6. Political system
The eminent Chinese historian Ssu-ma Ch'en has given a detailed description of the administrative system of the Hsiung-nu empire [Лидай 1958: 17; see also de Groot 1921: 55; Watson 1961a: 163–164; Материалы 1968:40]. The empire under Мао-tun was divided into three parts: centre, left and right wings. The wings, in turn, were divided into underwings. The whole supreme power was concentrated in hands of Shan-yii. Concurrently, he was in charge of the centre — tribes of the 'metropolis' of the steppe empire. 24 highest officials who were in charge of large tribal associations and had at the same time military ranks of 'chief of a ten thousand' were subordinate to Shan-yu. In charge of the left wing, the elder brother — successor of the throne — was. There nearest relatives of the ruler of steppe empire were his cornier, leader and cornier of the right wing. Only they had the highest titles of 'kings' (wang in Chinese). 'Kings' and some more six most moble 'chiefs of a ten thousand' have been considered to be 'strong' and were in command of not less than ten thousand riders. The rest of 'chiefs of a ten thousand' were infact command of less than ten thousand cavalrymen [Лвдай 1958: 17; Watson 1961a: 163–164 etc.].
At the lowest level of the administrative hierarchy, local tribal chiefs and elders have been. Officially, they have submitted to 24 deputies from centre. However, intact, a dependence of tribal leaders was limited. The headquarters was far apart and local chiefs have enjoyed support of related tribal groups. Thus, an influence of the imperial deputies on local authorities was, to a certain extent, limited and they were forced to take into account the interests of subordinate to them tribes. Total quantity of these tribal groups within the Hsiung-nu imperial confederation is unknown.
The use by the Chinese historian of military ('chiefs of a ten thousand', 'chiefs of a thousand', 'chiefs of a ten hundred') as well as traditional ('kings'= wang, 'princes' of different rank, 'chief commandants', 'household administrators', chii-ch 'u officials etc.) terms gives grounds to propose that the systems of military and civil hierarchy have in Parallel existed. Each of them had different functions. The system of non-decimal ranks has been used during wars when a great quantity of warriors from different parts of steppe have joined into one or several armies [Barfield 1992: 381.
The power of Shan-yii, highest commanders and tribal chiefs at local places has been supported by strict but simple traditional ways. At a whole, as the Hsiung-nu laws were estimated by the Chinese chronicles, the Hsiung-nu's punishment were 'simple and easily realizable' and were mainly reduced to strokes of the can, exile and death penalty. It provided an opportunity to quickly resolve the conflict situations at different levels of the hierarchical pyramid and to maintain a stability of the political system as a whole. It is no mere chance that for the Chinese accustomed from childhood to unwieldy and clumsy bureaucratic machine, the management system of the Hsiung-nu confederation seemed to be extremely simple: "management of the whole state is similar to that of one's body' [Лвдай 1958: 17].