Yujiulü Datan (;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: Yùjiǔlǘ Dàtán) (?–429 AD) khan of the

Rouran The Rouran Khaganate, also Juan-Juan Khaganate (), was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.*Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000)"Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organizat ...

from 414 to July, 429 with the title of Mouhanheshenggai Khagan (牟汗紇升蓋可汗).

Life

He was a son of Yujiulü Puhun (郁久閭僕浑), thus a cousin of Yujiulü Hulü who in 414 was overthrown by his nephew

Yujiulü Buluzhen Yujiulü Buluzhen (; pinyin: Yùjiǔlǘ Bùlùzhēn) (died 414) was an early 5th century ruler of the Rouran, a confederation of nomadic tribes in Mongolia. His title is not known. Rebellion Little is known about background of Buluzhen, except ...

. Later Buluzhen became involved in a love affair with a younger wife of

Gaoche The Tiele (, Mongolian ''*Tegreg'' " eople of theCarts"), also transliterated as Dili (), Chile (), Zhile (), Tele (), also named Gaoche or Gaoju (, "High Carts"), were a tribal confederation of Turkic ethnic origins living to the north of Chin ...

leader Chiluohou (叱洛侯). Chiluohou was an early supporter of Shelun who entrusted him with his son Sheba (社拔) . The younger wife revealed to Buluzhen that Chiluohou would support Datan against Buluzhen, as a sign of fidelity, sent him a golden rein. As a response, Buluzhen sent 8,000 cavalry against Chiluohou and burned all his properties while Chiluohou committed suicide. After this, Buluzhen attacked Datan hastily, however Datan came out victorious and strangled both Sheba and Buluzhen, eliminating both rivals and then declared himself khagan.

Reign

He immediately allied himself to

Feng Ba Feng Ba (; died 430), courtesy name Wenqi (文起), nickname Qizhifa (乞直伐), formally Emperor Wencheng of (Northern) Yan ((北)燕文成帝), was an emperor (but using the title "Heavenly Prince" (''Tian Wang'')) of the Chinese state Northern ...

upon gaining throne and warred against

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535 during t ...

. Datan led the troops to raid the border in winter of 415, but Emperor Mingyuan met him with the army. The Datan began to retreat but Wei general Daxi Jin (達奚斤) rushed after him. His forces ran into severe weather and suffered many casualties based on frostbite. This would start a theme that would last for centuries—often, Rouran would attack, and Northern Wei would counter-attack successfully, but then become unable to have decisive victories over Rouran. Meanwhile Datan reinforced relations with

Northern Yan Yan, known in historiography as the Northern Yan (; 407 or 409–436), Eastern Yan () or Huanglong (), was a dynastic state of China during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaot ...

, sent a tribute of 3,000 horses and 10,000 sheep in 417. In 423, almost immediately after Emperor Taiwu took the throne, Datan attacked Northern Wei with about 60000 soldiers. Emperor Taiwu engaged Rouran troops, and on the very first engagement became surrounded by Rouran troops, but he fought his way out of danger, and subsequently, he made nearly yearly attacks against Rouran, and each year, Rouran forces would elude him by retreating north, only to return south after he withdrew. He was planning another invasion of Wei in 427, but destruction of Xia and capture of Helian Chang, forced him to reconsider and back down. Yet another raid was made by Rouran in 428 with 10.000 cavalry. In 429, at the advice of

Cui Hao Cui Hao () (died 450 CE), courtesy name Boyuan (伯淵), was a ''shangshu'' of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty of China. Largely because of Cui's counsel, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei was able to unify northern China, ending the Sixteen Ki ...

, and against the advice of all other officials and his wet nurse

Nurse Empress Dowager Nurse empress dowager () was an honorific title given to emperors' wet nurses of the Xianbei-led Chinese Northern Wei dynasty. The existence of the title owed itself to a peculiar institution of Northern Wei—that when a son of the emperor were ...

Dou, Emperor Taiwu attacked Rouran. Cui believed that further major conflicts with

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

were inevitable, and that Northern Wei must first deal Rouran a major defeat to avoid being attacked on both sides. However, Cui did not accompany Emperor Taiwu on this campaign, although he did inform

Kou Qianzhi Kou Qianzhi () (365–448) was a Taoist reformer who reenvisioned many of the ceremonies and rites of the Way of the Celestial Master form of Taoism and reformulated its theology into a new movement known as The Northern Celestial Masters. His in ...

, another Wei official, who was, that the main Rouran force must be found and destroyed. When Emperor Taiwu engaged Rouran and dealt it a major loss, but was unable to find its Datan, he did not want to advance any further in fear of a trap, and even when Kou informed him what Cui had said, he stopped the pursuit. Only later did he find out that he was actually close to Yujiulü Datan's position and could have easily found and destroyed Yujiulü Datan, and he regretted this greatly. Datan on the other hand died from an illness on his way and was succeeded in 429 by Yujiulü Wuti.

Family

He had at least 4 sons and a daughter: * Yujiulü Wuti * Yujiulü Tulugui (郁久閭秃鹿傀) * Yujiulü Qiliegui (郁久閭乞列归) * Yujiulü Qilifu (郁久閭俟力弗) - ancestor of Yujiulü Furen (郁久闾伏仁, d. 29 November 586), a

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and la ...

official * Yujiulü Zuozhaoyi (郁久閭左昭仪) - married to Emperor Taiwu, became mother of Tuoba Yu He also had several younger brothers named Tāwu Wúluhú (他吾无鹿胡), Yuedai (悅代), Pili (匹黎), Yujiulü Fèng (郁久閭闾凤), Yujiulü Dafei (郁久閭大肥), Yujiulü Danibeiyi (郁久閭大埿倍颐) and Yujiulü Lin (郁久閭驎). Latter four submitted to

and adopted Chinese surname of Lü (闾), a short form of Yujiulü. Dafei subsequently was created Prince Zhongshan (中山王) and was married to Princess Huoze (濩澤公主), daughter of Emperor Daowu. His other brothers Feng and Lin were created Marquis of Xingyang (荥阳公) in Northern Wei.

In popular media

* He was portrayed by Bao Depan (包德磐) in Chinese TV Series "The Story of Mulan" ( 花木兰传奇)

References

* ''

History of the Northern Dynasties The ''History of the Northern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. The text contains 100 volumes and covers the period from 386 to 618, the histories of Northern Wei, Western W ...

'', vol. 86. *''

Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to ...

'', vol.103 * Rouran rulers 5th-century monarchs in Asia {{Rouran rulers