Nguyen Hue - Emperor Quang Trung

One of the most important, and certainly one of the most widely and continuously honored, heroes of Viet Nam is Nguyen Hue Quang Trung, a leader of the Tay Son uprising and the man who turned back the last invasion of Viet Nam by Imperial Chinese forces. He is remembered as a military leader of astounding prowess and an inspiring reformer in political leadership who personified the brilliant rise and rapid fall of the Tay Son movement. His was born to the task he would undertake, coming from a family of refugees from the costly and on-going fraternal warfare between the feuding Trinh and Nguyen lords over control of the Le throne.

He grew up in the area of Quy Nhon (a place I am not unfamiliar with) and which would later play a pivotal role in the survival of the Tay Son reign. From very early on, along with his brothers Nguyen Nhac and Nguyen Lu, he became involved in the protracted civil war and an early antagonist for the Nguyen lords of the south. He grew up opposed to the costly conflict between his people as well as the often oppressive policies of the opposing regimes. His first fame came in 1785 against Thailand (then known as Siam). The southern lord, Nguyen Anh (later Emperor Gia Long) had been driven out of Viet Nam and taken refuge in Siam. There he enlisted the support of the King to restore him to power. It would become a theme of Nguyen Hue's life to fight foreign armies sent to reinstate deposed Vietnamese rulers. West of the Mekong River, Nguyen Hue soundly defeated an army of 50,000 Siamese. Hopes of Thai expansion into southern Viet Nam were thwarted and Nguyen Anh was forced to flee once again, this time seeking help from the French. Nguyen Hue, however, continued his military campaigns.

The peasants across Viet Nam, tired of paying huge taxes and being forced into military service for the continuing wars between the Trinh and Nguyen, Nguyen Hue came to be seen as a champion of the common people and a national leader. As dissatisfaction spread, the Tay Son rebellion grew stronger and stronger. Originally, Nguyen Hue, in traditional fashion, stated that his goal was to crush the Trinh (since the Nguyen had already been all but wiped out) and to reunite the country and restore power to the Le Emperor. The Le dynasty had been powerless, under the control of the Trinh, and the object of control over the Le Emperor had been the purpose of every Nguyen-Trinh clash. Both sides professed loyalty to the old and honored dynasty, but both wished to control it. In an unprecedented campaign, the Tay Son firmly defeated the Trinh and then, in a shocking move, deposed the hitherto sacrosanct Le Emperor and gave power to the leading Tay Son brothers.

However, the last Emperor, Le Chieu Thong, would not go quietly. Calling upon the Chinese for help, the famous Emperor Qianlong of the Great Qing Empire, sent a massive army south with Chieu Thong in 1788 to restore him to the throne, though under Chinese protection of course. Nguyen Hue gathered his forces around Thanh Long (Ha Noi) which had been taken by the Qing army. In a brilliantly successful battle (which would be copied with less success by Vo Nguyen Giap) Nguyen Hue made a surprise attack against the Chinese during the Tet, lunar new year, holiday. This was traditionally a time of peace for all sides and the Qing troops were unprepared for battle. In a fierce 5-day battle they were soundly and stunningly defeated and Le Chieu Thong was forced to flee for his life back to China. Yet, Nguyen Hue showed considerable gallantry to the defeated Chinese, allowing them to return home with honor and encouraging a peaceful relationship in keeping with previous arrangements, with the Qing Emperor. As for himself, Nguyen Hue had become the national savior of Viet Nam and the most popular figure in the country. He was subsequently proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam with the name Quang Trung.

Once in power, Emperor Quang Trung quickly began instituting massive and unprecedented national reforms in Viet Nam. He set up a new system of administration and replaced the traditional Chinese script with the Vietnamese Nom as the official written language of the country. His religious toleration won him the support of the growing Christian community and his campaign of the common people against the traditional elites won him the admiration of the peasant majority. However, the popularity and success of the Tay Son regime was not destined to last long, perhaps mostly because of the short reign of its most glorious leader. Emperor Quang Trung died in 1792. He was succeeded by Canh Thinh, a 10-year-old boy whose reign would see the doom of the Tay Son. Christians began to be persecuted, government officials came to be seen as oppressive and Nguyen Anh returned in the south, with French support, to reclaim not only the former position of his family, but to overthrow the Tay Son and found the Nguyen Dynasty.

There came to be a feeling of illegitimacy regarding the Tay Son reign, perhaps because of the support then removal of the traditional Le dynasty, later on because of conflict between the brothers. Over time, what was once seen as a people's government came to be viewed as a police state. However, none of this could ever taint the reputation of Emperor Quang Trung who was a brilliant general, a reforming statesman and always seen as a champion of the Vietnamese people and a defender of the country against any foreign invasion. Much like the later Duy Tan Emperor, many Vietnamese look back at Quang Trung's short reign with a melancholy sense of a great opportunity being lost.

General Ly Thuong Kiet - Ly Dynasty

Li Chang Jie (1019-1105) is the second most prominent general of Dai Viet (to-day Viet Nam) who left his mark with a series of greatest victories. Only ranked behind the greatest tactician Tran Hung Dao (The author of the masterpiece Bach Dang), Li Chang Jie showed his superiority and flexibility in his tactics and showed his dedicated atitude to the Ly monarchy and to his own army.

Li Chang Jie (Vietnamese: Lý Thường Kiệt) was born in Gia Lam, later he moved back to Ba Dinh, Ha Noi (contemporary name is Thang Long, english means A Flied Dragon - their capital). His birth name is Ngo Tuan (Ngô Tuấn), however, when he got older, the king especially loved him as his own brother and use the royal family name "Ly" as a gift for his enormous contribution. His farther is a general, who died while visiting the Chinese-Vietnamese border, left his grand child alone at the age of 13. However, Ly was taught very strictly by his mother and his uncle. He proved to be a genius in learning martial arts and practising tactics by playing Chinese chess with his peers.

At the age of 23, he was appointed as eunuch to the royal palace, then was nominated quickly to high-ranking mandarin, and then finally to commander-in-chief, due to his talents. It was said that he was Buddhism and never got kill even an aunt.

The Song dynasty (大宋 or 宋朝) long watched Dai Viet as her target for a conquering after lost her control in 938, due to the collapse of the East Han dynasty. Her ambition is to engulf the Dai Viet and then getting to the South, eliminate the Champa Kingdom. The Chinese first find an opportunity to do that when the new king of Dai Viet, Ly Nhan Ton (1072-1127) enthroned when he was only 7 years old. Never let this golden chane slip through their fingers, the Song emperor sent an announcement ordered the whole kingdom to surrender, if not he would massacre to the last Vietnamese. This move, according to Chinese and Western historians, was a foolish evidence of arrogance. However, even before the announcement reached to Thang Long, Li Chang Jie had predicted the ambition of the Chinese through a careful observation of military mobilisation near the border of the two kingdoms. When the new came to the capital, the whole country, instead of panic, grew animosity and was deep in vengeful mood for their outrage of being conqured by Chinese dynasty more than 1000 years.

Under the Song Shen Zhong regime, Chinese talented politcian, Wang An Shi (1021-1086) proposed a plan in which Chinese main army will concentrated on Xiao Zhu and Yong Zhou before totally manoeuvre Dai Viet. They quickly built forts and amassed food supplies, ensured domestic tranquility and most of all, cut off trade with Dai Viet.

The young king of Dai Viet Ly Nhan Ton insisted to the whole kingdom that there would be no further concessions and appointed Li Chang Jie as primary commander of all Dai Viet army, Ton Dang as secondary general, shared the total army of only 10,000 prepared for a defend line along the border. However, Li Chang Jie considered to the king an alternative tactic, in which he attacked both Xiao Zhu and Yong Zhu at once to kill off their strength first, then retreat and quickly firm the defend line. The king with his wisdom, allowed Li Chang Jie keep on his plan but only led Ton Dang know.

The king even responsed to Chinese by answering the announcement with a letter writting in a very insolent tone to pick a quarrel on the Chinese army.

The letter generally said that under Song Dynasty, the fat emperor used tax to construct his palaces, plunged Chinese people into anguishness. As a merciful king, Tran Nhan Ton could not accept this happen and would allowe the Chinese army to surrender within 10 days, if not the king would attack and no more discussion in diplomatic front.

This was a war declaration and immediately outraged the Chinese emperors right away when it reached to his hand.

In 1075, Li Chang Jie attacked suddenly Qian Zhou and even spread through Lian Zhou, killing 8000 men of the Chinese, the plan was so successful that the second auxilliaries under leadership of Ton Dang attacked Yong Zhou.

A brave Zhang Shou Jie brought reinforcement to hold the front line was frustrated in Kun Lun Kuang by Li Chang Jie.

Zhang Shou Lie died immediately and was burried carefully as a brave man and returned him to honour among his dead soldiers.

The total casualties were still debated. Vietnamese contemporary historians seemed to narrow the number down as 9000, but according to modern historians and archeologists, the sudden assaults took off at least 10,000 or even more up to 12,000.
Vietnamese casualties were only among 2500 men.

There is a discussion according to available sources that I accumulated during the Vietnamese trip (refer to my gallery in Asian Gallery). There is a possibility that while keeping the campaign, Li Chang Jie used scouts everywhere he could to gather information for Chinese mobilisation. These scouts were highly trained and kept on their mission after the quick withdraw of Vietnamese troops. Monthly they sent secretly report to Thang Long, thus Li Chang Jie understood all movements within Chinese territories.

As being predicted, Chinese army with nearly 100,000 men crossed the border to Dai Viet territory. The two grand armies clashed at Nhu Nguyet river, in this intial clash, Chinese army lost 1000 men and was forced to retreat to Phu Luong river, a branch of Nhu Nguyet river. The battle happened so aggressive and nearly one month without significant victory. In the 10th day, Quach Qui, high commander of Chinese Army attacked Dai Viet defensive by Catapult, nearly broke off the line. The Dai Viet army nearly flee and demoralised. The chronic advance made by China could be decisive if Quach Qui

Li Chang Jie thought only increase moral would drive him to victory, he wrote a famous poem that latter became the first indenpent declaration of Viet Nam:

Nam quoc son ha nam de cu
Tuyet nhien dinh phan tai thien thu
Nhu ha nghich lo lai xam pham
Nhu dang hanh khang thu bai hu

I only can roughly translated: (sorry)

Dai Viet must be ruled by Viet King
This was seen as God will
Now the northerner conqured
Not soon they would be collapsed by a stronger force.

This document served as the first Declaration for Vietnamese freedom. Indeed, its immediate outcome was to increase markedly the demoralised troups of Dai Viet, and thus the defensive line held back longer than expected. However, stalemate arised gradually and the supreme commanders of Dai Viet assumed that if this situation prolonged, their manpower and reserve would run out. Thus, a call for ceasefire came to Chinese capital, Song emperor immediately accepted the terms.

Li Chang Jie stood out due to his brilliant tactics that had no precendents. Indeed, his move had been carefully calculated. The Batle Of Nhu Nguyet river was the first largest clash of the newborn Dai Viet kingdom with China dynasty.

General Tran Hung Dao - Vietnamese military leader

By the early 1280s the Vietnamese kingdom faced a growing threat from the Mongols under Kublai Khan, who had conquered China in the previous decade. When he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Vietnamese armed forces, Tran Hung Dao, in a rousing speech to his forces, called for national unity and persuaded his army to fight the invaders. When the Mongols invaded the Red River valley (in northern Vietnam) with a massive army in 1283/84, Tran gave way before the invaders and adopted a defensive strategy, using guerrilla warfare and scorched-earth tactics against them. He then launched a counteroffensive that liberated the Vietnamese capital and drove the Mongols back into China.

When the Mongols resumed their campaign against Vietnam in 1287, Tran and his forces again gave ground, avoiding a pitched battle until the Mongols had occupied the capital. After resuming the offensive, Tran engaged the Mongol fleet in battle at the mouth of the Bach Dang River in 1288. Kublai Khan’s junks, lured by Hung Dao’s men, were ripped apart by iron-tipped spears that had been implanted beneath the waters—a strategy borrowed from an earlier Vietnamese warrior, Ngo Quyen (939).

Tran Hung Dao was one of the first great Vietnamese military strategists. His use of guerrilla warfare to harass and eventually defeat a more powerful enemy provided a model for communist guerrilla warfare in the 20th century. His mobilization of the entire Vietnamese population in the cause of national resistance to foreign invasion similarly inspired the North Vietnamese during the Indochina Wars (1946–75). His proclamation calling for national unity, along with a textbook he wrote on military strategy, became classics of Vietnamese literature. Tran Hung Dao is still an object of worship in rural areas of Vietnam, with many temples dedicated to him.

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