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Modu () was the son of Touman and the founder of the empire of the Xiongnu. He came to power by ordering his men to kill his father in 209 BCE.
Modu ruled from 209 to 174 BCE. He was a military leader under his father Touman and later Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire, based on the Mongolian Plateau. He secured the throne and established a powerful Xiongnu Empire by successfully unifying the tribes of the Mongolian–Manchurian grassland in response to the loss of Xiongnu pasture lands to invading Qin dynasty forces commanded by Meng Tian in 215 BCE.
While Modu rode and then furthered the wave of militarization and effectively centralized Xiongnu power, the Qin quickly fell into disarray with the death of the first emperor in 210 BCE, leaving Modu a free hand to expand his empire into one of the largest of his time.Nicola di Cosmo, Ancient China and its Enemies: the Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (Cambridge UP, 2002), 174–76
The eastern border stretched as far as the Liao River, the western borders of the empire reached the Pamir Mountains, whilst the northern border reached Lake Baikal. Modu's raids into China resulted in the dynasty agreeing to pay an annual tribute alongside other goods such as silk, grain and rice. Modu was succeeded by his son Laoshang.
His name was also read as MC (墨頓; following Sima Zhen's commentary on Shiji) and MC (墨毒; following Song Qi's commentary on Hanshu), the latter of which, according to Pulleyblank (1999), "does not make sense" phonologically.Pulleyblank, E.G. (1999). "The Peoples of the Steppe Frontier in Early Chinese Sources" Migracijske teme 15 1-2. footnote 3 on p. 45 of pp. 35-61.
Due to his reputation for bravery, Modu began to gather a group of extremely loyal warriors. He invented a signaling arrow that made a whistling sound in flight and trained his men to shoot in the direction of the sound in synchrony. To be sure of his men's loyalty, Modu commanded the warriors to shoot his favourite horse, any who refused to do so were summarily executed. He later repeated this test of loyalty, but with one of his favourite wives and once again executed those who hesitated to carry out his order. Only when he was convinced of the absolute loyalty of his remaining warriors did he order them to shoot his father during a hunting trip, killing him in a shower of arrows. With none of his followers failing to shoot at his command and with the removal of his father, Modu proclaimed himself chanyu of the Xiongnu.
After his self-proclaimed ascension as chanyu, Modu began to eliminate those who would prove a threat to his newly acquired power. Thus, he proceeded to execute his rival half-brother, his step-mother and other Xiongnu officials who refused to support his rule.
With these victories, he was able to gain control of the important trade routes, which later supplied the Xiongnu with a large income.
After his Chinese campaign, Modu forced the Yuezhi and the Wusun to become vassals of the Xiongnu.
In 195 BCE, Lu Wan King of Yan, fled to the Xiongnu after he was defeated by the Han general Zhou Bo.
In 178 BCE, the Xiongnu overran the Yuezhi and Wusun in Gansu and the Tarim Basin.
Modu died in 174 BCE and was succeeded by his son, Jiyu, who became Laoshang Chanyu.
I'm a lonesome ruler born in marshes and raised in plains populated by livestock. I've visited your border numerous times and wanted to tour China. Your Majesty is now alone and living in solitude. Since both of us are not happy and have nothing to entertain ourselves, I'm willing to use what I possess to exchange for what you lack.(孤僨之君，生於沮澤之中，長於平野牛馬之域，數至邊境，願游中國。陛下獨立，孤僨獨居。兩主不樂，無以自虞，願以所有，易其所無。) Ban Gu et al. Book of Han, Volume 94, Traditions of the Xiongnu.
Lü Zhi was infuriated at the rude proposition, and in a heated court session, her generals advised her to rally an army and exterminate the Xiongnu immediately. As she was about to declare war, an outspoken attendant named Ji Bu pointed out that the Xiongnu army was much more powerful than the Chinese. At Ji Bu's words, the court immediately fell into a fearful silence. Records of the Grand Historian, v. 100, Burton Watson translation page 249 Rethinking her plans, Lü Zhi rejected Modu's proposition humbly, as follows:
Your Lordship does not forget our land and writes a letter to us, we fear. I retreat to preserve myself. I'm old and frail, I'm losing hair and teeth, and I struggle to maintain balance when I move. Your Lordship has heard wrongly, you shouldn't defile yourself. Our people did not offend you, and should be pardoned. We've two imperial carriages and eight fine steeds, which we graciously offer to Your Lordship.(單于不忘弊邑，賜之以書，弊邑恐懼。退而自圖，年老氣衰，發齒墮落，行步失度，單于過聽，不足以自污。弊邑無罪，宜在見赦。竊有御車二乘，馬二駟，以奉常駕。) Ban Gu et al. Book of Han, Volume 94, Traditions of the Xiongnu.
However she continued implementing the heqin policy of marrying so called "princesses" to Xiongnu chieftains and paying tribute to the Xiongnu in exchange for peace between both sides.(因獻馬，遂和親。至孝文即位，復修和親。) Ban Gu et al. Book of Han, Volume 94, Traditions of the Xiongnu.
The name Modu has been associated with Oghuz Khagan, a legendary ancestor of Oghuz Turks. The reason for that is a striking similarity of the Oghuz Khagan biography in the Turco-Persian tradition (Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Husayni Isfahani, Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur) with the Modu biography in the Chinese sources (feud between the father and son and murder of the former, the direction and sequence of conquests, etc.), which was first noticed by Hyacinth (Compilation of reports, pp. 56–57).Taskin V.S., "Materials on history of Sünnu", transl., 1968, Vol. 1, p. 129
Another suggestion connects it with the name of the Magyar royal tribe of the Hungarians and with their distant relatives the Mator language, now extinct.Eugene Helimski – Die Matorische Sprache, 1997, Studia Uralo-Altaica 41, pg. 64. Modu has been linked with the name вихтунь mentioned in the Nominalia of the Bulgarian Khans, corresponding to the Old Chinese pronunciation of his name 冒頓 ( *mək-tuən), and his clan Dulo with the Xiongnu ruling house 屠各 Tuge (in Old Chinese d'o-klâk). It has been suggested that his name, as Beztur, appears in the genealogy as the ancestor of Attila, in the Chronica Hungarorum of Johannes de Thurocz.
The Turkish Land Forces claims the beginning of his reign in 209 BCE as its symbolic founding date.
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