Good Works Translation from Volume 95

This Good Works Translation renders selected Rouran and Western Regions passages from Shen Yue's Song Shu from Classical Chinese into English.

For the Scythian shelf, this is Southern Dynasties frontier evidence. It places Rouran in relation to the old Xiongnu northern court, Northern Wei, Yanqi, Shanshan, Kucha, Gumo, Dingling, and Sogd.

The Classical Chinese source text is printed below the translation.

Translation

The Suotou enemy had the surname Tuoba. Their ancestor was Li Ling, the Han general. After Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu, there were several hundred or thousand kinds, each establishing a name and title, and Suotou was one of them.

At the beginning of Jin, the Suotou kind had divisions and settlements of several tens of thousands of households in Yunzhong. At the end of Emperor Hui's reign, Sima Teng, Prince of Dongying and inspector of Bing province, was surrounded at Jinyang by the Xiongnu. Yituo, shanyu of the Suotou, sent troops to assist Teng. In the third Yongjia year of Emperor Huai, Tuo's younger brother Lu led his divisions and settlements from Yunzhong into Yanmen and went to Liu Kun, inspector of Bing province, asking for the five counties of Loufan and the others. Kun could not control him and also wished to rely on Lu as support. He therefore memorialized: "Lu's elder brother Tuo has merit in rescuing Teng. Old merit should be recorded. I request that the people of the five counties be moved to Xinxing and that the land be assigned to him." Kun also memorialized to enfeoff Lu as Duke of Dai commandery. At the beginning of Emperor Min's reign, Lu was further promoted as King of Dai, and his food estate was increased by Changshan commandery. Afterward there was great disorder inside Lu's state. Lu died, his son was young and weak, and the divisions and settlements scattered. Lu's grandson Shiyijian was brave and strong, and the people again attached themselves to him. He was titled Duke of Shangluo. To the north he had the desert; to the south he occupied Yinshan; his people numbered several hundred thousand. Later he was defeated by Fu Jian and taken back to Chang'an; afterward he was permitted to return north. When Shiyijian died, his son Kai, courtesy name Shegui, succeeded him.

After the Suolu enemy broke Murong and occupied China, the Ruirui enemy took possession of their old land, probably the northern court of the Xiongnu in Han times. Ruirui had one title, Datan, and another, Tantan; they too were a separate Xiongnu stock. By the western road they communicated with the capital, more than thirty thousand li away. They usurped a great title, and their divisions and people were numerous and strong. At the proper seasons they sent envoys to the capital and exchanged ritual with China on equal terms. The states of the Western Regions, Yanqi, Shanshan, Kucha, Gumo, and the states of the eastern road, were all made subject to them.

They had no cities or walls, followed water and pasture in raising livestock, and used felt tents as dwelling. They moved according to the place of migration. In their land, in the deep mountains snow lies even in summer; on the level ground, for several thousand li as far as one can see, the wild has no green grass. The air of the land is cold and cool. Horses and cattle bite dry grass and eat snow, yet are naturally fat and strong. The government of the state is loose and simple. They did not know writing, but cut wood to record affairs. Afterward they gradually learned writing and contracts, and to this day there are rather some students. They are more than one thousand li from the Northern Sea and connect with Dingling. They often attack the Suolu enemy to the south, and for generations they have been enemies; therefore the court has always held them by loose restraint.

To their east are the Panpan and Zhaochang states. Crossing the flowing sands for ten thousand li, there is also the state of Sogd. In Emperor Taizu's age, all submitted memorials and tribute. In the Daming period, Sogd sent envoys offering a living lion, fire-washed cloth, and blood-sweating horses; on the road they met raiders and lost them.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from selected Classical Chinese passages in Song Shu volume 95, preserved in the local Scythian expansion source base.

The translation is complete for the selected source body printed below. It keeps the Song Shu's political names and southern-court perspective visible, since the passage is valuable as a Liu Song view of Rouran, Northern Wei, and the western-oasis horizon.

Compiled for the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Classical Chinese

### 索頭 and Northern Wei Origins

索頭虜姓託跋氏，其先漢將李陵後也。陵降匈奴，有數百千種，各立名號，索頭亦其一也。

晉初，索頭種有部落數萬家在雲中。惠帝末，并州刺史東嬴公司馬騰於晉陽為匈奴所圍，索頭單于猗駞遣軍助騰。懷帝永嘉三年，駞弟盧率部落自雲中入雁門，就并州刺史劉琨求樓煩等五縣，琨不能制，且欲倚盧為援，乃上言：「盧兄駞有救騰之功，舊勳宜錄，請移五縣民於新興，以其地處之。」琨又表封盧為代郡公。愍帝初，又進盧為代王，增食常山郡。其後盧國內大亂，盧死，子又幼弱，部落分散。盧孫什翼鞬勇壯，眾復附之，號上洛公，北有沙漠，南據陰山，眾數十萬。其後為苻堅所破，執還長安，後聽北歸。鞬死，子開字涉珪代立。

### Rouran and the Western Regions

自索虜破慕容，據有中國，而芮芮虜有其故地，蓋漢世匈奴之北庭也。芮芮一號大檀，又號檀檀，亦匈奴別種。自西路通京師，三萬餘里。僭稱大號，部眾殷強，歲時遣使詣京師，與中國亢禮，西域諸國焉耆、鄯善、龜茲、姑墨東道諸國，並役屬之。無城郭，逐水草畜牧，以氈帳為居，隨所遷徙。其土地深山則當夏積雪，平地則極望數千里，野無青草。地氣寒凉，馬牛齕枯噉雪，自然肥健。國政疎簡，不識文書，刻木以記事，其後漸知書契，至今頗有學者。去北海千餘里，與丁零相接。常南擊索虜，世為仇讎，故朝庭每羈縻之。

其東有槃槃國、趙昌國，渡流沙萬里，又有粟特國，太祖世，並奉表貢獻。粟特大明中遣使獻生師子、火浣布、汗血馬，道中遇寇，失之。

Source Colophon

The Classical Chinese source body was extracted from the local source-text page Good Works Library Ready/Scythian/Expansion Bench 2026-05-11/Song Shu -- Rouran and the Western Regions -- Classical Chinese Source Text.md and copied for this translation pass at Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/songshu_rouran_western_regions_chinese_source_manual104.txt.

The local source page identifies its inspection route as Wikisource raw text for Song Shu, volume 95.

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