Bing Province.
Jinyang, the Inspector's Office.
The five commanders of the Southern Xiongnu sat here. Their clothing was far from uniform, each with a different style, and the looks they gave one another were anything but friendly.
The Xiongnu had originally been a confederation of tribes, only later developing into a single people. Even so, many tribes within the Xiongnu still retained their original customs. If some of these tribes migrated away, they would become new groups and abandon the Xiongnu name.
The Xiongnu had a great many tribes, each with a different culture. Some were close to one another, while others were hostile. Their internal conflicts were actually even more colorful than those within Cao Wei.
Their total population might have numbered only a few hundred thousand, but they were divided into tribes such as the Tuge, Xianzhi, Koutou, Wutan, Chile, Hanzhi, Black Wolf, Red Sand, Yubi, Weisha, Tudong, Bomie, Qiangqu, Helai, Zhongba, Dalou, Yongqu, Zhenshu, and Lijie.
Later, there would be a famous figure named Shi Le. He was one of the Jie People, and the Jie had actually been a separate branch of the Xiongnu, namely the Qiangqu Division. This tribe later migrated away from the Xiongnu and developed into a separate tribe.
Among the various Hu peoples within Great Wei, the Qiang and Southern Xiongnu were more thoroughly assimilated into Han culture, especially the Southern Xiongnu. They maintained closer organizational ties rather than each governing themselves as the Qiang and Hu did, so their leaders had closer connections to the Cao Wei regime. The current five division commanders all bore the surname Liu.
Their children and some of their chieftains also bore the surname Liu. They could not merely speak fluent court speech; they had even reached the point of studying the classics.
The Qiang People