Assassination of the Xianbei chief Kebineng

After Tanshihuai’s death in 181 his confederation fell apart among rival chiefs. Kebineng came from a small Xianbei tribe and, according to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, was chosen chief for his courage, his fair judgements and his indifference to wealth. His tribes lived close to the frontier, and Chinese who had fled to them from the wars at the end of the Han taught his people to make weapons and armour and even some writing; he commanded his men in the Chinese manner, with banners and drums. In the Jian’an era he sent tribute to Cao Cao and in 211 helped to crush a rebel in Hejian, but later he joined a rising of the Wuhuan of Dai commandery and was routed by Cao Zhang (218). In 220 Cao Pi made him “King Attached to Righteousness”, and in 222 he drove more than 70,000 cattle and horses to the frontier to trade.

He fought the eastern Xianbei chief Suli and Tanshihuai’s grandson Budugen, whose brother Fuluohan he had killed at a meeting called to swear an alliance. After a clash with Tian Yu, Wei’s protector of the Wuhuan, in 224 he turned against Wei. His host grew to more than 100,000 mounted archers; he shared out plunder evenly and kept nothing for himself, so his men fought for him to the death and the other chiefs feared him, although, the chronicler notes, he never equalled Tanshihuai. In 228 he besieged Tian Yu at Macheng for seven days. In 231, when Zhuge Liang of Shu besieged Qishan, he called on Kebineng, who, according to the Han Jin chunqiu, came to the old Beidi commandery in his support; in the same year Kebineng also brought fine horses to Wei’s You province. In 233 he drew Budugen, who guarded the frontier for Wei, into a marriage alliance; horsemen led by his son killed the Wei generals Su Shang and Dong Bi at Loufan, but when Qin Lang marched against them the nomads fled north of the Gobi, and Kebineng killed Budugen.

Wang Xiong, inspector of You province, who had earlier won Kebineng over with kindness, then sent the brave warrior Han Long, who killed him in 235, and installed Kebineng’s younger brother in his place. According to the Zizhi tongjian, the tribes then scattered and fought one another — the strong moved far away, the weak submitted — and the frontier grew quiet. From the separate Xianbei groups — the Tuoba, who settled near Shengle in 258, and the Murong, Yuwen and Duan in the east — the Murong and the Tuoba went on to found states in North China in the 4th century.