The Han did try to make peace with the Xiongnu Confederation. It didn’t work, Xiongnu tribes continued to raid Northern China in spite of Han paying tribute regularly and marrying off imperial princesses to the leader of the Xiongnu. The steppe nomads at that time depended on plunder from China south of the Great Wall and Central Asia as much as they depended on their herds of cattle and sheep. The only true lasting peace between the Han and Xiongnu came when the Han cut off the the Xiongnu from all their sources of tribute, and effectively caused the confederation to collapse and the tribes to descend into internal conflict.