Tufa Shujineng's grandfather was Tufa Shoutian and his great-grandfather was Pigu. Pigu was the son of the Tuoba Xianbei chieftain Tuoba Jifen and his brother was Tuoba Liwei. Pigu led his branch of Xianbei to Hexi when Tuoba Liwei succeeded their father as chieftain in 218. There are two theories as to how the Tufa got their name. The first being that the words 'Tufa' and 'Tuoba' were nearly identical to each other, and is used as a derogatory term against Pigu's branch as Tufa meant 'bald hair'. The other being that it was Shoutian who named their clan 'Tufa' after his nickname. It is said that Shoutian was born on a blanket, so his people called him 'Tufa', which is the Xianbei word for 'blanket'. After Tufa Shoutian passed away, he was succeeded by his grandson Tufa Shujineng. For reasons unclear, Shujineng rebelled against Jin in 270 in Qinzhou. The Inspector of Qinzhou, Hu Lie led an attack to quell this revolt but he was defeated and killed at Wanhudui. The Prince of Fufeng, Sima Liang, was supposed to send reinforcements through his subordinate Liu Qi to aid Hu Lie but Liu refused to move his troops. Emperor Wu of Jin wanted to punish Liu Qi but Sima Liang defended him and lost his post in the process. With the removal of Sima Liang, Shi Jian and Tian Zheng were sent instead by Emperor Wu to put down the uprising. Shi Jian ordered his subordinate, Du Yu, to attack Shujineng. However, Du Yu remonstrated him, stating that the enemy were still riled up from their recent victories, as opposed to the demoralized Jin troops, and that they should wait until the following year to attack. Du Yu's words angered Shi Jian, who had him sent back to the capital as a prisoner. Shi Jian carried out his original plans but he too could not defeat Shujineng. The next year, the Inspector of Liangzhou, Qian Hong, also tried to defeat Shujineng but Qiang troops within Qian's army, dissatisfied by his poor treatment of them, rebelled and join Shujineng. Qian Hong was killed in battle at Mount Qing after the barbarians surrounded his army. Qian Hong's replacement, Su Yu was also defeated and killed by Shujineng at Mount Jin later that year. Meanwhile, Shujineng's victories inspired revolts by the Xiongnu, led by Liu Meng in Bingzhou. Liu Meng's revolt was short-lived, fortunately for Jin, as he was killed by Hu Fen in 272 after a year it had started. Shujineng continued to raid northwestern China but his luck came to an end in 275 when he was defeated by the Marshal of Yongzhou and Liangzhou, Sima Jun. Shujineng faced Sima Jun again the following year, this time with Wen Chu under Jun's wing, and he was defeated a second time. Around 200,000 rebels surrendered to Wen Chu. Wen Chu tightened the security in Liangzhou, Qinzhou and Yongzhou by having patrols defend villagers from Shujineng's raids. Faced with repeated defeats, Shujineng negotiated peace with Jin by sending one of his sons to the capital in Luoyang as a hostage in 277. Peace between Jin and Shujineng did not last, as he revolted again by attacking Liangzhou in 279. A Jin official by the name of Ma Long volunteered to help defeat Shujineng. During Ma Long's battles with Shujineng, he used tactics that were rather unorthodox for his time. Ma Long implemented what were called 'flat box carts ' which helped protect the troops from the Xianbei arrows as they advanced. It is also said that he placed magnetic stones on the ground to slow down the Xianbei troops, who generally wore iron armor as opposed to the Jin troops wearing rhinoceros hide armor. Regardless of its historicity, Ma Long's campaign saw the end of Shujineng's raids, as the Xianbei chieftain was finally killed in battle by the end of the year. He was replaced with his younger cousin, Tufa Wuwan.
