1
卷九十四上匈奴傳第六十四上
Volume 94a: "The Xiongnu," the sixty-fourth treatise, part one.
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匈奴，其先夏後氏之苗裔，曰淳維。 唐、虞以上有山戎、獫允、薰粥，居於北邊，隨草畜牧而轉移。 其畜之所多則馬、牛、羊，其奇畜則橐佗、驢、騾、駃騠、騊駼、驒奚。 逐水草遷徙，無城郭常居耕田之業，然亦各有分地。 無文書，以言語為約束。 兒能騎羊，引弓射鳥鼠，少長則射狐菟，肉食。 士力能彎弓，盡為甲騎。 其俗，寬則隨畜田獵禽獸為生業，急則人習戰攻以侵伐，其天性也。 其長兵則弓矢，短兵則刀鋌。 利則進，不利則退，不羞遁走。 苟利所在，不知禮義。 自君王以下鹹食畜肉，衣其皮革，被旃裘。 壯者食肥美，老者飲食其餘。 貴壯健，賤老弱。 父死，妻其後母； 兄弟死，皆取其妻妻之。 其俗有名不諱而無字。
The Xiongnu traced their line to a Xia descendant named Chunwei. Long before the sage-kings of high antiquity, peoples such as the Shanrong, Xianyun, and Xunyu already roamed the northern frontier, moving their herds with the seasons. They raised chiefly horses, cattle, and sheep, with oddities such as the Bactrian camel, donkey, mule, jüetí, táotú, and diānxī. They drifted after pasture and water, building no cities and sowing no grain, yet each tribe still held its own grazing ground. They kept no written records; a man's word was his contract. A boy who could straddle a sheep was given a bow for birds and mice; soon he hunted fox and hare and lived on meat. Every able-bodied male became an armored rider. In peace they followed the herds and hunted; in crisis they turned to raid and battle—it was second nature. Long reach meant bow and arrow; close work meant knife and spear. They advanced when the odds were good and pulled back when they were not, with no shame in retreat. Where profit pointed, ritual and right meant nothing. From the chanyu downward everyone ate herd meat, wore hides, and wrapped in felt and fur. The warriors took the best cuts; elders lived on the leavings. Youth and strength won respect; age and frailty counted for little. A son could take his late father's younger wives; when brothers died, the survivors married their widows. They used personal names without taboo or style names.
3
夏道衰，而公劉失其稷官，變於西戎，邑於豳。 其後三百有餘歲，戎狄攻太王但父，但父亡走於岐下，豳人悉從但父而邑焉，作周。 其後百有餘歲，周西伯昌伐畎夷。 後十有餘年，武王伐紂而營雒邑，復居於酆鎬，放逐戎夷涇、洛之北，以時入貢，名曰荒服。 其後二百有餘年，周道衰，而周穆王伐畎戎，得四白狼、四白鹿以歸。 自是之後，荒服不至。 於是作《呂刑》之辟。 至穆王之孫懿王時，王室遂衰，戎狄交侵，暴虐中國。 中國被其苦，詩人始作，疾而歌之，曰：「靡室靡家，獫允之故」； 「豈不日戒，獫允孔棘」。 至懿王曾孫宣王，興師命將以征伐之，詩人美大其功，曰：「薄伐獫允，至於太原」； 「出車彭彭」，「城彼朔方」。 是時四夷賓服，稱為中興。
When Xia rule faded, Gong Liu lost his charge over the grain sacrifice, went native among the western Rong, and built a settlement at Bin. Three centuries on, Rong and Di attacked Grand King Danfu; he fled to the slopes of Mount Qi, the Bin people followed, and there they laid the foundations of Zhou. A century after that, the western Earl Chang campaigned against the Quanyi. A dozen years later King Wu overthrew the Shang, planned Luoyi, yet kept his capital at Feng and Hao and pushed the outer tribes north of the Jing and Luo to pay seasonal tribute—the "wild" outer ring of submission. Two centuries on, royal power slipped; King Mu struck the Quanrong and came home boasting four white wolves and four white deer. After that the outer tribes stopped sending tribute. The court responded by promulgating the penal code known as the 《Punishments of Lü》. Under King Yi, Mu's grandson, the house of Zhou withered while Rong and Di took turns plundering the heartland. The heartland reeled, and the 《Classic of Poetry》 caught its pain: "No roof, no hearth—blame the Xianyun"; "Could we not watch every day? The Xianyun give no rest." Under King Xuan, Yi's great-grandson, royal armies marched again, and the odes sang the feat: "We struck the Xianyun clear to Taiyuan"; "Chariots rolled in thunder," "We raised walls on the northern frontier." The four quarters bent the knee—later ages called it the "royal revival."
4
至於幽王，用寵姬褒姒之故，與申侯有隙。 申侯怒而與畎戎共攻殺幽王於麗山之下，遂取周之地，鹵獲而居於涇、渭之間，侵暴中國。 秦襄公救周，於是周平王去酆鎬而東徙於雒邑。 當時秦襄公伐戎至支阜，始列為諸侯。 後六十有五年，而山戎越燕而伐齊，齊釐公與戰於齊郊。 後四十四年，而山戎伐燕。 燕告急齊，齊桓公北伐山戎，山戎走。 後二十餘年，而戎翟至雒邑，伐周襄王，襄王出奔於鄭之汜邑。 初，襄王欲伐鄭，故取翟女為後，與翟共伐鄭。 已而黜翟後，翟後怨，而襄王繼母曰惠後，有子帶，欲立之，於是惠後與翟後、子帶為內應，開戎翟，戎翟以故得入，破逐襄王，而立子帶為王。 於是戎翟或居於陸渾，東至於衛，侵盜尤甚。 周襄王既居外四年，乃使使告急於晉。 晉文公初立，欲修霸業，乃興師伐戎翟，誅子帶，迎內襄王子雒邑。
King You doted on Bao Si and broke with the lord of Shen. Shen allied with the Quanrong, slew You beneath Mount Li, seized royal ground, and camped between the Jing and Wei, raiding deep into the central plain. Lord Xiang of Qin rode to the rescue, and King Ping abandoned Feng-Hao for the eastern capital at Luoyi. Qin Xiang drove the Rong to the Zhifou hills and earned his place among the feudal lords. Sixty-five years on, Shanrong swept past Yan into Qi; Duke Xi met them on his border. Forty-four years after that they fell on Yan. Yan begged Qi for aid; Duke Huan marched north and drove the Shanrong off. Two decades later Rong and Di reached Luoyi, struck King Xiang, and chased him to Si in Zheng. Earlier Xiang had married a Di princess to gain allies for a war on Zheng. He then cast the Di queen aside; she plotted with Queen Hui—who wanted her son Prince Dai on the throne—and they opened the city to the Di, who drove Xiang out and crowned Dai. The invaders spread from Luhun east toward Wei, and their raiding grew fiercer. Four years in exile, Xiang sent pleading envoys to Jin. The new Duke Wen of Jin, building a hegemon's name, crushed the Di, killed Dai, and escorted Xiang home to Luoyi.
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當是時，秦晉為強國。 晉文公攘戎翟，居於西河圜、洛之間，號曰赤翟、白翟。 而秦穆公得由余，西戎八國服於秦。 故隴以西有綿諸、畎戎、狄獂之戎，在岐、梁、涇、漆之北有義渠、大荔、烏氏、朐衍之戎，而晉北有林胡、樓煩之戎，燕北有東胡、山戎。 各分散溪谷，自有君長，往往而聚者百有餘戎，然莫能相一。
Qin and Jin now towered over the other states. Jin cleared the Rong and Di west of the great river, between the Yuan and Luo streams—the "Red Di" and "White Di." Qin Mugong won the defector You Yu and brought eight western tribes to heel. West of the Long corridor lay Mianzhu, Quanrong, and Dīyuán; north of Qi, Liang, Jing, and Qi sat Yiqu, Dali, Wushi, and Quyǎn; beyond Jin stretched the forest Hu and Loufan; beyond Yan, the Eastern Hu and Shanrong. They split into hundreds of valley chiefdoms, none strong enough to unite the rest.
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自是之後百有餘年，晉悼公使魏絳和戎翟，戎翟朝晉。 後百有餘年，趙襄子逾句注而破之，並代以臨胡貉。 後與韓、魏共滅知伯，分晉地而有之，則趙有代、句注以北，而魏有西河、上郡，以與戎界邊。 其後，義渠之戎築城郭以自守，而秦稍蠶食之，至於惠王，遂拔義渠二十五城。 惠王伐魏，魏盡入西河及上郡於秦。 秦昭王時，義渠戎王與宣太后亂，有二子。 宣太后詐而殺義渠戎王於甘泉，遂起兵伐滅義渠。 於是秦有隴西、北地、上郡，築長城以距胡。 而趙武靈王亦變俗胡服，習騎射，北破林胡、樓煩，自代並陰山下至高闕為塞，而置雲中、雁門、代郡。 其後燕有賢將秦開，為質於胡，胡甚信之。 歸而襲破東胡，東胡卻千餘里。 與荊軻刺秦王秦舞陽者，開之孫也。 燕亦築長城，自造陽至襄平，置上谷、漁陽、右北平、遼西、遼東郡以距胡。 當是時，冠帶戰國七，而三國邊於匈奴。 其後趙將李牧時，匈奴不敢入趙邊。 後秦滅六國，而始皇帝使蒙恬將數十萬之眾北擊胡，悉收河南地，因河為塞，築四十四縣城臨河，徙適戍以充之。 而通直道，自九原至雲陽，因邊山險，塹溪谷，可繕者繕之，起臨洮至遼東萬餘裡。 又度河據陽山北假中。
A century later Duke Dao of Jin sent Wei Jiang to pacify the tribes, and their chiefs attended court at Jin. Another century on, Zhao Xiangzi crossed Gouzhu, shattered the border tribes, and annexed Dai to stare down the Hu. With Han and Wei he extirpated Zhi and split Jin; Zhao kept Dai and the north of Gouzhu, Wei the west-bank and Shang commanderies along the tribal frontier. The Yiqu Rong walled their towns, but Qin gnawed them away until King Hui snapped up twenty-five Yiqu cities. King Hui of Qin then seized Wei's west-bank lands and Shang commandery wholesale. Under King Zhaoxiang the Yiqu king kept a scandalous liaison with Queen Dowager Xuan and fathered two sons. She lured the Yiqu king to Ganquan and had him murdered, then sent armies to wipe Yiqu out. Qin thus took Longxi, Beidi, and Shang, and threw up a long wall against the Hu. Zhao Wuling adopted Hu robes and mounted archery, crushed the forest Hu and Loufan, strung fortifications from Dai along the Yin Mountains to Gaoque, and founded Yunzhong, Yanmen, and Dai commanderies. Yan later fielded Qin Kai, who lived as a hostage among the Hu and won their confidence. He came home to ambush the Eastern Hu and drove them a thousand li. The boy Qin Wuyang who accompanied Jing Ke was his grandson. Yan ran its own wall from Zaoyang to Xiangping and carved out five northern commanderies against the Hu. Seven great powers wore the silks of civilization; three shared a frontier with the Xiongnu. Under Zhao's general Li Mu the Xiongnu would not test the Zhao line. When Qin swallowed the rivals, the First Emperor sent Meng Tian north with hundreds of thousands, reclaimed the whole south bank, used the river as a shield, raised forty-four riverside counties, and packed them with exiles in uniform. He cut a straight highway from Jiuyuan to Yunyang and stitched a wall along defiles and cliffs—where earth could be piled it was—from Lintao to Liaodong, over ten thousand li. He crossed the river and planted garrisons north of Mount Yangshan in the Beijia loop.
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當是時，東胡強而月氏盛。 匈奴單于曰頭曼，頭曼不勝素，北徙。 十有餘年而蒙恬死，諸侯畔秦，中國擾亂，諸秦所徙適邊者皆復去，於是匈奴得寬，復稍度河南與中國界於故塞。
The Eastern Hu were still fierce and the Yuezhi at their peak. The chanyu was Touman; unable to stand against Qin, he pulled his people northward. A decade later Meng Tian was dead, rebels tore Qin apart, the border colonists drifted home, and the Xiongnu slipped back south of the river to the old picket line.
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單于有太子，名曰冒頓。 後有愛閼氏，生少子，頭曼欲廢冒頓而立少子，乃使冒頓質於月氏。 冒頓既質，而頭曼急擊月氏。 月氏欲殺冒頓，冒頓盜其善馬，騎亡歸。 頭曼以為壯，令將萬騎。 冒頓乃作鳴鏑，習勒其騎射，令曰：「鳴鏑所射而不悉射者斬。 」行獵獸，有不射鳴鏑所射輒斬之。 已而，冒頓以鳴鏑自射善馬，左右或莫敢射，冒頓立斬之。 居頃之，復以鳴鏑自射其愛妻，左右或頗恐，不敢射，復斬之。 頃之，冒頓出獵，以鳴鏑射單于善馬，左右皆射之。 於是冒頓知其左右可用，從其父單于頭曼獵，以鳴鏑射頭曼，其左右皆隨鳴鏑而射殺頭曼，盡誅其後母與弟及大臣不聽從者。 於是冒頓自立為單于。
Touman's heir was named Modu. A favored queen bore a second son; Touman meant to disinherit Modu and sent him as hostage to the Yuezhi. No sooner was Modu delivered than Touman struck the Yuezhi hard. The Yuezhi meant to execute him; he stole a prized stallion and galloped home. Touman, impressed, gave him command of ten thousand horse. Modu forged whistling arrows and drilled his men: "Every shaft I whistle to must be met with a volley—or you die." On hunts, anyone who held fire when his signal flew lost his head. He whistled into his favorite mount; men who flinched were cut down at once. He repeated the test on a favorite consort; those who hesitated followed the horse boys to the block. Finally he whistled into Touman's best horse, and every companion riddled it. Sure of his killers, he whistled Touman himself on a royal hunt; the same men emptied their quivers into the chanyu, then Modu slaughtered his stepmother, half-brother, and every minister who balked. Modu mounted the throne as chanyu.
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冒頓既立，時東胡強，聞冒頓殺父自立，乃使使謂冒頓曰：「欲得頭曼時號千里馬。 」冒頓問群臣，群臣皆曰：「此匈奴寶馬也，勿予。 」冒頓曰：「奈何與人鄰國愛一馬乎？ 」遂與之。 頃之，東胡以為冒頓畏之，使使謂冒頓曰：「欲得單于一閼氏。 」冒頓復問左右，左右皆怒曰：「東胡無道，乃求閼氏！ 請擊之。 」冒頓曰：「奈何與人鄰國愛一女子乎？ 」遂取所愛閼氏予東胡。 東胡王愈驕，西侵。 與匈奴中間有棄地莫居千餘里，各居其邊為甌脫。 東胡使使謂冒頓曰：「匈奴所與我界甌脫外棄地，匈奴不能至也，吾欲有之。 」冒頓問群臣，或曰：「此棄地，予之。 」於是冒頓大怒，曰：「地者，國之本也，奈何予人！ 」諸言與者，皆斬之。 冒頓上馬，令國中有後者斬，遂東襲擊東胡。 東胡初輕冒頓，不為備。 及冒頓以兵至，大破滅東胡王，虜其民眾、畜產。 既歸，西擊走月氏，南並樓煩、白羊河南王，悉復收秦所使蒙恬所奪匈奴地者，與漢關胡河南塞，至朝那、膚施，遂侵燕、代。 是時，漢方與項羽相距，中國罷於兵革，以故冒頓得自強，控弦之士三十餘萬。
The Eastern Hu, still strong, heard he had murdered his way to power and demanded Touman's famous stallion. His council said no—the horse was a national treasure. " "What neighbor hoards a single horse?" Modu asked. " He sent the horse." Thinking him cowed, they next asked for one of his queens. The court erupted: "Outrageous—they want your queen!" " Let us attack!" " "Would I risk war for one woman?" he said. " He handed over a favorite consort." The Eastern Hu king grew arrogant and pushed west. A thousand li of no-man's-land lay between them, each patrolling its own rim. They demanded that empty belt beyond the patrol zone—the land neither side used. Half his advisers shrugged: "Waste ground—let them have it." " "Soil is the nation's bone," Modu roared. "Who gives away bone?" Everyone who had said "give" went to the headsman. He vaulted into the saddle, ordered stragglers decapitated, and fell on the Eastern Hu. They had laughed at his concessions and left their guard down. Modu's host rolled over them, killed their king, and swept off people and livestock. On his return he drove the Yuezhi west, swallowed Loufan and the White Sheep tribe south of the Yellow River, reclaimed every pasture Meng Tian had stripped from the Xiongnu, and pushed his picket line against Han from Zhaona to Fushi, raiding into Yan and Dai. While Han and Xiang Yu tore at each other, China was bled white; Modu seized the moment to swell his host to three hundred thousand bowmen.
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自淳維以至頭曼千有餘歲，時大時小，別散分離，尚矣，其世傳不可得而次。 然至冒頓，而匈奴最強大，盡服從北夷，而南與諸夏為敵國，其世姓官號可得而記雲。
From Chunwei to Touman stretched a thousand years of rise and fall, splinter tribes and lost genealogies—no orderly list survives. Under Modu they peaked: every northern tribe bowed while they squared off against China as a peer power—at last their clans and titles can be set down.
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單于姓攣鞮氏，其國稱之曰「撐犁孤塗單于」。 匈奴謂天為「撐犁」，謂子為「孤塗」，單于者，廣大之貌也，言其象天單于然也。 置左右賢王、左右谷蠡、左右大將、左右大都尉、左右大當戶、左右骨都侯。 匈奴謂賢曰「屠耆」，故嘗以太子為左屠耆王。 自左右賢王以下至當戶，大者萬餘騎，小者數千，凡二十四長，立號曰「萬騎」。 其大臣皆世官。 呼衍氏、蘭氏，其後有須卜氏，此三姓，其貴種也。 諸左王將居東方，直上谷以東，接穢貉、朝鮮； 右王將居西方，直上郡以西，接氐、羌； 而單于庭直代、雲中。 各有分地，逐水草移徙。 而左右賢王、左右谷蠡最大國，左右骨都侯輔政。 諸二十四長，亦各自置千長、百長、什長、裨小王、相、都尉、當戶、且渠之屬。
The royal clan was Luandi; the full style of the throne was "Chanyu, Son of Heaven, of the Chēnglí Gūtú line." In their tongue "Chēnglí" was heaven and "Gūtú" was the heir; "chanyu" meant "all-encompassing as the sky." The court was staffed with paired wings: Wise Kings, Gūlì princes, grand generals, grand commandants, grand household heads, and Gūdū marquises left and right. They called a worthy man "Túqí," so the crown prince usually held the left Túqí kingship. Each of the twenty-four banners mustered from a few thousand to over ten thousand horse, all loosely called "ten-thousand" divisions. High office ran in the bloodline. The noble houses were Huyan, Lan, and later Xubu. The eastern wing held the ground from Shanggu east to Korea and the Mohe; the western wing ran from Shang commandery west toward Di and Qiang country; the chanyu's headquarters sat due north of Dai and Yunzhong. Each command kept its own pastures and moved with the seasons. The Wise Kings and Gūlì princes were the greatest appanages; Gūdū marquises handled daily governance. Every "ten-thousand" chief ran his own pyramid of thousand-, hundred-, and ten-man leaders, petty kings, chancellors, commandants, and household heads.
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歲正月，諸長小會單于庭，祠。 五月，大會龍城，祭其先、天地、鬼神。 秋，馬肥，大會蹛林，課校人畜計。 其法，拔刃尺者死，坐盜者沒入其家； 有罪，小者軋，大者死。 獄久者不滿十日，一國之囚不過數人。 而單于朝出營，拜日之始生，夕拜月。 其坐，長左而北向。 日上戊己。 其送死，有棺槨、金銀、衣裳，而無封樹喪服； 近幸臣妾從死者，多至數十百人。 舉事常隨月，盛壯以攻戰，月虧則退兵。 其攻戰，斬首虜賜一卮酒，而所得鹵獲因以予之，得人以為奴婢。 故其戰，人人自為趨利，善為誘兵以包敵。 故其逐利，如鳥之集； 其困敗，瓦解雲散矣。 戰而扶轝死者，盡得死者家財。
Each new year the chiefs gathered at court for the small sacrifice. In the fifth month they met at Dragon City for the great sacrifice to gods and ancestors. In autumn, when the herds were fat, they mustered at Dailín to audit men and beasts. Law was harsh: a foot of naked steel meant death; theft cost a family its freedom; lesser felons were broken on the wheel, greater ones beheaded. Trials were swift—few men languished ten days in a cell. The chanyu saluted the newborn sun at dawn and the moon at dusk. At council the senior men sat left, all facing north. They reckoned lucky days by the wu and ji stems. The dead took coffins, metal, and silks into the grave—no mound, no mourning grades, no marker trees; favorite followers and wives often went into the tomb by the score or hundred. Campaigns tracked the moon—attack at the full, retire at the wane. A severed head won a cup of wine; loot stayed with the man who seized it, captives became private slaves. So every warrior chased profit for himself, expert at feints that encircled foes. When fortune smiled they flocked like birds to grain; when fortune turned they melted away like mist. Whoever dragged a fallen comrade from the field inherited that man's whole tent and herd.
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後北服渾窳、屈射、丁零、隔昆、新{艸犁}之國。 於是匈奴貴人大臣皆服，以冒頓為賢。
He then forced the northern realms of Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun, and Xinli into submission. The nobles knelt to him and called him a true chanyu.
14
是時，漢初定，徙韓王信於代，都馬邑。 匈奴大攻圍馬邑，韓信降匈奴。 匈奴得信，因引兵南逾句注，攻太原，至晉陽下。 高帝自將兵往擊之。 會冬大寒雨雪，卒之墮指者十二三，於是冒頓陽敗走，誘漢兵。 漢兵逐擊冒頓，冒頓匿其精兵，見其羸弱，於是漢悉兵三十二萬，北逐之。 高帝先至平城，步兵未盡到，冒頓縱精兵三十餘萬騎圍高帝於白登，七日，漢兵中外不得相救餉。 匈奴騎，其西方盡白，東方盡駹，北方盡驪，南方盡騂馬。 高帝乃使使間厚遺閼氏，閼氏乃謂冒頓曰：「兩主不相困。 今得漢地，單于終非能居之。 且漢主有神，單于察之。 」冒頓與韓信將王黃、趙利期，而兵久不來，疑其與漢有謀，亦取閼氏之言，乃開圍一角。 於是高皇帝令士皆持滿傅矢外鄉，從解角直出，得與大軍合，而冒頓遂引兵去。 漢亦引兵罷，使劉敬結和親之約。
When the Han empire was new, Gaozu shifted Han Xin to Dai with his seat at Mayi. The Xiongnu ringed Mayi until Han Xin opened the gates to them. With Xin as guide they crossed Gouzhu, stormed Taiyuan, and camped below Jinyang. Gaozu marched in person to drive them back. A blizzard froze one man in three; Modu pretended flight and baited the Han vanguard. Han swallowed the lure and flung three hundred twenty thousand men after him while Modu hid his veterans and showed stragglers. Gaozu reached Pingcheng ahead of his infantry; Modu slammed three hundred thousand horse around Baideng for seven days, cutting the emperor off from relief. He ringed the hill with colored squadrons—white to the west, gray-blue to the east, black to the north, chestnut to the south. Gaozu slipped bribes to Modu's chief queen; she whispered, "Two thrones should not strangle each other." " Even if you seize Han soil, you cannot live on it." " Besides, the Son of Heaven carries heaven's favor—think twice." Modu waited in vain for Han Xin's allies Wang Huang and Zhao Li; suspecting treason and swayed by his queen, he cracked the ring. Gaozu told his men to face their drawn bows outward and punched through the gap to the main host; Modu then drew off. Han pulled back and sent Liu Jing to seal a heqin pact.
15
是後，韓信為匈奴將，及趙利、王黃等數背約，侵盜代、雁門、雲中。 居無幾何，陳豨反，與韓信合謀擊代。 漢使樊噲往擊之，復收代、雁門、雲中郡縣，不出塞。 是時，匈奴以漢將數率眾往降，故冒頓常往來侵盜代地。 於是高祖患之，乃使劉敬奉宗室女翁主為單于閼氏，歲奉匈奴絮繒酒食物各有數，約為兄弟以和親，冒頓乃少止。 後燕王盧綰復後，率其黨且萬人降匈奴，往來苦上谷以東，終高祖世。
Han Xin then rode for the Xiongnu, and Wang Huang and Zhao Li broke the truce again and again, chewing at Dai, Yanmen, and Yunzhong. Soon Chen Xi rose in revolt and plotted with Han Xin to hit Dai. Fan Kuai retook the lost counties but stopped at the wall. Han defectors kept feeding Modu intelligence, so he raided Dai at will. Gaozu patched the leak with a princess bride, yearly silks and wine, and a sworn-brother treaty; the raids eased. Later Yan's king Lu Wan fled to the steppe with ten thousand followers and raided east of Shanggu for the rest of Gaozu's life.
16
考惠、高后時，冒頓浸驕，乃為書，使使遺高后曰：「孤僨之君，生於沮澤之中，長於平野牛馬之域，數至邊境，願游中國。 陛下獨立，孤僨獨居。 兩主不樂，無以自虞，願以所有，易其所無。 」高後大怒，召丞相平及樊噲、季布等，議斬其使者，發兵而擊之。 樊噲曰：「臣愿得十萬眾，橫行匈奴中。 」問季布，布曰：「噲可斬也！ 前陳豨反於代，漢兵三十二萬，噲為上將軍，時匈奴圍高帝於平城，噲不能解圍。 天下歌之曰：『平城之下亦誠苦，七日不食，不能彀弩。 』今歌吟之聲未絕，傷痍者甫起，而噲欲搖動天下，妄言以十萬眾橫行，是面謾也。 且夷狄璧如禽獸，得其善言不足喜，惡言不足怒也。 」高后曰：「善。 」令大謁者張澤報書曰：「單于不忘弊邑，賜之以書，弊邑恐懼。 退而自圖，年老氣衰，發齒墮落，行步失度，單于過聽，不足以自污。 弊邑無罪，宜在見赦。 竊有御車二乘，馬二駟，以奉常駕。 」冒頓得書，復使使來謝曰：「未嘗聞中國禮義，陛下幸而赦之。 」因獻馬，遂和親。
Under Hui and the empress dowager Modu turned insolent and sent a letter calling himself a lonely widower bred in the mud who wanted to "visit" China. " You are widowed on your throne; I am alone in my yurt." " Neither of us has a bedfellow—why not trade what each lacks?" Gao boiled over and wanted the envoys executed and an army raised. Fan Kuai boasted he could ride roughshod over the steppe with a hundred thousand men. Ji Bu answered, "Fan Kuai deserves the block." " When Chen Xi rose in Dai you fielded three hundred twenty thousand men and made Fan Kuai top general—yet at Pingcheng he never broke the ring around Gaozu." " The soldiers still sing how they starved below Pingcheng." " The wounds are still fresh and he brags again—pure bluff." " Treat barbarian letters like animal noise—praise nor insult should move you." " The empress dowager said, "Well spoken." She had Zhang Shi answer: "We are humbled that you remembered our petty court." " I am a crone whose teeth and hair are going—do not honor me with such talk." " We have done no wrong; let the slate be clean." " We send two carriages and eight horses for your daily use." Modu answered with an apology: "We did not know Han etiquette; thank you for the pardon." " He sent horses and the peace marriage held."
17
至孝文即位，復修和親。 其三年夏，匈奴右賢王入居河南地為寇，於是文帝下詔曰：「漢與匈奴約為昆弟，無侵害邊境，所以輸遺匈奴甚厚。 今右賢王離其國，將眾居河南地，非常故。 往來入塞，捕殺吏卒，驅侵上郡保塞蠻夷，令不得居其故。 陵轢邊吏，入盜，甚驁無道，非約也。 其發邊吏車騎八萬詣高奴，遣丞相灌嬰將擊右賢王。 」右賢王走出塞，文帝幸太原。 是時，濟北王反，文帝歸，罷丞相擊胡之兵。
Emperor Wen renewed the heqin policy. In his third summer the right Wise King camped south of the Yellow River to raid; Wen published an edict: "We have paid lavish bride-price while you pledged brotherhood." " Now the right Wise King has moved his host inside the river without cause." " He crosses the wall, murders our officers, drives the garrison tribes of Shang from their homes." " This is arrogance and lawlessness, not the treaty we signed." " I order eighty thousand riders to Gaonu under Chancellor Guan Ying to punish the right Wise King." The right Wise King fled beyond the wall while Wen inspected Taiyuan. The prince of Jibei then mutinied; Wen rushed home and called off the northern expedition.
18
其明年，單于遺漢書曰：「天所立匈奴大單于敬問皇帝無恙。 前時皇帝言和親事，稱書意合歡。 漢邊吏侵侮右賢王，右賢王不請，聽後義盧侯難支等計，與漢吏相恨，絕二主之約，離昆弟之親。 皇帝讓書再至，發使以書報，不來，漢使不至。 漢以其故不和，鄰國不附。 今以少吏之敗約，故罰右賢王，使至西方求月氏擊之。 以天之福，吏卒良，馬力強，以滅夷月氏，盡斬殺降下定之。 樓蘭、烏孫、呼揭及其旁二十六國皆已為匈奴。 諸引弓之民並為一家，北州以定。 願寢兵休士養馬，除前事，復故約，以安邊民，以應古始，使少者得成其長，老者得安其處，世世平樂。 未得皇帝之志，故使郎中系虖淺奉書請，獻橐佗一，騎馬二，駕二駟。 皇帝即不欲匈奴近塞，則且詔吏民遠捨。 使者至，即遣之。 」六月中，來至新望之地。 書至，漢議擊與和親孰便，公卿皆曰：「單于新破月氏，乘勝，不可擊也。 且得匈奴地，澤鹵非可居也，和親甚便。 」漢許之。
Next year Modu's letter opened: "The heaven-appointed great chanyu greets the Son of Heaven." " You spoke of peace and kinship in good faith." " Petty officers provoked the right Wise King; he listened to hotheads, broke our pact, and severed brotherhood." " You sent reproaches twice; our answers never reached you, nor yours us." " So neighborliness failed." " We punished the right Wise King by ordering him west against the Yuezhi." " Heaven favored us—soldiers and mounts were strong and the Yuezhi were crushed." " Loulan, Wusun, Hujie, and twenty-six neighbors now answer to us." " Every archer on the steppe is one tribe again; the north is quiet." " We ask to sheathe swords, rest men and horses, wipe the slate, renew the old treaty, and let border folk grow old in peace." " Not knowing your mind, we send Xihujian with one camel, two mounts, and two chariot teams." " If you do not want us near the wall, order your people to pull back their farms." " Dispatch our messenger the moment he arrives." They reached Xinwang in the sixth month. The court debated war versus peace; the ministers said Modu was flush from crushing the Yuezhi and should not be attacked. " Their deserts are salt and useless; heqin is cheaper than blood." " Wen agreed."
19
孝文前六年，遺匈奴書曰：「皇帝敬問匈奴大單于無恙。 使系虖淺遺朕書，雲『愿寢兵休士，除前事，復故約，以安邊民，世世平樂』，朕甚嘉之。 此古聖王之志也。 漢與匈奴約為兄弟，所以遺單于甚厚。 背約離兄弟之親者，常在匈奴。 然右賢王事已在赦前，勿深誅。 單于若稱書意，明告諸吏，使無負約，有信，敬如單于書。 使者言單于自將並國有功，甚苦兵事。 服繡袷綺衣、長襦、錦袍各一，比疏一，黃金飭具帶一，黃金犀毘一，繡十匹，錦二十匹，赤綈、綠繒各四十匹，使中大夫意、謁者令肩遺單于。」
In the sixth year of Emperor Wen's early reign era he wrote: "The emperor greets the great chanyu in health." " Your envoy Xihujian brought word that you wished to disarm, forget old quarrels, renew the treaty, and let frontier folk live in peace—we applaud that." That is the mind of the ancient sage-kings. Han and the Xiongnu swore brotherhood, and the bride-gifts to the court at the steppe have always been rich. Yet it is usually the Xiongnu who tear up the pact and the kinship. The right Wise King's raid predates your amnesty; let there be no harsh reckoning. If you mean what you wrote, drill your officers not to break faith again, and we will answer in kind. Your envoy adds that you personally welded the tribes by arms and are weary of campaigning. We therefore send a lined brocade coat, a long robe, a brocade surcoat, a comb, a gold-mounted belt set, a gold rhinoceros belt hook, ten rolls of figured silk, twenty of brocade, and forty each of crimson and green silk, by Palace Grandee Yi and Usher-in-Chief Jian, as gifts to you."
20
後頃之，冒頓死，子稽粥立，號曰老上單于。
Modu soon died; his son Jiyu took the throne as the "Old Superior" chanyu.
21
老上稽粥單于初立，文帝復遣宗人女翁主為單于閼氏，使宦者燕人中行說傅翁主。 說不欲行，漢強使之。 說曰：「必我也，為漢患者」。 中行說既至，因降單于，單于愛幸之。
At his accession Wen sent another imperial princess as bride and assigned the Yan eunuch Zhonghang Yue to attend her. Zhonghang Yue refused the mission until the court compelled him. He swore, "Send me, and I will be Han's curse." Once north of the wall he defected to the chanyu, who took him as a favorite adviser.
22
初，單于好漢繒絮食物，中行說曰：「匈奴人眾不能當漢之一郡，然所以強之者，以衣食異，無仰於漢。 今單于變俗好漢物，漢物不過什二，則匈奴盡歸於漢矣。 其得漢絮繒，以馳草棘中，衣褲皆裂弊，以視不如旃裘堅善也； 得漢食物皆去之，以視不如重酪之便美也。 」於是說教單于左右疏記，以計識其人眾畜牧。
The chanyu doted on Chinese silks and delicacies until Zhonghang Yue warned him: "Your herdsmen are fewer than one Han county, yet you stay free because you live apart from Han goods." " If you grow fond of Han luxuries and they stop coming, two men in ten will desert you for the south." " Your riders tear Han gauze to shreds in the brush—it is weaker than felt." " Han rations spoil on the trail beside your kumiss." He then taught the court clerks tallies and counts for men and beasts.
23
漢遺單于書，以尺一牘，辭曰「皇帝敬問匈奴大單于無恙」，所以遺物及言語云云。 中行說令單于以尺二寸牘，及印封皆令廣長大，倨驁其辭曰「天地所生、日月所置匈奴大單于，敬問漢皇帝無恙」，所以遺物言語亦云雲。
Han used a one-foot tablet opening with the polite formula and listing tribute. Zhonghang Yue had Modu reply on a longer tablet with an outsized seal, styling him heaven-born rival to the Han emperor.
24
漢使或言匈奴俗賤老，中行說窮漢使曰：「而漢俗屯戍從軍當發者，其親豈不自奪溫厚肥美繼送飲食行者乎？ 」漢使曰：「然。 」說曰：「匈奴明以攻戰為事，老弱不能鬥，故以其肥美飲食壯健以自衛，如此父子各得相保，何以言匈奴輕老也？ 」漢使曰：「匈奴父子同穹廬臥。 父死，妻其後母； 兄弟死，盡妻其妻。 無冠帶之節、闕庭之禮。 」中行說曰：「匈奴之俗，食畜肉，飲其汁，衣其皮； 畜食草飲水，隨時轉移。 故其急則人習騎射，寬則人樂無事。 約束徑，易行； 君臣簡，可久。 一國之政猶一體也。 父兄死，則妻其妻，惡種姓之失也。 故匈奴雖亂，必立宗種。 今中國雖陽不取其父兄之妻，親屬益疏則相殺，至到易姓，皆從此類也。 且禮義之弊，上下交怨，而室屋之極，生力屈焉。 夫力耕桑以求衣食，築城郭以自備，故其民急則不習戰攻，緩則罷於作業，嗟土室之人，顧無喋喋占占，冠固何當！ 」自是之後，漢使欲辯論者，中行說輒曰：「漢使毋多言，顧漢所輸匈奴繒絮米蘖，令其量中，必善美而已，何以言為乎？ 且所給備善則已，不備善而苦惡，則候秋孰，以騎馳蹂乃稼穡也。 」日夜教單于候利害處。
When Han men sneered at Xiongnu disrespect for elders, Zhonghang Yue snapped back: "Do not Han parents strip their larder to pack a soldier's kit?" " The envoys admitted it." " We feed warriors first so families survive raids—that is filial piety in felt tents, not contempt." " But," said the Han men, "you sleep father and son under one roof." " A son inherits his father's junior wives." " Brothers marry each other's widows." " You have no caps, no court ritual." " We eat meat, drink milk, wear hides." " Our herds move with the grass." " In crisis every man is a horse-archer; in peace we rest." " Our laws are few and swift." " Ruler and ruled stay lean and last." " The realm moves as one body." " Levirate marriage keeps bloodlines from dying out." " Even in civil strife a kinsman of the royal line always rises." " Han forbids levirate, yet kin grow cold and kill each other until names change—who is more humane?" " Your ritual maze breeds hatred from roof to cellar." " You toil at farms and walls until you cannot fight—mud-house pedants, spare us the sermon on hats and sashes!" After that any Han envoy who argued met the reply: "Check the quality of the silk and grain you bring—talk is useless." " Send shoddy goods and we will wait for harvest season to ride down your fields." He drilled the chanyu night and day on where to strike Han.
25
孝文十四年，匈奴單于十四萬騎入朝那蕭關，殺北地都尉卬，虜人民畜產甚多，遂至彭陽。 使騎兵入燒回中宮，候騎至雍甘泉。 於是文帝以中尉周捨、郎中令張武為將軍，發車千乘，十萬騎，軍長安旁以備胡寇。 而拜昌侯盧卿為上郡將軍，甯侯魏脩為北地將軍，隆慮侯周灶為隴西將軍，東陽侯張相如為大將軍，成侯董赤為將軍，大發車騎往擊胡。 單于留塞內月餘，漢逐出塞即還，不能有所殺。 匈奴日以驕，歲入邊，殺略人民甚眾，雲中、遼東最甚，郡萬餘人。 漢甚患之，乃使使遺匈奴書，單于亦使當戶報謝，復言和親事。
In Wen's fourteenth year the chanyu poured a hundred forty thousand horsemen through Zhaona and Xiaoguan, slew the Beidi commandant Ang, swept up people and herds, and pushed to Pengyang. His raiders torched the Huizhong lodge and patrols probed toward Yong and Ganquan. Wen mobilized a thousand chariots and a hundred thousand horse under Zhou She and Zhang Wu to ring the capital. He named Lu Qing, Wei Xiu, Zhou Zao, Zhang Xiangru, and Dong Chi to lead the relief columns north. The chanyu stayed inside the wall a month; Han chased him out without a decisive kill. Year after year the raids swelled; Yunzhong and Liaodong lost ten thousand souls apiece in a season. Wen sent another letter; the chanyu answered through a household chief and reopened peace talks.
26
孝文後二年，使使遺匈奴書曰：「皇帝敬問匈奴大單于無恙。 使當戶且渠雕渠難、郎中韓遼遺朕馬二匹，已至，敬愛。 先帝制，長城以北引弓之國受令單于，長城以內冠帶之室朕亦制之，使萬民耕織，射獵衣食，父子毋離，臣主相安，俱無暴虐。 今聞渫惡民貪降其趨，背義絕約，忘萬民之命，離兩主之歡，然其事已在前矣。 書云『二國已和親，兩主歡說，寢兵休卒養馬，世世昌樂，翕然更始』，朕甚嘉之。 聖者日新，改作更始，使老者得息，幼者得長，各保其首領，而終其天年。 朕與單於俱由此道，順天恤民，世世相傳，施之無窮，天下莫不鹹便。 漢與匈奴鄰敵之國，匈奴處北地，寒，殺氣早降，故詔吏遺單于秫蘖金帛綿絮它物歲有數。 今天下大安，萬民熙熙，獨朕與單于為之父母。 朕追念前事，薄物細故，謀臣計失，皆不足以離昆弟之歡。 朕聞天不頗覆，地不偏載。 朕與單于皆捐細故，俱蹈大道，墮壞前惡，以圖長久，使兩國之民若一家子。 元元萬民，下及魚鱉，上及飛鳥，跂行喙息蠕動之類，莫不就安利，避危殆。 故來者不止，天之道也。 俱去前事，朕釋逃虜民，單于毋言章尼等。 朕聞古之帝王，約分明而不食言。 單于留志，天下大安，和親之後，漢過不先。 單于其察之。」
In the second year of Wen's Later Yuan era he wrote again: "The emperor greets the great chanyu." " Your envoys Diaoqu Nan and Han Liao brought two horses; we received them with thanks." " Our fathers drew the line: beyond the wall you command the archers; within it we rule the silken towns so farmers and hunters may live without fear." " Rebels once lured us both into quarrel; that is behind us." " Your pledge of disarmament and shared prosperity wins our praise." " The wise renew the world so graybeards rest and children mature under one peaceful sky." " You and we will walk this road forever, to the good of all under heaven." " The steppe is bitter cold, so yearly gifts of malt, gold, silk, and floss will continue as of old." " The empire is calm; we two thrones are its parents." " Past slights and bad advice shall not divide us again." " Heaven roofs all impartially; earth bears all without favor." " Let us bury old grudges and make our folk one household." " From fish to fowl, every creature seeks ease and flees harm." " So refugees keep crossing the wall—such is nature." " We forgive border fugitives; forget the names of minor defectors." " The ancients kept clear treaties and never broke their word." " After heqin, Han will not strike the first blow." " Think on these terms."
27
單于既約和親，於是制詔御史：「匈奴大單于遺朕書，和親已定，亡人不足以益眾廣地，匈奴無入塞，漢無出塞，犬己今約者殺之，可以久親，後無咎，俱便。 朕已許。 其佈告天下，使明知之。」
When the treaty was sealed Wen proclaimed: "Fugitives win you no land; neither side crosses the wall; whoever breaks this pact hereafter dies—so peace may last." " We consent." " Publish this to the empire."
28
後四年，老上單于死，子軍臣單于立，而中行說復事之。 漢復與匈奴和親。
Four years later the Old Superior died; his son Junchen succeeded, and Zhonghang Yue stayed at his ear. Han renewed heqin.
29
軍臣單于立歲餘，匈奴復絕和親，大入上郡、雲中各三萬騎，所殺略甚眾。 於是漢使三將軍軍屯北地，代屯句注，趙屯飛狐口，緣邊亦各堅守以備胡寇。 又置三將軍，軍長安西細柳、渭北棘門、霸上以備胡。 胡騎入代句注邊，烽火通於甘泉、長安。 數月，漢兵至邊，匈奴亦遠塞，漢兵亦罷。 後歲餘，文帝崩，景帝立，而趙王遂乃陰使於匈奴。 吳、楚反，欲與趙合謀入邊。 漢圍破趙，匈奴亦止。 自是後，景帝復與匈奴和親，通關市，給遺單于，遣翁主如故約。 終景帝世，時時小入盜邊，無大寇。
Within a year Junchen scrapped the treaty and sent thirty thousand horse into both Shang and Yunzhong, slaughtering and looting. Han planted three armies at Beidi, Dai, and Feihu while every sector manned the wall. Three more camps went up at Xiliu, Jimen, and Bashang outside the capital. Signal fires from the Gouzhu sector lit the sky as far as Ganquan and Chang'an. Months later Han reached the line; the Xiongnu had already slipped away, and both sides demobilized. A year after Wen's death Jing took the throne while Zhao's king Sui courted the Xiongnu in secret. When Wu and Chu rose, they meant to pull Zhao and the Xiongnu into the war. Han crushed Zhao and the nomad threat stalled. Jing restored heqin, opened border markets, paid tribute, and sent an imperial daughter as before. For the rest of Jing's reign there were only pinprick raids, no great invasions.
30
武帝即位，明和親約束，厚遇關市，饒給之。 匈奴自單于以下皆親漢，往來長城下。
Emperor Wu at first honored the old treaty, fattened the border trade, and showered gifts on the court. From the chanyu downward the tribes courted Han and traded along the wall.
31
漢使馬邑人聶翁壹間闌出物與匈奴交易，陽為賣馬邑城以誘單于。 單于信之，而貪馬邑財物，乃以十萬騎入武州塞。 漢伏兵三十餘萬馬邑旁，御史大夫韓安國為護軍將軍，護國將軍以伏單于。 單于既入漢塞，未至馬邑百餘里，見畜布野而無人牧者，怪之，乃攻亭。 時雁門尉史行徼，見寇，保此亭，單于得，欲刺之。 尉史知漢謀，乃下，具告單于。 單于大驚，曰：「吾固疑之。 」乃引兵還。 出曰：「吾得尉史，天也。 」以尉史為天王。 漢兵約單于入馬邑而縱，單于不至，以故無所得。 將軍王恢部出代擊胡輜重，聞單于還，兵多，不敢出。 漢以恢本建造兵謀而不進，誅恢。 自是後，凶奴絕和親，攻當路塞，往往入盜於邊，不可勝數。 然匈奴貪，尚樂關市，嗜漢財物，漢亦通關市不絕以中之。
A Mayi merchant named Nie Yi slipped through the gate to deal with the Xiongnu, pretending he would sell them the walled town of Mayi. The chanyu swallowed the bait and drove a hundred thousand riders through Wuzhou Pass. Three hundred thousand men lay concealed near Mayi while Han Anguo, imperial counsellor, directed the generals assigned to spring the trap on the chanyu. Inside the wall he found herds untended a hundred li short of Mayi, smelled a rat, and seized a watch post. A Yanmen clerk on rounds barricaded the tower until the Xiongnu took him and lifted a blade. To save his neck he revealed the ambush plan. The chanyu cried, "I knew it smelled wrong." " He wheeled his host about." At the border he shouted, "Heaven sent me that clerk." He named the clerk "King of Heaven." The ambush never sprang because the chanyu never reached the kill zone. Wang Hui was to slash the wagon train from Dai but froze when he heard the main horde was returning. The court beheaded Wang Hui for drafting the scheme and then hanging back. After Mayi the Xiongnu tore up heqin, stormed the frontier gates, and raided beyond count. Still they loved the border bazaars and Han goods, and Han kept the markets open to string them along.
32
自馬邑軍後五歲之秋，漢使四將各萬騎擊胡關市下。 將軍衛青出上谷，至龍城，得胡首虜七百人。 公孫賀出雲中，無所得。 公孫敖出代郡，為胡所敗七千。 李廣出雁門，為胡所敗，匈奴生得廣，廣道亡歸。 漢囚敖、廣，敖、廣贖為庶人。 其冬，匈奴數千人盜邊，漁陽尤甚。 漢使將軍韓安國屯漁陽備胡。 其明年秋，匈奴二萬騎入漢，殺遼西太守，略二千餘人。 又敗漁陽太守軍千餘人，圍將軍安國。 安國時千餘騎亦且盡，會燕救之，至，匈奴乃去，又入雁門殺略千餘人。 於是漢使將軍衛青將三萬騎出雁門，李息出代郡，擊胡，得首虜數千。 其明年，衛青復出雲中以西至隴西，擊胡之樓煩、白羊王子河南，得胡首虜數千，羊百餘萬。 於是漢遂取河南地，築朔方，復繕故秦時蒙恬所為塞，因河而為固。 漢亦棄上谷之鬥辟縣造陽地以予胡。 是歲，元朔二年也。
Five autumns after Mayi, Wu sent four columns of ten thousand horse to hit the nomads at the trading posts. Wei Qing rode from Shanggu to Dragon City and took seven hundred heads. Gongsun He left Yunzhong and found empty steppe. Gongsun Ao marched from Dai and lost seven thousand men to the nomads. Li Guang sortied from Yanmen, was taken alive, then broke out and rode home. The court jailed both commanders until they bought their way back to commoner status. That winter thousands of horsemen raided the line; Yuyang took the brunt. Han Anguo was posted to Yuyang to stiffen the defense. Next autumn twenty thousand riders hit Liaoxi, killed its governor, and dragged off two thousand captives. They crushed a thousand men under Yuyang's governor and penned Han Anguo in. Anguo had fewer than a thousand horse left when Yan reinforcements lifted the siege; the Xiongnu withdrew only to slash Yanmen for another thousand victims. Han answered with Wei Qing's thirty thousand from Yanmen and Li Xi from Dai, taking several thousand heads. The following year Qing swept from Yunzhong to Longxi, broke the Loufan and White Sheep bands south of the Yellow River, counted thousands of kills, and drove off a million sheep. Han annexed the south-bank pasturelands, founded Shuofang commandery, rebuilt Meng Tian's Qin wall, and anchored the line on the river. To sweeten the deal Han yielded the Zaoyang salient in Shanggu. The calendar read Yuanshuo 2.
33
其後冬，軍臣單于死，其弟左右蠡王伊稚斜自立為單于，攻敗軍臣單于太子於單。 於單亡降漢，漢封於單為陟安侯，數月死。
The next winter Junchen died; his brother Yizhixie, a Guli prince, seized the throne and drove off the heir Yudan. Yudan defected to Han, received the marquisate of Zhi'an, and died within months.
34
伊稚斜單于既立，其夏，匈奴數萬騎入代郡，殺太守共友，略千餘人。 秋，又入雁門，殺略千餘人。 其明年，又入代郡、定襄、上郡，各三萬騎，殺略數千人。 匈奴右賢王怨漢奪之河南地而築朔方，數寇盜邊，及入河南，侵擾朔方，殺略吏民甚眾。
Yizhixie's first summer brought tens of thousands of riders through Dai; Governor Gong You died and a thousand people vanished into slavery. That fall they repeated the performance at Yanmen. The year after they hit Dai, Dingxiang, and Shang simultaneously, thirty thousand horse per sector and thousands of casualties. The right Wise King fumed over the lost south bank and new Shuofang fort; he plundered inside the loop and ravaged Shuofang's people.
35
其明年春，漢遣衛青將六將軍十餘萬人出朔方高闕。 右賢王以為漢兵不能至，飲酒醉。 漢兵出塞六七百里，夜圍右賢王。 右賢王大驚，脫身逃走，精騎往往隨後去。 漢將軍得右賢王人眾男女萬五千人，裨小王十餘人。 其秋，匈奴萬騎入代郡，殺都尉硃央，略千餘人。
Next spring Wei Qing took six generals and over a hundred thousand men out of Shuofang toward Gaoque. The right Wise King assumed Han could not cross the waste and drank himself senseless. Qing's columns marched six or seven hundred li beyond the wall and ringed him by night. He bolted in his nightclothes while picked bodyguards galloped after him. Han bagged fifteen thousand captives and a dozen petty kings of his clan. That autumn ten thousand riders struck Dai again, killed Commandant Zhu Yang, and lifted another thousand souls.
36
其明年春，漢復遣大將軍衛青將六將軍，十餘萬騎，仍再出定襄數百里擊匈奴，得首虜前後萬九千餘級，而漢亦亡兩將軍，三千餘騎。 右將軍建得以身脫，而前將軍翕侯趙信兵不利，降匈奴。 趙信者，故胡小王，降漢，漢封為翕侯，以前將軍與右將軍並軍，介獨遇單于兵，故盡沒。 單于既得翕侯，以為自次王，用其姊妻之，與謀漢。 信教單于益北絕幕，以誘罷漢兵，徼極而取之，毋近塞。 單于從之。 其明年，胡數萬騎入上谷，殺數百人。
The next spring the grand general repeated the formula from Dingxiang, claiming nineteen thousand heads for the loss of two generals and three thousand Han cavalry. Su Jian limped home; Zhao Xin, Marquis of Xi, went over to the enemy. Zhao Xin had once been a steppe chieftain who came over for a Han marquisate; his column alone met the chanyu and was wiped out. The chanyu ennobled him as a "sub-king" below the throne, married him to a princess of the blood, and took his counsel against Han. Zhao Xin urged him to hug the northern desert, let Han exhaust its supply lines, then strike—never camp near the wall again. The chanyu adopted the strategy. The next year tens of thousands swept Shanggu for a few hundred heads.
37
明年春，漢使票騎將軍去病將萬騎出隴西，過焉耆山千餘里，得胡首虜八千餘級，得休屠王祭天金人。 其夏，票騎將軍復與合騎侯數萬騎出隴西、北地二千里，過居延，攻祁連山，得胡首虜三萬餘級，裨小王以下十餘人。 是時，匈奴亦來入代郡、雁門，殺略數百人。 漢使博望侯及李將軍廣出右北平，擊匈奴左賢王。 左賢王圍李廣，廣軍四千人死者過半，殺虜亦過當。 會博望侯軍救至，李將軍得脫，盡亡其軍。 合騎侯後票騎將軍期，及博望侯皆當死，贖為庶人。
Huo Qubing raced a thousand li beyond Longxi, stacked eight thousand Xiongnu dead, and seized the Xiutu king's golden heaven-god statues. That summer he and the Heqi marquis took tens of thousands from Longxi and Beidi, crossed Juyan, scoured the Qilian slopes, and killed thirty thousand from petty kings downward. While Han struck west, smaller bands nipped Dai and Yanmen for hundreds more. Zhang Qian and Li Guang hit Youbeiping against the left Wise King. The left Wise King nearly annihilated Li Guang's four thousand, though Guang still gave as good as he got. Zhang Qian's relief let Li Guang escape; the division was gone. The Heqi and Bowang marquises missed their deadlines, faced execution, and bought commoner status.
38
其秋，單于怒昆邪王、休屠王居西方為漢所殺虜數萬人，欲召誅之。 昆邪、休屠王恐，謀降漢，漢使票騎將軍迎之。 昆邪王殺休屠王，並將其眾降漢，凡四萬餘人，號十萬。 於是漢已得昆邪，則隴西、北地、河西益少胡寇，徙關東貧民處所奪匈奴河南地新秦中以實之，而減北地以西戍卒半。 明年春，匈奴入右北平、定襄各數萬騎，殺略千餘人。
That fall the chanyu blamed the western kings Hunye and Xiutu for tens of thousands lost and meant to execute them at court. The two kings chose defection; Han sent Huo Qubing to escort them in. Hunye murdered Xiutu, then led more than forty thousand followers—claiming a hundred thousand—across the line. Their surrender emptied the western frontier of raiders; Han colonized the new "Qin" belt south of the river with eastern paupers and cut the western garrisons by half. The next spring they lashed Youbeiping and Dingxiang again, several ten-thousand columns each.
39
其明年春，漢謀以為「翕侯信為單于計，居幕北，以為漢兵不能至」。 乃粟馬，發十萬騎，私負從馬凡十四萬匹，糧重不與焉。 令大將軍青、票騎將軍去病中分軍，大將軍出定襄，票騎將軍出代，鹹約絕幕擊匈奴。 單于聞之，遠其輜重，以精兵待於幕北。 與漢大將軍接戰一日，會暮，大風起，漢兵縱左右翼圍單于。 單于自度戰不能與漢兵，遂獨與壯騎數百潰漢圍西北遁走。 漢兵夜追之不得，行捕斬首虜凡萬九千級，北至窴顏山趙信城而還。
The next spring the strategists recalled Zhao Xin's advice: hug the far desert beyond Han's reach. Courts loaded grain into horses, mustered a hundred thousand riders and a hundred forty thousand remounts, baggage not counted. Wei Qing would spearhead from Dingxiang, Huo Qubing from Dai, both sworn to cross the Gobi and hunt the chanyu. The chanyu parked his wagons southward and waited north of the sand with veterans. He traded blows with Wei Qing until dusk and a sandstorm, when Han's wings tried to close the ring. Seeing the odds, he punched through the northwest face with a few hundred guards and ran. Qing's pursuit missed the chanyu but picked up nineteen thousand heads on the way to Xieyan Mountain and Zhao Xin's old fort.
40
單于之走，其兵往往與漢軍相亂而隨單于。 單于久不與其大眾相得，右谷蠡王以為單于死，乃自立為單于。 真單于復得其眾，右谷蠡乃去號，復其故位。
Stragglers trying to follow their ruler stumbled into Han units. When he failed to reappear, the right Guli king declared himself chanyu. The real chanyu reclaimed his army and the Guli king meekly gave back the title.
41
票騎之出代二千餘里，與左王接戰，漢兵得胡首虜凡七萬餘人，左王將皆遁走。 票騎封於狼居胥山，禪姑衍，臨翰海而還。
Huo Qubing drove two thousand li from Dai, shattered the eastern wing for seventy thousand counted dead, and sent its generals flying. He capped the campaign with the feng sacrifice on Langjuxu, the shan at Guyan, and a sight of the northern sea.
42
是後，匈奴遠遁，而幕南無王庭。 漢度河自朔方以西至令居，往往通渠置田官，吏卒五六萬人，稍蠶食，地接匈奴以北。
After that the court of the chanyu never again pitched south of the Gobi. Han bridged the Yellow River from Shuofang to Lingju, dug irrigation ditches, and parked fifty or sixty thousand colonists on fields that crept toward the nomad line.
43
初，漢兩將大出圍單于，所殺虜八九萬，而漢士物故者亦萬數，漢馬死者十餘萬匹。 匈奴雖病，遠去，而漢馬亦少，無以復往。 單于用趙信計，遣使好辭請和親。 天子下其議，或言和親，或言遂臣之。 丞相長史任敞曰：「匈奴新困，宜使為外臣，朝請於邊。 」漢使敞使於單于。 單于聞敞計，大怒，留之不遣。 先是，漢亦有所降匈奴使者，單于亦輒留漢使相當。 漢方復收士馬，會票騎將軍去病死，於是漢久不北擊胡。
The paired expeditions had killed perhaps ninety thousand Xiongnu but cost Han tens of thousands of men and more than a hundred thousand horses. Both sides were crippled—Han simply had no mounts for another surge. The chanyu took Zhao Xin's advice and sent smooth envoys begging for heqin again. Wu Di laid the letters before his court: some urged peace marriage, others outright vassalage. Ren Chang argued they were weak enough to be reduced to "outer vassals" reporting at the passes. The emperor sent Ren Chang north to deliver the ultimatum. The chanyu heard the demand and threw Ren Chang in chains. Han had already held Xiongnu hostages; the chanyu now balanced the ledger. Han was rebuilding armies when Huo Qubing died; northern offensives stalled for years.
44
數歲，伊稚斜單于立十三年死，子烏維立為單于。 是歲，元鼎三年也。 烏維單於立，而漢武帝始出巡狩郡縣。 其後漢方南誅兩越，不擊匈奴，匈奴亦不入邊。
Thirteen years into his reign Yizhixie died; his son Wuvie succeeded. The year was Yuanding 3. Wuvie's accession coincided with Wu Di's first great tours of the provinces. While Han swallowed Minyue and Nanyue, neither side tested the northern wall.
45
烏維立三年，漢已滅兩越，遣故太僕公孫賀將萬五千騎出九原二千餘里，至浮苴井，從票侯趙破奴萬餘騎出令居數千里，至匈奴河水，皆不見匈奴一人而還。
In Wuvie's third year Gongsun He rode fifteen thousand horse from Jiuyuan to Fuzujing, Zhao Ponu ten thousand from Lingju to the Xiongnu River—both found empty grass and turned home.
46
是時，天子巡邊，親至朔方，勒兵十八萬騎以見武節，而使郭吉風告單于。 既至匈奴，匈奴主客問所使，郭吉卑體好言曰：「吾見單于而口言。 」單于見吉，吉曰：「南越王頭已懸於漢北闕下。 今單于即能前與漢戰，天子自將兵待邊； 即不能，亟南面而臣子漢。 何但遠走，亡匿於幕北寒苦無水草之地為？ 」語卒，單于大怒，立斬主客見者，而留郭吉不歸，遷辱之北海上。 而單于終不肯為寇於漢邊，休養士馬，習射獵，數使使好辭甘言求和親。
The emperor then rode to Shuofang, paraded eighteen thousand cavalry as a show of force, and sent Guo Ji to lecture the chanyu. At the Xiongnu court the master of guests asked his errand; Guo Ji bowed low and said he would speak only to the chanyu. Face to face Guo Ji announced that Nanyue's king already hung at the Changan gate. " If you mean to fight, the Son of Heaven waits on the frontier in person." " If not, face south and submit at once." " Why cower beyond the sand in a land without grass or water?" The chanyu beheaded his own master of guests in fury, kept Guo Ji, and banished him to the northern sea. Still he would not strike Han; he rebuilt his herds, drilled his men, and kept sending honeyed pleas for heqin.
47
漢使王烏等窺匈奴。 匈奴法，漢使不去節、不以墨黥其面，不得入穹廬。 王烏，北地人，習胡俗，去其節，黥面入廬。 單于愛之，陽許曰：「吾為遣其太子入質於漢，以求和親。」
Han dispatched Wang Wu and others to probe the court. Xiongnu law barred envoys from the royal yurt unless they dropped their batons and accepted a face tattoo. Wang Wu, a Beidi native used to steppe ways, submitted to the ritual and entered. The chanyu favored him and lied that he would send the crown prince south as a hostage.
48
漢使楊信使於匈奴。 是時，漢東拔濊貉、朝鮮以為郡，而西置酒泉郡以隔絕胡與羌通之路。 又西通月氏、大夏，以翁主妻烏孫王，以分匈奴西方之援。 又北益廣田至眩雷為塞，而匈奴終不敢以為言。 是歲，翕侯信死，漢用事者以匈奴已弱，可臣從也。 楊信為人剛直屈強，素非貴臣也，單于不親。 欲召入，不肯去節，乃坐穹廬外見楊信。 楊信說單于曰：「即欲和親，以單于太子為質於漢。 」單于曰：「非故約。 故約，漢常遣翁主，給繒絮、食物有品，以和親，而匈奴亦不復擾邊。 今乃欲反古，令吾太子為質，無幾矣。 」匈奴俗，見漢使非中貴人，其儒生，以為欲說，折其辭辯； 少年，以為欲刺，折其氣。 每漢兵入匈奴，匈奴輒報償。 漢留匈奴使，匈奴亦留漢使，必得當乃止。
Han next sent Yang Xin. Han had annexed the eastern Mohe and Chosŏn as commanderies and sliced the west with Jiuquan to sever Hu from Qiang. Caravans now ran to Yuezhi and Bactria, and a princess wed the Wusun king to peel away Xiongnu allies. Han pushed military farms north to Xuanlei; the Xiongnu swallowed the insult in silence. When Zhao Xin died, Han ministers decided the Xiongnu could be forced into vassalage. Yang Xin was stiff-necked and low in rank; the chanyu disliked him. He refused the yurt ritual, so the chanyu met him outside the felt wall. Yang Xin demanded a crown-prince hostage for any new treaty. The chanyu snapped that this broke precedent. " The old bargain was a Han princess, graded silks and food, and quiet borders." " Now you want my heir in Chang'an—forget it." Their etiquette said: if the envoy was a pedantic scholar, humiliate his rhetoric; if he was young, treat him as an assassin and cow him. Every Han raid drew a matching reprisal. Hostage envoys were traded one for one until the counts evened.
49
楊信既歸，漢使王烏等如匈奴。 匈奴復諂以甘言，欲多得漢財物，紿王烏曰：「吾欲入漢見天子，面相結為兄弟。 」王烏歸報漢，漢為單于築邸於長安。 匈奴曰：「非得漢貴人使，吾不與誠語。 」匈奴使其貴人至漢，病，服藥欲愈之，不幸而死。 漢使路充國佩二千石印綬使，送其喪，厚幣直數千金。 單于以為漢殺吾貴使者，乃留路充國不歸。 諸所言者，單于特空紿王烏，殊無意入漢、遣太子來質。 於是匈奴數使奇兵侵犯漢邊，漢乃拜郭昌為拔胡將軍，乃浞野侯屯朔方以東，備胡。
When Yang Xin came home, Wang Wu carried the next round of talks north. The Xiongnu spun honeyed lies to milk more gifts, telling Wang Wu they would visit the emperor and swear brotherhood in person. " Wang Wu sold the story in Chang'an; the court built a guest mansion for the chanyu." " They demanded a high-ranking envoy or no straight talk." " A Xiongnu noble died under Han doctors in the capital." Lu Chongguo, a two-thousand-picul official, escorted the body home with lavish funeral gifts. The chanyu decided Han had murdered his man and held Lu Chongguo hostage. Every promise to Wang Wu had been empty: no royal visit, no crown-prince hostage. Raids multiplied until Han named Guo Chang "general who uproots the Hu" and posted Marquis Zhuoye east of Shuofang.
50
烏維單于立十歲死，子詹師廬立，年少，號為皃單于。 是歲，元封六年也。 自是後，單于益西北，左方兵直雲中，右方兵直酒泉、敦煌。
Wuvie died after ten years; his young son Zhanshilü succeeded as the "Boy Chanyu." The year was Yuanfeng 6. The court moved northwest, anchoring its left on Yunzhong and its right on Jiuquan-Dunhuang.
51
皃單于立，漢使兩使，一人吊單于，一人吊右賢王，欲以乖其國。 使者入匈奴，匈奴悉將致單于。 單于怒而悉留漢使。 漢使留匈奴者前後十餘輩，而匈奴使來漢，亦輒留之相當。
Han sent paired envoys—one to mourn the chanyu, one the right Wise King—to sow discord. The Xiongnu herded both parties to one audience. The chanyu, furious, jailed every Han messenger. Hostage diplomacy escalated: more than ten Han missions held north, each answered in kind.
52
是歲，漢使貳師將軍西伐大宛，而令因杅將軍築受降城。 其冬，匈奴大雨雪，畜多饑寒死，皃單于年少，好殺伐，國中多不安。 左大都尉欲殺單于，使人間告漢曰：「我欲殺單于降漢，漢遠，漢即來兵近我，我即發。 」初漢聞此言，故築受降城。 猶以為遠。
The same year Li Guangli marched on Dayuan while Yangan general built Fort Accept-Surrender. A blizzard starved the herds; the boy chanyu loved war, and the realm seethed. The left grand commandant plotted regicide and asked Han to move an army within supporting distance. " That is why Han had raised Accept-Surrender fort." Even that outpost seemed too distant.
53
其明年春，漢使浞野侯破奴將二萬騎出朔方北二千餘里，期至浚稽山而還。 浞野侯既至期，左大都尉欲發而覺，單于誅之，發兵擊浞野侯。 浞野侯行捕首虜數千人。 還，未至受降城四百里，匈奴八萬騎圍之。 浞野侯夜出自求水，匈奴生得浞野侯，因急擊其軍。 軍吏畏亡將而誅，莫相勸而歸，軍遂沒於匈奴。 單于大喜，遂遣兵攻受降城，不能下，乃侵入邊而去。 明年，單于欲自攻受降城，未到，病死。
Next spring Zhao Ponu, marquis of Zhuoye, took twenty thousand cavalry from Shuofang toward Junji Mountain. The plot leaked; the chanyu killed the conspirator and fell on Ponu. Ponu still bagged a few thousand heads on the march. Eighty thousand horse surrounded him four hundred li short of the fort. Ponu slipped out for water at night, was captured, and his command collapsed under the rush. Officers feared decapitation for losing their chief and scattered; the division vanished into captivity. Elated, he struck Accept-Surrender, failed to storm it, and withdrew after border raids. He planned a second siege but died on the road.
54
皃單于立三歲而死。 子少，匈奴乃立其季父烏維單于弟右賢王句黎湖為單于。 是歲，太初三年也。
The Boy Chanyu reigned only three years. With the heir a child, the nobles raised Wuvie's brother Julihou, the right Wise King. The year was Taichu 3.
55
句黎湖單于立，漢使光祿勳徐自為出五原塞數百里，遠者千里，築城障列亭至盧朐，而使游擊將軍韓說、長平侯衛伉屯其旁，使強弩都尉路博德築居延澤上。
Julihou's accession brought Xu Ziwei north from Wuyuan to build a picket line to Luqu, flanked by Han Shuo and Wei Kang, while Lu Bode walled the Juyan oasis.
56
其秋，匈奴大人云中、定襄、五原、朔方，殺略數千人，敗數二千石而去，行壞光祿所築亭障。 又使右賢王入酒泉、張掖，略數千人。 會任文擊救，盡復失其所得而去。 聞貳師將軍破大宛，斬其王還，單于欲遮之，不敢，其冬病死。
That autumn they stormed four commanderies, killed thousands, routed Han magistrates, and tore down Xu's new posts. The right Wise King raided Jiuquan and Zhangye for more captives. Ren Wen counterattacked and recovered the loot. Learning Li Guangli was returning from Dayuan, Julihou thought of ambush, thought better of it, and died that winter.
57
句黎湖單于立一歲死，其弟左大都尉且鞮侯立為單于。
Julihou ruled one year; his brother Qiedihou, the left grand commandant, succeeded.
58
漢既誅大宛，威震外國，天子意欲遂困胡，乃下詔曰：「高皇帝遺朕平城之憂，高後時單于書絕悖逆。 昔齊襄公復九世之讎，《春秋》大之。 」是歲，太初四年也。
After the Dayuan campaign Wu Di vowed to finish the Xiongnu, citing Gaozu's shame at Pingcheng and Modu's insult to Empress Lü. " The 《Spring and Autumn》 praised Qi Xiang's nine-generation vengeance." " The edict closed the year Taichu 4."
59
且鞮侯單于初立，恐漢襲之，盡歸漢使之不降者路充國等於漢。 單于乃自謂：「我兒子，安敢望漢天子！ 漢天子，我丈人行。 」漢遣中郎將蘇武厚幣賂遺單于，單于益驕，禮甚倨，非漢所望也。 明年，浞野侯破奴得亡歸漢。
Fearing invasion, Qiedihou sent every detained Han envoy who had not defected home, including Lu Chongguo. He styled himself "only a child" before Han's majesty. " The Han emperor is my elder." Han answered with gifts and Su Wu; the chanyu grew haughtier than ever. The next year Zhao Ponu escaped from captivity.
60
其明年，漢使貳師將軍將三萬騎出酒泉，擊右賢王於天山，得首虜萬餘級而還。 匈奴大圍貳師，幾不得脫。 漢兵物故什六七。 漢又使因杅將軍出西河，與強弩都尉會涿邪山，亡所得。 使騎都尉李陵將步兵五千人出居延北千餘里，與單于會，合戰，陵所殺傷萬餘人，兵食盡，欲歸，單于圍陵，陵降匈奴，其兵得脫歸漢者四百人。 單于乃貴陵，以其女妻之。
Li Guangli struck the right Wise King at the Tian Shan with thirty thousand horse and ten thousand counted kills. The nomads nearly encircled and destroyed him. Six or seven men in ten never came home. The Yangan column from Xihe met Lu Bode at Zhuoye Mountain and found no enemy. Li Ling marched five thousand infantry beyond Juyan, killed ten thousand, ran out of supplies, and surrendered when surrounded; four hundred stragglers reached Han. The chanyu ennobled him and married him to a princess.
61
後二歲，漢使貳師將軍六萬騎、步兵七萬，出朔方； 強弩都尉路博德將萬餘人，與貳師會，游擊將軍說步兵三萬人，出五原； 因杅將軍敖將騎萬，步兵三萬人，出雁門。 匈奴聞，悉遠其累重於余吾水北，而單于以十萬待水南，與貳師接戰。 貳師解而引歸，與單于連鬥十餘日，游擊亡所得。 因杅與左賢王戰，不利，引歸。
Two years later Li Guangli led sixty thousand horse and seventy thousand foot from Shuofang; Lu Bode added ten thousand to meet him; Han Shuo took thirty thousand foot from Wuyuan; Gongsun Ao led ten thousand cavalry and thirty thousand foot from Yanmen. The Xiongnu parked their wagons north of the Yuwu while the chanyu met Li Guangli south of the river with a hundred thousand. Li Guangli disengaged after ten days of fighting; Han Shuo found empty steppe. Gongsun Ao lost to the left Wise King and pulled back.
62
明年，且鞮侯單于死，立五年，長子左賢王立為狐鹿姑單于。 是歲，太始元年也。
Qiedihou died after five years; his heir, the left Wise King, became Chanyu Hulugu. The year was Taishi 1.
63
初，且鞮侯兩子，長為左賢王，次為左大將，病且死，言立左賢王。 左賢王未至，貴人以為有病，更立左大將為單于。 左賢王聞之，不敢進。 左大將使人召左賢王而讓位焉。 左賢王辭以病，左大將不聽，謂曰：「即不幸死，傳之於我。 」左賢王許之，遂立為狐鹿姑單于。
Qiedihou had willed the throne to his elder son, the left Wise King. Before the heir arrived the council assumed sickness and raised the younger brother. The true heir halted, fearing a trap. The new chanyu summoned him to take the throne. The elder pleaded illness; the younger insisted, "If you die, I inherit." " The left Wise King accepted and became Hulugu."
64
狐鹿姑單于立，以左大將為左賢王，數年病死，其子先賢撣不得代，更以為日逐王。 日逐王者，賤於左賢王。 單于自以其子為左賢王。 單于既立六年，而匈奴入上谷、五原，殺略吏民。 其年，匈奴復入五原、酒泉，殺兩部都尉。 於是漢遣貳師將軍七萬人出五原，御史大夫商丘成將三萬餘人出西河，重合侯莽通將四萬騎出酒泉千餘里。 單于聞漢兵大出，悉遣其輜重，徙趙信城北邸郅居水。 左賢王驅其人民度余吾水六七百里，居兜銜山。 單于自將精兵左安侯度姑且水。
Hulugu made his benefactor left Wise King; when that man died, his son Xianxian Chan was passed over for the lower rank of Rizhu king. Rizhu ranks below the eastern heir-apparent. Hulugu named his own son left Wise King. In his sixth year raiders hit Shanggu and Wuyuan again. The same year they murdered the commandants of Wuyuan and Jiuquan. Han answered with Li Guangli at seventy thousand from Wuyuan, Shangqiu Cheng from Xihe, and Mang Tong's forty thousand horse from Jiuquan. The chanyu sent his wagons deep north of Zhao Xin's city to the Zhiqi River. The left Wise King herded his clans six or seven hundred li across the Yuwu to Mount Douxian. The chanyu led veterans while the Marquis of Zuo'an crossed the Guqie.
65
御史大夫軍至追邪徑，無所見，還。 匈奴使大將與李陵將三萬餘騎追漢軍，至浚稽山合，轉戰九日，漢兵陷陳卻敵，殺傷虜甚眾。 至蒲奴水，虜不利，還去。
Shangqiu Cheng's column found no fight at Zhuoying Path. Li Ling led thirty thousand Xiongnu horse against Han at Junji; nine days of battle cost both sides heavily until the nomads broke off at Punu River. At Punu the Xiongnu gave up the pursuit.
66
重合侯軍至天山，匈奴使大將偃渠與左右呼知王將二萬餘騎要漢兵，見漢兵強，引去。 重合侯無所得失。 是時，漢恐車師兵遮重合侯，乃遣闓陵侯將兵別圍車師，盡得其王民眾而還。
Mang Tong reached Tian Shan; Yanqu and the Huzhi kings shadowed him with twenty thousand horse but withdrew when Han looked too strong. Mang Tong came home empty-handed. Fearing Cheshi would ambush Mang Tong, Han sent the Marquis of Kailing to take the kingdom of Cheshi whole.
67
貳師將軍將出塞，匈奴使右大都尉與衛律將五千騎要擊漢軍於夫羊句山狹。 貳師遣屬國胡騎二千與戰，虜兵壞散，死傷者數百人。 漢軍乘勝追北，至范夫人城，匈奴奔走，莫敢距敵。 會貳師妻子坐巫蠱收，聞之憂懼。 其掾胡亞夫亦避罪從軍，說貳師曰：「夫人室家皆在吏，若還不稱意，適與獄會，郅居以北可復得見乎？ 」貳師由是狐疑，欲深入要功，遂北至郅居水上。 虜已去，貳師遣護軍將二萬騎度郅居之水。 一日，逢左賢王左大將，將二萬騎與漢軍合戰一日，漢軍殺左大將，虜死傷甚眾。 軍長史與決眭都尉煇渠侯謀曰：「將軍懷異心，欲危眾求功，恐必敗。 」謀共執貳師。 貳師聞之，斬長史，引兵還至速邪烏燕然山。 單于知漢軍勞倦，自將五萬騎遮擊貳師，相殺傷甚眾。 夜塹漢軍前，深數尺，從後急擊之，軍大亂敗，貳師降。 單于素知其漢大將貴臣，以女妻之，尊寵在衛律上。
On Li Guangli's exit the right grand commandant and Wei Lu hit him at Fuyangju gorge with five thousand horse. Li Guangli threw two thousand allied Hu cavalry into the gap and broke the ambush for a few hundred kills. Han pursued to Lady Fan's fort and cleared the field. Then word came that his family had been arrested in the witchcraft purge. His aide Hu Yafu whispered that returning to face the witchcraft court meant death. Li Guangli wavered, then drove deeper for a redeeming victory. He sent his colonel-protector across the Zhiqi after a fleeing foe. They collided with the left Wise King's left grand general at twenty thousand horse, killed him, and piled Xiongnu dead. The chief clerk and Huiqu marquis decided Li Guangli was risking the army for personal glory. " They moved to arrest him." Li Guangli executed the chief clerk and retreated toward Yanyran. Seeing Han exhausted, the chanyu hit him with fifty thousand fresh horse. They dug a trench before the Han camp, struck from the rear, and broke Li Guangli, who surrendered. The chanyu knew his prize: he married Li Guangli to a daughter and ranked him above Wei Lu.
68
其明年，單于遣使遺漢書云：「南有大漢，北有強胡。 胡者，天之驕子也，不為小禮以自煩。 今欲與漢闓大關，取漢女為妻，歲給遺我糵酒萬石，稷米五千斛，雜繒萬匹，它如故約，則邊不相盜矣。 」漢遣使者報送其使，單于使左右難漢使者，曰：「漢，禮義國也。 貳師道前太子發兵反，何也？ 」使者曰：「然。 乃丞相私與太子爭鬥，太子發兵欲誅丞相，丞相誣之，故誅丞相。 此子弄父兵，罪當笞，小過耳。 孰與冒頓單于身殺其父代立，常妻後母，禽獸行也！ 」單于留使者，三歲乃得還。
The next year a Xiongnu letter boasted: "South lies mighty Han, north stands mighty Hu." " The Hu are heaven's spoiled children—we scorn petty etiquette." " Open the gates wide, send a bride, ten thousand piculs of ale, five thousand hu of grain, ten thousand bolts of silk yearly as of old, and the raids stop." " Han returned an embassy; Xiongnu courtiers sneered, "You are the kingdom of ritual." " Yet your Second Corps helped the old crown prince rebel—how righteous is that?" " The Han envoy admitted it." It was a private feud between chancellor and crown prince: the prince drew arms, the chancellor cried treason, and the minister died for it. The heir only "borrowed" his father's guards—a flogging offense at worst. Compare that to Modu murdering his father, taking his stepmothers—that is bestial. " The Xiongnu held the envoy three years before release."
69
貳師在匈奴歲餘，衛律害其寵，會母閼氏病，律飭胡巫言先單于怒，曰：「胡故時祠兵，常言得貳師以社，今何故不用？ 」於是收貳師，貳師罵曰：「我死必滅匈奴！ 」遂屠貳師以祠。 會連雨雪數月，畜產死，人民疫病，谷稼不熟，單于恐，為貳師立祠室。
After a year in the north Wei Lu grew jealous of Li Guangli; when the queen mother fell ill, Wei Lu bribed a shaman to say the late chanyu demanded Li Guangli for a blood sacrifice to the army spirits. " They arrested Li Guangli; he cursed, "My ghost will wipe you out." " They dismembered him for the altar." Months of blizzard followed—herds died, people sickened, crops failed; the chanyu, terrified, built Li Guangli a spirit hall.
70
自貳師沒後，漢新失大將軍士卒數萬人，不復出兵。 三歲，武帝崩。 前此者，漢兵深入窮追二十餘年，匈奴孕重惰殰，罷極苦之。 自單于以下常有欲和親計。
Li Guangli's end cost Han tens of thousands of men and froze major offensives. Three years later Wu Di died. Two decades of deep strikes had left the Xiongnu herds barren, women miscarrying, and the whole nation exhausted. Even the chanyu's court talked peace again.
71
後三年，單于欲求和親，會病死。 初，單于有異母弟為左大都尉，賢，國人鄉之，母閼氏恐單于不立子而立左大都尉也，乃私使殺之。 左大都尉同母兄怨，遂不肯復會單于庭。 又單于病且死，謂諸貴人：「我子少，不能治國，立弟右谷蠡王。 」及單于死，衛律等與顓渠閼氏謀，匿單于死，詐矯單于令，與貴人飲盟，更立子左谷蠡王為壺衍鞮單于。 是歲，始元二年也。
Three years on he sued for heqin—then died of illness. Hulugu had a brilliant half-brother, the left grand commandant; the queen mother had him murdered so her son would inherit. That man's full brother nursed a grudge and boycotted court. Dying, Hulugu asked the nobles to pass the throne to his brother the right Guli king—his son was too young. " After his death Wei Lu and the Zhuanqu queen hid the corpse, forged orders, and crowned the boy left Guli king as Huyandi." The year was Shiyuan 2.
72
壺衍鞮單于既立，風謂漢使者，言欲和親。 左賢王、右谷蠡王以不得立怨望，率其眾欲南歸漢。 恐不能自致，即脅盧屠王，欲與西降烏孫，謀擊匈奴。 盧屠王告之，單于使人驗問，右谷蠡王不服，反以其罪罪盧屠王，國人皆冤之。 於是二王去居其所，未嘗肯會龍城。
The new Huyandi hinted through envoys that he wanted peace. The left Wise King and right Guli king, passed over for the throne, meant to defect south. They strong-armed King Lutü into a plot to flee west to Wusun and stab the confederation. Lutü broke ranks and told the chanyu; the right Guli king reversed the blame onto him and outraged the tribes. The two princes camped apart and boycotted the annual Dragon City muster.
73
後二年秋，匈奴入代，殺都尉。 單于年少初立，母閼氏不正，國內乖離，常恐漢兵襲之。 於是衛律為單于謀：「穿井築城，治樓以藏谷，與秦人守之。 漢兵至，無奈我何。 」即穿井數百，伐材數千。 或曰胡人不能守城，是遺漢糧也，衛律於是止，乃更謀歸漢使不降者蘇武、馬宏等。 馬宏者，前副光祿大夫王忠使西國，為匈奴所遮，忠戰死，馬宏生得，亦不肯降。 故匈奴歸此二人，欲以通善意。 是時，單於立三歲矣。
Two autumns later they hit Dai and killed its commandant. The boy chanyu faced a dissolute queen mother and a split court, dreading Han attack. Wei Lu advised walls, wells, granaries, and Han turncoat garrisons. " Han cavalry would break on stone." " They sank hundreds of wells and felled thousands of logs." Critics said nomads cannot hold walls—that would only feed Han sieges; Wei Lu dropped the plan and offered to return Su Wu and Ma Hong instead. Ma Hong had followed Wang Zhong west, was cut off, saw Zhong die fighting, and refused to yield in captivity. Returning the two hostages was a gesture of goodwill. The chanyu was three years on the throne.
74
明年，匈奴發左右部二萬騎，為四隊，並入邊為寇。 漢兵追之，斬首獲虜九千人，生得甌脫王，漢無所失亡。 匈奴見甌脫王在漢，恐以為道擊之，即西北遠去，不敢南逐水草，發人民屯甌脫。 明年，復遣九千騎屯受降城以備漢，北橋余吾，令可度，以備奔走。 是時，衛律已死。 衛律在時，常言和親之利，匈奴不信，及死後，兵數困，國益貧。 單于弟左谷蠡王思衛律言，欲和親而恐漢不聽，故不肯先言，常使左右風漢使者。 然其侵盜益希，遇漢使愈厚，欲以漸致和親，漢亦羈縻之。 其後，左谷蠡王死。 明年，單于使犁汙王窺邊，言酒泉、張掖兵益弱，出兵試擊，冀可復得其地。 時漢先得降者，聞其計，天子詔邊警備。 後無幾，右賢王、犁汙王四千騎分三隊，入日勒、屋蘭、番和。 張掖太守、屬國都尉發兵擊，大破之，得脫者數百人。 屬國千長義渠王騎士射殺犁B028王，賜黃金二百斤，馬二百匹，因封為犁汙王。 屬國都尉郭忠封成安侯。 自是後，匈奴不敢入張掖。
Next year they sent four columns of twenty thousand horse to raid. Han pursuit killed nine thousand, captured the Outuo king, and took no losses. Fearing the Outuo king would guide Han raids, they pulled northwest and garrisoned the buffer belt themselves. They posted nine thousand men at Accept-Surrender and spanned the Yuwu for a retreat route. Wei Lu was dead by then. Alive, Wei Lu had preached heqin to deaf ears; after his death defeats and poverty mounted. The left Guli king remembered Wei Lu's counsel and nudged Han envoys toward peace without speaking first. Raids thinned, gifts to envoys fattened, and Han played along with loose reins. Then the left Guli king died. He sent King Liwu to scout whether Jiuquan and Zhangye could be retaken. A defector warned Han; the emperor put the garrisons on alert. Soon four thousand horse in three files hit Rile, Wulan, and Fanhe. Zhangye officials counterattacked, shattering the raid; a few hundred escaped. A Yiqu thousand-chief slew King Liwu and was rewarded with gold, horses, and the Liwu title. Guo Zhong became marquis of Cheng'an. Zhangye saw no more Xiongnu columns.
75
其明年，匈奴三千餘騎入五原，略殺數千人，後數萬騎南旁塞獵，行攻塞外亭障，略取吏民去。 是時，漢邊郡烽火候望精明，匈奴為邊寇者少利，希復犬已塞。 漢復得匈奴降者，言烏桓嘗發先單于塚，匈奴怨之，方發二萬騎擊烏桓。 大將軍霍光欲發兵邀擊之，以問護軍都尉趙充國。 充國以為：「烏桓間數犬已塞，今匈奴擊之，於漢便。 又匈奴希寇盜，北邊幸無事。 蠻夷自相攻擊，而發兵要之，招寇生事，非計也。 」光更問中郎將范明友，明友言可擊。 於是拜明友為度遼將軍，將二萬騎出遼東。 匈奴聞漢兵至，引去。 初，光誡朋友：「兵不空出，即後匈奴，遂擊烏桓。 」烏桓時新中匈奴兵，明友既後匈奴，因乘烏桓敝，擊之，斬首六千餘級，獲三王首，還，封為平陵侯。
Next year three thousand hit Wuyuan; later tens of thousands "hunted" along the wall, snapping up outposts and captives. Sharp beacon discipline made raids unprofitable; the wall was rarely breached. A turncoat reported a Xiongnu expedition to punish Wuhuan for grave-robbing. Huo Guang asked Zhao Chongguo whether to ambush the column. Zhao Chongguo argued that the Wuhuan had repeatedly crossed inside the wall and that letting the Xiongnu punish them served Han's interest on the border. " Xiongnu raids have slackened; the north is quiet." " Cutting in on tribal war only invites new trouble." " Huo Guang asked Fan Mingyou, who said strike anyway." Fan Mingyou took twenty thousand cavalry from Liaodong as "Cross-Liao" general. The Xiongnu heard and withdrew. Huo Guang had ordered him not to return empty-handed—if the Xiongnu escaped, hit the Wuhuan. The Wuhuan were already bloodied; Mingyou slaughtered six thousand, took three royal heads, and won the Pingling marquisate.
76
匈奴由是恐，不能出兵。 即使使之烏孫，求欲得漢公主。 擊烏孫，取車延、惡師地。 烏孫公主上書，下公卿議救，未決。 昭帝崩，宣帝即位，烏孫昆彌復上書言：「連為匈奴所侵削，昆彌願發國半精兵人馬五萬匹，盡力擊匈奴，唯天子出兵，哀救公主！ 」本始二年，漢大發關東輕銳士，選郡國吏三百石伉健習騎射者，皆從軍。 遣御史大夫田廣明為祁連將軍，四萬餘騎，出西河； 度遼將軍范明友三萬餘騎，出張掖； 前將軍韓增三萬餘騎，出雲中； 後將軍趙充國為蒲類將軍，三萬餘騎，出酒泉； 雲中太守田順為虎牙將軍，三萬餘騎，出五原：凡五將軍，兵十餘萬騎，出塞各二千餘里。 及校尉常惠使護髮兵烏孫西域，昆彌自將翕侯以下五萬餘騎從西方入，與五將軍兵凡二十餘萬眾。 匈奴聞漢兵大出，老弱奔走，驅畜產遠遁逃，是以五將少所得。
The scare left the Xiongnu unable to mount another host. They still pressed Wusun for a Han princess. They seized Cheyan and Wushi from Wusun. The Wusun princess begged for rescue; the court debated and stalled. When Zhao Di died and Xuan Di rose, the Wusun Kunmi pleaded for fifty thousand allied horse if Han would march to save the princess. " In Ben shi 2 Han drafted fit archers above three hundred piculs from the eastern commanderies." Tian Guangming led forty thousand from Xihe as Qilian general; Fan Mingyou took thirty thousand from Zhangye; Han Zeng took thirty thousand from Yunzhong; Zhao Chongguo marched as Pulei general from Jiuquan; Tian Shun led thirty thousand from Wuyuan as Tigerya general—five columns, over a hundred thousand horse, each beyond two thousand li. Chang Hui took charge of the Wusun and western auxiliaries; the Kunmi led fifty thousand from the Xi marquis down from the west to join the Han columns for over two hundred thousand in all. The Xiongnu drove noncombatants and herds away; the five Han columns found thin pickings.
77
度遼將軍出塞千二百餘里，至蒲離候水，斬首捕虜七百餘級，鹵獲馬、牛、羊萬餘。 前將軍出塞千二百餘里，至烏員，斬首捕虜，至候山百餘級，鹵馬、牛、羊二千餘。 蒲類將軍兵當與烏孫合擊匈奴蒲類澤，烏孫先期至而去，漢兵不與相及。 蒲類將軍出塞千八百餘里，西去候山，斬首捕虜，得單于使者蒲陰王以下三百餘級，鹵馬、牛、羊七千餘。 聞虜已引去，皆不至期還。 天子蒲其過，寬而不罪。 祁連將軍出塞千六百里，至雞秩山，斬首捕虜十九級，獲牛、馬、羊百餘。 逢漢使匈奴還者冉弘等，言雞秩山西有虜眾，祁連即戒弘，使言無虜，欲還兵。 御史屬公孫益壽諫，以為不可，祁連不聽，遂引兵還。 虎牙將軍出塞八百餘里，至丹余吾水上，即止兵不進，斬首捕虜千九百餘級，鹵馬、牛、羊七萬餘，引兵還。 上以虎牙將軍不至期，詐增鹵獲，而祁連知虜在前，逗留不進，皆下吏自殺。 擢公孫益壽為侍御史。 校尉常惠與烏孫兵至右谷蠡庭，獲單于父行及嫂、居次、名王、犁汙都尉、千長、將以下三萬九千餘級，虜馬、牛、羊、驢、騾、橐駝七十餘萬。 漢封惠為長羅侯。 然匈奴民眾死傷而去者，及畜產遠移死亡不可勝數。 於是匈奴遂衰耗，怨烏孫。
Fan Mingyou reached Pulihou water for seven hundred kills and ten thousand head of stock. Han Zeng reached Wuyuan and Mount Hou for a hundred-odd kills and two thousand animals. Zhao Chongguo was to link with Wusun at Pulei Lake, but the allies left early and Han missed the rendezvous. Zhao Chongguo still took three hundred heads including King Puyin and seven thousand beasts west of Mount Hou. Learning the enemy had gone, columns turned home short of their deadlines. Xuan Di forgave the missed deadlines. Tian Guangming reached Jizhi Mountain for nineteen kills and a hundred-odd animals. He met returnee Ran Hong, who reported Xiongnu west of Jizhi; Tian Guangming silenced him to mask the enemy and withdraw. Clerk Gongsun Yishou protested in vain; Tian Guangming retreated anyway. Tian Shun stopped at Dan Yuwu, still claiming nineteen hundred kills and seventy thousand animals. The emperor jailed both generals for false counts and cowardice; they killed themselves in prison. Gongsun Yishou was raised to attendant clerk. Chang Hui and Wusun stormed the right Guli court for thirty-nine thousand counted dead and seven hundred thousand head of livestock. Han made Chang Hui marquis of Changluo. Unnumbered Xiongnu and beasts died in the stampede beyond the tally. The confederation staggered and blamed Wusun.
78
其冬，單于自將萬騎擊烏孫，頗得老弱，欲還。 會天大雨雪，一日深丈餘，人民畜產凍死，還者不能什一。 於是丁令乘弱攻其北，烏桓入其東，烏孫擊其西。 凡三國所殺數萬級，馬數萬匹，牛、羊甚眾。 又重以餓死，人民死者什三，畜產什五，匈奴大虛弱，諸國羈屬者皆瓦解，攻盜不能理。 其後漢出三千餘騎，為三道，並入匈奴，捕虜得數千人還。 匈奴終不敢取當，茲欲鄉和親，而邊境少事矣。
That winter the chanyu struck Wusun for captives, then turned for home. A day's blizzard deeper than three meters froze nine men and beasts in ten. Dingling hit them from the north, Wuhuan from the east, Wusun from the west. The three allies stacked tens of thousands of kills and beasts. Starvation added to the toll—thirty percent of the people, fifty percent of the herds; tributary tribes revolted and order collapsed. Later Han sent three columns of three thousand horse to snatch thousands of captives. The Xiongnu would not risk battle and edged toward heqin while the border grew quiet.
79
壺衍鞮單于立十七年死，弟左賢王立，為虛閭權渠單于。 是歲，地節二年也。
Huyandi died after seventeen years; his brother the left Wise King became Xulüquanqu. The year was Dijie 2.
80
虛閭權渠單于立，以右大將女為大閼氏，而黜前單于所幸顓渠閼氏。 顓渠閼氏父左大且渠怨望。 是時，匈奴不能為邊寇，於是漢罷外城，以休百姓。 單于聞之喜，召貴人謀，欲與漢和親。 左大且渠心害其事，曰：「前漢使來，兵隨其後，今亦效漢發兵，先使使者入。 」乃自請與呼盧訾王各將萬騎南旁塞獵，相逢俱入。 行未到，會三騎亡降漢，言匈奴欲為寇。 於是天子詔發邊騎屯要害處，使大將軍軍監治眾等四人將五千騎，分三隊，出塞各數百里，捕得虜各數十人而還。 時匈奴亡其三騎，不敢入，即引去。 是歲也，匈奴饑，人民畜產死十六七。 又發兩屯各萬騎以備漢。 其秋，匈奴前所得西嗕居左地者，其君長以下數千人皆驅畜產行，與甌脫戰，所戰殺傷甚眾，遂南降漢。
Xulüquanqu married the right general's daughter as chief queen and demoted Zhuanqu. Zhuanqu's father, the left grand Daqu, nursed a grudge. With the Xiongnu unable to raid, Han tore down forward outposts to spare the people. The chanyu rejoiced and called a council to pursue heqin. The left grand Daqu blocked the plan: "Han envoys always brought armies; we should send envoys first, then strike like Han." " He and King Huluzi each took ten thousand horse to "hunt" along the wall and meet inside." Three scouts defected first and warned Chang'an. The emperor rushed border horse to chokepoints and sent four grand-general supervisors with five thousand riders each in three sweeps beyond the wall. Missing three scouts, the Xiongnu called off the thrust. Famine killed six or seven of every ten people and beasts that year. They still posted two ten-thousand camps against Han. That autumn thousands of western captives the Xiongnu had parked in the east broke out, fought their Outuo guards, and defected south to Han.
81
其明年，西域城郭共擊匈奴，取車師國，得其王及人眾而去。 單于復以車師王昆弟兜莫為車師王，收其餘民東徙，不敢居故地。 而漢益遣屯士分田車師地以實之。 其明年，匈奴怨諸國共擊車師，遣左右大將各萬餘騎屯田右地，欲以侵迫烏孫西域。 後二歲，匈奴遣左右奧鞬各六千騎，與左大將再擊漢之田車師城者，不能下。 其明年，丁令比三歲入盜匈奴，殺略人民數千，驅馬畜去。 匈奴遣萬餘騎往擊之，無所得。 其明年，單于將十萬餘騎旁塞獵，欲入邊寇。 未至，會其民題除渠堂亡降漢言狀，漢以為言兵鹿奚盧侯，而遣後將軍趙充國將兵四萬餘騎屯緣邊九郡備虜。 月余，單于病歐血，因不敢入，還去，即罷兵。 乃使題王都犁胡次等入漢，請和親，未報，會單于死。 是歲，神爵二年也。
Next year the Tarim city-states allied against the Xiongnu, seized Cheshi, and carried off its king. The chanyu installed the king's brother Doumo and shifted the survivors east of their old pastures. Han poured in military farmers to colonize Cheshi. The next year the Xiongnu sent two grand generals west to garrison-farm and squeeze Wusun. Two years on a joint strike on Han's Cheshi fort failed. The Dingling raided three years straight, taking thousands of heads and herds. A Xiongnu counterforce came home empty-handed. The next year the chanyu massed a hundred thousand horse along the wall for another raid. Before the blow fell a herdsman named Tichu Qutang defected with the plan; Han rewarded him with a marquisate for the warning and posted Zhao Chongguo with forty thousand cavalry across nine border commanderies. A month later the chanyu spat blood, abandoned the campaign, and demobilized. He sent envoys to beg peace but died before an answer came. The year was Shenjue 2.
82
虛閭權渠單于立九年死。 自始立而黜顓渠閼氏，顓渠閼氏即與右賢王私通。 右賢王會龍城而去，顓渠閼氏語以單于病甚，且勿遠。 後數日，單于死。 郝宿王刑未央使人召諸王，未至，顓渠閼氏與其弟左大且渠都隆奇謀，立右賢王屠耆堂為握衍朐鞮單于。 握衍朐鞮單于者，代父為右賢王，烏維單于耳孫也。
Xulüquanqu died in his ninth year. He had demoted queen Zhuanqu; she took the right Wise King as lover. At the annual Dragon City rite she begged him to stay, claiming the chanyu was dying. The chanyu died days later. Before the princes gathered, Zhuanqu and her brother Dulongqi crowned the right Wise King Tuqitang as Woyanqudi. Woyanqudi was Wuvie's descendant who had inherited the right Wise kingship.
83
握衍朐鞮單于立，復修和親，遣弟伊酋若王勝之入漢獻見。 單于初立，凶惡，盡殺虛閭權渠時用事貴人刑未央等，而任用顓渠閼氏弟都隆奇，又盡免虛閭權渠子弟近親，而自以其子弟代之。 虛閭權渠單于子稽侯犬冊既不得立，亡歸妻父烏禪幕。 烏禪幕者，本烏孫、康居間小國，數見侵暴，率其眾數千人降匈奴，狐鹿姑單于以其弟子日逐王姊妻之，使長其眾，居右地。 日逐王選賢撣，其父左賢王當為單于，讓狐鹿姑單于，狐鹿姑單于許立之。 國人以故頗言日逐王當為單于。 日逐王素與握衍朐鞮單于有隙，即率其眾數萬騎歸漢。 漢封日逐王為歸德侯。 單于更立其從兄薄胥堂為日逐王。
Woyanqudi reopened heqin and sent his brother Shengzhi to Chang'an with tribute. His accession was a blood purge of Xulüquanqu's ministers, a rise for Dulongqi, and a swap of the royal household for his own kin. Xulüquanqu's heir Jihou Shansi fled to his father-in-law Wuchanmu when passed over. Wuchanmu led a small people from between Wusun and Kangju into Xiongnu protection; Hulugu married him to Rizhu royalty and let him rule the western tribes. The Rizhu king had picked Xianxian Chan whose father had yielded the throne to Hulugu with a promise of succession. The tribes still whispered that the Rizhu line deserved the throne. At feud with Woyanqudi, the Rizhu king brought tens of thousands of horse to Han. Han made him marquis of Guide. Woyanqudi replaced him with a cousin, Boxutang, as Rizhu king.
84
明年，單于又殺先賢撣兩弟。 烏禪幕請之，不聽，心恚。 其後左奧鞬王死，單于自立其小子為奧鞬王，留庭。 奧鞬貴人共立故奧鞬王子為王，與俱東徙。 單于遣右丞相將萬騎往擊之，失亡數千人，不勝。 時單于已立二歲，暴虐殺伐，國中不附。 及太子、左賢王數讒左地貴人，左地貴人皆怨。 其明年，烏桓擊匈奴東邊姑夕王，頗得人民，單于怒。 姑夕王恐，即與烏禪幕及左地貴人共立稽侯犬冊為呼韓邪單于，發左地兵四五萬人，西擊握衍朐鞮單于，至姑且水北。 未戰，握衍朐鞮單于兵敗走，使人報其弟右賢王曰：「匈奴共攻我，若肯發兵助我乎？ 」右賢王曰：「若不愛人，殺昆弟諸貴人。 各自死若處，無來污我。 」握衍朐鞮單于恚，自殺。 左大且渠都隆奇亡之右賢王所，其民眾盡降呼韓邪單于。 是歲，神爵四年也。 握衍朐鞮單于立三年而敗。
The next year he executed two of Xianxian Chan's brothers. Wuchanmu's pleas failed and he nursed a grudge. When the left Aojian king died, Woyanqudi kept the title for a toddler at court. The Aojian nobles crowned the old king's son and marched east. His punitive column lost thousands and failed. Two years of tyranny had cost him the realm's loyalty. The crown prince and left Wise King slandered the eastern lords until every eastern noble hated the throne. Wuhuan raiders hit King Guxi and enraged the chanyu. Guxi, Wuchanmu, and the eastern lords raised Jihou Shansi as Hanxie with forty or fifty thousand men and marched on Woyanqudi. Woyanqudi's line broke before the clash; he begged his brother the right Wise King for rescue. " The right Wise King answered, "You slaughtered your kin and nobles without mercy." " Die where you deserve—do not drag me into your filth." Woyanqudi killed himself in rage. Dulongqi fled to the western wing while the eastern tribes went over to Hanxie. The year was Shenjue 4. Woyanqudi had lasted only three years.