Military history of the Three Kingdoms
By the time of the Three Kingdoms period the Xiongnu had already ceased to be a major power. Their last stand as a steppe empire was in 89 when Dou Xian led an army of 45,000 and decisively defeated them at the Battle of the Altai Mountains. The Xiongnu Empire was replaced by a loose confederation of disorganized Xianbei tribes, who were nonetheless highly aggressive and proved problematic to their southern neighbors. A southern branch of the Xiongnu split off from their northern neighbors in 50 AD and continued to exist as a Han puppet state in Bing Province. However, in 188 the Xiuchuge clan rebelled against their Chanyu, Qiangqu, for sending troops to aid the Han against the rebels Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun. They replaced Qiangqu with his son Yufuluo, who's hold on power was tenuous, and he was ousted over a marquis of the Xubu clan. When the marquis of Xubu died the next year an elderly king became the nominal head of state without the title of Chanyu and the Southern Xiongnu ceased to exist as a coherent entity. In 216 the Xiongnu of the Ordos were settled but the region remained outside the jurisdiction of Cao Wei's administration.
Xiongnu
Over the past decade, Chinese archaeologists have published several reviews regarding the results of excavations in Xinjiang. They imply the Xiongnu's supreme ruling class. Particularly interesting are the tombs in the cemetery at Heigouliang, Xinjiang (the Black Gouliang cemetery, also known as the summer palace of the Xiongnu king), east of the Barkol basin, near the city of Hami. By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs, it was determined that of the 12 men: 6 Q1a* (not Q1a1-M120, not Q1a1b-M25, not Q1a2-M3), 4 Q1b-M378, 2 Q* (not Q1a, not Q1b: unable to determine subclades):