Donghu (Mongolic) tribe after Xiongnu defeat

This artwork shows a scene in which the last warriors of the Donghu tribe decided to flee after being utterly annihilated by the Turkic Xiongnu.

By the time of the rule of the Xiongnu emperor Teoman (c. 220 BCE to 209 BCE), the Donghu were rather powerful and the Indo-Iranian Yuezhi, their neighbors, were likewise flourishing. When the Xiongnu crown prince Mete Han killed his father Teoman in 209 BCE and took the title of Chanyu (emperor), the Donghu thought that Mete feared them, and they started to ask for tribute from the Xiongnu, his best horses and even a consort of Mete's. At first the emperor conceded. Not satisfied with this they asked for some of the Xiongnu territories. This enraged Mete who attacked and soundly defeated them, killing their ruler, taking his subjects prisoner, and seizing their livestock, before turning west to attack and defeat the Yuezhi (c. 177 BCE). This caused the disintegration in the Donghu realm. The tribe later intermingled with other proto-Mongolic tribes and its remnants likely formed the Xianbei federation, which seized power after the fall of the Xiongnu in the 2nd century CE.