since then, the most brilliant scene of this nation has begun. I don't deny that I personally like this history. When I first learned about Attila's great achievements, I was fascinated by these Huns. Their historical role, their dramatic fate, their outstanding military and diplomatic talents, and their influence in the western world as a true oriental nation-precisely, the descendants of China people-deeply attracted me. It should be said that they aroused an emotion in me. If this emotion can be conveyed to readers, then I will feel very satisfied. This article will tell some stories of Huns in Europe. When Huns entered Europe, they had left their traditional homes for more than 200 years. Before that, there were few records about them except China's history books, especially the history of their migration from northern China to the west. Generally speaking, we can know that the northern Xiongnu passed through Kangju, Dawan, Shanshan and other western countries on the way to the west. These countries were conquered and enslaved by Huns in the past, and they were not welcome to cross the border, but took revenge when they were down and out. Therefore, the Huns had to continue to move westward to find a new home for survival, during which they stayed in Central Asia for about 200 years. When they left for the last time, the Huns left the old and the weak in the local area and chose Le 'an to continue the Western Expedition. Some European historians think that they have not achieved much in culture. They are just a nomadic people who live on horseback and have unusual military talents. According to the Roman historian Maximilians, they are a group of barbarians who don't know how to use fire, don't know how to appreciate food, and don't eat any animals and grass roots. This obviously contains considerable distortion and misunderstanding. The social organization of Xiongnu is the military tribal alliance. They are good at fighting and have strong operational mobility. They are good at riding and shooting, pretending to retreat to lure the enemy, and then outflanking. They can judge the number of enemies according to the smoke from horses running in the distance. People think they invented some harnesses, such as pedals for riding. Some people think that because of long-distance migration, they have experienced many regions and nationalities, so their physique has changed greatly. However, according to the description of Attila's image in ancient western history books, we can see that it has typical yellow characteristics. We can imagine that the Huns recruited some other races as their allies on the way to the west. In two or three hundred years, these foreigners had mixed blood with Huns to varying degrees. Later Huns actually mixed a variety of different components, but they all admitted that they were Huns in terms of national cultural characteristics and national psychology. After the Huns defeated the Alans, they were temporarily placed in the Don Grassland. To the west of Xiongnu League, there are two Germanic tribal alliances: one is the Eastern Gothic Alliance from the west of Dnieper River to the east of Dnieper River, and the other is the Western Gothic Alliance from the west of Dnieper River to Carpathian Mountain. In the southwest of Visigoth League, it is the territory of Roman Empire. After the Roman Empire conquered Gaul, it was mainly adjacent to the northern Germans. At first, the Romans expanded and plundered the Germanic areas. After the third century, the empire gradually declined, the frontier was lax, and various Germanic barbarians continued to erode and infiltrate. At that time, the situation was somewhat similar to the "Five Chaos in China" in China. These Germanic barbarian tribes later launched an all-round attack on the Roman Empire and eventually became the conquerors of the Empire. In the Roman Empire, Germans were called barbarians because of their backward culture. At that time, Germans lived in the forest. They basically hunt for a living, wear animal skins, eat animal meat, live in huts, have no language and are rude. They have never taken a bath. They smell terrible. Civilized people dare not avoid them when they see them. At that time, the Romans cursed "Don't let me meet a Teutonic." Teutonic people are tall, fair-skinned, blond and extremely strong. Children are kept in the open air like animals, and women often do heavy manual work. Germanic tribal organization is a primitive military tribal alliance, and its leader is also the highest military officer. Teutonic tribes have been at war for years, and men are all soldiers. Their horses are short and mainly used for riding rather than fighting. As soon as they met the enemy, they jumped off their horses and fought with daggers. At this time, their horses will be very obedient and stand still. Compared with the Huns, the living conditions of the Germans are much better. They have forests and land suitable for farming, while the Huns have long lived in the northern prairie with bad weather conditions. In 375 AD, the Huns, led by their old king Balambal, began to attack the territory of ostrogoths on a large scale, which opened the prelude to the great national migration that lasted for more than 200 years in medieval European history. Ostrogoths has never seen a battle on horseback, never seen such a swift offensive. Under the overwhelming attack of Huns, King Donggot committed suicide because he couldn't keep his home, and his subjects fled westward like running water until they reached the Danube. In order to find a new living space, these frightened Germanic Man Zi attacked the Visigoth tribes they passed along the way, uprooted them and drove them farther west. The visigoths attacked the neighboring Germanic tribes while fleeing, which made the fear spread to Vandals, Suweihui, Burgundy, Alamanni, Franks and Saxons. It's like a chain reaction. The invasion of Xiongnu drove away almost all the Germanic tribes. There is no doubt that the military capabilities of the Huns surpassed those of all the Germanic barbarians and Romans at that time. Roman historians have a vivid description of this. Huns always make a loud cry of chaos when fighting. They sometimes form a line of rules, but in most cases they fight without rules. Xiongnu's fighting mobility is unusual. Sometimes they will suddenly disperse, and sometimes they will quickly gather together to form a loose array. They will run like lightning on the vilen and fly over the enemy's camp at lightning speed, so that the enemy will be attacked before they get a chance to breathe. Huns' excellent riding and shooting skills enabled them to fight from a long distance. In melee, they don't care about their own safety at all, but when the enemy tries to avoid their swords, they cast a net to trap the enemy and make him unable to move. Under the pressure of Xiongnu, these Germans fled to the west in order to settle in the Roman Empire and seek asylum. Visigoths later crossed the Danube and took refuge in Thrace, the empire, with the permission of the Roman emperor Vallans. The number of visigoths who came to take refuge was huge, and the Roman officials in charge of counting the number simply couldn't count it. After counting to 200,000, it was out of control. The influx of so many Visigoths was undoubtedly an uneasy factor in the Roman Empire. But the Roman officials in charge of these visigoths made a big mistake. They took the opportunity to treat and insult these Germanic Man Zi people at will, and finally forced them to rise up and resist. In 378 AD, the visigoths defeated the Roman army at Adria Castle near Constantinople, and the emperor Vallans himself was killed. Later, the Roman general Diodo reluctantly suppressed the uprising at the cost of letting the Visigoths live as allies in the Western Balkans. Dior West later became the Emperor of Rome. Before his death, he divided Rome into two parts and bequeathed it to his two sons. In this way, from 395 AD, two independent things appeared, the Roman Empire. The capital of West Rome is still Rome, and the capital of East Rome is Constantinople (the Roman Empire was overthrown in 285 AD, but reunified by Constantine the Great in 3 12). Teutonic people are wild, unwilling to be lonely Man Zi people, and they are also real soldiers. Like the Huns, as backward barbarians, they know little about the enjoyment of life except drinking. So compared with Rome, they can achieve high combat effectiveness with little cost. After being driven out of the forest, the Germans could no longer live as before, but became real robbers and conquerors. They roamed the territory of the Roman Empire, especially the Visigoths and Vandals. Visigoths have been fighting in Gaul, Italy and Spain. In 396 AD, Visigoth King alaric captured Athens and looted it. The visigoths invaded Italy in 40 1 year, and burned and plundered Rome in 4 10/year, which made this holy city fall for the first time. The Vandals attacked Rome again in 455, plundering and destroying it, and the losses were extremely heavy. The destructive behavior that ruined the achievements of civilization is named after this. In just a few decades, some Germanic kingdoms have been established in the empire. The visigoths occupied and established Spain in 4 16. The Franks occupied Gaul in April18 and established the Frankish Kingdom. Wang Daren entered North Africa in 429, occupied it and established its capital in Carthage in 439. In these Germanic expeditions, Huns rarely participated in them and played a prominent role. After the first heavy blow to Europe, they stayed along the Danube River and established the Xiongnu Empire in Central Europe centered on the Great Hungarian Plain (then called Pannonia). During this period, ostrogoths was forced to join the Xiongnu League, which strengthened his own strength. They also fought against the Romans with the visigoths. In 395, they crossed the Danube and enjoyed themselves in the battle with the Romans. They also participated in the battle to capture Rome in 4 10. But for fifty years, they basically occupied the position of Roman allies. In return, since 420, the Eastern Roman Empire has provided them with a certain salary every year. In 432, when Dior I was in power, the Huns' power increased so much that Attila Roas, also known as Rugilas, forced East Rome to pay a large amount of tribute every year, which became a tribute in essence. This embarrassing relationship lasted until the Huns repeatedly threatened to directly interfere in the internal affairs of the empire. The decisive rise of Xiongnu forces was after Attila (406-453) ascended the throne and became the king of Xiongnu Empire. In 433 A.D., Attila, 27, and his brother Boleda inherited the throne of the empire from their uncle Ross. In 436, Attila mercilessly murdered his brother and went to the empire alone. Compared with his predecessor, Attila is more ambitious, aggressive and extremely intelligent. Attila is an extremely prominent role in history. Attila's Xiongnu Empire is the last chapter of Xiongnu history, and it is also the most brilliant chapter. He humiliated the Romans, made the Germans lose confidence and possessed such great power that he and his Xiongnu soldiers were called "the scourge". There are some derogatory records about Attila himself in western history books, but they are still vivid and concrete. Attila was brave and good at fighting when she was young, but after she ascended the throne, she relied more on her mind than martial arts to complete her conquest of the north. He is ambitious, has superb political and diplomatic skills, and is cunning and cruel. Attila, as Attila, shows a kind of conceit in his gait and manners, and thinks that his own strength can be the pride of all mankind. According to legend, he once claimed to have the sword of God of War, so when his men saw him and looked him straight in the eye, they had to back off at the same time, otherwise they would burn their eyes. He has a habit of rolling his eyes violently, as if he enjoys appreciating the fear of people who are scared by him. Attila advocates simple life, but tolerates the luxury of subordinates. His subjects are in awe of him. When he goes out for a patrol, everyone who sees him will yell at him to show his obedience. In and out of the palace, there will be canopies to meet him, and there will be hymns specially written for him at every banquet. He even had a private secretary from the Romans. Attila's appearance seems very pleasing. According to records, he is short and fat, with broad shoulders, a huge head on a short and thick neck, thick black hair and sparse beard, a flat nose and sharp black eyes. Although this description seems a little disrespectful, there is no doubt that it must be the image of an oriental. This shows that the Huns have not lost their original physical characteristics by other ethnic hybrids after more than 300 years of westward migration. We don't know much about the social life of Huns in Attila era, but we can still see scales and claws from some legends. Once, an official of the Eastern Rome and his entourage went to the Xiongnu Empire. They were lucky enough to meet Attila and other Xiongnu generals, and even attended a feast hosted by Attila. From his long talk about this experience, we can learn some folk customs, diplomacy and politics at that time. These Roman officials met with heavy rain and floods on the way, but thanks to the help of Huns in nearby villages, they were able to escape. Huns welcomed them into the village to keep warm, provided them with delicious food and arranged for them to have a rest. Not only that, as part of their goodwill, Huns also sent beautiful girls to rest with their guests. It can be seen that the Huns, as a culturally backward nation at that time, had savage customs and simple and kind folk customs. In terms of material life such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, Huns are generally rich. They have delicious food and wine, and beautiful hairstyles; The nobles were luxuriously dressed and even had huge bathrooms. But they only have villages and no cities. Attila's palace is just a wooden structure, surrounded by wooden stakes and decorated with minarets at the top. Because of the vast territory involved in many years of campaigns, the ethnic composition of Xiongnu tribes is very complicated, and Xiongnu, Gothic, Latin, or a mixture of these languages can all pass here. Once, officials from East Rome met and talked with a Greek at the site of Atti Palace. The Greek used to be a prisoner, but he was later released because of his bravery in the battle, and married a Hun woman and became a guest of the nobility. Interestingly, the Greeks compared and evaluated the Xiongnu Empire and the Roman Empire. He said he liked living among these savages. When there is no war, life here is quite quiet and rich. On the other hand, Rome should be responsible for the disasters caused by many wars.