Tuntuhe (Chinese: 屯屠何), the Xiulan Shizhu Houdi Chanyu (Chinese: 休蘭尸逐侯鞮單于), was the son of Sutuhu. He succeeded Yitu Yulüti in 88 AD and ruled until his death in 93 AD. He was succeeded by his cousin Anguo.^[1]

Seeing the turmoil in the north after the Xianbei had killed the Northern Xiongnu Chanyu Youliu, Tuntuhe proposed to the Han dynasty a decisive campaign to take over the steppe. In the summer of 89 AD, General Dou Xian led an army of 45,000 Han, Qiang, and Xiongnu into the north. A detachment to the north-west successfully defeated the Northern Chanyu at the Battle of the Altai Mountains while the main column burned the sacred sight of Longcheng in the modern Orkhon Valley.^[2]

In the spring of 90 AD, Geng Tan and Shizi attacked the Northern Chanyu again, killing 8,000 of his followers and capturing his consort Lady Yan as well as five of his children. The Northern Chanyu was driven further west to take refuge with the Wusun in 91 AD by Geng Kui, at which point he disappears from history.^[2]

In the spring of 92 AD, Dou Xian set up Yuchujian as chanyu of the north, which offended Tuntuhe. However Yuchujian died in the autumn of 93 AD under obscure circumstances, making Tuntuhe the sole chanyu of all the Xiongnu. He died shortly after and was succeeded by his cousin Anguo.^[1]

Footnotes

References

• Barfield, Thomas (1989), The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, Basil Blackwell
• Bichurin N.Ya., "Collection of information on peoples in Central Asia in ancient times", vol. 1, Sankt Petersburg, 1851, reprint Moscow-Leningrad, 1950
• Chang, Chun-shu (2007), The Rise of the Chinese Empire 1, The University of Michigan Press
• Cosmo, Nicola Di (2002), Ancient China and Its Enemies, Cambridge University Press
• Cosmo, Nicola di (2009), Military Culture in Imperial China, Harvard University Press
• Crespigny, Rafe de (2007), A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms, Brill
• Loewe, Michael (2000), A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods, Brill
• Taskin B.S., "Materials on Sünnu history", Science, Moscow, 1968, p. 31 (In Russian)
• Whiting, Marvin C. (2002), Imperial Chinese Military History, Writers Club Press