Editing Northern Wei (section)

==Rise of the Tuoba Xianbei==

=== Background ===
The [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin dynasty]] had developed an alliance with the [[Tuoba]] against the [[Xiongnu]] state [[Han-Zhao]]. In 315, the Tuoba chief, [[Tuoba Yilu]] was granted the title of [[Dai (Sixteen Kingdoms)|Prince of Dai]]. After his death, however, the Dai state stagnated, and with the Jin ejected from northern China, the Dai largely remained a partial ally and a partial tributary state to [[Later Zhao]] and [[Former Yan]], finally falling to [[Former Qin]] in 376.

After Former Qin's emperor [[Fu Jiān]] was defeated by Jin forces at the [[Battle of Fei River]] in his failed bid to unify China, the Former Qin state began to break apart. By 386, [[Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei|Tuoba Gui]] (Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei), the son (or grandson) of [[Tuoba Shiyijian|Tuoba Shiyiqian]] (the last Prince of Dai), reasserted Tuoba independence initially as the Prince of Dai. Later he changed his title to the Prince of Wei, and his state was therefore known as Northern Wei.

=== War with Later Yan ===
At first, the Northern Wei was internally unstable and allied with the stronger Xianbei-led [[Later Yan|Later Yan dynasty]] that ruled most of present-day [[Hebei]] and [[Liaoning]]. As Wei grew in power by subjugating neighbouring tribes such as the [[Tiefu]] and [[Rouran Khaganate|Rouran]], their alliance came to an end in 391 when Tuoba Gui refused to send more tribute after Yan detained his brother at their capital, and the Wei re-aligned themselves with the [[Western Yan]] in [[Shanxi]]. Wei continued hostilities even after Western Yan fell in 394, and in 395, the Later Yan emperor, [[Murong Chui]], sent his Crown Prince, [[Murong Bao]], with a massive army to lead a punitive expedition against Wei. However, at the [[Battle of Canhe Slope]], Tuoba Gui inflicted the Later Yan army a heavy defeat.

In 396, Murong Chui personally led another campaign against Wei, but though he was initially successful, the Yan troops withdrew after he became deathly ill, and he soon died on his way back. Shortly after Murong Bao ascended the throne, Tuoba Gui began an invasion on Later Yan. During the invasion, Murong Bao decided to concentrate his forces in his capital and major cities, allowing the Wei forces to quickly overrun the [[Zhongyuan|Central Plains]]. A disastrous defeat at the [[Battle of Baisi]] and infighting among the imperial family finally forced the Later Yan to evacuate to Liaoning, while a branch in the south founded the [[Southern Yan]] in 398 before escaping to [[Shandong]].

With a strong foothold on the Central Plains and the Yan state split into two, Northern Wei became a regional power in northeastern China, competing with the [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]]-led [[Later Qin|Later Qin dynasty]] to the west and the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Eastern Jin dynasty]] to the south for a time. In 398, Tuoba Gui relocated the capital to [[Pingcheng]], and in 399, he elevated his title to Emperor of Wei. After Tuoba Gui was assassinated in 409, his son, [[Emperor Mingyuan of Northern Wei|Tuoba Si]] (Emperor Mingyuan of Northern Wei) took the throne and continued his father's efforts to consolidate their state.

==== Conflict with the Rouran ====
Earlier, among the tribes that the Wei had subjugated were the [[Rouran Khaganate|Rouran]]. In 394, a branch of them, led by [[Yujiulü Shelun]] rebelled and fled westward. By 402, Shelun had conquered many of the [[Tiele people|Tiele]] tribes and held a large territory in the northern steppe. That same year, he declared himself Qiudoufa Khagan (丘豆伐可汗), and for the rest of Northern Wei's existence, the Rouran Khaganate was a recurring problem to the Wei on their northern borders.

=== Unification of Northern China ===
[[File:Sixteen Kingdoms 423 AD (2).jpg|left|thumb|China at the time of [[Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei|Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei's]] ascension in 423.]]
In 423, [[Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei]] ascended the throne with ambitions to reunify northern China. In 426, he began a war with the [[Xiongnu]]-led [[Hu Xia dynasty]], which controlled the [[Ordos Plateau|Ordos]] and [[Guanzhong]] regions in the west. By the following year, the Wei had taken the Xia capital, [[Tongwancheng]] and a substantial portion of their territory. The Xia could no longer pose a threat to Wei, though they still managed to annex Wei's ally, the [[Western Qin|Western Qin dynasty]] in the [[Longxi Commandery|Longxi]]. In 431, the last Xia emperor, [[Helian Ding]] was captured and handed over to Wei by the [[Tuyuhun]].

The [[Northern Liang|Northern Liang dynasty]] in the [[Hexi Corridor]], led by the Juqu clan of [[Lushuihu]] ethnicity, submitted to Wei as a vassal after the Xia's demise. With the west pacified, Emperor Taiwu shifted his focus to the east by launching incessant attacks on the Chinese [[Northern Yan|Northern Yan dynasty]] in [[Liaoning]]. After a large-scale invasion in 436, the Yan ruler, [[Feng Hong]] abandoned his territory to Wei as he fled to the neighbouring [[Goguryeo]]. Finally, in 439, Emperor Taiwu launched a campaign and conquered the Northern Liang, hence unifying the north and bringing an end to the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] period.