Dương Tam Kha ( 楊三哥), formally King Ping of Yang ( 楊平王), later known as the Duke of Chương Dương (章陽公) (died 10 August 980), was king of the

Ngô dynasty The Ngô dynasty (; Chữ Nôm: 茹吳) was a dynasty that ruled Tĩnh Hải quân (Jinghai) in northern Vietnam from 939 to 968. The dynasty was founded by Ngô Quyền, who led Vietnamese forces in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River against t ...

from 944 to 950.''

Đại Việt sử lược The ''Đại Việt sử lược'' ( vi-hantu, 大越史略; lit. ''Abridged Chronicles of Đại Việt'') or ''Việt sử lược'' ( vi-hantu, 越史略; lit. ''Abridged Chronicles of Viet'') is an historical text that was compiled during the ...

'', vol. 1''Nguyễn Minh Tường (2006), Book title "Về sự nghiệp và vị thế của Dương Tam Kha trong lịch sử dân tộc ở thế kỷ X", Nghiên cứu Lịch sử, số 9 (365), Page 36-42, Viện Sử học, Hà Nội, Chapter 9.''趙久安, 《遺民: 文革烙印了我的階級》, 新銳文創, 2012, 234 pages, Page 79-215, , 978986591531

/ref>华业, 世界历史读这本就够了, Beijing Book Co. Inc, 2012, , 978799901850

/ref>

Early years

Dương Tam Kha was one of

Dương Đình Nghệ Dương Đình Nghệ ( Chữ Hán: 楊廷藝; pinyin: ''Yáng Tíngyì''; 874 – March 937; some sources record Dương Diên Nghệ, Chữ Hán: 楊延藝) was the jiedushi of Tĩnh Hải quân in around 931 AD. He was a skillful, talented g ...

's sons, brother of

Ngô Quyền Ngô Quyền ( vi-hantu, 吳權) (April 17, 898 – February 14, 944), often referred to as Tiền Ngô Vương (前吳王; "First King of Ngô"), was a warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngô dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned from ...

's wife, empress Dương. According to ''

'' (History annals of Dai Viet), his birth name was Dương Chủ Tướng ( 楊主將), but according to '' History of Song'', his name was Dương Thiệu Hồng ( 楊紹洪). Some historians claimed that he was the third son of Dương Đình Nghệ, after Dương Nhất Kha and Dương Nhị Kha.

As a subordinate general

He was a subordinate general of

Khúc Hạo Khúc Hạo (860–917) () was the Vietnamese self-declared jiedushi of northern Vietnam ( Tĩnh Hải quân) from 907 to 917 succeeding his father Khúc Thừa Dụ. During his reign, Khúc Hạo made several important social and administrativ ...

in the area of Aizhou (now Thanh Hóa Province). In 931, Dương Đình Nghệ defeated

Southern Han Southern Han (; 917–971), officially Han (), originally Yue (), was one of the ten kingdoms that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was located on China's southern coast, controlling modern Guangdong and Guangxi. The ...

ruler Li Tian, retook the capital of

Đại La Đại La (), means ''the Citadel of the Great Dike'', or La Thành (羅城, means ''the Citadel of the Dike'') was an ancient fortified city in present-day Hanoi during the third Chinese domination of the 7th and 8th centuries, and again in the 11 ...

(former name of Hanoi), proclaimed himself Jiedushi (equivalent to Military governor) of

Tĩnh Hải quân Tĩnh Hải quân or the Jinghai Military Command ( Chinese: 靜海軍, pinyin: Jìnghǎi Jūn) (literally "Peaceful Sea Army"), also known as Annam (安南), was an administrative division of the Tang dynasty of China administered by Chinese go ...

. Dương Tam Kha became a subordinate general of his father. Six years later, Kiều Công Tiễn, also a general of Dương Đình Nghệ, mutinied and killed his master in order to become governor of Jinghao. In 938, Ngô Quyền, son-in-law and also former general of Dương Đình Nghệ defeated the potency of Kiều Công Tiễn and also killed him. After that, Dương Tam Kha follow Ngô Quyền as his general.''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song (960–1127), Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959&n ...

'', vol. 281. As the Ngô Quyền march his forces to Đại La, Kiều Công Tiễn sent the envoys to Southern Han to petition for sending army to help himself. Emperor of Southern Han, Liu Yan, commissioned his son, Liu Hongcao to help Kiều Công Tiễn, he also led another army to supply his son. But Công Tiễn was executed before this army arrived. In the November 938, at the Battle of Bạch Đằng, the fleet was defeated by Ngô Quyền, Liu Hongcao was killed in battle. Dương Tam Kha participated in this battle.

Mutiny and accession

In 944, before his death, Ngô Quyền had Dương Tam Kha become regent for his son, Ngô Xương Ngập. But after the demise of Ngô Quyền, he forced his nephew-in-law to abdicate and installed himself as king, calling himself Dương Bình Vương (King Ping of Yang). Ngô Xương Ngập fled to Trà Hương village (modern Hải Dương Province) and was hidden by a chieftain (Hào trưởng) of area named Phạm Lệnh Công. ''Hào trưởng'' is a title for a honored man who is leader of his kin and also of a large area around his base during early independent Vietnam. Thanks to his efforts, Ngô Xương Ngập was in safety. Afterward, Dương Tam Kha adopted

Ngô Xương Văn Ngô Xương Văn ( vi-hantu, 吳昌文, 935–965), formally King of Nam Tấn (南晉王), was a king of the Vietnamese Ngô dynasty. He was the second son of Ngô Quyền, the dynastic founder. Background Ngô Xương Văn was born in 935. ...

, the second son of Ngô Quyền. During his reign, prospered economically and freely developed its own regional culture that continues to this day. He developed the coastal kingdom's agriculture, built seawalls, expanded crops in Hà Tây, dredged rivers and lakes, and encouraged sea transport and trade in Nam Định. In 950, Dương Tam Kha forced Ngô Xương Văn to quell the rebellion in

Thái Bình Province Cài () is a Chinese-language surname that derives from the name of the ancient Cai state. In 2019 it was the 38th most common surname in China, but the 9th most common in Taiwan (as of 2018), where it is usually romanized as "Tsai" (based on ...

, but he turned his army to dethrone Dương Tam Kha. Although Dương Tam Kha dethroned his brother after the death of his father, Ngô Xương Văn spared, but degraded him to Duke of Chương Dương.

Later years

He spent his later years reclaiming new land called Giao Thủy (Nam Định) with his family and followers. Some historic evidence showed that he was the father of Empress

Dương Vân Nga Dương Thị Ngọc Vân (楊氏玉雲, ?–1000) courtesy name Vân Nga (雲娥) was the only empress dowager of the Đinh dynasty and afterwards empress of Lê Đại Hành, the first emperor of the Early Lê dynasty. When her husband Đinh Ti� ...

who married Đinh Bộ Lĩnh in 966. She would eventually become the last ruler of the Đinh family who would rule as dowager empress in her son's name, eventually giving rise to the Lê family through her marriage to

Lê Hoàn Lê Hoàn (10 August 941 – 18 March 1005), posthumously title Lê Đại Hành, was a Vietnamese emperor and the third ruler of Dai Viet kingdom, ruling from 981 to 1005. He first served as the generalissimo commanding a ten-thousand man arm ...

in 980.

Family

*Father **

(874–937) *Sister ** Dương Thị Ngọc *Daughter **

(952–1000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duong Tam Kha Vietnamese kings Ngô dynasty 10th-century births 10th-century rulers in Asia 980 deaths Vietnamese monarchs