Yujiulü Nagai ( ;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: Yùjiǔlǘ Nàgài) (?–506) was ruler of the

Rouran The Rouran Khaganate ( Chinese: zh, c=, p=Róurán, label=no), also known as Ruanruan or Juan-juan ( zh, c=, p=Ruǎnruǎn, label=no) (or variously ''Jou-jan'', ''Ruruan'', ''Ju-juan'', ''Ruru'', ''Ruirui'', ''Rouru'', ''Rouruan'' or ''Tantan'') ...

(492–506) with the title of Houqifudaikuzhe Khagan (侯其伏代庫者可汗;

: ''Kökibük Daiγuǰai Qaγan''). He was the second son of Yujiulü Tuhezhen. According to Pengling Wang, his name might be cognate with

Middle Mongol Middle Mongol or Middle Mongolian was a Mongolic languages, Mongolic koiné language spoken in the Mongol Empire. Originating from Genghis Khan's home region of Northeastern Mongolia, it diversified into several Mongolic languages after the coll ...

''Nogai'' (in

Mongolian script The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Hudum Mongol bichig, was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cy ...

:; Khalkha:нохой ), meaning "dog".

Under reign of Yujiulü Doulun

He fought against

Gaoche The Tiele ( zh, c=鐵勒, p=Tiělè),, Mongolian ''*Tegreg'' " eople of theCarts" also transliterated as Chile ( zh, c=敕勒, links=no), Dili ( zh, c=狄歷, links=no), Zhile ( zh, c=直勒, links=no) and Tele ( zh, c=特勒, links=no), who w ...

ruler Afuzhiluo (阿伏至羅) who together with his younger cousin Qiongqi (穷奇), they managed their clans of over 100,000 yurts to escape from the pursuing armies, led by Doulun and Nagai in 487. While Doulun had limited success, Nagai won all his battles against the Gaoche.

Reign

In 492, he seized the position of khagan from his nephew Yujiulü Doulun thanks to a successful coup d'état by nobles. He later asked for physicians, craftsmans and artisans from

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succee ...

emperor Wu, which was denied. In 501, King of Gaochang, Ma Ru (馬儒) was overthrown and killed, and the people of Gaochang appointed Qu Jia (麴嘉) of Jincheng (in

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

) as their king. Qu Jia hailed from the Zhong district of Jincheng commandery (金城, roughly corresponding to modern day

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

) Qu Jia at first pledged allegiance to the Rouran. Having secured his borders, Nagai started to raid northern borders of

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

same year. In September 504, he led the 120,000 cavalry to Northern Wei in six directions. He directly drove Woye Town (now northeast of Urad Front Banner,

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

), Huaiyu Town (now southwest of Guyang County, Inner Mongolia) and went to Dai Commandery and Heng Commandery, however he was eventually stopped by Wei general Yuan Huai (源怀). He died in 506 and succeeded by

Yujiulü Futu Yujiulü Futu (; pinyin: Yùjiǔlǘ Fútú ) (died 508) was khagan of the Rouran (506–508) with the title of Tuohan Khagan (佗汗可汗) or Tahan Khagan (他汗可汗; Rouran: ''Taγan Qaγan''). He was the first son of Yujiulü Nagai. Reign ...

Family

He had four sons, two of them is known to history - Futu and Dengshuzi of whom both became khagans.

References

Sources

*''

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 CE: the histories of Northern Wei, Wester ...

'', 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 5 ...

,'' vol 103 Khagans of the Rouran {{Asia-royal-stub