Battle of Baideng

The Battle of Baideng (Chinese: t 白登之戰, s 白登之战, Báidēng zhī zhàn) was fought between the Han Empire and the Xiongnu in 200 BC.

The nature of the conflict is uncertain. During the Fall of Qin, Liu Bang had risen from a peasant rebel to king of Han and then, during the Chu–Han Contention, overwhelmed Xiang Yu and established himself as emperor of the new Han dynasty. During this period, Han Xin, the legitimate heir of the Warring States-era Han Kingdom, had supported Liu but came under suspicion as his fief was moved from Yangzhai (陽翟, present-day Yuzhou, Henan) to Jinyang (晉陽, present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi) to Mayi (present-day Shuozhou, Shanxi).

According to the biographies of the Book of Han, ten envoys to the Xiongnu reported that they were weak and easily defeated while Lou Jing alone surmised that the nomads were hiding their strength to lure the Chinese into an ambush. The Emperor imprisoned Lou in annoyance, only to repent after the Han army ran into a formidable Xiongnu host and was hemmed in, besieged for seven days at Pingcheng (平城, present-day Datong, Shanxi) before being able to break free. Subsequently, Liu Bang executed the other envoys while freeing and apologizing to Lou Jing.

The account of René Grousset alters this, saying the Xiongnu invaded Han Shanxi and besieged Jinyang before being routed by Liu Bang's army. Chasing the nomads north, however, the Emperor was blockaded by them on the Baideng Plateau near Pingcheng.

The exact sizes of the Xiongnu host are uncertain. The total strength of the Chinese army exceeded 300,000, while Chinese sources claim how much of that Hunnic army numbered 400,000; But Lev Gumilev considers this doubtful. Considering that the total population of the nomads could not have produced a larger army, and that each soldier would have had at least two horses, which would graze around the fortress during the siege, the size of the Hunnic army had to be roughly limited by the available pasture. Accordingly, the Hunnic army probably numbered up to 20,000–40,000.

In the wake of the battle, Liu Bang ultimately followed Lou Jing's advice to marry his eldest daughter to the Xiongnu leader Modu Chanyu, beginning the Han's heqin policy.