Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Map of the Ordos region | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
Qin dynasty | Xiongnu | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Meng Tian | Touman | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Reported as 100,000 or 300,000 troops [1] [2] | — |
In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang ordered General Meng Tian to set out against the Xiongnu tribes in the Ordos region, and establish a frontier region at the loop of the Yellow River. [1] Believing that the Xiongnu were a possible threat as they had repeatedly raided Chinese lands before, the emperor launched a preemptive strike against the Xiongnu with the intention to expand his empire. [1]
In 215 BC, Meng Tian succeeded in defeating the Xiongnu, driving them from the Ordos and seizing their homeland. [3] After the catastrophic defeat at the hands of Meng Tian, the Xiongnu leader Touman was forced to flee far north into the Mongolian Plateau. [4]
Following the victory against the nomads, Meng Tian was instructed to secure the frontier with a line of fortifications, which would become known as the Great Wall of China. [5] Crown Prince Fusu and General Meng Tian were stationed at a garrison in Suide and soon began with the construction of the walled defenses, which would be connected with the old walls from the Qin, Yan, and Zhao states. [6]
As a result of the northward expansion, the threat that the Qin empire posed to the Xiongnu ultimately led to the reorganization of the many different Xiongnu tribes as they united into a confederacy against the unified Chinese state. [7]