Qifu Chipan - Late Reign

Late Reign

In 420, Qifu Chipan created his son Qifu Mumo crown prince. That year, Qifu Chipan also received a nominal commission as a major general from Liu Yu, who had by now seized the Jin throne and established Liu Song.

In 421, the peace with Northern Liang ended, perhaps because Northern Liang had destroyed Western Liang in 420 and now could concentrate on warfare with its southern neighbor Western Qin. The battles were often inconclusive, but the war continued to wear Western Qin down.

In 423, Qifu Chipan made the declaration to his officials that he now believed that Northern Wei was the state favored by the gods, and that its emperors were capable, and so he would offer to be a Northern Wei vassal. He then sent messengers to Northern Wei, offering suggestions on how to conquer Xia. In 426, he again requested that Northern Wei attack Xia. (There were little records of conflicts between Western Qin and Xia at this stage, but the repeated pleas Qifu Chipan made to Northern Wei may suggest that he was suffering losses to Xia.)

Later in 426, Qifu Chipan would suffer a major defeat that would debilitate his state. He was attacking Northern Liang when Northern Liang's prince Juqu Mengxun persuaded the Xia emperor Helian Chang (Helian Bobo's son and successor) to attack Fuhan. Helian Chang, in response, sent his general Hulu Gu (呼盧古) to attack Wanchuan and Wei Fa (韋伐) to attack Nan'an (南安, in modern Dingxi, Gansu), and while Western Qin was able to hold Wanchuan, Nan'an fell, at great loss. In winter 426, Xia forces commanded by Hulu and Wei attacked Fuhan, forcing Qifu Gangui to move the capital to Dinglian (定連, also in Linxia), and Hulu and Wei then captured another important Western Qin city, Xiping (西平, in modern Xining, Qinghai), and while they then withdrew, Western Qin had been dealt a major blow.

In 427, Qifu Chipan moved his capital back to Fuhan, and hearing that Northern Wei had captured the Xia capital Tongwan (統萬, in modern Yulin, Shaanxi) and forced Helian Chang to flee to Shanggui (上邽, in modern Tianshui, Gansu), he sent his uncle Qifu Wotou (乞伏握頭) to offer tributes to Northern Wei. By this point, however, Western Qin was also still under constant attack by Northern Liang and Chouchi.

In summer 428, Qifu Chipan, after telling Qifu Mumo to try to make peace with Northern Liang by returning Juqu Mengxun's advisor Juqu Chengdu (沮渠成都), whom he had captured in 422), died, and Qifu Mumo succeeded him.