Yujiulü Yucheng (;

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 Yúchéng) (?–485) 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'') ...

(464–485) with the title of Shouluobuzhen Khagan (受羅部真可汗;

: ''Soyulabčin Qaγan''). He was the first Rouran ruler to adopt Chinese style

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of rule, a t ...

, which was Yongkang (永康 Yǒngkāng 464–484). He was the elder son of Yujiulü Tuhezhen.

Reign

He sought peaceful relations with Chinese states at first. He sent a tribute to

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

in 468 in 471. Another tribute composed of Kumo Xi and Khitan slaves were sent to

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 ...

in February and July 469. He continued his father's campaign against Tarim Base states following year. During a campaign against

Khotan Hotan (also known by #Etymology, other names) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region in Northwestern China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become an ...

in 470, the Khotanese king wrote in his supplicatory letter to the Emperor Xianwen that all of the statelets in the west had submitted to the Rouran, asking for assistance. This brought Rouran against Northern Wei. In February 472 and 473, Yucheng attacked

across the western border, targeting

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...

. He tried to reconcile with Wei by asking a hand of a princess in 475. However, Wei court refused it, citing frequent raids of Rouran into their territory. Yucheng continued his tributes to Northern Wei in 476 and 477. However in 478, Yucheng used the opportunity of fall of

to attack Wei. He met with Wang Hongfan (王洪范), the envoy of Xiao Daocheng, made a common pact and sent 300,000 troops to attack the Northern Wei. He made another alliance in 473, this time with Jangsu of Goguryeo with a view to keeping Northern Wei under control. Allied Rouran-Korean armies crushed Didouyu Khitans later in 479. He attacked Northern Wei again in December 485, Emperor Xiaowen's cousin Yuan Cheng (元澄) the Prince of Rencheng was sent in front of Chinese forces to resist. By the time of his death in same year later, Yucheng had restored the Kaghanate to a status even more powerful than the times of Datan. He was succeeded by his son Yujiulü Doulun.

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