Editing Xiongnu (section)

=== State formation ===
The first known Xiongnu leader was [[Touman]], who reigned between 220 and 209 BC. In 215 BC, Chinese Emperor [[Qin Shi Huang]] sent General [[Meng Tian]] on a [[Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu|military campaign]] against the Xiongnu. Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and expelled them from the [[Ordos Plateau|Ordos Loop]], forcing [[Touman]] and the Xiongnu to flee north into the [[Mongolian Plateau]].{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=71–73}} In 210 BC, Meng Tian died, and in 209 BC, Touman's son [[Modu Chanyu|Modu]] became the Xiongnu ''[[Chanyu]]''.

In order to protect the Xiongnu from the threat of the [[Qin dynasty]], [[Modu Chanyu]] united the Xiongnu into a powerful [[confederation]].{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|pp=892–893, 964}} This transformed the Xiongnu into a more formidable polity, able to form larger armies and exercise improved strategic coordination. The Qin dynasty fell in 207 BC, and was replaced by the [[Han dynasty#Western Han|Western Han dynasty]] in 202 BC after a period of [[Chu–Han Contention|internal conflict]]. This period of Chinese instability was a time of prosperity for the Xiongnu, who adopted many [[Han Chinese|Han]] agriculture techniques such as slaves for heavy labor and lived in Han-style homes.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=38}} 

[[File:Warring_States_Xiongnu_Gold_Crown_-_b.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A gold crown belonging to a Xiongnu king, from the early Xiongnu period. Seen at the top of a crown is an eagle with a turquoise head.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA4 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>]]
After forging internal unity, [[Modu Chanyu]] expanded the Xiongnu empire in all directions. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the [[Dingling]] of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the [[Donghu people]] of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the [[Yuezhi]] in the [[Hexi Corridor]] of [[Gansu]], where his son, Jizhu, made a [[skull cup]] out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also retook the original homeland of Xiongnu on the [[Yellow River]], which had previously been taken by the Qin general Meng Tian.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|pp=885–966}} Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu became powerful enough to threaten the Han dynasty.

In 200 BC, Modu besieged the first Han dynasty emperor [[Emperor Gaozu of Han|Gaozu]] (Gao-Di) with his 320,000-strong army at Peteng Fortress in Baideng (present-day Datong, Shanxi).{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=36}} After Gaozu (Gao-Di) agreed to all Modu's terms, such as ceding the northern provinces to the Xiongnu and paying annual taxes, he was allowed to leave the siege. Although Gaozu was able to return to his capital Chang'an (present-day [[Xi'an]]), Modu occasionally threatened the Han's northern frontier and finally in 198 BC, a peace treaty was settled.

Xiongnu in their expansion drove their western neighbour Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor in year 176 BC, killing the Yuezhi king and asserting their presence in the [[Western Regions]].{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/19 19, 26–27]}}

By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Han empire{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=36}} According to the ''[[Book of Han]]'', later quoted in [[Duan Chengshi]]'s ninth-century ''[[Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang]]'':
{{blockquote|Also, according to the ''Han shu'', Wang Wu (王烏) and others were sent as envoys to pay a visit to the Xiongnu. According to the customs of the Xiongnu, if the Han envoys did not remove their tallies of authority, and if they did not allow their faces to be tattooed, they could not gain entrance into the yurts. Wang Wu and his company removed their tallies, submitted to tattoo, and thus gained entry. The [[Chanyu|Shanyu]] looked upon them very highly.<ref>{{lang|zh-hant|又《漢書》："使王烏等窺匈奴。法，漢使不去節，不以墨黥面，不得入穹盧。王烏等去節、黥面，得入穹盧，單於愛之。"}} from ''Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%85%89%E9%99%BD%E9%9B%9C%E4%BF%8E/%E5%8D%B7%E5%85%AB Scroll 8] Translation from {{cite journal |last=Reed |first=Carrie E. |title=Tattoo in Early China |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=120|issue=3 |pages=360–376 |doi= 10.2307/606008|jstor=606008 |year=2000 }}</ref>}}