THE _ ANCIENT HISTORY —OF..VIET-NAM* A NEW STUDY ween ‘ 1 NGuvEN PHUGNG 1976This humble study ds dedicated to a Vietnam gree and happya 41 =m = 1 Left Vietnam Last year when it stopped to be 42ee... Homeless and stateless, 1 was Literatly helpless, when 1 was month agter month con- dined in St, John's Ts£and, Singapore. ALL my work, alk my career, seemed condemned to be ended 404 ever... Fortunately, 1 was accepted Anto the United States, where Ford Foundation gave me a (el- Lowship to study history. 06 course, 1 was deeply grateful or this ghant. But how much I was more 40, when the subject agreed upon was the ancient history of Vietnam, because white studying it, 7 felt that 1 stilt have a countay that had successfully managed to be gree. So, thanks to Fond Foundation, I know more about the baste part 06 Vietnam history. Now, 1 am happy to pacsent it to the ‘benevolent Foundation and to the public. Nguyen Phuon November, 1978= TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction : A New Look At The Ancient History Of vietnam Chapter I. Historical Methodology Of The 01d Chi- nese School Chapter II. The Dynasty Of Héng-Bang: A Series Of Tales Poorly Connected Chapter III. The Southward Expansion Of China Chapter IV. The Sisters Trung: The Uprising Of The Autochthons chapter V. Chinese Administration Of The Far-south Colonies chapter vr. Ly B{ : The Uprising Of The Calons Chapter VIT. The Duong : The Acceptance Of A Polit tical Change fn The Far-South Chapter VIII. The Nam-chiéu Domination: A Power- ful Push Towards Independence Chapter IX, The Positive step Towards Independence Epilogue : Viet™?am Was Born Appendix I : Important Dates Appendix II. Chronological Correspondence Bibliography. Maps: 1.vietnam Today 2.China Under The Tah 3.The Legendary Kindom Of Van-lang 16 41 62 75 92 112 ize 146 163 17s 189 1g. 201 1s 31 46 4.China Before The Unification Of T& ThiyHoang61 4 5.Gao-chi Area After The Fall Of Nam-viét 6.Map Of Giao-chau 7.Map Of The Protectorate Of An-nam 8.The Nam-chiéu Domibation 9.Localities Of The st- rIr 106 131 145 162 ¥INTRODUCTION * ANEW LOOK AT THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF VIETNAM Historians who write about the ancient history of vietnam’ pertain t two categories: those belonging to the 01d Chinese school and those belonging to the socialist school. ‘the aims of these two schools can‘ be diemetrically divergent, their historiographical method is similar. Their researche: are only a subjective selection, and their criticism is ba ed entirely on their own point of view. Yor Vietnam's official chronologists using Chinese characters to record events, from the 13th century up to the end of the 19th century, history was a glorification of their nation, And for the writers of the voiemend wie history is conceived as a justification of socialism. Glorification and justification are different not in nature, but only in degree of subjectivity. The two schools differ only in their : Jf 1, Vietnam is the name given by Gia-long (1802-1820) in 1803 to the territory composed of both North and South of Vietnam today. In its ancient history, Vietnam covers'only the nothera part and wears a series of different names: Giao-chi(1l} 8.C.- 264 A.D), Giao-chi (264-680), An-nam (680-866), tinh-nai (866-968) , Bai-cd-Vigt (968-1054) , Dai-vigt (1054-1802). 2. Few foreign historians make a serious study on the ancient history of Vietnam, We will mention their works when necessary. 3. By official chronologists we mean all the madarins appointed by Vigtnamese enperors in the History Writing Department (quéc- i-Quan) « 32 relative intensity of blindness in regard to their, goals.In other words, the history of Vietnam has been traditionally written with partisanship the product of which is a praise of a party: the party of the ‘'old school'' historians was the dynasty they served; that of the new school is communism. According to both schools, Vietnam has more than 4,000 years of history. Both schools want to induce the Viet- namese'to pride themselves in this long national existence. And this pretension has its motives. At the side of its gi- gantic neighbor, China, Vietnam feels the need to assert it- self as an independent country and encourage its people to endeavor to remain independent. The leadership in Vietnam is trying to er ing been, in the past, a part of China, evidence of which in the mind of its people that stigma of hav— can be found in many respects. It insists, among other things, that the first dynasty to appear in Vietnam, was the dynasty of Héng-bang , that this dynasty was as old as the first dy- nasty of China itself, and that China had established a domin- ation on Vietnam over a period of a thousand years, from 111 B.C. to 968 A.D. 4, This is the purpose of the Historical Institute (vién go) and Social sciences Committee” (“Uy-ban Khoa-hoc Xi-hoi) of Hanod government, which have published many historical works. 5. Héng-bang 3 This is the name of a legendary dynasty in spies 226 Al fetnam wi Kings wore called fing. viong AfE who supposedly reigned from 2,879 B.C. to 257 B.C. 6. It is upposed that vietnam had existed and when China ex~ panded to the south from the 3rd century B.C., it had invaded Vietnam, :the first existing Vietnamese document to detail the history of Vietnam is entitled The te vigt ( Dai-vigt SteRy Tokn-thy) . 11 thor, Ngé sI Li 9 was a courtier under Emperor Lé-thanh-téng, one of the most of - brilliant emperors of the dynasty of the Lé Posterior . In 1479, when this author wrote his history, he listed the date 2879 B.C. as the beginning of the dynasty of Hong-bang, which was considered as being the originator of the founding royal tim= family of Vietnam. The Vietnamese historians, therefore, ated the age of their nation at more than 4,000 years. -vigt_ sk KY tona-thy A AH £4e4H1 was written in chi- characters, was carved in wood eee: and printed in 1697. dition is used until now. 8. ngd si tien % + i€ 1 was graduated last on the list of doctors, under Emperor Lé Thai-téng (1433-1442). He was listed fas one of the 28 bright men under the reign of Lé Thanh-tdng 9. La Thanh-téng 4 BE de (1460-1496) s was one of the most famous emperors of Vietnam. Under his reign literature (Chinese, of course) flourished, and the province of Quang-nam was added to Sai-vigt in 1470 after his successful expedition against the Chiém-thanh. 10. The 1a Posterior 4 4% _( 1428-1527): was the dynasty Setablished by La tdi (1420-1433) after his victory over the domination of the Minh, 11. 4,000 years: This is the result of a simple computation. The period starting from the first year. of the Héng-bang dy- nasty 2879 B.C. to the year when Ngo Si Lién wrote his history 1479 A.D. is + 2879 + 1479 Te— ‘This number was rounded up in 4,000 for the convenience of memory.Four thousands years of history and civilisation‘for such a small country as Vietnam is‘feature attractive enough to the minds and hearta of the inhebitants to make any chal- lenge to that '‘historic fact'’ a resentful topic. Genera- tion after-generation, the Vietnamese used to be proud of this their ancient eee A recent text, Hist of Vietnam, written in 1971 by a group of social scientists of North Vietnam, proclaimed the period from Héhg-bang to xé-onf-ninh’ as being a period full of sacrifices, distresses, hopelessness and shame, but also of fame and glory 5 the thinking of the Committee who wrote the book is clear. They put Héng-bang, a dynasty based mainly on legend, on the same ground with H6-chi-minh, one of the most important and recent political figures of Southeast Asia. It seams that there is no vacillation in the mind of 12. From 1960 to 1970, I published many articles in different periodicals in Vietnam, such as Bach-khoa and Batches » and tudy entitled Vietnam, Period of Birth (vietnam, Thdi Khai nh) to challenge "historical facts’’ like that one, ani was bitterly criticized both by the so-called patriots of South vietnam and the Communists of North Vietnam. 13, From the 15th century, all the Vietnamese historical texts, either in prose or in verse, relentl ly repeated the 4,000 years of the Vietnamese national existence. 14, HO-chi-minh: He was born in the province Ng and died in 1969, in the midst of the Vietnam War. He used Communism to regain independence to Vietnam. 15. Uy-Ban Khoa-hoc Xa-h61 Vigtnam, Lich-si vigt-nam,Nha Xudt- ban Khoa-hoc Xa-hOi, Hanoi, 1971, page 10:*"TY thoi-dai Hung— vudng dén théi-dai HO Chi’ Minh, trai qua doan duong lich su ai, Bon nghin nim, cudc sting cia dim toc ta hy-sinh gian khé,nhuhg cing day khf{- phdch_anh-hung; co nhiing lic 1am-than tui-nhuc, nhuing cuhg co nhiéa ngaéy quang-vinh chdi-loi''.‘enone authors. when they spoke about the life of the Vietna- mese people during that peiod of 4,000 years, They suggested at in the time of Héng=bing, that is, in 2879 B.C., there was already a nation of Vietnam and a Vietnamese people, with its organization, political and otherwise, almost.exactly as it 4s, found today, They. gave, no:doubt, a good example of a non-historical approach to history, because it seems that in thete understanding. there, 1s, Little. room. for evolutionary change... S : According, to. the Vietnamese. historians, both. of. the. ‘tela school'' and of the '!new!', the southward expansion of China.from the 2nd. century.B.C.,,to the 10th, century A.D. was an invasion into Viatnamese territory. Consequently, they. spoke of. a.millenary of Chinese. domination, and of. the, heroic. resistance of the Vietnamese people against China during that period. Any rebellion,, any: revolt,-was hailéa as.a Liberation effort on the part, ef "the Vietnam They cited the uprising of the sisters. tring igaiaet the Han 29 of ty se ‘against | tic view of history is not a lack of knowledge it. it ia thei: 17, The on the. part. of the socialist. histort, tematic: st for: the: benefit of cropegeacas’ , Vietnamese historians do; not bothere much about who ited or for what cause. They accepted a priori that all. those. who. fought against China w viet eames and for. the purpose of Vietnamese: liberation. : Fi 19,. The story of the Sisters “mrdng., 43) will length; tn Chaptor.tWo, 200.8 ik 1 the Chinese. dynasty: that gonei 146 wag parte the Han anterior (206 B.C,-8 A.D.j the Han Fos eric a 26)the. tddng in, the 6th contury, Zor. examples, « 8 “tn order to affizm or dent the long iife of vietnam, ' ‘the acciialist school thought: it beneficial to use the ‘ardtie- ological. findings in Vietnam: For them, the‘ remains: of the lithic, neolithic. and bronze periods . should be constru- ed. as belonging. to the cultural heritage of the’ vietnamese: ds!" With’ the develérment'of the people, Explicitly: they age of bronze, we.comé to the period of viinelang) that’ is the period of. the King Hing of vietnam history''. * In the: eyes’ of the-commonpaople;: the themes: of the soctalist. historians seem convincingly right. Tradition sare” | so) historical documents say so) even archeology says a But thig.ia only one aspect of the reasoning. Other aspects to. be: considered are of much more: importance. Of course, there 21.. uy Bi = a 1 About. the revolt of ‘Ly: Bi ,we- will ‘dedicate ! aptar, i i an ‘entire + the Chapter Six. 22, tidng % chai 502-587) a the 1 sli Se Ra gms (MICA teas 23. Van-lang se AB. imaginary, name: of! the: dinaginary’ coun try that the tale of Béng-bang nputed as Vietnam. ¥ 24. Ringe Hing are the Hing-vudng, the 19 kings in the tale Héng-bang, beginning their reign from 2879 B.C. to 257 B.C. ! | 256: Uyrban. Khoa-hoa: Xé-hdi: Vietnam, op. a: F 26. They. principal archeological’ periods. that: are unearthed in’ vietnam are; the: mesolithic: period: of: Hoa-binh,' ‘the: neolithie period of. Bdc-sdn: and- the. bronze period of Déng sén. These findings were made in the time of French Protectorate and studied by Henry Mahsuy-and Madeleine: Colany.. North’ Vietnam had’ found more: remains: pertaining. to: the atois pecular: to North: Vietnam is; that it considers: all these find-* ings: as. belonging to the Vietnamase.* s the:-10th century: A.D. It: xequixes;.algo, an: intensiy nite Maga tet WG are traditions, but: we have; to know. how olt/ they are,in..: what circunstances: they. are.created, There. are historical: documents ,but we. have. to know. by.whom and with what method. they ara written down.: Archeological findings.in vietnam ” are. many: and meaningful, but we have: to. know. whether. they belong: to: the: Vietnamese:.people or not, ...In a historical, sense, legendary. tales are worth studying only because they reflect the. thinking mood of the time in which. they, appeareds : historical documents convey the truth only.when they are objective: testinonies; and archeology, findings, 11able..to..... wishful interpretations, are useful only when they concur with, historical documenta: «= : ¥ qhie research’ is an effort. to. apply historical method, to.the study of the ancient history of Vietnam.It requires an extensive. reading in Chinese historical iiterature.9o7,.. vering. more.than ten centuries; from the. 3rd. centary. 1_to sorut into: the. works: written: in. Chinese.characters by. Vietname! | chistorians: and- literary, authors, in order to grasp. the bis» torical facts: that might be. found, in’ them,.Mandatory, is, not ¥ 27. According to Henry Mansuy and Madeleine Colani, both ~Prench archeologists who devoted their life time to the study remains of archeological: findings: in: vietnam): the mesolithic: and thie of Hga-binh: belong: to. the: Melanesia the: ne of: Bac-sén: to: the ‘Indonesians. ; 28. the: bronze’ kettle-drums, that. archeologists attri! uted. to’ the Lac-vigt;: have: the. confirmation. of history, yhen. ve read in the History of The Han Posterior that Ma vign brought back to China, a is victory over Trung Trac, a lot of Lae-vigt déng-cé BES. 4A Bh Ckettle-drums of Lac-vigt).only a good understanding of the historical method prevail- ing nowadays, but also of the method used by the historians of the old school. The student should be aware of what writings these historians considered as their sources and of how much credulity they adopted them. He should be warned also agatwst the daring and rueful manner they could twist them to serve their own purpoi The aim of this study is not only to repudiate unjust- ified claims of a long life for the Vietnamese nation, but also to give a new presentation, based on serious and compre- hensive researches, of the formative period of the same, To this end, the following chapters will be developped: Chapter One, Historical Methodology of the old Chinese School. his chapter will provide an insight into'the method- ological understanding of the old school of Vietnamese his- toriane, thelr method is the traditional Chinese method, but- tressed by a strong nationalism. This chapter will bring out the fact that their works are only a plagiary compilation of what was previously written, adding from their own a final period, which nobody hasn't covered yet. : dict, he gave them of! "re tevag’*, pen-I and philosoph of the Tong 3/ dynasty (960-1 tory was entitled: Kham Bin viet si Théng Gidm Cudn:Chapter two. The Dynasty Of Héhg-bang: A series Of Tales Poorly Connected. ‘This chapter. is an analytical study of the different legendary tales that were included under the title ''Dy- nasty Of Héhg-bang''. The purpose is to show that these tal have no other meaning than a vision into the past of sone Vietnamese patriots of the 13th or 14th century, whose an- cestors were comparatively recent immigrants from China. Chapter Three, southward Expansion of China. In the South China, formerly region of ngi-aian’’, lived many ethnic groups that the Chinese called by a common name vige™ + The first emperor of the Téh sent out an expedition, eee te Viet's territory, created the depart- nts of Nam-hdi, Qué-1ém and Tutng. He sent afterward an- other expedition of undesirable Chinese to strengthen the colonization of these departments.When the Tah fell, Trigu Da seized the new departments and made out of them 3 30. Ngii-2inh a t means five ranges of mountains or , the South of China from the Blue River (Dudng-ti'giang) . 31, vigt 2h: the meaning of this word will be discussed in the chapter itself. 32. The first emperor of the Tan or Téh Thay Hoang dé He wae reigned from 246 B.C. to 210 B.C. 33. Nam-hat ® of + Canton today. Initially it had six dte- tricts, 34. qua-1am FE ffs Kwanged today. 35. usng ZR 1 This de the depariment that covered the region from Nam-hai and Qvélam southward, including the area which later became Vietnam,36 a kingdom called Mam-vigt . When the Hin came into power, they invaded this kingdom in 111 B.C. and created seven partments of which Giao-chi , Cit-chin and Whdt-nan ven de- would eventually become Vietnam, The Hén used the same poli~ cy as the Téh to colonize their new departments. Chapter four. The sisters Trung: The Uprising Of The Autochthons. Leaders of a tribe called Lac-viét, Trung tke” and ring my stood up and fought against Chinese authorities. the reason of their uprising was the new policy of the Hén Posterior and the atrocious behavior of Chinese officials. It was a war of the autbchthons against the Chinese, not a war of the population of Giao-chi, ciu-chin and Nhat-nam against China. the failure of the Sisters Trthg makked the political extinction of the tribe Lac-viét. Chapter Five. Chinese aduinistration Of The Par-south Departments . 35. trigu pa AM TE 1 He wae an official of the Tih and, when the Tan fell. tock over the departments of Nam-hai, - lam and Tudng. He proclaimed himself king in 207 B.C. 36. Nam-vidt a Adi Name of the kingdom of Trigu Da, Later in 1803, Emperor Gia-long, after the unification of his coun- try, wanted to name it Nam-viat. Chinese Court objected to it and suggested the name Vietnam. Gia-long had to agree. 2 37. Sizo-chi SE $Elk: This name had been used under the reign of Trigu Ba, when this king dominated the department of Tuong. Under the Hdn Anterior, its territory covered the North Viet- nam today. 38. cdu-chin A, #f 1: this name had been used also under Triéu ba. ate territory Covered the provinces of Thanh-hda and Ngh@- an today.1 ‘The far-south departments, namely Giao-chi, Cifu- chin and What-nam were a permanent cause of trouble to the Central Government of China because of their distance and especially because of the i11-will of governors and prefects that Chinese emperors:- sent to this area. Their corrupted behavior irritated the population, stirred up revolts and prevented China to expand further, Chapter Six. Ly B{ : The Uprising Of The Colons. In the 6th century, a colon named Ly Bf led a suc- tablished a kindom for cessful revolt against China. He 4 years the command of Tran Bd Tién came and re-established Chine: power. The kingdom of Ly Bi was short-lived but his tempo- rary success had the effect of awakening the colons to the from 544 to 548, Then an army of the Ludng, under a3 vision of an independent country. “4 Chapter Seven. The Dudng: The Acceptance Of a Poli- tical Change in The Far-south. 39. Nh&t-nam B This department covered the Quang j binh, Quang-tri, wif 2mm today.Its south border might have been in the Da-nang area. 40. tring trdéc 4X48}: she was the lady the most admired in'the history of Vietnam because of her supposed acconplish- ment. 41, ‘teuhg Nht eR. Younger siater of Trung trie and her companion in’batti 42, tacevige BEAM, tribe the most populous that lived in some places of Giao-ohi and of u-chan before the arrival of the Chinese. 43, Trah Ba Tian Fe # General of the Ludng 3 and founder of the wn fh asty a U'S60-589) - x“4a ‘The Long reign of the House of Buing, whose ap- pearance on the imperial throne opened a period which was well described as an Augustan age of China influence,had the beneficial initiative of recognizing the special sit- uation of the departments of Giao-chi, Citu-chan and Nhat- nam, The Dudng emperor, cao-téng”, gave them a common na~ me; An-nan’’, He gave then also a new form of goverment called the protectorate”. With this acceptance of politi- cal change on this part of China, the people of An-nam felt deeper their responsability over their territory. Chapter Eight. The Nam-chiéu Domination: A Powerful Pus Push Toward Independence. The wan-chigu, a kingdom newly established at the expenses of China to the north-west of An-nam, took avail of the weakness of China, tried to expand eastward over An- nam. It seized and dominated An-nam with the co-operation of An-nam's ethnic groups.The colons then helped Chin ge- neral Cao-Biéh to chase away the intruders in 866. This fa- tal experience brought in the open the irresponsability of y 44, the audng AS 1 This dynasty played a decive role in’ determining Ancnam to become independent. 45. Cao-téng 72) Sf 1 Emperor of the Budng dynasty who reig- ned from 650 to 683. He instituted the protectorate regime for the 4 territori: on the outkirts of China. 46, An-nam “He ® t This name means the South Pacified. During the Fren domination (1884-1954), it was used to designate the Central Vietnam, from the province of Thanh- hda to the province of Binh-thuan.a3 governors and prefects in regard to this part of China. The colons were therefore determined to work for indepen- dence. i Chapter Nine. The Realisation Of Independence. Opportunities came with the fall of the Budng dy- nasty, After the Dudng, followed a period of anarchy, cali- ed ''the Five pynastien**. Many little kingdoms came into existence, the closest of which to An-nam, then renamed ainn-nit was the Nam-hén: While Tinh-hai could not have relations with Chinese Central Government, Nam-han tried to dominate it. The king of Nam-hén sent to Tinh-hai an important army, , but gd ouyéa of sinn-pat destroyed it. When the first emperor of the éng dynasty had pacified China, all other little kingdoms surrendered to him and dis- appeared, Only Tinh-hai remained independent by the skill- ful diplomacy of Dinh Bé tinh man who had just pacified and unified his own country, that he named Bai-cd-vist. 47. Protectorate of An-nam or An-nam Dé-h>-phd #! This regime lasted from 680 to tee R fi a 48, Nam-chiféu $8 + This kingdom was established by the autochthons of the region of Yun-nan today. 49. The Five Dynasty or Ngi-dai 2. FX 1 was one of the most tumultuous of Chinese history from 907 to 959. 50. tinh-nas AY 7H + Means the calmed sea. This is the last name of the Chinese far-south departments. 51. Namshin 6 nm 1 The kingdom made gut of the area of ‘Thanh-hai 4 3g + neighbor of Tinh-hai to the north- east.u Epilogue, Vietnam, A Wation Established By The Chinese Colons In The Tenth Century. Dai-od-vidt is Vietnam. Vietnam began to exist in reality in the l0th century. Its independence we brought about by the first emperor of the Binh dynasty . It was ~ eS ee 43, Ban CB, wistory of Tie Hén antertor,Déi-loan Trung-hoa thi-cuc, book 95, page 6. SS 44, Ngd si Lin, Complete Hii of Dai-v: book The words left out are : 8 Tt is pr to reaind here that the edition of 5 it. Toan_thi we use is the carved wood edition o:26 The fact of cutting off an entire sentence or Paragraph in order to shorten a text, as Ban Cé did in re- gard to the above-mentioned passage of the Records, was not an incident in Chinese historiography. It had come to be a method. Historians used to put chunks of texts one after another, these texts being taken from previous writers. Sometimes they tock pain to change or add a co- ordinative or expletive word to make this juxtaposition stick, sometimes they forgot even to do that, and their narrative looked very jumpy. One can say that the histori- ans of the old school did not compose their texts, rather they compiled historical documents they had gathered, with- “out serious judgement or criticism, A study of another text of Ngé si Lign, relating to the southward expansion of China under the Tah dynasty will illustrate more clearly this way of writing history. The version of the Vietnamese historian runs as follows: » On the 33rd year of the first emperor of the Tan (45), the emperor enlisted the vagabonds, those of the bride's family, (46) ,th igned Prefect Do Thi tin to l boats; he directed su Loc ( to take charge of supply by rivers. His”. went 45. The 33rd year of the first emperor of the Tah corres- ponds with 214 B.C. 46. "Those who were parasites of the bride's family'’ trans- lates the Chinese cha: chu - i 47, 38 Thd BE + General of the Tan who commanded deck- ed boats or Lau-thuyéh 4$ fn « 48, a Lac # In the Records, book 112, page 7, ‘he waa catia bem GR: .27 deep into Linh-nam (49), took over the territory of Luc-luéng (50). The emperor created the depart- ments of Qué-l4m (51), Nam-hai,and Tugng ._.Nham Ngao was made prefect of Nam-hai and Trigu Da sub- prefect of Long-xuyén._500,000 prisoners were mo- bilized to guard Ngu-1inh. Ngao and Da took this op- portunity to invade us. (52). Such a text, in its entirety, cannot be found any- where in Chinese literature, but many parts of it can. Let us divide it into six topics for the benefit of source- finding: 1) the mobilization; 2) the role of Bd Thi and sit 1c; 3) the creation of three new departments; 4) the func- tions of Nhdm Ngao and Trigu Da; 5) the guard of 500,000 men; 6) the intention of Nham Ngao and Triéu Da to invade Vietnam. Number 1) and number 3) can be traced to a pat of the Records, book 6, page 17, which reads: ‘on the 33rd year, the emperor sent out the vagabonds, those who were parasites of the bride's family, the charlatans, to take over the territory of Luc-ludéng. He stablished the depart- mente of gué-lém, Nam-hai and Tugng’'. Number 2) matches well with what was said in the Records, book 112, page 7: ‘phe Téh also sent out & and 26 Thi, who led the rovers 49, Linh-nam MMi + The region south of the mountains. This means South China, 50. Luc-ludng “BP : wii An. under the téng (420-477) explained that “Because the charact of the southern people was luc-lucng, that means easy-going, so the place was called by that name. 51. qué-lam #£ ff + Now in the province of Rwangsi. v28 of decked boats, and ordered Gidm Léc to take charge of supply by rivers. The army reached deep into the territory of the Viet people''. The lements of number 4) can be found in the passage of the Records cited above as illustration of the repeating habit of the ancient historians.” puzzi- ling are number 5) and number 6) which respectively deal with the stationing. force of 500,000 men and ‘the invasion of Vietnam, ae Let us begin with number 5). To the eyes of a care- ful reader, the number 500,000 men is too big for its job, that is to mount the guard against the viét. These inhabi- tants of Lyc-lvdng might be very good fighters. They might “watch for occasions to retaliate against the invaders. But they were vainguished. What they were up to was only to stage force guerillas. The question now is: Was so big a Chine: stationing there just to wait for fighting back guerilla at- tacks ? It is very doubtful. what then was the document that allowed the Vietnamese historian to put down this seem- ingly unreasonable detail ? There ig’Fuch a detail in the Records, nor in the History of The Hén Anterior. The first historian who placed that numerical detail in that place was Tu M& Quang in his Tw tri. However, he gave another job to that huge crowd.He 53. The intention of Ngé sf Lién is to extend into the past the existence of vietnam , so he thought that when Tritu D4 planned to establish the kingdom of Nam-viét, he was plan- ning also to take vietnam. 33. See above, page 23,29 wrote:'' The emperor sent out the vagabonds, those who were parasites of the bride's family, the charlatans, made them soldiers to occupy the territory of Lue-luéng of Nam-vigt, established the departments of gué-lim, Nam-hai and Tigng. The emperor dispatched also 500,000 prisoners and resettled them here and there among the Vigt people''. Hera the number 500,000 prisoners was-used, but not for the purpose of mounting the guard against the vide. Rather they came to live with them, Is this an interpreta- tion of Td M% Quang or a fact of history ? or sensing the unreasonableness of some source he found,he had tried’ to make a correction. More importantly, is there any document “that 1ed the historian to this tentative solution ? In ef- fect, there is no'document, but there is a commentary. In the Records’ text on the expedition, Bui fn, the ‘commenta- tor, said at the ends'* 500,000 men mounted the guard in : Ngi-linh''. If the research must stop here, the correstion of Tu M& Quang should be preferred. But if the Chinese histo- ¥ rian had some reason for his correction, the comuentator had also some reason to insert his sentence. Both, however, did not get a full documentation when they wrote, and both committed an error. In reality, the number 500,000 did 54._Td Tr}, book 6, page 47. 35. Records, book 6, page 17. trimer30 not go with the second expedition, but with the first, the purpose of which w to conquer, not to mount the . guard against guerillas. This is what one can find in a 56 357 + written by Liu An , who memoir entitled Ho: am died in 123 B.C. The passage in question reads: The emperor of the Tén liked horns of uni- corns, tucks of elephants, feathers of peacocks, and pearls of oysters, So, he made Dd Thi comman- der of 500,000 men, set into 5 divisions: ~ The first division took position at Tan-thanh (58); - The second division took position at Dam Ciu- nghi (59) 7 - The third division took position at Phién-ngung; - The fourth division took position at the border of Nam-di (60); ~ The fifth division took position at River Dit-can(61). During three vears, the soldiers were always on the alert with their arms and their.arce.Giam Idec could . not transport supplies by rivers and commanded his men to remove the handicaps on the waterways. They fought against the vigt, killed Dich Hu Téng (62), king of Tay-&u (63). The Viet people chose to hide themselves in dark forests rather than to serve the Téh. They elected their strong men and made them generals to attack the Tah during the night. They won big victories, killed £8 Thu, and made scme hundred thousands dead and wounded. The Tah then sent out the prisoners to replace that loss and to guard the territory. 56, Hodi-nam-tit7& 1) J The Gentleman of Hodi-nam. Luu An took this pen name bécaise he was governor of the department of Hoai-nam, 57. Lut an Yl Ge: was the grand-son of the first Emperor of the Han dynasty-He has his biography in the Records, book 118, pages 5-14. 58, Tan-thanh yf Be. 58 clu-nghi Ju Hk 6qnan-ar EP . 61. pu-can $f a:CHINA UNDER THE TAN 3132 With thie text, a text coming from a source near- est to the event, and from a man who was in a position to be informed, the fact about the number 500,000 men is satisfactorily established. This example is a bit far- fetched. But it illustrates well that the historiograph- entirely ical method of the old Chinese school is far from:felia- ble, even in the hands of the most famous Chinese histo- rians. Remains number 6) to be evaluated. Was there an in- vasion of Vietnam by Trigu BA in the beginning of the Han dynasty ? It was already too much wishful to claim that ‘Trigu DA was the first king of Vietnam, 14 Van Huu did in his History of the Dai-viét, which begins with the Trigu 64 65 @ynasty and ends with the LY dynasty . By all account, trigu pa was a Chinese official, who rose up against the tén, carved out a kingdom called Nam-vigt, the capitol of which was Phién-ngung, now in the province of Canton of China. Once independent, he took over the two other new de- partments gained to the Tan by the expedition of 214 Bec. Now, two questions aris 1) 1£ Nam-hai was a department of China, why Qué-1ém 62. Dich Hu téng 4X (Gi) $1 He was king of Tay-&u, one of the viét tribes. Vietnamese historians used to consider him as ‘one of their former kings. 63. Tay-@u @ (BA, : This is the name of a tribe that some commentators identified with the Lac-viét. 64. The dynasty of trigu #4 + Was founded by Tridu Da (207-111 B.C.)/ .33 and Tuéng weren't ? When Triéu D: he rather invaded the territory of the Tén, not of Vietnam. 2) If the Vietnamese now claim Trigu D& as their eized the: departments first king owing to the fact that when Trigu Da reigned over Nam-hai, he reigned also over Qué-lam and Tudng, why don't they claim the first emperor of the Tah as their first em- peror, because while reigning over China, this emperor reig- ned also over three new departments 7 But it was different with Ng6 si Lién. He was deter- mined to give to pei-viet the longest past possible, The reason that prompted him to do so was more personal than patriotic, more political than scientific. tn 1459, when Lé Nhan-téng = was a inated by his half brother Nghi- didn’, and the throne of the Ld was usurped by' this man, Ng6é si Ldén did not mind about his illegitimacy, instead took side with this cruel and lascivious man. Eight months later, Nghi-dan was overthrown. The new emperor, Lé Thanh- téng, not only gave pardon to Ngé 8i Lién, but also made him official historian. No wonder,then, that Ngé si Lign, Y 65, The dynasty of the Ly cs Binh BO Linh founded the Dinh dynasty (968-990); Lé Hodn '@ founded the dynasty of, the Lé@ Anterior or Tién L& Lh Hf (980-1009) Ly céng vah founded the dynasty of the ty “* (1009-1225). 66. Records, book 113, page 2; History of the Han Anterior, book 55, page 7. 67. Lé Nhan-téng BC 42 FF: The third emperor of the La Pos- terior 4& + He reigned from 1442 to 1459, 68. Nghi-ain 2 R + vsuxper of the throne of the 12, he was killed after 8 months of reign.wae 34 filled with gratitude, tried to find a way to extoll to the utmost his royal benefactor. He had in his hands a powerful means given by his of- ficial function : writing history. He had also the materials. By the 15th century, many tales regarding the past of the nation came into existence, These tales were mostly of ex- hortative or explicative nature. Some were intended to tune- up the morale of the population; some explained natural phenomena or geographical names. Their value were dubious even for literature, a fortiori for history. But they were of greatest value to Ng@ Si Lign, who was conceiving the magnificent idea of glorifying his king. These tales involved far-away peoples and immemorial times concerning the nation, why not to use them to make Dai-vigt great and Lé Thanh-téng glorious ? A great nation bespeaks a great king, and a nation is great when its area is immense and ite past distant. With all that in mind, Ngo si 1ién compiled his Complete History, in which fairies and ghosts were as real as human beings. He was very successful. . His work captivated the imagination of the king and of the people. Its influence on the superstitious minds was deep and long-lasting.” ‘Thus aware of the intention of the author and of 69. These tales were gathered into two collections published by Vi Quynh under the title Linh-nam trich Quai, and by y 76 Xuyén under the title Vigt Sign U Linh Tap.35 the nature of the work, the reader can easily understand the reason why Ng6 Si 146n had inserted the sentence : '" Ngao and Ba took this coportunity to invade us'’. So, repetition, compilation, absence of criticism, and researches, open subjectivity, the historical method of the old Chinese school was also imaginary. It was ima- “4/4 gimary both in inventiveness - creation of a new chapter to national history - and in easy acceptance of the inven- tiveness of previous writings. Here is an illustration of wou the latter attribute. In the 6th century, a colon named Ly Bi revolted successfully against China..He proclaimed himself emperor in 544. He had a general trigu ie oho hurled back an at- tack of Lamp. In 548, the Chinese general Tran Ba Tién came and beheaded him. He defeated also If Thién pao ana Ly Phat m in Citu-chan. These two men fled into the moun- taneous region of Cifu.chin. Later, in 602, again Ly Phét Ti revolted, He surrendered, however, when General Luu phuéng cane in 603. On the basis of these brief data, Ngé si Lién built , up a period of Vietnamese independence of more than 50 years, with two other kings succeeding Ly Bi, namely Trigu 70. trigu mic AM BZ: wie family name Trigu created in the mind of the weiter of the tale Triéu Viét-viong the associ— ation with Trigu D4 and with the tales related to this king. 71. Ly Thién Bao F % 4B: The tale said that he became king in a Place caitéd Saolang. 72. uy phat 7 SE (IBF: according to the tale he succ ed Ly Thién Bao and becane Ly Nam-d8 Posterior; Ly Bi’ hav-36 "4 75 16 viét-vuong or Trigu Quang Phuc, and Hiu Ly Nam-de or Ly Phat Ty. Ngd Si Lién did so, just because a tale-teller had done so before him. The first king was introduced into history by a victory over Chinese armies thanks to supernatural power. And then he kept his kingdom also by supernatural power. ‘The second king was presented as beginning his kingship by stealing the supernatural power from the former, de- feated him, who ended his life tragically in the sea. the theme of the struggle between th two kings was . ready- 1 made in a novel entitled ''Kim Qui Truyan'' , in which Trigu DA emerged as winner, Here, Tri@u Quang Phuc emerged as looser -the only difference. An outline of the two themes will show their striking similarity: i ing been Lf Nam-dé Anterior. 73. Lu Phuong #1, x, 1 A great general of China who after defeating LY Phgt Ti“came down to Chiém-thdnh, got a big victory, carried back to China a big loot, but he and a great number of his men died hy dropsy on their way home, 5 74, Trigu viae-viong 44 Ay FE: King of the vidt by name triéu. The family name Trigu inspired the tale writer the whole story of Trigu Quang Phuc, by reminding him of the story of Trigu Da, Trigu Da was called also Triéu Vigt-vudng. ok 4 75. Tri@u Quang Phuc 29 A Ah se supposedly was son of Triéu Tuc, a general of Ly Bi, The story of Triéu Quang Phuc was entirely made up of imagination. ; aes Ly Nan-a8 EA a ci : Nam-dé means emperor of the South, Hgu means Posterior, "in comparison with Ly Bi who was Ly means of the Ly family. én 4 77. kim oui truyén 4 §§ 4%: story of the Golden Tortoise. This is a novel. ie37 Kim Quy ' Triéu Quang Phuc - Two kings fought one another :-Two kings fought one another without issue,because An-duchg- :without issue ,because Triéu- vudng (78)had the magic tor- :Quang Phuc had the magic dra- toise nail. :gon claw. > The two kings divided the coun:-The two kings divided the coun- || try between themselves : try between themselves. = Trigu BA married his son Trong:-Ly Phat Tu married his son Nha Thay to An-duong-vudng's daugh- : Lang to Triéu Quang Phuc's ter My-nudng (79) 1 duaghter Cao-nuong. (80) ! ~ My-nudng revealed to her hus- :-Cdo-nutng revealed to her hus: band the secret of her father's : band the secret of her fa- strength. : ther's strength. i - Trong Thiy stole the magic t-Nh@ Lang stole the magic dr. i tortoise nail. gon clww. ~ War broke again and Triéu p& :-War broke again and Ly Phat ! won. + Tw won, | = An-ducng-vuéng killed his t-Trigu Quang Phyc killed his daughter and threw himself into : daughter and threw himself { the sea. : into the i Could all this be a topic of history ? Ngo si Lién answered yes. Not only he accepted the tale as historical document, but also he was very proud of his initiative. At the beginning of the new chapter he just inserted, entitled ! > 82 —vuong Ky'' he wrote: ''Because ancient his- . ‘erriéu v: torical writings did not carry the story of Triéu viet- : 32 vuong and Ddo-lang-vudng, so I take what can be found in ! 78. An-duong-vuong # ff ZF +: He is said to have destroy- ed the kings of Lac-viét and reigned over this tribe until Trigu Da came and took over the territory. 79. trong Thay TP 7K ana my-nuéng “X72 =: are heroes | in the tale Story of The Godden Toirtoise. a : = ; : 80. Nhd Lang Sy and Cao-ntiong #47 HA: are heroes in the tale Triéu Viet-vuéng.38 local history and other documents and write, for the first time, the history of Trigu vidt-vudng and add the story of Bdo-Lang-vuéng, so that our history can be com- a3 this only a confusion between literature and his- tory, as often happened in ancient times ? It seems that it was not only a confusion, it was rather a state of mind . After giving the account of Triéu Quang Phyc, as summarized above, Ngd Si 148n seriously blamed him. He questioned the wisdom of Triéu Quang Phyc, saying:''When a girl is married, it is said ‘qui ** and the family of her husband becomes hers. The king's daughter had been married to Nh Lang; why the king did not allow her to ''return'' to her husband's family ? Why did he practice the custom of the én, and kept his son-in-law in his home, No wonder why he was rst.” By this remark, we can see that the Vietnamese histo- rian was serious with himself when he considered the tale of Trigu viét-vudng as part of Vietnamese history. His de~ termination to glorify his king and extoll his nation made him kind of blind before the reality. He contradicted him- 81. Trigu viat-vicng ky za : History of Triéu vigt-vudng. Ai a se 82. pao-lang-vieng HK & F : King of pdo-lang.The tale said that when Ly Thién Bdo was defeated by Tran Ba Tien, he came to a mountaneous ressort named Dao-lang and reigned there. 83. Complete History, book 4, page 20. 84. qui $f +: Means return. In Vietnam, after the wedding,39 self, because while affirming the independence of Ly Phat i, he asoured also that there was a Chinese profect in the department of Giao-chi, Pertinent to kndu roi he wrote:'' Khau Hoa was prefect of Giao-chau (7) ... for more than 60 years Ha was rich as s prince. That year { 622), the Budng established the Protectorate of An-nam(?) ''. Otherwise we know that from that year, Khau Hda returned to China’ .Now, if in 622,Rh@u B8a had been in Giao-chi more than 60 years, then he should have come in this department around 560, that means Giao chau was under Chinese govern- ment, Besides, in 590, Chinese documents mentioned the revolt 90 of Ly Xuan , thia mentioning would have had no meaning if 9: authoriti it was not a revolt in Giao-chau against Chine: All the tale or history of Héng-bang dynasty, as will be discussed in the following chapter, was the product of the same imaginary state of mind. there is another ceremony, called Vu-qui, to accompany the bride to the groom family. 85. Complete History, book 4, page 17. Me 86. whiu Ha # rq : Prefect of Giao-chi at the end of the Tuy and the beginning of the Buéng. 87. Ngo-Si Lién used gontuse, between Giao-chi and Giao-chau. Here there should be Giao-chi instead of Giao-chau. 88. This is a wrong date. aed establishmebt of the Pro- tegtorate of An-pam took, p! in 680, instead of 622. See Dude thi, OF Histo} 12 S Dik yng dynasty; written by Liu Rng A ee grngsty ef Tan Duong HESS, in the edition of Nhi Thap Ng sa t & or 25 Histories , published by Hadag cing Vanthoc oc Nghfen ctitxa, 1959, book 5, page 3074.40 See Complete Mistory,book 5, page 2. 89. On the return of Khau Hoa to China, Tif Tri gave a full date, that is, the 25 of May 622. (book 130, page 1269). See also Bung th, book 63, page 3309, 90. The revolt of Ly Xuan happened in 10th year of Khai-hoang. See Tw fv Tri, bodk 177, page 1177. 91. The social scientists of Hanoi followed the lete Bistory of Ngé si Lién, wrote: ce Thign Bi is chey len apne, A (bién gigi vigt Lao), chjem giv ‘ving 46, ty xung, la Dac-lang yuong. Nam 555, Thian Bao chat, tyong cang hp la Ly Phat Te lén thay. Nim 557, Ly Phat ‘Te cat quan danh Trigu vigt vuong, Vé sau, hai bén chia dol nudc, lay bai Quab: than (thuge Th ae a gate huygn Tu 1iém, Hanoi) Yam ranh gigi.Ngm 57. Pie fof agnh tp Trigu Vv chiém Jay ca nude. ‘Banh lgng thon t{ph phe ph. Ph§t Tu lam thé nude suy yéu. Lich sw V! Bengreties Transla- tion:'' Ly Thién Bao fled to a grotto ed Di der Vietnam-Laos), took over this area, made himself King Of Dao-lang. In 555 Thién Bao dieds a general in his family, Ly Phat Ti replaced him. In 557, Ly Phat Ti fought against Trigu vigt-vidng. Afterward, they divided the aountry betw ween themselves with the field Quan Than as dividing line. In 571, Ly Phat Td seized Triéu viét-vudng by surprise, oc- cupied the whole country. This action of partisanship of Ly Phat TW weakened the country'’.CHAPTER TWO ~ THE DYNASTY OF HONG-BANG + A SERIES OF TALES POORLY CONNECTED The intellectual attitude of Ng& si Lian in regard to the tale of Triéu Quang Phuc predicted what we are go- ing to see in the story of Héng-bang dynasty that he pl. ced at the beginning of his Complete History. This story was made up of a series of tales, similar in nature to that of Trigu Quang Phuc, that came into existence in the 13th and 14th centuries. Ngé si 1ién did not repeat them in full length, but shortened them, gave them an arrangement of for- mal history, provided them with dates whenever nged be. In the Preface of his work, he voiced his intention to begin the history of Vietnam from its beginning. He claimed for himself the initiative of adding the chapter on Triéu Viét-vdeng, for example. He was much prouder when he added more than two thousands years to the past of his nation, in the chapter on Héng-bang dynasty. Before him, y all the official historians had started their chronologi- cal narrative with the reign of Trigu Da in 207 B.C. But why these historians did not do what Ngé Si Lién was plan- ning to do ? ‘They were two in number. 18 vin Miu’ wrote 2 in 127@ and Phan Phu Tién in 1445. Their works were known 1, Sometimes the work of Lé Van Huu was referred to as viat-chi A 3,42 waier as History of Bai Viét. When 18 vin Huu finished his history, the tales about the origin of Vietnam did not exist yet. only wulater in the dynasty of the Trin they appeared gradually. The fact that Phan Phu Tién,who continued the work of L@ vah miu , did not get involved with these tales might be cre- ited to his good sense of historiography. As for initiative,it can be said that Ng@ Si Lién was not nec arily the first to speak of Bing-vidng. oe anonymous author of a history book called viét si ide , written sometime after 1377, had given a glimse at the pe- _rdod before Tri@u Da. He opened his narrative with the Kings ung, with the nation's name Van-lang, and with the 15 Dd lact* that composed this nation. However, he had his personal view on the Kings Hing. According to him, the kings were called so, just because they were heroic in character and tall in stature. But to tell the story of Hung-vudng as they were in the tales, Ng6 si Lién had no precedent. Not only he was the first official historian who did so, he was unchalleng- ingly the first who took the date 2879 B.C. as the first year of Vietnam history. This stroke of his pen offered to 2. Phan Phu tien @ Se, It, seems that he did not bring any change to text of L8 Van Huu and added only the part of history from the beginning to the end of the Trai dynasty. 3, The dynasty of the Trad PH + rt was founded by tran Cénh in 1225 and ended in 1400.“aliyigt people: This 141 4a Dei-vigt an ancientness if not more, at least as respect- able as that of China. was it a joke 7 No. Ngd si Lin did that with all practical intent. And those Vietname who boastfully said that their nation had 4,000 years of history and civilisation were also no less serious. In order to. understand to what extent this serious- ne might be, let us look at some facts. In eee a book entitled Lessons of History and Geography: , author- ed by a group of teachers and used as texbook in community schools of Vietnam, the first lesson begins:'' Our nation, at first, in the Héng-bang dynasty, was named Van-lang. ‘Through other dynasties, this name changedvfu-1ae’ ,téng ae ae Glao-chéu’” Dai CO-viét, eai-om, ete ++sand now it is officially changed into viét-nam, that means, the Nation of the Viét in the South. According to history, our nation was established more than 4,000 years 4. vide st tus &, 24. or Summary of History of the ele book begins w: e Kings Hung and_ends at the years 1377. . ' 5. BG-lac@f S68: This means tribes. In the Complete History Ngé Si Lién talked about 15 ''bS'' only. 6. the name of the book in Vietnamese is Bai Hoo Sif Dia, Ministry of Education, Saigon, 1956. 7. Ru-tac BA St; te tribe of pich Hu tng that com- mentators identified with the Lac viét. 8. Tudng-quan is the department of Tugng of the Tan. This department did not square with vietnam but certainly in- eluded Vietnam territory. arn i 9. Giao-chf was the name that the Han Anterior gave tg the area covered by the kingdom of Trigu pa. This Glao-chi was used from 111 B.C. until 264. .“4 12 Z ago'' . By all-intent and purpose, these lines testified the strong belief of the authors and conveyed officially to the students of vietnam that the dynasty of Héhg-bang was as historic as any other dynasty, and that vietnam had more than 4,000 years of history and civilization. Recently, the social scientists of North vietnam professed the same belief. Publications like Epoch of Hung: 13 ywong , Establishment of the Nation by Hung-vitong, and History of Vietnam are obviously intended to instill more deeply in the minds of the Vietnamese the idea of a national distant past. But history hi a way to express itself. Historical truth cannot bear pressure, from whatsoever source this pressure might come. Pressure had come from patriotic fee- ua.ddngs. Pressure is now coming from ideology. But history stands on the basis of reality. Besides, a long past is not a genuine topic for pride. It could be a shame instead if it was bare and unfruitful. Nothing deserves more to be proud of than the historical truth that comes from solid histori- cal searching. Let us analyse the dynasty of Héng-bang,as Ngé si Lién wrote it, to see how much historical truth it 10, Giao-chau 3% ‘HY : Term used in place of Giao-chi area, then, from 264, to designate the departments of Giao-chi, Ciu-chén and Nhgt-nam. Prom 680, the term An-nam replaced t. 70 be complete, there should be mentioned Tinh-hai ,Dai-vié 11, Dai-nam A, i¥ : This name was used to replace the name Vietnam under the reign of Minh-mang (1820-1940).45 could give. Let us take first the dates. There are two of them in this very long dynasty, one in the beginning and one at the end. In the beginning, that is the majestic 2879 B. Cc. This date is distant by 2622 years from the other, that is 257 B.C. Another striking point is that, during this whole period, reigned only 18 Kings Hung, this makes the reign of each king numbers in average 145 years and some months. So, cheer numbers bespeak the dubious value of the story. Imagination takes a bigger part in the nature of the story itself, Here is the first in the series of tales that compose the dynasty of Héhg-bang. This tale gives ac- 15 count of Lord Lac-long , father of the first Hing-vudng. Descendant of three generations of Emperor viém(16) of China, Emperor Minh made an observation trip(17) to the South. He married a fairy by name Vy (18) who gave birth to a son called Lge Tuc (19). This 6c Tuc was enthroned as king of our nation with the title Kinh Duong-vudng (20). The king espoused a female Spirit named Long (21), to whom was born a son named Lac Long-quan. According to the legend, Lord Lac Long took as wife a fairy named fu Cé (2°) 13. Epoch of Huhg-vudng is the translation of the vietnam- ese name: Th =a Gung-vueng written by Van Tén,, Nguyan Linh and Nguyéh Bong + and published by Nha Xu4t-ban Khoa-hoe xa“héi(social Sciences Publications) Handi, 1973. 14. Establishment of the Nation by Hung-vuong, in Viet- Namese Hung-vudng Duhg ase ae written by the Archeological Conmittes cf the Departrent of social golences or noeek Vietnam, published the Department of Social Sciences ,Hanoi, 1972, ==46 Nwa30 eta ete) Wd) ‘The Legendary Kingdom of VAN-LANG aes47 who gave birth to a hundred eggs, from which came g hundred sons. One day, Lord Lac Long told Au Cd: }* I am of the race of dragon ,you wales are of the race of fairy. Water and fire are imcompatible'', Then thay divided their sons 50 followed their mother to the mountains, 5 followed their father to the seashore, the ol- dest being king. This was the king Hing. The sons going to the mountains were ancestors of the montagnards, those going to the seashore, ancestors of the countryside people. King Hung . established his residence in Phong-chi his country Van-lang (23) composed of 15 bd (24). Kings and mandarins were hereditary. All the kings were called by the same name Hung. The mandarins were called Lac-hau (25), the generals -tuiéng (26), lower mandarins, chinh (27), sons of king, Quan-lang (28), daughters of king My-nudng (29). In the period of Emperor Nghieu of China (30), King Hung offered a Spirit Tortoise Our people used to fish for their living, and. were often harassed by water-monsters. King Hung instructed them to tattoo themselves (31) .Water- monsters saw their tattooed bodies, mistook them for animals of their own race, and did not harm them anymore. The tattooing habit took place from that time. In the period of the Chu dynasty (32) 15. Lord tac tong or Lac tong-quin Af Fe, “B: thie is the title of the tale on the kings Hung. Ngo Si Lién had eliminated many details that looked too immoral and extra- vagant. 16. Emperor viém 3% #: vidm means ''fire''. Emperor vidm was mentioned in the Récords, book 1, page 3, in the same time with Hoing-28 7 the first emperor of China.rt is said that the etberors fought between themselves three times without any result on both sides. Mentioning Emperor viem, the author of the tale intended to show that Vietnam did not have to be afraid of China, because originally it was equal to China in every aspects. 17. Emperor Minh 84 : This is a name brought out the author's cette * 7 18. vu titan nd 1 AM Hf: This kind of mythology had a great effect on the sGpersti€fous minds of the people. Now the Vietnamese used to hoast that they come from the races of fairy and dragon (Réng~tién).48 King Hing sent emissaries to offer to the Chu emperor white pheasants. On their return, the Chu gave them a carriage mounted with a compass to show them the way back to their country. (33). In the reign of King Hung the Sixth, war broke with the An...In the reign of King Hung the 18th, the country was lost into the hands of King An-duéng (34) of the Thuc Qs). 19. Ie Tuc FRE 4G + A name of the author's invention. 20. Eines puong eres, 3£ t king of the provinces Kinh or Kinh- chiu a the province Duong or Dudng- chau “onl provinces were located along the Blue River of Duong- tu-giang 5x. See Chang chi- y of Pitty Cénturied, vol. f, Ancient ¢ Chinese Advanced Studies, Taipeh, i962, pages 220-223. 21, Than Long 7 ans dragon; the name intended to say that the ae wan 8 spirit of the Dragon. 22. Au co BA, @& : we have seen that there was a tribe called Au. The author wanted to put together in his tale a combination of eset names of people and places. 23, vin-lang ff: coke is also a name that did not exist Close to the Lake Dong-Dinh 4/4] A 704, there was a district by name Da~lang 24.15 bé BR 1,89 may have the meaning of tribe, or area. In the Viét xigc, it is said that there were 15 ‘'bs lac! ie authors of the Lich-si viét-nam understand that ''bg'' means tribe, page 45. 25. tac-hau St 4%; mandarin of the Lac-viet tribe. 26. tac-tuong Gf H+ General of the Lac-vidt tribe. wae 27. Bé-chinn fi JE; title of the mandarin of vietnam who govern the Muéng tribe. The Muéng are descents of the Law-viet tribe. 28. Quan-lang @ fp : Title used to call sons of king and high mandarins, 29. My-nutng 3€ $& : Title used to call daughter of king and mandafins. 30. 30. Emepror Nghi@u, or Dé Nghigu @p $8. ne reignea china49 This first tale of the story of Héng-bang dynasty ia loaded with things to be remarked. Some lines should be devoted to its author before going to its meaningful de- tails. The anonymous author of the tale should have been an educated and purposeful man. He would have memorized e- verything about the ancient history of China and knew well what details would be most useful to give to the average people of Bai-vidt the belief that their country once had had all the properties that China possessed. With the mention tion of Emperor viém, he gave respectability to his king and to his country. With geographical names as Kinh and Duéng, and Van-lang, he wanted to show to his countrymen how vast was Dai-viat in the immemorial days. To a people who were far from being able to distinguish between history and mythology, he offered marriages between spirits and fai- ries, which would make them prouder of their ancestors. He was sure that an explanation of the common origin of the whole population would have the effect of strengthening u- nity, which was useful in time of peace, a fortiori, in time . of war. Thanks to the many names of personalities and their from 2333 B.C. to 2233 B.C, 31. To tattoo means in Sino-Vietnamese van-than 3 : 7 was not a national custom of Dai-viat, but of the Tran amily. 32. The chu 8]: from 1100 to 481 B.C.50 titles, he presented to the people the image of a coun~ try immense but well-organized, which was as glorious as China itself, but because of Chinese invasion and opresr sion, was reduced to the present size and condition. He had the intention not only to consolidate the self-confi- denca of the people, but also to excite their aggressive ness against China. Why this intention ? We know that under the Tran dynasty, there were bit- ter wars between China and Dai-viét. By other sources, for example history of literature, we know that these tali appeared under the Tran dynasty. Some traits of the tales itself testified to the same effect. In the tale, the author mentioned the habit of tat- tooing the body as a national habit of the Vietnamese. In- tentionally, he emphasized that habit in.order to attract respect and love in regard to the reigning family. In rea~’.. lity, only the.tr&h family’ practiced that habit. In 1293, when wars against the Mongols were over, and victorious 33. A carriage mounted with a compass; translation of the expression chi-nam-xa 4 fj + meaning that the emis- saries' country was so far that they needed that kind of device to go back home. 34. An duéng vudng 3 3B: This king is said to have invaded the territory of Lac-vigt and taken the throne of Lac-vudng. See Records, book 113, page 2. 35. Thue : Many historians tried to explain that this Thuc was not the province BarThuc, because Ba-thuc and Dai-viet were so far from one another.51 . 37 tréh Whin.téng felt desirable to leave the worldly 1i- fe to enter the monastery, as it was the mood of that time, an interesting incident took place. Nhan-téng sume moned his son Tran Anh-téng, who was his successor, then still a young lad, and told him:'‘our family has the ha- bit of tattooing the body. We are descent of downstream people. You have to do it to your: ele!” agter this short speech, Nhan-téng was busy talking to someone el: Anh-téng took advantage of his father's inattention, fled away and never got himself tattooed. His father didn't in- sist. By this short narrative, two things become clear : a) the tattooing habit was not a national habit ; b) the a menber of the Trin family. a) Taking literally, the exhortation of Trin Nhan- téng asserted strongly enough that only the members of the royal Trah family tattooed their bodies. If it were a na- author of the tale w: tional habit, Anh-téng would have been tattooed and done it solemnly. On the contrary he declined it as he would in regard to a superstitious and meaningless action, and 36. It is obvious that the meaning of the 100 eggs story was to appeal for unity, saying that the many tribes who were found in the region of Linh-ngoai cane from a common origin. ee 2 37, trah whén-téngPK 4= 7K + He reigned from 1257 to 1293 and had the luck of saving Bai-viét from the domination of the Nguyén #y or Mongols. 38. Complete History, book 11, page 21.dia not incur his father's blame. History also proved that the Trén Family immigrated in Bai-viat from Phic-kién, and Phic-kién , since the ancient time, was a place where people used to tattoo them- selves. In effect, at the beginning of the Tran dynasty, it is said that Tran eer the first emperor of the Tran, was descent of four generations of a Tran family who came to a seashore village from the province of Phic-kién. As we know it by ancient history, Phic-Kién was the arena of ~ 41. the old kingdom vide of King Cau Tién . And exactly in the story of this great man, it is written that he tattooed 42 his body and cut short his hair . Thus, the habit of tatt tooing the body, mentioned in the tale of Héng-bang dy- nasty, is traced to its origin. If there was a place where people used to tattoo their bodies, this place was Phic= kién, not Bai-vigt. b) Once the origin of the tattooing habit and the circumatances in which the tale of Héng-bang had been spe- ecified, we can affirm that the author of the tale was a =» member of the Tran family, The reason is if he were not,he would not have paid so much attention to the tattooing ha- bit. By stressing on it and making it a national habit,the 32. Phic-kién 7S X#0 «: A province at the mouth of Triat- giang. 40. tréh cénh PR Fs the eirst emperor of the Tran dynas- ty. He married the heiress of the LY dynasty then manceu- vered her transferring of royal power.author of the tale wished to consolidate the prestige of the tran dynasty, pointing to the fact that the Tran who were practicing that habit should have been at the root itself of the Vietnamese race. So, the question : Why this intention? is answered. ‘The author composed the tale because bis nation was at war with China, because the royal family was in danger of losing the throne, because the inhabitants needed to be united, because their morale should be lifted. He used his histori- cal knowledge and his literary skill to serve a patriotic cause. He performed the duty of a scholar in time of natio- nal distress by spreading, under the form of a tale, an ap- peal for national self-confidence. Nobody would quarrel with him, because his tale was a piece of propaganda. ‘The problem arises only when Ng6 Si Lién made that piece of propaganda a chapter of history. And the difficulty is that, not only the Vietnamese people, but also foreign historians have followed suit. To prove that the elements of the tale are a mere collection of disparate historical items put together notwithstanding time, place or even logic, would have been a superfluous work, it now becomes a necessity. 41, viat-vudng cau tin ah % % BR: me records gives to this king a whole book (41). 42, van than tién phacr fy be : The Records says ex- pressly that Cau Tién had tattoe igs body and cut his hair short because that was the custom of his country.54 Not only the socialist historians, whose works e mentioned earlier in this chapter, but French scho- lars as Henry Maspéro and Léonard Aurousseau, have assumed that what Ngd si Lién put in the first pages of his Com- plete History, was history. In 1918, in an article on the wantstory of Vietnam, printed in the Bulletin de Ltécole Frangaise d' Extréme Orient;"Henry Maspéro had a long rea- hood of the title Hting-vudng.According wun to him, the title should be Lac-viéng which would go with soning on the fa: the titles Lac-hau and Lac-tuong, and with the name of tri- be, that is Lac-viat. He suggested that Ngé Si Lién might have mistaken the character Hing %fE for Lac ZfE , because the two words an almost similar appearance.He cited Chinese texts to support his argument.His painful research showed that he took seriously the tale of Héng-bang. In fact, if Ng6 sf Lién might have mistaken, the au- thor of the tale did not. Not only he knew the texts cited by Henry Maspéro, but he proved that he knew much more.His intention was to make a combination of his knowledge about the past. To this purpo: + he chose the title Hiing-vuong for 44 king, as it was written in the Thai binh Hoin vi ky , then the titles Lac-héu, Lec-tuéng, as it was found in Quang- a 43. Henry Maspéro, Btude te 1' Histoire d' Annam, B.E.F.E.0. Vol. XIX, pages 1-30. —_— 44, Thai-binh hoan-vi ky A FE AS . $2 (Universal His- tory of the Epoch Thai-binh.): The epoch Thai-binh was in_ ie century.55 45 chau k¥. Moreover, he decided that the number of the Hing-vuing was 18, so to remind his readers that the cha- racter ing Zt 16 homonym with ming AY, and with this latter character, there were 18 kings Hing in the history of the kingdom se°°, as it was related in the Re- The other French scholar who used the tale of Héng- bang as a historical document was Leonard Aurousseau. Di- rector of the French School in the Far-East in Hanoi, he published in 1929 a study on the expansion of China in the 3rd century. In appendix to this long and important article, he gave his idea on the origin of the vietnam People. His theme: All ethnic groups, including Lac-viat, that populated South China,and had the name Viat,were dis- mantlements of the people of the kingdom viét of cau Tin after the defeat of this kingdom by the SB in 333 B.C. Ac- cording to the French historian, the proofs that all these Groups came from the Vigt kingdom is that all of them are called vigt and have the habit of tattooing their bodies. As documents, Aurousseau braughtforth , among other things, 45.Quang -chau -ky FE Hl Fe: Cited in the Records,book 113. ATE kingaom & $é haa 10 kings having, the sane title is » namely: Hing Loc At % Hing Cuéhg Hing Trach fy Jing M&u aes aiting 5 ef sHing Thang ue 4+ Hing Dich |” 4% sBiing cif + Hing Mau Khang ER iing Nghd + Ang Dién 24, ,Hing Ding et » Hing Nghian 1 Hing Tudng #8 [Hung Tush tay » Hung Ngao + Hing Nghi {f. + Hung Tuan56 what the tale of Héng-bing said about the tattooing ha- bit. Historically speaking, the two key testimonies on which Aurousseau based his argument are not historical at Sanh wage {zibes found in the Ngi-linh could not come fromy Right “in the time of the expedition of 214 B.C. , they. had inhabitated almost everywhere in southern China, and from this date up to that of the collapse of the viét king- dom, the time lapse was a little more than a century. And the Lav-vigt, for example, were in North Vietnam Tr paaieme before the final defeat of the viét in Triét-giang ,on the other hand, the concept of one origin for all the tribes to whom China gave the general name of viét is wrong ethni- cally. To take only the tribal elements of North Vietnam today, it is impossible to say that the md-néy the Lolos, the wudng the Mung 2 the mat, ete. origin, are of the same If the meaning of the word vigt is invoked for sup- Port to the Aurou: au's argument, it would be no less dis- , y 47. Records, book 40, pages 3-4, 48, Triét-giang JE + Name of a province on the sea- board of Southern China. - 49.the Thd-Téy are in the region of Lang-sén. 50. The Lolos are in the region of Bac-kan. 51. The Muéng, descenéants of the Lac-vigt are in the region of Hoa-binh.57 appointed. Written with the character, -% + it might stand. for descendants of Thiéu Khang sgouperor of the 38 Ha dynasty . According to Chang Chi-yun , they were call- ed so, ''probably because of their skillfulness in the pro- duction and use'' of a sort of weapon named viét, but writ- ten 38% .n this case, the Vit were: living-in the kingdom of cau Tiéh and could not be ancestors of all the Vidt, as dicussed above. But why all the tribes of southern China were call- ed by the same name Vigt ? The answer is that all of them lived to the south of the Blue River and the character 4A. 1 means also beya@d or on the other side of. The Chinese, on their southward expansion, when they reached this side of the River, might have globally designated all the strangers beyond the River by viat-dén '*people of the other aid and the word Vigt can again be written 2 , 9 character with two key components, namely héa meaning rice, and cung & meaning arc. With this second word, viét would si- gnify a people who knew how to till the soi2, plant rice, y and at the same time how to use the arc for hunting wild | animals for food. So, the word Viat, because its meaning was 52. The Ning are in the region of Béhg-Md. 53. The Thdi are in the region of Lai-chau. 54. thiéu Khang 3 AE the emperor of the Ha dynasty who had initiated its Es (2079-2957 B.c.) 2 55. ThaHa @ i The dynasty of Chinese history ing with Emperor vw f and ending with Emperor X: (2183-1752 B.c.). tart-either geographical or vocational, could be applied to peoples of different athnic groups living ip the same a- x or working the same way for their living. Leonard Aurousseau through his new theory, had tried to slash the national ancientness of Ng6 Sf Li@n of some 2,500 years. The Vietnamese historian contended that Pai-vi@t began in 2,879 B.C., while the French scholar wanted to proved that Dai-viét started its existence only after the debacle of the viét kingdom in Triét-giang. But in this struggle, both had lost, because both had relied on a patriotic tale. To show more fully its imaginary character, the > story of Héng-bang include) the following tales, beside the ' tale of Hing-vuéng. First, here is the tale of ''The Mi- raculous Child of the village Pht-aéng: In the reign of King Hing the Sixth, there was war against the fn ( 58). The king sent out missaries in search for talented generals, tn, the village of Phi-aong (59), there was a child three years old who did not say a word since his birth. In a suddeh, when he heard the appeal of the royal emissaries, he began to speak. He asked lis mother | to let him fight the war. He told the emissaries _ that he needed an iron horse, and iron rod and a sword. When the king learned about his request, he offered him an iron horse and a golden sword. Right away the child grew up to be a man, jumped on the horse and rode straight to the battle field. He won the war, then disappeared in the sky. (60). 36. Chang chi-yun 3% 3 9 : author of the 32-volume work o ealled ‘'chinese History of Fifty Canturies, Institute of Advanced ne Sti Taipei, 57 viat-aan 4% & : people beyond the Blue River. 58. The in ft : A Chinese dynasty which began in 1751 B.C. with the name Thiéng j2 , then in the reign of Ban59 In a time of fierce and dangerous war, this tale helped much to raise the morale of the fighting men. The next tale, that of ''The Spirit of Mountains and The Spirit of Waters'', served both purposes: explain- ed the natural phenomena of flood that came each year when the precipitous waters of the Red River immerged the delta, and gave an idea about the efforts of the population in fighting against this flood. Hing-vudng the Eighteenth had a very beautiful daughter named My-chau (61). The spirit of Mountains (62) and the Spirit of Waters (63) simultaneously asked fpr her hands. The king promised to marry his daughter to the spirit who would bring him first the traditional offerings. The Spirit of Mountains came first and got My- chau. Outraged, the Spirit of Waters flooded the country and frightened with thunders and light~ nings. (64) ' Ngé si Lian had much shortened this tale. He gave here on- ly the introductory part of the tale and summarized the outcome in one sentence, Then comes the tale of ''The Young Lad of The Villa- ge chi''s A daughter of King Hung named Tian Dung (65) made an excursion by boat to the mouth of River Chu- camh #% S& , changed into fn as dynastic name( 1398 B. C. The dynasty ‘Thudng-fn lasted 1751-1112 B.c. 59. The village Phi-déhg was called also Miraculous Child ''the Holy Child Of Déng 60. Complete History, book 1, page 4. 61. my.chdu 3 4h: Means beautiful complexion. 62. The Spirit of Mountains or sén-tinn UY B .gia. There she stopped to take a bath. The young lad of the village Chu was very poor. His father and himself had as garment only one slip. When the father used it, the son had to be naked. Caught in this situation, the young man his himself in the beach sand. The king daughter took her bath right over him, The water caused the sand to slide away and the young man was uncovered. Both the king daughter and the young man thought that fate had arranged them to meet one another. So, they got married. When this news came to the king, he was out of himself. He hastened to reach the place with the intention to destroy the couple. But, during the night, showers and thunders and storm raged on that place. The young couple and their hut were taken in the sky. This happened in Khdai-chau, in the district of Hung-yén. Later people called that place Cham Tu-nhién or Cham Da-trach ( 66). Explicative in nature ( explaining the existence of the Marsh Ty-nhién), thie tale is also a lesson of resignation to fate. At the same time it warned against the habit of compulsary marriage. In Vietnam, especially in the ancient times, marriages were usually arranged by parents and con- tracted only between families with socially equal standing. All in all, the story of Héng-bang dynasty, or the se- ries of tales just studied, openly belongs to creative lit- erature. It was written with premeditative purpose and direct- ed toward predetermined goal, The historic and geographical | names found in it played only the role of shadow that gave relief to the aim of the author. To take the story for real, 63. thiy-tinh 22 was the name of the Spirit of Waters. commented on this tale won over ''The Spi- rit of Waters'' was a meaningful epic colored with mytholo- gy, which praised the first victory of the Lac-viet people in their efforts to fight against flood to preserve the61 is to take shadow for reality. So, it is not enough to slash the past of Vietnam from 2,879 B.C. to 333 B.C., as Leonard Aurousseau Aid, but much more, that is, to the 6 10th century A.D. babes fertile soil on the river banks. (page 46). 65. Tién Dung fly ‘ZF means beautiful complexion. “66. chain means marsh. Chim Ty-nhian might have the meaning of natural marsh, 67. The fact that people believed in the historical value of the tale of Héhg-bang comes from the confusion in the mind of those historians who expressed doubt on this tale. To cite only Bdo Duy Anh in his Vigt-nam Vn-hoa SU-cudng. { Outline of a History of Vietnamese Culture) edited by Bon Phuong in 1938. On page 21, he said:'' Lat Long- quan married Au Cé....This is a legendary tale but it might have some meaning. Perhaps, it intends to show the disman- tlement of the kingdom Xfch.qui into a hundred viét peoples'! But a little later, on page 25, he wrote peremptorily: ‘History said that Lac-Long quan made his eldest son king of Van-lang withthe title Lac-vudng..CHINA BEFORE THE UNIPICATION OF TAN THUY HOANG 61wai CHAPTER THREE SOUTHWARD EXPANSION OF CHINA Late in the 3rd century B.C., China was pacified. The . 1 First Emperor of the Tan dynasty , ambitious and cruel, had subdued all his rival China from the Blue River to the north was under the rule of one monarch. This was the do- 2 main of the Hoa , the civilized.All the peoples outside of 3 China were considered as the man-di, the barbarians. China tried to expand itself into the barbarian land, both as an act of conquest’ and of civilization. The barbarians in the south were called nam-man’ who occupied the immense area south of the Blue River. this region was also known as Ngii-linh, because of its five ran- ges of mountains, or of Iuyc-luéng. It was a region of fo- rests and of jungles, in which roamed wild animals and were hidden natural treasures. This was a region where one could find precious stones, tusks of elephants, horns of unicorns, feathers of pea-cocks and rare pearls.In short, the south was so enticing that China was ready to invade it whenever possible. 1. The Tah was the first dynasty that unified china. The First Emperor of the Tah wi his toughness toward the 2, Hoa 3% srt is said that Hoa was named after Hoa on = uy > cradle of the Chinese people, 3, man-ai € 2% sane chinese considered the ethnic groups other than themselves as barbarous, uncivilized.63 ‘The barbarians of the south were called also viét by the Chinese, meaning thet thay were living beyond the Blue River. The Vit were not of the same race. They be- longed to different ethnic groups and lived by hunting and by planting rice. Their agriculture was mostly primitive. Their character was primitive, too. But they became fierce fighters when they had to defend their interests. In 214 B.C., the Tin was ready to attack the viét peoples the first emperor of the Tan mobilized a big amy. ‘This army of 500,000 ‘men was not composed of career-soldiers. Compulsorily enlisted were the vagabonds, those who were 8 parasites of the bride's family, the charlatans , in short, all the undesirable elements of the Chinese society. Trigu Ba and 86 Thi got the command of this army while Gidm Lc took care of the supply. This huge expedition served two purposes: to conquer new territories, to initiate new Chin colonies. 4. Nam-man if {GS : this was a common name that Chinese gave to the barbarians of the South just as the name viét. 5. In the time of the Tah expedition, Chinese people had crossed the Blue River and occupied its south bank. 6. Records of History, book 6, page 17, book 112, page 7, 7, We have discussed at length about the expedition of Tén Thiy-hoang on pages 28-32 of this study. 8. The Tah had mobilized thwng phu vong nhan 3 it A chua te te FHF , mai nh&n Y va + The Tan wanted them to go out an@ fight, but did not want them to be back.This policy was the best to spread the Chinese way of life in flew territories.64 the tah army went deep into the territory of Lyo- luéng, fought againet the vigt people during three years without respite . When the king of fu-vigt , Dich Hu Téng was killed, the vigt retreated in the dark forests rather than served the Tan. On the territory taken from the vidt, the chin Nam-hdi in bhe east, ou 1 in the west, and Ting, far- emperor established three departments, namely away in the south west . Nham Ngao was appointed prefect of Nam-hai, and Trigu Da sub-prefect of Long-xuyén, district of the Nam-hai department. The Vigt people were far from subdued. They organized guerilla attacks and fought the Tah during the nights. The Tan forces were decimated and Dé Thy was killed. The Tah em- peror had to send to the new departments another expedition made up with prisoners for guarding the territory. A great number of women came,too, in this region in order to found 12 new Chinese families for a sound and lasting colonization. The first emperor of the Tah died in 210 B.C. His im- 13 mense empire fell into disorder. His second son, Hé Hgi who succeeded him, was weak and immoral. Strong men stood up 9. According to Liu An, the fight lasted three years, but in the Records, book 112, page 8, it is stated that the fight was going on fiercely during 10 yeare 10. The Au-vidt was grother tribe close to the Lac-viét.In the tale Héhg-bang, Au-cd seemed to indicate that Lac-long, when he married her, had made an alliance between the Lac- vigt and the Au-viét. 11. The Tah empire had already 36 departments, with these new departments, it made 39.6s and fought against the Tah to be independent. When HO Hdi, 214 Or Nhi-thé Hoahg-ds, committed suicide in 2 Ce, two generals, Liu Bang and Hang VO entered into a fatal duel. During this time, the region of Ngi-linh became also independent under the leadership of Trigu Da. This man, following the advice of Nha Ngao, created a new na~ tion out of the new departments and proclaimed himself king of Nam-viat, % with Phiaén-ngung as cppital. That. was in 207 B.C. Later he invaded the territory of today North vietnam, erected two departments nanely Giao-chi and Cilu-chén, and governed them by emissaries. .In these new departments of Trigu Ba, lived many tribes, but the most important was the Lac-vigt. During the reigns of Trigu SF and of his successors, Chinese people continued to m0- ve south and settled in Nam-vigt, even in Giao-chi. The Han had succeeded the Tah. Lu Bang, now Han- cao-aé, after pacifying China, wanted to re-occupy Nam- vigt, He and his successors sent envoys to Phién-ngung to talk the kings of Nam-vigt into capitulation. ” Trigu psy and his successors stood firm, The Han had to use tricks 18 5 Trigu Minh-vdéng , while hostage in the Han capital, was Pressured into marrying a Chinese woman. After his death, 12.Complete History book 1, page 8; Tu Tri, book 6, page 47. Gates ae 13, ué gif Sivas kia brother of pha 7644 BE the 1at- ter was killed by his brother after the death of his father.66 1 thie woman worked on her son, Trigu Ai-vidng for the of China. Ai-vudng complied. In 111 B.C., on the eve of Ai-viléng's departure for China to recognize Chi- nese power over Nam-viét, Nam-viét's Prime Minister Lu cia” managed to kill Ai-vidng, the Queen-Mother, and the Chinese oe While Lif Gia busied himself putting the son of Ai-vuidng, Kian ae on the throne of Nam-viét, the Han was ready to cope with the situation. Under the command of 16 Béc pies entities Subduer of the Waves - a power- ful army of the Hdn came before the gate of Phian-ngung. 14, Whi thé Hoang-a8 = ar :Emperor of the Second generation. : 15..Records, book 113; History of the Hén Anterior, book 95. Tu Tri, book 12, page 60, Complete History, book 1, page 97 book 2, pages 1: 16, Trigu Da sent nht sit = TE (two emissaries) to govern the two departments of Giao-chi and Cwfu-chan. 17. Records, book 97, pages 7-8;Td Tri, book 13, page 86; book I6, page 109; book 17, page 117.” 18. Trigu Minh-vutng# 6 Es 124-113. see tu teh book 20, page 136. 19. Triau Ai-vuengi] R HE: 112-111. complete History book 2, page 13. 20. tit cia % ZE ; aype of patriotic official.e had ad- vised in vain many times, so he had to take strong measure against the king and the Queen mother. 21, Records, book 113, pages 3-4, History of the Han Anterior rior, book 95, page 12, 22. Kién pic X48, . 23. L6 Bde Bite ¥E th a: A great general of the H.wa 67 The capital of Nam-viét was besieged. Chinese forces de- feated Li Gia and Kién pic, who were captured on their way of escape. Nam.viét became seven departments of the Han dynasty, namely nae eee ee Hép-ph8”, Giao.chi, Ciu-chén and Nhat-nam. This politi- cal re-shuffle at the end of 111 B.C, marked a turning point for the last three departments, which about a thou- sand years from that date, would become Vietnam. From now on, this study will center on this part of Chinese terri- tory. The seven new departments constituted an administra- +29 tive unit called Giao-chi area or Giao-chi-bé, under the 30 a ‘power of a governor or thif + Bach department, or quan was governed by a prefect or thdi-thi , each department 33 was subdivided into many districts or huyan, at the head 3 of which were the sub-prefects or huyén-lénh .The policy 24, Subduer of the Waves or Phyc-Ba Tudng-quinth KM 4 F- This title was given also to,Ma vién when this general was dispatched to fight Truhg Tréc. 25.Nam-hai was in Canton today, having 6 districts. : 26. vat 1am AS 44h: this was the Que-lam of the Tan,hav- ing 12 districts. 27. thudng-ngd Be AE: this department later, in the Dudng, was called Tan-guang, having 10 districts. 28. Hép-phd Uifi Later named also Hoan-hop, had 5 di: tricts. 29. Giao-chi-bg 2 BEA: this meant area of Giao-chi. Sometimes it was used without the word ''bé'', and was eer confused with the Giao-chi quan or district of Giao- chi’,of the Han Anterior was still liberal. In the department ef Giao-chi for example, the tge-tddng who formerly govern- ed the districts were still allowed to do so. But mostly, from the function of sub-prefect upward, the officials we- re appointed by the Central Government and the officials waBhould be born eotneset As for colonial policy, the Hin followed the proce- dure of the preceding dynasty. The undesirable, the pri- soners were sent to the colonies to be soldiers or colons. of the governors and in the delta of the Red River . They used to settle in well-knit villages in order to till the soil for a liv- ing and, at the same time, to look out for the security of 38 ’ China. 30. Thi-st #4 & 1 He was governor of an area, not of a a In €he tment - Complete History, there are many confusions ons of this kind. 31. Qugn + In 111 B.C. the Han had 82 departments and 20 quéc or kingdoms. 32, mhai-tna ALP. ’ 33, auyén 8 —. Im the Hn Posterior huygn was called thinh. 34. Huyén-1énh BR 4A. 35. There was a Lac.tuing M2 44 in wé-1inh and in chéu-dién. 36. There was much discrimination between the native chi- nese and the colons, who were born in the coloni: oe far-south departments (Giao-chi, Ciu-chai nam). 37. Red River or Héhg-hafr 34] vietnam. i The biggest river of Northwai The Central Government did not take much care of the colons. They had to make a living by themselves and were harassed in many ways by the officials. Far away fron the emperor and the imperial court, the officials felt free to do anything they wanted, In the first decades of the first century A.D., however, some good prefects appeared, namely : 39 : tich Quang = of the department of Giao-chi, and Nham pDién of the department of ciu-ch®n. The first had the initiative to establish schools to teach the colons literature and 40 good manners. During the usurpation of vuéng Mang that. 41, divided the Hdn dynasty into Anterior and Posterior, | Tich Quang with the governor and other prefects remained faith- ful to the Hén. when Vidng Ming was finally eliminated, ~ . 42 ' the Han emperor sent Sém Banh to the south to appeal for unity. tich quang and his collegues gave submission to the new ruler. 38, In 231, Ti8t tong BF YF, the prefect of Hgp pl6 made a report to the Ngd (210-279), in which there is this pa: ge:''Hi€u-v6 of the Han killed Lit Gia... appointed a governor to Giao-chi, sent Chinese prisoners to this area, had them settled here and there, taught them some knowledge, showed them some good manners... Tw Tri, book 41, page 280. 39. Tich Quang $f %. ; the first good prefect to be mentioned in the Han Anterior.T{ch Quang had no biography of his own in the History of the Han Anterior.His mention was made in the story OF than pig ee ‘of Nham Dil 40, vidng.Mang © ZR : we was son of a brother of Queen Higu-nguyén of the Hén, rose rapidly in power and in the year 8 A.D. usurped the throne of the Hdn, kept it until 23. * = . om 41, The Han Anterior or Tigh Hén 3) 7 (206-B.c.-8a.D.) and the Han Posterior or Hau Him 74) (23-226) . y70 43 The story of Nhim Dién , prefect of Cllu-chan, was full of information about the social and economic situa- tion of that department. Praises should have causes. Im- Provements should imply previous defects. The biography of 44 Nham Din the History of the Hén Posterior , was a long praise for his improvements to the benefit of Cilu-chan in the 3rd decade after Christ. Because of its rich content, let us read the text itself: The tradition of the people of Citu-chan was to live on hunting and fishing. The people did not know how to till the soil with water buffaloes. Whenever there was scarcity in rice,they used to trade with Giao.chi. Dien gave order to make agri- cultural tools, taught them to clear the jungles; new fields increased year after year. Rice supply aaa became abundant. Moreover, the people of Lac-viet had no mar- riage tradition. They were debauch, did pot want to have a family, did not know the relationship be- tween father and child, between husband and wife. Dien sent out instructions to his districts, telling the sub-prefects to enjoin males from age 20 to 50 females from age 15 to 40, to choose their espouses according to their ages. As for the poor people who could not afford the wedding presents, he asked all the officials to cut out a portion of their salaries to help them. Once, people getting married amounted to more than two thousands. That year, the crop was good, rice price was cheap. The children born began to have a family name. Everybody sajd: If I have this child, it's thanks to Prefect Nham''. Many named their children after his name. (45). alas 42. sain panh 5 $4 ; He was one of the best generals who helped restoring the Han. The story of San Banh is found in the History of the Hén Posterior, book 47, page 9-16, 43. wndn ign 4£ E+ ne had his story in History of the Han Posterior,book 106, pages 3-4. 7 eae 44. Wistory of the Hén Posterior or pau Hén-tnu 1% 3% edited by Trung-hoa Thu-cuc, in Taiwansn the fieue remark de that the Lec-vi¢! not only lived in Giao-chi, but also in Ciu-chin. In both depart= ments, they were not the whole population, but they cons- tituted the most populous tribe among the autochthons. As for agriculture, Cilu-chan was much inferior to Giao- chi, In this department, as early as in the time of Triéu ‘pa, the autochthons had learned from Triéu Qua, emissary of the king of Nam-viét, the Chinese technique of plant~ ing rice. In Clu-chén, on the contrary, the Lac-vigt con- tinued their backward way until the time of Nhm Di@n. Before the introduction of agricultural tools by this pre- fect, they used to burn brushes and sowed rice seeds in holes dug in ashy aoe The total lack of marriage among the bac-vigt was to be noted. Pham vige® gave a reason for this barba- rous custom: The Lac-viét,,he said, were debauch, they liked flesh satisfaction, but did not like conjugal respon- sability. Nham pién initiated a bold reform; his policy was effective. The Lac-viét seemed to enjoy the good re- sults. 45. Pham Viép, op.cit. book 106, page 4. 46. mie qué X44 4G, was governor of siiu-tiec or siu-tuc a6 Wy 43 9 BN Bt. 47. This way of planting rice is called ''14m ray'' in viet- namese. Until now the montagnards still burned brushes and dug holes to plant rice seeds. ‘48. Pham viép 70, 3% : ne was prefect of Tuy@n-thanh when he wrote his history under the Tong dynasty (420-477).72 It would be proper here to po: some questions. Why during a period of more than two centuries only two pre- fects bothered themselves about helping their subjects ? What was then the role of the governors and prefects Did they havévt® exploit the population and harrass then for bribe ? Why their corruption and their irresponsability were not checked ? Was it because the departments of Giao- chi, ciu-chin and What-nam were too far from the cnetral uai.Government ? If it was so, the life of the people in this part of China was too much hopeless. This life would depend entirely on the whim of the officials. So, when the officials had some cover for their ambition, the population was out- right miserable. Prior to the usurpation of Vudng Mang, the Han behaved as conquerors. Satisfied with what they got, the Han en- Perors seemed not to worry about the vicissitudes that might happen to their possession. Suddenly, a st'anger was able to interrupt the course of their succession. The throne lost for 15 years had awakened them. ‘The fighting for the resto- ration was long and destructive. It was not surprising that when they recaptured the power, they did not want to loose it a second time, They tried to keep it tightly. They wanted not only unification but also uniformity. ‘They wanted that their country should be governed the same way, everywhere. Schools everywhere should use the same characters. People everywhere should be submitted under the same laws. These policies had made the Han famous, but they were3 also the cause of many additional troubles to the res- tored dynasty. For the area of Giao-chi, they were an occa- . sion for many more harassmenta. at the expense of the po- pulation and obviously at the origin of the uprising of the autochthons in 39. wae"4 GIAO-cHt AREA AFTER THE PALL OF NAM-VIBT IN 111 B.c, vat-1am Nam-hai Thudng-ngd Hdp- phd Nan-h3i @ Vf vée-1am od A Thidng-ngd = #% tibp- pis > Zi Giao-cht Z LE cdu-chan AL A Nnat-nan O chau-nhai 3 & Dam-nhi15 CHAPTER FOUR THE SISTERS TRUNG : THE UPRISING OF THE’ AUTOCHTHONS It ie a fact of history that a tribe called Lac-viét lived, from time immemorial, in some places of the depart- ments of Giao-chi and Ciu-chan.The Lac-viét was. not the only tribe, but one of the many tribes that populated the: departments. They occupied the district of Mé-linh, the district of Chau-dién and the area of Déng-sén. Both histo- rical documents and archeological findings confirmed their existence up to the 3rd century B.C. If it is obvious that the Lac-viét people existed, it is not so obvious about their origin or their relation- ship with the Vietnamese, Ngd Si Lién, the Vietnamese his- torian of the 15th century, did not bother pondering these questions. He had confused men with ghosts, he confused Lac-viét with viét-nam. For him, not only Lac-viét, but Nam.vigt of Trigu Da or any other Viét was part of viét-nan in ancient times. Since his Complete History of Dai-viét came into existence, the Vietnamese people thought the same way. And the Alatoriane repeated, one after another, what Ngd si Lign had said . They did so, both because this view aad 1, The fact that other historians followed what Ngd- si Lién said is easily understandable. Documents on Viet- hamese ancient history are scarce. When in their painful search for sources, they got the work of Ngd Si Lién, they considered it as a precious document and forgot to question what the author was saying.76 flattered their patriotism and saved them from the trou- ble of a time-consuming research into obscure documents. As we have seen, the Lac-viét were aborigenes of where history found them. They did not come from the viet kingdom of Cau Tign as Leonard Aurousseau pretended. The character Vigt that entered into their tribal name did not have an ethnic, but geographical meaning. They were only one among the many ethnic groups that lived in the region of Ngt-1inh. What was pecular to the Lac-vi@t was that they were predominant in the departments of Giao-chl and cifu-chan and that they had a relatively | advanced social and po- 2 litical organization. Their land was called Land Lac , 3 A This land was governed by a king Lac , those who composed 4 the court of this king were Mandarins Lac, and there were many generals Lac. The Lac people tilled their land for 5 their living . 2. Land Lge or Lac-aién @G HB : It is said that the Lac people had to profit the tide to be able to use this land. * 3. Lac-viong .@% 3: there is no doubt that the title Lac-vidng is a historic title. The text that mentioned the titles Lac-vudng, Lac-hfu, Lac-tuéng was repaated some centuries later withe titles changed into Hing-vuéng, Hing- hau, Hing-tyng. ~ 4.Lac hau £& ER: The Complete History of Ng6 Si Lién, while changing Lac-vuéng Into Hlng-vidng, still kept the historic titles Lac-hdu and Lac-tieng. 5. In the Quang chau k¥, cited in the Records, book 113 page 2, it is Baid that ‘thé ‘people Lag tilled the soil for their living''. Nhan ‘thuc ky aién A, e x @wales 1 The Lac-viét society was very much disturbed in the ard and 2nd centuries B.C.Repeatediy the Lae Lend was attacked, First a certain '' son of King Thyc'' , came with 39,000 fighting men, defeated Lac-viéng and reigned 7 over the Lac-viét people with the title An-dudng-vudéng.7. In 196 B.C. the king of Nam-viét, Triéu Ba, put down An- dudng.viéng, divided the area into two departments, Giao- chi and ctlu-chan, and appointed twa governors to super- vise them. Prom the former Lac organization, there remain- ed only the Lac-tiéng who functioned as heads of the Lac- viet districts in the name of Nam-viét king. In 111 B.C., the Lac-viét people shared the fate of Nam-vigt, when this kingdom fell into the hands of the Han anterior. The new rulers retained the administrative units put up by the Triéu faniiy They retained also the Lac- tuong in the positions they had before but organized many 1 other districts in the new departments. 6.''son of King Thyc'' or Thyc-vudng-ti BF =F as , written in the Giao chau Ngoai vic ky, cited in the Thay ° Kinh Chi > 4 E-. book 375ps ook 37 page 32. 2 an-duéng-idng Ge ZE : King of An-duéng. In the department of Han- config ‘ there was a district called An-dudng. It might be s connection with the title An- duéng_viéng. 8. In the Giao-chau kf cited in the Records by Tu M& Trinh, comméntator under the Dudng dynasty (617-907), it ig said that Trigu Da anh nhi st ai@n chu Giao-chi’, & e pe BA f= Bp book113,page Ciu-chan nhi quan! 9. According to the ¢ hau ky, the Lac-tidng were given ''copper seal and green silk'' or aéng-@n thanh- page 3.78 But things changed with the Han Posterior. after the usurpation of vudng Mang,the Han wanted to enforce anew policy. It is not to say that the Lac-viét resisted every change. When Tich Quang and Nham Dién introduced the Chinese wedding ceremonies, they had accepted willing- ly and gratefully. But this did not mean that they were ready to welcome the Chinese way of life. And this time, the H4n wanted to propose just that to the autochthons. Moreover,the result of a law enforcement depended much on the officials who did the job. when these officials ranked among those who were waiting for a cover to sa- tisfy their ambition, trouble was sure to come. For thecolons, the new laws were not go much an unbearable burden. Strict or loose, they were theirs.But the autochthons had their own way to interpret the change in the life formula. Used to be oppressed, they construed that China was imposing more oppression. When this op- pression was brought home to them by bad prefects and go- vernors, revolt became inescapable. This situation struck all the ethnic groups. The Lac-viét, however, had a reason to stand up first. . suc - eng GA on, 10. the trigu AFT aia not have a tight organization in the Lac-vigt ¢erritory. Maybe the establishment of two departments was the only thing the king of Nam-viat did. 11. Besides the districts that existed under the power of the Lac.tuéng,the Han created new district for a more effective government.79 o 12 ceeding. Tich Quang, T6 Binh carried more shadow by contrast. Rude but sensitive to the avenues of selfish ac- quisitions, he put in vigor the Han policy with a special eagerness. Everybody felt harrassed. Especially the Lac- vi8t had to abandon their laws, pride for past generations. And suddenly all the Lac-tiidng disappeared... What would 13 come next ? ‘Then a lady took up the challenge. This was Trung tric, daughter of the Lac-tiiéng of wé-iinn Her husband, by name mi, was also son of a Dee een ee and was al- so full of vengeance. Tring wn”, her sister,was no less vengeful. Together they stood up and off they headed to a mass uprising. The History of the H4n Posterior recorded: A woman of Giao-chi, named Trung ‘trdc, with her sister Trung Nhi, stood up in revolt. She at- tacked her department. The autochthons of Cifu-chan, Nh§t-nam, and Hép-ph® supported her. They fought in more than 60 towns of Linh-ngoai(18). Trac pro- claimed herself queen. (19). 12. 18 pinh Bf H: He was not the worst of the prefects, but his image worsened in contrast with Tich Quang, his , predecessor. = 13, There was no mention of any killing of the Lac-tuéng by the prefects, but there was also no mention of any Lac- tuéng at all. 14, Ma-inh JS 36: one of the 10 districts of Giao-chi. 1s. Thi Z¥ +: According to Thy Kinh Ché of Lich Déo Nguyén, the mane of Trung Trdo's husband was Thi, not Thi Sach. 16. This was son of the Lac-tidng of chau-aién Si a20 Later , Tu Tri recounted the same event with cir- cumstantiated details : On the 15th year of Kign v& (21) ,12th lu- nar month,Trung Tr&c,,daughter of the Lac-tvong of M&-linh in Giao-chi, very audacious,. resented strongly against the prefect of Giao-chi, 16 Dinh, who enforced the law in an oppressive mahner. The 16th year of Kién vd, 2nd lunar month, wales Trung Tr&c, with her sister Trung Nhi, rose in re- volt. The autochthons of of Ciu-chan, Nhat-nam a4 Hdp-ph6 supported her. They attacked 65 towns. Tr&c proclaimed herself queen, established her capitol in Mé-linh. The prefect of Giao-chi and other pre- fects fortified their residences for self-defense. (22). Out of these two passages, the cause of the uprising, as well as its demension appeared readily.One can see the battle-front that divided the autochthons on the offensive side, and the Chinese colons on the defensive. The prefect of Giao-chi and those of other departments did not escape. They stayed and did their best to organize the resistance, waiting for the recue forces of the Central Government.The movement of liberation led by Trung Trdc in 39, had made her queen in the spring of 40.Losing much of its tumultuo- sity, the war continued in Giao-chi. in other departments, , y it lost momentum and died down soon. 17. Trung whi EK RR: She shared all the way the fate of . her sister, R 18. Linh-ngoai oA AY + Meaning the same area as Ngi-1inh. 19.Pham Viép, op. cit., book 54, page 7. 20. Later means a lapse of time of 6 centuries. The History Qf the Hdn Posterior was written under the Téng (420= and Tw Tri was accomplished in 1066.81 But 15 centuries after the event, Ngé SI Lién gave another picture. Repeating what Chinese documents had recorded, he.was deeply influenced by the patriotic tale entitied "the two Ladies triing’'” that appeared at the same time with that of uéhg-bang. Combining history and legend, Ngé si Liénvin his Complete tory Jn the year Ky-hdi , because the prefect of Giao-~chi, T6 Dinh was ambitious and cruel in his administration, Queen Trung stood up and fought a- 0 gainst him. 25 In the year Canh-ti , the 2nd lunar month of spring, the Queen, angry at T6 Dinh, who was enforcing strictly the law and had killed her hus band, rose in rebellion with her sister Nhi and be- sieged the residence of the governor. Dinh fled to Nam-hai. The departments of Cifu chan, Nhat-nam and Hép-ph6 supported her. She pacified 65 towns of Linh-nam, proclaimed herself Queen and reigned under the family name Trung. (26). ' Important new elements were given, or by adding to, diuisor by omitting, or by modifying, the Chinese texts.the cause of the uprising, for example,was doubled: beside the strict policy enforced by the cruel T6-Dinh,appeared the «uu Conjugal responsability that prompted Trung Tr¥c to revenge the killing of her husband. : 21. The 15th year of Ki€n-vd corresponds to the year 39 of the Christian era. 22. Tu Tri, book 43, page 291. 23. The Two Ladies Trung or Nhi Trung Phu-nhan= 7h FA, This tale was a combination of “history, and mythology. 24. K}-hdi@ % corresponds to the year 39 of the Chritian era or the 15th year of Han Kién-vo. 25. canh-t{ J Zcorresponds to the year 40.82 This additional cause was sociologically anachronical and historically false. We have seen thatthe Lac-viét peo- ple of Cuu-chan in the time of Nh4m Dién did not know mar- riage at all. And the time of Nhdm Dign's prefecture was a-~ bout a decade before Trung Eréc's uprising. On the other hand, the Lac-vidt of Giao-chi were civilized only under Tich Quang, that means a decade or so before Cwu-chan.How the conjugal responsability, so recently introduced from China, could affect Trung Trac so deeply ? On the historical side; to say that T6 Binh had killed the husband of Trung Trac, was to impute to the prefect of Giao-chi a crime that he never committed. The memoir of a man, named Lich Dao Nguyén, who passed by Mé-linh in the 6th century, testified to the contrary. That memoir, thiy Kinh Chi, said that the husband of Trung Trac, by name Thi, fought with her during the uprising, and shared with her the defeat two years later. 26. Complete History, book 3, page 1. 27. In Thuy Kinh chd, book 37, page 62, we, read: Chau-dién Lac-tuéng tY danh Thi, sach Mé-linh Lac-tudng nif danh Trung Tra vi thé, Trac vi,nhan hiu dam dipg tuéng Thi khi tac. M& Vién tuéng binh thao. Trac, Thi, téu nhap Cam-khé. KRM MT SHR BY HK ATKMAS BMA A AE £4 eo SIH AH. RN HK. The son of the Lac-tudng of Chéu-dién,aamed Thi,asked to marry the daughter of the Lac-tuéng of Mé-linh named Trung trdc. Trde was a woman full of courage and determination. She carried him into rebellion. M& vién brought forces to put them down. Trac and Thi fled into Cam-khé. y83 Of greater importance was the omission of the words man di, the barbarians, when Ngé Si Lién described “dle aimension of the uprising.The text of the Vietnamese historian intentionally conveyed the idea of a revolt in which the whole population participated. In consequence, somthe four departments, namely Clu-chfn, Nhgt-nam, Hgp-phé and Giao-ch? had swept away Chinese domination. This area, from spring of 40 to 42 would have been entirely under the rule of Trung trfc. What a magnificent accomplishment. Un- fortunately, this magnificence existed only in the imagi- nation of Ngé si Lién. The reality was that only the autochthons took part in the revolt of Trung Trfc. The reality was that, while the autochthons attacked, the prefects of’the area, including 16 Binh, @id not escape to anywhere. They stayed in their departments and organized the defense with the colons. The reality was also that, while in other depart- ments the liberation movement of the autochthons quieted down gradually, in Giao-chi, the prefect managed to train ‘ a troop of 12,000 men in order to join the main army to 29 be sent’by the Central Government. . + In Td Tri, we find the same Ma 43 Pid ingeend of Man di. In the Complete ach sha reading’ : Cttu-chan, Nhat-nam, Hgp-phé giai ig cl 29. In Thy Kinh Cha, there is this detail:'' In the 19th Rens (43) Ma Vién reported to the emperor in ' I cautiously entered Giao-chi with a troop of Giao-chi of 12,900 free which co-operated with the main army of 29,000 men.. 28. In The History of the Hdén Posterior, oa ey wi ay. yeag-nony Hopp gan aT gat, Oho Hgp-pl < giai whg chin. 56 lywater 84 It was this obvious distortion that made the Sisters Trung heroines of Vietnam. It was this distortion tion that let\ the historians and writers to ignore the presence of the Chinese colons who would eventually be- came the main element of the Vietnamese people. It was also this distortion that . entailed the treacherous idea that only the autochthons who finally got rid of China nad gained independence. The independence gained to the autochthons by the Sisters Trung came to an end at last, when the army led 30 by General M& vin came. Here, again, the text of Tut Tri: Tae 3a The 17h year of Ki@n-vS , the 12th lunar month. Trung Trac continued her attack through the year . The emperor gave order to the departments of Trudhg-sa (32), Hgp-phG, Giao-chi, to provide boats, chars, to get roads, bridges, rivers and supplies ready. He made Ma Vién General Subduer of the Waves, made general Luu Long (33) his aide, mandated them to punish Giao-chi. The 18th year of Kién-vé (34), M& vi8n head- ed through a thousand miles of thick brushes, came upgtream of Lake tang-bac (35), imposed to Trung trdc a smashing defeat, chased her into Cam khe (36). The rebels were dispersed. The 19th year of Ki€n-y6(37),the Ist lunar month, Ma Vién killed Trung Tac and'Trung Nhi (38). of Giao-chi of 12,000 men which co-operated with the main army of 20,000 men.. 30. MZ vian & ge :He has his biography in the History of the Han Poster: + book 54, 31. The 17th ear of Kien-vé’ corresponds to the year 41. 32. Trudng-sa — 52K: a department of china north of ligp-pre. 33. Phi-nhac-nau tifa tong FR BE fe NBR. -as The decisive battle was quickly over. The 20,000 men army brought by Ma vign with the 12,000 colons ar- ny provided by Giao-chi department had easily defeated Trung tr&e and company. Even Cfm-kh@ was not safe for the Trung family. After almost a year of hiding here and there among the montagnards, Trung Trfc, Tring Nhi and Thi were captured and killed. Pham Viép added that their heads were sent to Lac-duéng. . We have seen that Citu-chan was also a habitat of the Lac-viat tribe. So, after the debacle, a part of Trung Trifc arwy, under the comand of 58 Long’ took re- fuge among their tribal fellowmen in cu-phong’”. To pre- vent further trouble, Ma Vién followed them, crushed then. Giao-chi was completely pacified in summer of "43. But the work of MZ vién was not yet finished.He fortified the residences of the districts, surrounding them with a rampart. ‘the district of Tay.vu was too big; ha divided it into Phong-khé and vong-hdi . O£ course, he did not forget the main purpose of his being in Giao-chi: to make the Lac-viét people obey to the law of China. This 34. The 18th year of Kién-vd corresponds to the year 42. 35, Lang-bac Ri. According to Thuy Kinh Chu, it was in the distr{ct ‘of phong-kh@. 7 36 cr-knd WE $8: te was written Kim-khe$ $% by some au- thors. Its location was in the south west of’ Me -linh. 37. The 19th year of Kién-vd corresponds to the year 43.86 task, M& vién accomplished very well. The History of the Han Posterior summarized it in these sentences: ''The law of the Vigt and that of the Han had about ten contradic- tory points. vién explained the law of the Han to the vigt people and had them abide by that law. From that time, the people of Baeayige meticulously kept what general Ma en- ate joined them .And from that time, too, the name Lac-viét disappeared for good fron history.” What M& Vign thought good to be done, he had done it in summer 43. and his triumphal return to China took place only on Oactober 44. The question is what did he do during the 17 months he still stayed in the area of Giao- chi ? Did he make a trip down to the district of TWdng-1am in the department of Nhat-nam, and planted a bronze column there in memory of his victory, as tradition insisted to say 2” pia he go around and collect kettie-druns, fancus products of the Lac-viét, as history would like to testify 38. The History of the Han Posterior said: Chuyén thi Lac- auéng fF Ge We hook St, pag He «Wook 54, page 8). 39. ab-dudng HB AB. 40. Cu-phong AA: A district in the mountaneous part of citu-chan. & 41. Td Tri said that the rebels surrendered. 42. MA vign surrounded the district residences with a thanh and in the Han Posterior the districts were called thanh. 43. Phong-khé 24 $4 and vong-nai 42 $4 were respect- ively in the west*(former) and in the east (latter). 44, It is good to remark that when M& vién explained the law, he explained only the Chinese law and enjoined thea7 Maybe he did both. Now, there is no more vestige of his bronze column, because it might have happened that this column had collapsed into the sea, as Thay Kinh Ch sug- gested. But the kettle-drums are still being unearthed to fulfill their historical meaning. A number of happenings are well-known about the kettle-drums. The first to be considered is that they be- longed to the Lac-vi@t. Did we not see that on his return, M& vién had brought back a large quantity cf ''Lac viét aéhg cd'* or Kettle-druns of Lac-viét? "7 ne second is that now the Mudng are keeping good memory of their trea- sure of kettle-drums. They used to say:'' The first kettle- drums were made under the reign of pit-ping Dit-pang or- dered to make hundreds and thousands of Kettle4drums. He kept the beautiful ones in his store-house and told to chi Khdéa, Thing wi? to sell the ugly ones in the onecee i The third happening is that the places where history re- corded that the Lac-viét have lived, the Mudng are now liv- ing. And the fourth, archeology is digging up beautiful kettle-drums in country Muéng, that is, in the places in- habitated by the Lac-viét, for example Déng sdn, Hoa-binh. Lac-viét to obey. 45. The fact is that from this mentioning, the name Lac-viét was forgotten, and in its place history spoke of the Li@u. 46. See Tiy-thu PB or History of the Tu (590- 619) in the edition ne me Ngt-st- book 53 aS 2483, 47. Phom Viép, op. cit., book 54, page 8.wales ag From all these facts, the first conclusion might be that the Lac-viét are the ancestors of the Mudng. And “"“ the second is that, if now the mudng are not Vietnamese in the ethnic sense, formerly, the Lac-viét were not Viet- namese, also in the ethnic sense. Ngé si Lién was short in the second part of the revolt of Trung Trac. He said that the Sisters Trung end- ed their lives by throwing themselves into the River Hat. He omitted the detail concerning the attitude of the Lac- viét towards Chinese laws. Reading Trung Tr&c of Ngé si Lién and that of history, one may have the impression of facing respectively a pincess, well-educated and in her best attire and a montagnard girl negligently clad. But the tribal girl had played her role regarding her tribe. It was an important role indeed. She tried to restore the kingdom of Lac-viét and continued the work of the ancient Lac-vu6ng. Unfortunately, she failed. Her fail- ure sealed off for ever not only any hope for power for her tribe, but also its existence as a tribal'identity as y well. : This is only the half of what Tring Trac had done for history. The other half of her accomplishment is for 48. Dit Dang: Name Muéng meaning a proper nown of their king. 49. Cha xkhda, thang Lé: Also proper nouns Mudng.ag the future. Thanks to her uprising, which entailed the uprising of tribal elements in other departments of the Giao-chi area, one reality had shown up: the existence of an ever-increasing body of Chinese colons who fought back against the autochthons and kept the Chinese govern- ment alive. Ng si Lin intentionally ignored this reali- ty. The Vietnamese historians of all schools, and the Viet- namese people, following the false path of Ngé si Lién, repeated the same falsehood. But Trung Tr&c, in the inte- grity of her historic role, insistently pointed to the growing elements that concurred to defeat her. One of the testimonies showing the colon population was the puzzling number ''more than 60 towns'* recorded in the documents. What were they ? Did they designate the districts, owing to the fact that districts then were cali- ed thinh ? No. The number of districts was much inferior. Here were the districts: Hgp-phS 5 Giao-chi 10 ’ " y citu-chan = 7 Nhat-nam 5 Total 27. Then, what meant by thinh in the Chinese texts 7 If they did not meandistrictthe only signification they might 50.Lich-si viét.nam, page 48.Truy8n thuyét mMutng ké r3ng nhimg trong Bong dautién duge duc dudi thoi vua Dit Dangugs - Suge , yo sUnIP-9T330y ups - ope 70 OTUIT TOON uuzq-eoH Jo STUITTOSON91 still have was the settlement sites of the colons. The war was between the autochthons and the Chinese, and wher- ever the two racial elements confronted, fighting took place.This way, thanh would have meant the villages of the colons. But were all the colon willages attacked ? Certain- ly not. The autochthons dared not venture far fron Strong- holds. They attacked only the villages bordering their ter- ritory. The majority of the settlements of the colons in the delta were left unharmed. If the colon villages close to the Lac-viét people numbered already more than 60, there would have been many more of enem vin’ the department of Giao- chi and in the Giao-chi area It was these colons who were going to play a deci- sive role in the future, DIF Dang sat quc hang trim, hang nghin trdng dong, ,trong nag dep thi de lgl khg, trong nao xau th) gal “chu. Khoa thng USI"? mang di ban. 51. Tu tri_ said that the number of the towns attacked was 05. But this is only a guess. ''More than 60°' might be 61 or 12 or 63... 7 ¥92 CHAPTER FIVE CHINESE ADMINISTRATION OF THE FAR SOUTH COLONIES Why China did not expand farther than the limits reached in 111 B.C. by Lé Bac Bic ? The answer might lie in these sentences of the History of the Han Posterior, repeated by Tu Tri : Giao-chi was an area abundant in precious things. Up to now, the majority of the governors and prefects were men of bad moral standing. They exploited the people, then asked for moving away. Therefore, people were outraged. They expelled them and said Taxes are too heavy; our lives are unbearable; we gather to plunder and rebel (1). This way of administering the colonies not only irritated the autochthons but also made the colons deeply uneasy. From time to time appeared a good official these officials were too much spaced out to ressemble faint lights in the midst of immense darkness. When to the discontent of the aborigines and the colons was added the restless ambition of the Lam/ap people at the south borders of Nhat- nam, all hope for further expansion for China‘ seemed va- nished. 1. Pham Viép, op. ci' book 61, page 14; Tu Tri, book 58, page 391, The bad administration of the governo: and pre- fects and the exploitation of the people had for cause the great distance between the far-south colonies and the Central Government: the complaints of the people could not be heard in the capitol. 2, The southward expansion of China stopped since 111 B. C. But the southward trend would continue when the Chinese colons became independent from China and sought for more space to live.93 After the victory of Ma vidn in 43, the Giao- chi area was calmed down for almost a hundred years. This did not mean that the behavior of the officials was getting better, it meant rather that the people became more sub- servient, Little by little, however, general uneasiness, came to a head. At the occasion of the attack of Lam-4p, in Nh&t-nam, trouble emerged. Lam-4p people were the autochthons of the district of Tu}ng-Ldm. These people lived on either side: of thevhar- ders of the Nh@t-nam department. Naturally rebellious, they gathered more strength under the leadership of a man called Khau Lign. This Khéu Lién was son of a nay in the district. He killed the sub-prefect and made himself ruler. That was in the year 137. That was also a time when the popularity of the Chinese officials in the Giao-chi area was at its lowest ebb. There was n& more respect for authority. When the go- vernor Phin didn “organized an expedition against Khu Lién, his men resisted. The ace , taken from oe troops of Giao-chi and cda-chins balked at the idea of facing a far-away war. Instead of going to Nh$t-nam, they assaulted the residence of the governor.The riot was immediately put 3. About Lam-4p, see Chapter One, pages 18-21. 4, céng-tdo Th # : see mw tri, book 98, page 83g. 5. phan pién #4 39; He was thit-stf of the area of Giao-chi. 6. These soldiers belonged to the area of Giao-chi and the department of CUu-chan.94 7 down, but the expedition had to be Postponed: : In 138, the deputy governor, Gia Xuéng, led an army to Nh&t-nam, The reluctance of the soldiers tesulted in a defeat. Gia xdng and his men were besieged by Khau- Lién. Almost a year passed and the Chinese forces were still in captivity.And all the provisions in Chinese camp were alarmingly exhausted. The Hdn emperor convened his advisors for an em- ergency meeting. The general opinion of the high mandarins was to form a big army, choose a big general, and send them to Nh§t-nam to punish Lam.ap. But LY cB , a high ran- king official, disagreed. Articulately, he rejected the reasoning of other mandarins point by point, then present- ed his proposal. Among other things, he said : Each area has its hero. Let us choose among the most courageous and able generals, and make them governor and prefects. Let us order them to stay in Giao-chf, because now in Nh§t-nam, soldiers are few, provisions are scarce. If it is already impossible to keep, a fortiori, it is impossible to fight. We will move north the officials and peo- ple of Nhgt-nam, let them depend temporarily on Giao-chi; when peace comes, let them go back to their home towns. As for the revolt, let us use the autochthons to fight against the autochthons. Let us give out gold and silk to encourage them. To those who are able to sow dissidence among themsel- walae ves, let us promise high titles and abundant re- wards. (10). 7.It was postponement like this one had helped Khau Lién to consolidate the ground of his new territory. 8. Gia xing F SZ. 9. Ly co # G nis biography is found in the History of the Han Posterior, book 93, pages 1-11.95 datas ‘The imperial council fully agreed with Ly Cé.Two able men were chosen : tridng Ribu’, native of wan-avéng was \. ‘ made governor of Giao-chi area; and Chic wiéng native of Truéng-sa, prefect of Cilu-ch4n.These two men took immediately their functions. They used soothing words to placate the people of Lam-Sp. All the autochthons sure rendered to the ae The implication in the proposal of Ly Cé might be more important than the pacification of Nh&t-nam itself. First, thanks to this passage, phrases like ''people of Nhat~nam'',''people of Giao-ch?** proved their full mea- ning. To a number of historians, these phrases should be understood as the aborigines of Nhat- nam, of Giao-chi. Here they pointed unmistakenly to the Chinese colons.Not only Ly Cé ranged them on the same side with Chinese of fi- cials, but also spoke of them as of those whom China had to save from the hands of the Boorigenaaty Secondly, the proposal of Ly CS showed that, about a hundred years after the revolt of Lac-vigt, the department 10, See Tu Tri, book 52, page 352. 11, Truéng Kibu 3K @f + we was official at . Yeh-chau and had the reputation of dealing well with the rebels. 12, Nam-dtiéng # BS : a department called Lac-duong under the Tah, close’ to Nam-quan. 13. This is the version of Chinese documents. In reality surrender did not mean that, Kh&u Lién ceased to be supreme chief of Tudng-14m, or Lam-ap. 14.cttic tuéng ARK was described es’t{nh da ding aiyeepe z Be (man of courege and determination).os of Giao-chi had become a place where the colons were preponderarit.In 138, Giao-chi was not only safe for the Chinese to settle, but also a safe haven for the colons in danger everywhere. Thirdly, the people of Nh$t-nam, moving to Giao- chi stayed there only temporarily. Their home was in Nhgt- nam. They would go back there when Nhatenam would be pa- cified. This indicated that Chinese colonies had spaced cut along the coast down to the farthest department of China. : Nh&t-nam, with the country of LAm-Sp at its side, could not keep the peace for long. In 144, turmoil rose up again. The governor of Giao-chi, oy name Ha Phuéng” oe ed to calm the people and he succeeded. But, the same causes always produced the same ef. fects. In 178, the autochthons of Giao-chi, by name, 0 18 Hila, robelled against Chinese officials. the autovhthona of other departments did the same. Wicked people took ad- vantage of this general disorder to satisfy their ambiti- on. % certain Luiéng tong’ of Giao-ch!, in connivence with the prefect of Nam-hdi, worked with his 19,000 men to be- tray the Central Government. chu Tui°was chosen to save 15. People of Giao-chi or Giao-chi nhin 2 BE AL, people of Ctiu-ch4n or ciiu-chan nhan fy 4 Aj These phrases meant rather the natives of these ‘department, not the aborigenes. 16. tt is clear by the argument of L¥ CO that the people he designated as Nhat-nam men were Chinese.97 the situation. on his way to accept the governorship, he mobilized some 5,000 strong men, formed out of them two divisions. on the borders of Giao-chi area, he made sure about his ennemies, then proceeded with the military forces under his command. Ludng Long was killed; a number of Long's followers surrendered. But restlessness conti- nued. 7 six years later, Gia Tung came to Giao-chi. His administration was one of openness. He sent emissaries to every corner of his area to inquire the causes of unrest. Some replied:'' Taxes are too heavy, we are all exhausted. The capitol is too far away. We don't know’to make our complaints heard. Life becomes unbearable. fo, we plunder and rehel''., Gia Tung did his hest to re-assure his sub- jects. He told to his people to mind their businesses. He appealed the dispersed to come back to their own villages. Most of all, he selected good officials to serve the people. au These reforms pleased very much the inhabitants. In the pe- 17. Ha, Phuling Bo: mi oe: wots + Glao-chi thi’-ait clu- a's By Phidng chiéu dy ig chiat 5 a $A GL Hh wtthen NGS sf E48n copied that ‘gentenée, he » AB oA ER Sean’ enttoe fg Phuéng chisu hang gif nhi pha dy chi. Ty Tri, book 52, page 356; Complete History, book page 6. 1s, d-nta 8 2 : the é-Hita appeared as rebels four years before Ludng Long joined.them, 19. Lung tong 3 AG, : He had about 10,000 men under hig copmand ang had also the support of the prefect of Nam-hal, Khong chi BL HY - 20. chu Tuan SR tg, : His lography ie in the History of the Han Posterior, book 101, pages 8-11.wae 98 riod of one year, order was restored. In the streets and in public places, children used to sing: Father Gia came late So we were rebellious, How peace has come We will never revolt again.23 After three years of hard work, Gia Tung left Giao-~ ’ chi for the capital. Fortunately, at the same time, the department of Giao-chi had a good prefect, by name Si 24 Whi@p, This man was a scholar, a politician, and a protec- tor of the people. Because of his excellent administra- tion and his very long time in office, he became excep- 25 tionally popular. The inhabitants often honored him by the title ''king''. Later, long after his death, the kinas of Vietnam gave him also the posthumous title of king. Based on all that, Ngd Si Lian had made Si whi8p a historic king. He presented his story as that of a reigning king, with all the honor reserved to this dignity. In reality, Si whiép was an appointee of the H4n, and a prefect of Giao- chi. si whiép was native of thudng nod His father was prefect of Nh&t-nam for a time. In his youth, Si Nhiép made 7 7 a7 his study in China, was graduated n{éu-liém. He had all the attibutes of a politician and a gentleman, responsible, 21. People were not satisfied with the policy of Chu Tuan. a pe 22. cid tune &f 3% +: "his governor, lecause of his eagerness and dedication had won the hearts of the people.99 generous, hospitable. His time was a time of general un- rest in the empire. The Han dynasty was in its decline. In many places, officials let loose their ambition at the expense of their subjects and even of the central Govern- ment, In the Giao-chl area, Governor chau Phivwas killed by the insurgent aborigenes. ‘then st nhiép obtained from the throne to name three of his brothers to the position p 429 a a 30 of prefect: What in Hdp-pho , vi in clu-chén , VS in Nam- 31 hai. Well surrounded by the members of his family, he be- 32 came a force against the followers of Tén Quyén who was trying to overthrow the Han dynasty. The struggle for imperial Power was fierce between the Han and the new NgB dynasty. Both sides are aiming at having the southern departments, Finally, Tén Quy@n succeed- ed to put his man, B8 Khuc, at the head of Giao.chi area, which became Giao-chdu in 210. si whiép and his brothers had to obey the new regime.During all this time of turmoil s 23. Gia Pho lai van BOX Sw nga tién phang® 4% 4 Kim kién thanh binh B&t cam phuc phan. me HR $B 24. si wnigp tb ARK, Ngé si ign considered him as a ruler of Vietnam. 25. Si Uhiép waa respected and loved hy his department as well as by the re ugees from the disorder of inner China, wai i26, Thiione-ngé was a department in the Giao-chi area, so vietnanese historians were inclined to consider sim 4s com= patriot. 27, nigu-liam HR : a graae equivalent to the doctorate.100 . and change,the departemnt of Giao-chi and Ca depart- 4 ments of the area enjoyed peace and security. After the death of si whip, Tén Quyén made some changes. He divided the old Giao-chi area into two cna, namely Quing-cnéu, covering Nam-hai, Hép-ph6, Thddng-ng8, and Vat-14m, with Li pai as governors and Giao-chu, co- 39 vering the three far-south departments, with Bai Ludng as governor. At the head of Giao-chi department he appointed trdn Thdit’st Huy, son of Si Nniap, got the department of cult-chan. of course, Si Huy was displeased with this arragement He thought that at least he should succeed his father in Giao-chi. So, he tried to undo the plan of the Ngé.With the forces under his conmand, he pecupied Giao-chi and kept pAi Iaéng and Tran Thdi out of Giao-chau. Tén quyén gave mandate to Li pai to restore order at any price, Lit bai used a menber of Si Nhiép's tantly ‘to induce Si Huy to surrender, assuring him that he would have his life safe. g ee ee 29. si wnte + & : prefect of Hép-pho. 30. S: ai. si ve & Zh + protect of Nam-hai. 32, Ten Quyéh Fh : Founder of the Ng dynasty in South China, in the decline of the Hdén dynasty. 33. The Ngd &e : The Ng reigned in South China from 210 to 279, when Nqd Haq, surrendered to the T&n. The Kistory of the Ngé or NgS-thit & was written by Trén The pe = under the Tfn dynasty (265-420) meres101 But when Si Huy did surrender, Iai Bai killed him. 1d pat also restored to Giao-chau its Giao-chi boundaries. x When én Quyéh removed Lif Bai from Giao-chéu,the pre- fect of Hgp-phé, TY@t tong petitioned to retain #ai or 4 to replace him by able men. He gave a sketch of bad admi- i nistration in the past, then said:'' In case Dai cannot { come back, the new governor should be a man subtle and cau- 4 tious, he should be a man of intelligence and resourceful- ness, so that, being at the head of eight departments, he could pacify the rebellion of Cao pidng If the new go- vernor would be only a good bureaucrat, able only to solve ordinary problems, wicked men would gather and the situ- 45 ation would result in calamity''. gree tTiét Tang made a good prediction. The situation of 34, Ngd-Thi, biography of si Nhiép, book_4, page 1041, said thae“SEwnép died in’ the eth year of Hoang voy that. cor= responds to 226, Ng& si Lién said that he was in office ‘tmore than 40 years'', and decided that he began his func- tion in Giao-chi on 187, This date must be revised. 35. chau jf] : province. 36. Quang-chau MH + tn comparison of Giao-chi, Quang chau had less importance at its beginning, but would grow in importance afterward. 37, Li dal G 4: whe biography of Lf Bai is found in. Ngé thi, "book 15, page 1062, in the edition Nhi Thap Ngd Si. 38, Giao- scnae 3 Ht :The first time this appellation appear- | ed was in 210 then it covered the whole Giao-chi area. \ Now, for the first time, it covered only three departments i in the far-south. 39. edi Lutng BK f+: Me had not much influence. 40, vrai mdi PR ay102 46 after Li Dai than before him. Tén Tu, Giao-chdu got wor who replaced Li Bai, was among the rank of bad officials. Dang ruin” who came to help Tén Td was by no means better. Responding to the secret wish of the people, Lif tuhg kill- ed both Tén Ti and Dang Tuan. But Lif Hung himself was soon assassinated by a partisan of Tén Quyén, named Vutng théng.”” All these killings were mostly motivated by partisanship. ‘TheNguy was also vying for imperial power. Li Hung was on the side of the Ngyywhile Tén Tu and Dang Tuan were appoin- tees of the ng6. Reviewing the situation of Giao-chéu after the death of Inf Hung, Tu Trj. wrote: ''Giao-chi was sinking. Mountains quaked. Wicked men fought one another. The empire was in chaos. It was a time of general danger for China! 1 atac- chau became the battlefield between the Tan and the Ngé. The partisans of the Ngd tried to destroy anyone appointed 41, The map used by Lif Dai to induce si Huy into surrender is named si Khuéng by Ng@ Thi and si Phy by Td Tri (book 70, page 470). 42, _Ngd Thi, book 15, pages 1062, 1062. 43, T18t Tong Ry Biography of this man is found in Ngd-thi, book bdok”8, page 1048. 44, Cao eng & & +A trouble maker in the departments of Uat-lam, Thudng-ngd, Nam-hai and Chau-nhai. 45. See also Complete History, book 4, pages 2-3. 46. vén THK BE: partisan of the Ng. he was re the people, when he wapted to send 30 pea-cocks to capitol Kign-nghiép HE of the Ngo. a ee fp oe At that time he had the title of sat~103 by the Tan and vice versa, until emerged a strong man, call- 52 ed Dao Huynh, who became governor in 271 and stayed in office for thirty years, that is until his death. He was appointed by the Ng6, who,.bing?64, had decided that Giao- chéu covered only Giao-chi, citu-chan and Nh&t-nam. h After Li uung, the followers of the Tn occupied high positions in Giao-chau. Ddo Huynh and a number of o- ther generals were sent by the Ng6 to recapturethese posi- [ tions. During the fighting, Pao Huynh proved to he the most hi capable. Once victor, he became governor and created three i new departments, where the autochthons showed greater unrest, namely vitpinny aot tee Bea) cae acces Many tribal fl leaders reconciled themselves with him. When Ng6 Hao surren- dered to the Wan, in 280, he did the same. 56 . Ngé Ngan , successor of Dao Huynh, was also a good man. But soon fighting and killing for positions took place. 5 2 48, tid ting FS: He was given by thengyy the title nam tudng quan'', the first time the word An-nam was used to replaced Giao-chiu. But it is to remark that thid ‘An-nam covered all seven departments. 49. Vudng Thong: 3 jh, : Partisan of the Nqd. 50. In 264, the Ngd apparently surrendered to the ygyy but in reality tried to hang on to power. until 280. 51. Tu tri, book 79, page 12. 52, pio Huynh BAY FE : He nad his biography, in, van thd | book 97, page 1234 in the edition Nhj th@p nai sf 33.vi-binh AV ae. 54. Tan-xudng aq &. 55, Clu-diic AL Ai:104 The Tin emperor seemed willing to recognize the winner. Disorder contintied for many decades. In 380, the prefect 87 of Ciu-chan, Ly Tn, even took over the residence of the governor and declared independent. The following year, s 58 pévien =, a colon native of Giao-chau, got the governor- ship. He killed Ly T6n and pacified the area. When he di- ea, his son, 26 Tué rT succeeded him. pé vign and pS Tué DO were known, not only by their success in suppressing rebels. They had also successfully faced ennemies coming from the south. The king of Lameap, Pham Dat, in 339, cama and attacked Cilu-chén, then Giao ~ » 60 chi, pS Vign expelled him. In 413, another Lam-dp king 61 of Pham H6 Dat, renewed the attacks.The son/Do vién not only expelled him, but killed him. ss. Ngé Nagn YR BH : His biography ts in thnsthu, book 57, Ly Ton 2 HR : He escaped from Quang-chiu to Giao- chdu, ‘the governor of Giao-chau, 86 Vien , distributed all his possessions to his soldiers to encourage them. They killed Ly Ten. se. 26°vien #4, 3%: is introduced as"Giao-chi nhan” man of Giao-chi. “This meant Chinese colon born in Giao-chi. 59, 06 mug ng Akaka: See Tu Tel jbook 116, page 779. 60. Pham bat. SE 3%. He yas a descendant of a chinese, named Pham Van. This Pham Van was servant of Lam-ap king Pham Chi’. He became Ohi's Prime Minister, then usurped the throne. This origin explained the aggressive attitude of Lamp. 61. 61. Pham né pat 36 24 3; wot to confuse with Pham-bat. this second Pat was killed by A Tug Pd. ona eng pra105 Lam-ap attacks were renewed in 415, Chinese generals were able to reject them. But it was not enough to be always on the defensive. s0,bd Tué.b9 headed an ex- pedition into the territory of Lam.@p in 420.He defeated his ehemies,killed more than the half of Lam@p soldiers. The king of Lam-@p surrendered. D6-Tué-Bé agreed and let free all the Lam-&p people he had captured. Pham Dudng Hats who became king of Lam-ap after Pham-H@ pat, was a type of active warrior.In 431, he led an uncessessful attack on Cilu-chan. The next year, instead of fighting, he made an diplomatic initiative. with co- pious presents, he sent an ambassador to the new emperor of the wong’ to ask the mandate for governing Giao-chau. This seemed both audacious and impudent.The Téng emperor repudiated the request, at the same time understood the unpunished, it continue challenging message : If Lam-ap w ed to harrass Giao.chau. So, in 446, by imperial order, the governor of Giao-chau, Dan Hoa chi, commanded a big army to bring war to Lém-4p. He was efficiently aided by a general, named ri 66 éng Xéc. At the approach of the Chinese, Pham Dudng Mai 62, See Tan. thi ea + book 10,4n the edition Nhi thap Ngai Si, pages 1099, 1100. See also Complete History, book 4, page 8. 63. Pham pudng Nai 7& AR 3B: one of the most aggressi- ve king of Lam-ap. 64, The Tong YR dynasty (420-407) succended to the Tan since 420. About the request of Lim-&p, see Tu Tri, book106 MAP OF GIAO - cHiU ‘am Jap Giao-chau Ze sy Gtao-ohf 3 Bk » vi-binn BH TB tanning HT & ciu-chin A, HA clu.ade 7 AQ vhat-nam B if ramp +t &107 tried to buy his time, He asked to surrender and offer as present 10,000 ounces of gold and 100,000 ounces of silver, But the Téng emperor knew well the trap. He told to Dan HOa Chi to be careful, On reaching Chau-ngo, pan : Hoa Chi sent some envoys to Lim-‘’ap camps, to probe the gpod- will of Pham Dudng Mai, When these envoys were siezed by the enemies, Pan Hda Chi furiously advanced his forces and besieged Lamp general Pham Phi tong in the town of snuctée Téng Xéc dispersed the reacue army of Lim-ap. Khu-Tée fell to Dan Héa Chi not long after; Pham Phi Long was killed, and Chinese army continued its march . to tugngeph3. In an supreme effort to save his capital and his country, Pham Dudng Mai drove to the battle field all his population and his elephants. Remembering from a tale he read that elephants were scared of lions, Tong xéc made a huge lion and carried it before the Lam-ap elephants. In fact, the elephants stopped and drew back. They ran over the Lam-dp soldiers, sowed panic to the Lam-’p arny which was killed both by Lim-ap elephants and by Chinese fighters. Pham Dudng Mai suffered a total defeat, and es- caped by sea to the south with his family, Dan Hoa Chi's 422 page 820. $5. in ada end 40 & see {on + book 5, pdition Whi Thi Nad et, oo Sng tt Ty tL, book 124, page 835, 66. tng xde A” 1 He had his giography in_téng thi book 76, page 1613 67. Pham Phi Long {@, tab The moat capable general of108 men looted Lim-’p capitol. Rach Chinese fighting men got his share, except Téng xde who did not touch anything at all. It was an obvious opportunity for China to take over Lam-Gp and advance its colonization. But China did not profit it. And it was understandable. The Chinese officials in Giao-chau gave China already enough trouble. To go father might cause them to stand up against it. ‘An incident, happened in 468, showed clearly the mood of the colons, native of Giao-chau. In that year, Governor Luu Mile died of i11ne: A colon, named Ly Trddng 70 Nhan, killed all the officials ''coming from the north'', and made himself governor. The Central Government at the sama time named Luu BOt governor of Giao-chau, Ly Trudng Nhan did not allow him to come. tu Bot died whi- le waiting Trudng Nhan's permission. At the end of the year, Trudng Nhén sent envoys to the capital to make his submission. He was pardoned by the emperor who recogniz- ea his governorship. ‘The example of Ly Trudng Nhan was imitated by his brother, Ly Thiic nn.” when tridng Nhan died in 479, . fn Thc Hién, by his own counsel, governed Giao-chau. After Pham Duéng Mai. 68, xhu Tio E& 9.1 according to Thiy Kinh chi, one could arrive to Khu-tdc after getting out of the @ district of Li~ cuing of Nhat-nam. It was ''to the south of a high mountain...'!, See Tw trj (note), book 124, page 835. i 69. Tudng-phd & Jif : capitol of Tudng-1am, that became uh109 a while, he was criticized by his subjects. He asked mnai-t8 of the new 8 dynasty to give him the governor- ship. The emperor agreed to make him Commander of the army of Giao-chau and prefect per interim of Tan-xdéng and vi-binh, but named thén-toan to be governor of Giao- chau, Emboldened by thie imperial favor, Thic-Hién did not allow Thim Hoan to enter Giao-chau. Like Luu Bot, Hoan died while waiting in Uat-1am. A month later, Thue uién was recognized as governor by the Té emperor. In 485, Thc Hién was replaced by Liu mate but Rochen eee and by another cause. In general, tinder the we dynasty, the officials of Giao-chau continued to do what they wanted. In 490 . Governor Phong Phap thing was a type of bookwarm man. He read books day in and day out. The affairs of the area were run by a subaltern named phic sing chi.”® rrrespon- sible and ambitious, Ding Chi abused hia ''pie-from-the- sky'' power. When Phong Phap Thang knew the conduct of Lam-ap since 137. 70. uy trddng Nhin Ff fe 1 TW. tr{, book 132, page 882. itu Bét $f) $41 He was appointed in the 8th lanar month and died“in the llth month of the same year. 72. wy thie Hien BR 2 Tu tri, book 135, page 900; book 136, paga 908, See also Complate History ,book4, page 13, 73. tham Hoan 3% Xe + He died only about one month after his appointment to the governorship of Giao-chau. 74, tu wndi A] AYE: when tun Khai came, Ly Thic Hién felt that all resistance would be useless, he fled to China, This is another example showing that phrases, likespeart Aaua yopua up wore ayy bo AIT HyesUOdsuL 2}0N3 OZ FUbVDeA OF YnUUD ENOZLUMU @ZaK WoTOD ey; fAmM_UDD YAS Ta JO puo ma ay “uduZqUNUO ATOUI vam OY 4 BTR FOIIJO vg JO op1y VYA yoUI Avg OF fsuouayooyne 9y3 3suTebL pazDVq0A4d |q OF pyou Ua 3T93 AOD (AQTIOUFW LY TTTIS ETM SUO(OD YZ VOY JME “BTVTOFsIO ayy Aq pevyotdxe az0m ngyo-ovly Jo equuazueyUT oug TLV AL “Me % nuh YUeD FouL *LL Sa “agg, obue “ust won te De Be ME ze oe i Me es F Re xe db “2 yb Sos pau-uupt quo weoy bugua deyg ‘ns nua nyyo-ovry Fa FY) bueg yp ‘oew ag, ‘agénbu Quuu agus ‘:ptes Fal AL ‘oer raoquvsoN Jo wer B : oiiua * Bus Fouronob’ poweu sem oH > ey Tuo Suge ofus “91 “ZT Bed *y yooq TAx03s}H oyeTaUOD “ste obed ‘eet “FRR Rat A ee # hewn dyud Sugud “Ss *suoy;yoogne 043 03 30u ‘suoToo eua 03 peauTod ‘wore eya zo ue’ “YH ueyu neyo eua MOY ana*pezTOTdxXe eYyz Jo esuodser |Yy3 pez;ToquAS oeay, Sunsza _ SUL *SuoYygyso3ne ayy uodn ATUTeU TTea wepang syua ‘AayzOUTU e T1138 eFeN UOTOO OYA UOUA ‘Shep Ou3 UT “ngYd-oeTy Jo sqUeZTGeyUT eyg UO buTsOduT exeM Syo0gerd pue szouzenos 3ey3 wepanq ey} peztzeuums 3e49 Tre ‘Areqraq ‘kat TFqQesuodsezz7 ‘zemod zo esnyy + bueus, deyg yo eoetd ey} up *ngyo-oeTD zo zoUzen 08 wyy epeu zozedue ous “TTF ATTeRuOM cuoeG SuRUE deua 3843 zozedue ey; 03 pezzodex oe ‘pesngez TUuD bueg -peox ©F SyOOq 103 ¥8e 03 TYD bueg 07 oud ‘eTpPT BueyT aeua *38077e ssnoy zepun Suey deyd 3nd ‘zoaez sty ut eoetnd od 43 pesnoze ey wou “wry peezz ouM onUZ YUED STUA Peqraq Tua Suga - onus yueD Tous peweU ‘eoTz30 Sty UT MET-UT-zZeYy30I2q & oct suey deya Buoyg *3no 37 pexzom 03 moy meux TYO Suve ang ‘uosszd UT UTY and ey “TyD SUES otttribal efforts could prevail against the Chini how of martial art? At this stage, however, the exploited were the colons themselves. Would they stand up against their Central Government as a gesture of repudiation of the burden above mentioned ? Yes, they would, in the 7 8 person of a colon named ty Bi. 78, The uprising of Ly Bi was symbolic of a beginning in a hew direction,112 CHAPTER SIX tf Bi 1 THE UPRISING. OF THE COLONS The dynasties of the Téng and the T@ were short- lived. This intensified the atmosphere of irresponsabili- ty on the part of the officials towards the population of Glao-chdu. the dynasty of the téng’, which cane in 502 and expired in 557 did not fare better, and more ir- responsability generated more insecurity in this far- south area. Right in 503, only a year after the accession of the Lidng into imperial power, the governor of Giao-chau, Ww mae to be independent. One of . Khai's officers seeing in the illegal action of his superior a good op- portunity for advancement, killed him and replaced him. This was Ly mie. who was not better than any other go- vernor, even worse, but he held tight his governorship. In 516, when Nguyén Téng ni6u revoiteabe killed this man, and sent his head to Rin-Khang This was a sign of intense unrest. Uneasiness a- gainst the government filled the air.Unfortunately those 1. The Luéng 38 + The Sth and the 6th centuries saw a series of short-lived dynaties on the throne of China. 2. Ly Khai A Br see taicng-thu $8 -K book 2, in the edition go. 1% page 1770; Tu Tri, book 146, page page 969, and hook 148, page 986, These documents gave the Name Ly Khai, but Complete History (hook 4, page 13) wrote Ly Nguyén Khai. Nayhe there wai @ there was a confusion in the mind of Ng6 Si Lién, because at that time, there was an113 who capitalized on the situation did so on bahalf of their own, not of the public,and they failed.The people was keen enough to know their worth. But if someone would have the boldness to stand up for the people's in- terest, he could have the support of the inhabitants, both colons and autochthons. This was the case of Ly Bf. was ty Bi really a colon ? Tt seemed that he was not if we read only the Lidéng-th: : In this history of the Iuéng, there was this introduction :'' Giao-chi tho dan Ly Bi'é6ng this Tiéu Tu''( Ly Bi, native of Giao-chi, attacked the governor Tiéu Tu). In Tu Tri,the tone was not so affermative regarding his origin. It said :'' Ly Bi of 2 Giao-chi...'". According to what we have seen about this kind of appellation, at this stage of population shifting growth, phrases like those of Luidng-thd and Tu tri should be construed as ''colon born in Giao-chi'', And this was exactly what Ng6 Si Lién tried to say. ‘An author who up to now did his best to direct the spot- Light on the aborigene elements, this time Ngé si Lién official named Bing Nguyén Khai, who held the prefecture of Ieh-chéu. 3. 1h tke F BZ, ype of strongly selfish profiteer. 4. Nguyén véng Higu PR FR AE s gu ted, book 148, page a 986, said that he was native of Giao-chau. ''Giao-ch phan gia Nguyéh Téng Hiéu,.. Ys i 5, Kién-khang seh Fixe was the capitol of China. 6, Luong-thw, hook 3, page 17731 Giao-chéu thd dan ty Bi cong chicad gu Tu se, WERE HF te i14a jemed to want to emphasize the contrary. Depicting the origin of his hero, he wrote:'' The family name of the em- peror was Ly, his name Bi, native of tong-hung thai- binh . The ancestor of the emperor were people of the North who suffered from wars during the decline of the Han anterlor*Teacaped to the south. After seven generations, they became southern people!” This unexpected but full explanation left no doubt about the meaning of the phrase ‘tnative of Giao-chi'? mentioned above. The case of Ly Bi clarified many other cases.A great many people who came from central China to Giao-chau, came to stay. After settling down in their new habitat, they had no other homeland than the department in which they lived. Gradually, a sense of community developped. They took care of their common interest. They defended the good 121 reputation of their common name. They were proud of the accomplishments of their neighbors and were infuriated at the injustice imposed on them. In certain fields,and 7. Tu et ee page je 1047: Giao~chi Ly B{ thé vi hao : huu Be BE 4a. i 8 Long -huhg f RB was a village of the district of Thai- | pinh. i I 9. Thai-binh A JF: the region that has the same name now in North Vietnam. oh 10, Complete Itistory, book 4, page 15: 96 tinh ry, huy ai, i Tonq=hiha THAT SER nha ak. RY tin RAS nhan, ‘hy Tian ; mat, khé wi chinh phat, ti cu Nam ene o tht thé, toai vi t I! S ahiins fp fe ee Aww ae He MA, it ak Gee A aw HAH ti Ae i i115 to a certain extent, for example in the attitude to be taken against the irresponsible governors, they made common cause between themselves, and even with the autoch~ thon: Atthis stage, considering the colons as people of the soil (thé-dan) ,was just an accurate expression, because they belonged to the soil as much as the soil belonged to them. 1f Bi was furthermore a colon well-educated. His family enjoyed prosperity since many generations. He him- self had a position in the government. What was particu- things did not please him. There was much discrimination be- 12 tween officials coming from central China , and officials lar was that he had dismissed his function, becau: The condi- native of the departments of the outkirs| tion of his friend, Tinh mide, intensified his disea- tisfaction. Tinh Thiéi was a man very versed in literature. He was applying for a job in the government, But consid- dering his case, the Minister of Interior sai Ton Me fused to admit him. According to the minister, Thiéu was dismissed only on the ground that he had had no man- darins in his family. The only job available to the ap- 11, These names are mostly geographical nane! 12. Central China,here, is.meant belonging to proper Chie nese territory, not to the colonies in the outskir: 13. tinh Thiga Hf FB 1 native of the same villace as Ly BY and his close friend. 14, set Tan 4s He was Lat-Bg Thugng- thu & #8 we, and very conservative in his selection of officials.116 plicant was to be guardian at Quang-duéng. ashamed, Tinh Thiéu went back to his native village and deplored his fate with LY af," Meanwhile, Giao-chdu was governed by Tiéu Ti, an official of the worst type. Ti was both cauel and demanding. Everybody in the area hated him. For ly Bi, he was doubly condemned. Not only Tf made his contrymen miserable, he was also the representative of a govern- ment which upheld unjust inequality and discrimination, and let down talented people as Tinh Thiéu just because this man had no ancestor mandarin. Was it a golden oppor- tunity to initiate a change, be it as big as a life or death adventure ? Ly B{ thought that it was. ‘Time for an uprising was ripe On one hand, ty Bf had to stand up to make it known that people of the far-south departments were victims all the time of injustice and exploitation; that governors and prefects appointed by the Central Government did not work for the people, but only for their own interest; that the people of Giao-chau should take care of themselves and of their security. On the other hand, the population was ready to support such an uprising. Both colons and aborigenes were waiting for some leader to rise up in order that they might manifest their dissatisfaction 15. In Vietnamese, there was.a saying: con vua thi lai lam vua, con sai gi chia thi quét 14 da:the son of the king will become king, and the son of the pagoda guar- dian will sweep the fallen leaves of the fig-tree.117 with the government, and contribute their efforts and blood in building a better society. So, ideals prompting, and circumstance} concurring, Ly B{ opened his fight for independence. Of course, such intreprising should have been well-prepared. While commander in Cilu-aic, he had orga- nized his movement. His contact with the commanders of other departments and districts gave favorable response. The case of Tinh Thiéu made a good occasion for propaganda against the government and the bad conduct of Governor Ti@u Ta was atressed on in all conversations.Then came the big moment, the spring of 542, when the up-rising broke out. Its spreading was so general and rapid that Tiéu T? had to bribe his way out of Giao-chau. Almost immediately, the emperor formed a team of three governors to cope with the situation: namely Tiéu , 16 » Tén Quynh, governor of Cao~ Tf governor of Giao-c! 2 uv ’ chu, and Lu Ti Hung, governor of Tan-chau. But Ton Quynh and Ly Tu Hung were so terrified that they tried by all 8 ‘ means to postpone ‘the expedition.Governor Hoan and Tiéu Ty strongly insisted. But when the governors of Cao-chéu and ~ 18 tén-chdu ventured to Hdp-phé, they were badly defeated. 16. Tén Quynh S EF 1 TW Tr}, book 158, page 1048. 17. It TY Hung J 3 Zg: THey took the pretext that in Giao-chau, the wéather was bad in spring and tried to postpone the expedition until autumn, 18. Td_tri said simply that when the governors came to Hdp-phe, th toll was Hp “pmo ee yl Ue We Ee Or Se ene BE Fone ond118 on the report of Tiéu Tu that Quynh and mf Hihg conni-. ved with the Tone vernors to die . the emperor ordered to these go- When this happened, a revolt took place in Ch . 20 . 1 army, The beothers of TY Hing, named TY Liéc and TY Ligt and their friends took up weapons and assaulted Quang - ch@u, Their intention was to kill Hdan and Tu. Fortunate ~ ‘ a 7 ly, the great general Trén Ba Tién, prefect of Cao yéu, appeared in time to rescue them. Thanks to all this con- fusion, LY Bi had a respite of some yea: After the departure of Tiéu Tz, Ly Bi occupied the residence of the governor in tong-bidn, ana sent his vanguard to Hép-pX6 to meet Quynh and Tu-Hing as seen a- bove, In the summer of 543, the king of Lam-ap wanted to kill two birds in one shot. To help China on one hand, and to revenge Giao-chau on the other, he profited the time when tf Bi had to defend against China to attack NhGt-nam and ciu-due. * As ruler of all the territory of Giao-chau, 1f B{ sant his general Pham Td to the bat- tlefield, the two sides met in cifu-dife and the Lam/ap army was crushed. 19, In the words of Tu Tri, (book 158, pi Quang-chau, td eW s de HF B WH BB Abo 20, TH Luge SH. . 21, Tu ide 3 Fil. 2. cao-yéu 1 SE +: The department of Thiténg-ngd,under the Han,119 victorious on both sides and unchallenged ni ter of the whole area, Lf Bi proclaimed himself emperor in the apring of 544, He gave to his country the name Vaneau, to his residence the name van-tho and to his reign pat-ate. In his court, Pham T4 was at the head of the military rank and Tinh Thiéa of the civil rank. But what was glorious to LY Bi was shameful to China. The revolt lasted already two years and there was no reaction as yet. The emperor of the Luéng then chose Didng pnigu as new governor of Giao-chau, and eft Bé Tién as commander of the army to punish Ly Bi. The governor of Pinh-chau Iau noes got ae the mandate to join the expedition at the West River . The half- hearted Int Bot suggested to Didng Phiéu a new postpo- nement in order to please the soldiers, who did not want to fight a far-away war. But Trén B4 Tian was adamant. 23. tong-bién, AE, 3M 1 ‘The town of Thugn-thanh in the province of Bdc-ha, North Vietnam. 24, clu-adc AL 4%: a department between Cuu chan and Nhat -nam. 2 ~ 25. Pham 16 5) 4/8: toan-thi called thie general Trigu Téc so’to introduce the imaginary reign of Triéu Quang Phuc. 26, ty B{ made himself Emperor of the viét or vidt-a6 van-xutn % + This nama can not be found in older documents." Only Complete History mentioned it.120 He reminded to Diidng Phiéu the imperial mandate and threw his army to the vanguard. The Emperor of the viét headed his 30,000 men army to Ch@u-dién, where he met the Chinese army. Defeat ed, he pulled back to né-Lfoh River; defeated again, he fled to Giacninh trfh Ba Tian besieged him then cap- tured Giasninh in the spring of 546. Ly BY had no other choice than to seek refuge among the montagards in Tén- wiéng. ‘The Chinese army waited for him at the mouth of Gia-ninh River. In autumn of 546, Ly Bf appeared in the lake Biéh-triét with a force of 20,000 men and a multitu- de of boats. for a new challenge. pithetrigt was rather a swamp, shallow and mys- did not advanced. Wai- terious. For a month, both sid ting was advantageous to Lf Bf, whose men were people of ‘the neighborhood and consequently easily supplied. But waiting was very disatrous to the Chinese soldiers, un- accustomed to the climate and homesick. So, while other generals hesitated, Tran Ba Tién was ready to fight. If his collegues did not co-operate, he intended to do it 28. van-tho #& % 1 This name ie found only in Viet- namese documents. 29 pai-aile A 4&1 the complete History gave Thi&n-dite FR. 4H .but Dai -ado has the chance te Fave been the real name, not only because it appeared in Taténg-thd and Tt tri, but also because Ly Bi might have been Influen- ced by thé name Ngi-déng of the Lung. 30. pudng Phidu FH SF + 31. Tau Bde tp