The Lam Sơn uprising (; vi, Khởi nghĩa Lam Sơn; vi-hantu, 起義藍山) was a Vietnamese rebellion led by Lê Lợi in the province of
Jiaozhi
Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Co ...
from 1418 to 1427 against the
rule
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule pert ...
of
Ming China
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...
. The success of the rebellion led to the establishment of the
Later Lê dynasty
Later may refer to:
* Future, the time after the present
Television
* ''Later'' (talk show), a 1988–2001 American talk show
* '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a British music programme since 1992
* ''The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts'', or ...
by Lê Lợi.
Background
The
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
destroyed the
Hồ dynasty
The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡 朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty consisting of the reigns of two monarchs, Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛) in 1400–01 and his second s ...
in 1407 and incorporated Dai Ngu into the Empire as
Jiaozhi Province
Jiaozhi Province was a province of the Chinese Ming dynasty that existed during its brief rule of northern Vietnam from 1407 to 1427, known in historiography as the Fourth Era of Northern Domination. The province's name, Jiaozhi, was an earli ...
. However, at first they met fierce resistance from the former Trần dynasty members, led by Prince
Trần Ngỗi
Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the common Chinese surname Chen.
History
The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and succe ...
. Although the rebellion was defeated, it provided inspiration for future Vietnamese movements. A total of 31 revolts occurred from 1415 to 1424 against Ming rule before the rebellion of Lê Lợi in 1418. The Ming army in
Jiaozhi
Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Co ...
consisted of at least 87,000 regulars, scattered in 39 citadels and towns in Northern Vietnam.
History
Revolt in Thanh Hóa 1418–1423
On 7 February 1416, a group of 18 men including Lê Lợi and
Nguyễn Trãi
Nguyễn Trãi (阮廌), pen name Ức Trai (抑齋); (1380–1442) was an illustrious Vietnamese Confucian scholar, a noted poet, a skilled politician and a master strategist. He was at times attributed with being capable of almost miraculous or ...
, banded together to expel Ming forces. During
Tết
Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of ...
1418, Lê Lợi raised the revolt flag against Ming rule in Lam Sơn, Thanh Hóa. He proclaimed himself ''Bình Định Vương'' (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"). Lê Lợi divided his army into small bands of partisan fighters and utilized guerrilla tactics to fight against regular Ming units.
In February, a Ming army under general Ma Ji attacked Lam Sơn, but was ambushed by Lam Sơn partisans near the
Chu River
The Chu (Shu or Chüy) ( kk, Шу, Shu, شۋ; ky, Чүй, Chüy, چۉي; dng, Чў, Chwu (from , ''Chǔ''); russian: Чу, Chu) is a river in Northern Kyrgyzstan and Southern Kazakhstan. Of its total length of ,Li Bin led a Ming army to attack Mường Thôi, but was defeated. The Lam Sơn partisans later gained control of the upper
Mã River
The Ma River ( vi, Sông Mã, links=no, Lao language, Lao: ''ນ້ຳມ້າ / Nam Ma'') is a river in Asia, originating in northwestern Vietnam. It flows 400km through Vietnam, Laos, and then back through Vietnam, meeting the sea at the Gulf o ...
.
In the next year, a large Ming army under General Chen Zhi marched to the Mã River valley to attack the Lam Sơn rebels. From the opposite direction, a Laotian army with 30,000 men and 100 elephants from
Lan Xang
existed as a unified kingdom from 1353 to 1707.
For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The meaning of the kingdom's name alludes to the power of the kingship and formidable war machine of the ea ...
approached down the valley. Lê Lợi initially had the impression that the Laotians were allied to him. Lo Van Luat, officer of Li Bin, however viewed Lê Lợi as a rival. He persuaded the Laotians to join the Ming to attack Lê Lợi. In 1422, due to exhaustion and a lack of provisions, Lê Lợi was forced to disband his partisans and sued for peace by paying gold and silver and promise not to renew attacks; he then returned to Lam Sơn. In return the Ming provided him with food provision and farm implements.
Capture of Nghệ An and southern provinces (1425)
Nguyễn Chích
Nguyễn Chích (阮隻), also Lê Chích (黎隻) (1382–1448), was an ethnic Mường general and advisor of Lê Lợi, the founding emperor of the Later Lê dynasty.
He was from Đông Ninh village, Đông Sơn District. He established the ...
, suggested that they would move to the south to the province of Nghệ An. In December 1424, the Lam Sơn partisans seized the control of
Vinh
Vinh () is the biggest city and economic and cultural center of north-central Vietnam. Vinh is the capital of Nghệ An Province, and is a key point in the East–West economic corridor linking Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The city is ...
Citadel. In June 1425, Lê Lợi's generals Lê Sát and Lưu Nhân Chú attacked Thanh Hóa. In the south, the Lam Sơn army under
Trần Nguyên Hãn
Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the List of common Chinese surnames, common Chinese surname Chen (surname), Chen.
History
The Tran ruled the Tr ...
defeated a Ming army in modern Quảng Bình and then marched through modern
Quảng Trị
Quảng Trị () is a district-level town in Quảng Trị Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is second of two municipalities in the province after the provincial capital Đông Hà.
History
The Sino-Vietnamese name Qu ...
and Thừa Thiên; gaining control of the southern lands. By the end of 1425, the rebel army had already conquered all lands from Thanh Hóa to
Da Nang
Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is on ...
.
Pushing north (1426-27)
In 1426,
Zhu Zhanji
The Xuande Emperor (16 March 1399 31 January 1435), personal name Zhu Zhanji (朱瞻基), was the fifth List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1425 to 1435. His Chinese era name, era name "Xuande" mea ...
or
Xuande Emperor
The Xuande Emperor (16 March 1399 31 January 1435), personal name Zhu Zhanji (朱瞻基), was the fifth Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1425 to 1435. His era name "Xuande" means "proclamation of virtue". Ruling over a relatively ...
proclaimed a general amnesty and abolished all taxes in Jiaozhi, except for land taxes to be paid in rice, which were needed to supply Ming garrisons. In September, Lê Lợi sent his armies led by his generals,
Trịnh Khả Trịnh Khả ( vi-hantu, 鄭可, 1402 – 1451) close advisor to emperor Lê Thái Tổ, chief ruler of Vietnam during the 1440s, and founder of the powerful Trịnh family. Đại Việt Thông Sử Page 5 Lê Quý Đôn reprint 1978 "Hoàng đ ...
,
Lý Triện
LY or ly may refer to:
Government and politics
* Libya (ISO 3166-1 country code LY)
* Lý dynasty, a Vietnamese dynasty
* Labour Youth of Ireland
* Legislative Yuan, the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Science and t ...
, Đỗ Bí,
Lưu Nhân Chú
{{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
Lưu or Luu without diacritics is a Vietnamese surname. It is also the Vietnamese and Khmer transliteration of the Chinese surname Liu ( 劉).
During the Three Kingdoms 三國 era (3rd century AD), a number of ...
,
Bùi Bị
Bùi (Chữ Hán: 裴) is a common Vietnamese surname, ranked 9th among the most common surnames in Vietnam. The surname Pei (裴) in Chinese and Bae (배) in Korean share the same origin with it.
Bui is also an Italian surname.
Bùi may refer ...
, Đinh Lễ and
Nguyễn Xí
Nguyễn Xí ( vi-hantu, 阮熾; 1397–1465), or Lê Xí, was a general, politician, and public servant who served as a minister for four generations of rulers during the late Lê dynasty. He is considered a historical military genius of Vietnam ...
to advance on the
Red River Delta
The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta ( vi, Châu thổ sông Hồng) is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word ...
and the Sino-Vietnamese border. Lê Lợi installed Trần Cảo as king of Dai Viet.
Battle of Tốt Động-Chúc Động
The Ming army under General Wang Tong responded by counterattacking the Vietnamese rebels in Ninh Kiều, south of Hà Nội. On 4 December, 54,000 Ming troops engaged 3,000 or 6,000 Vietnamese troops in the 1426
Battle of Tốt Động – Chúc Động
The Battle of Tốt Động – Chúc Động () in 1426 was the decisive battle in the 14-year Lam Sơn uprising which established Vietnam's independence from Ming China in 1428. The battle took place on 4 December 1426 in the Red River Delta ...
. The battle ended with a decisive Vietnamese victory. Most of the Ming firearms and weapons were captured.
Siege of Đông Quan
On 8 December, the Lam Sơn army laid siege of Đông Quan (
Hà Nội
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
), the Ming stronghold on the Red River Delta; and captured it in January 1427. Cai Fu, a Ming commander-in-chief and an engineer, surrendered to Lê Lợi, and began teaching the Vietnamese how to make siege weapons.
Siege of Xương Giang
In March 1427, the Ming citadel of Xương Giang in at the modern city of
Bắc Giang
Bắc Giang () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Bắc Giang Province. Its name, deriving from that of the Province Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." The location is very convenient for transportation: it is 50 km north ...
was being besieged. Ming prisoners and defectors provided the Vietnamese manufacturing and launching siege weapons such as primitive tanks (''fenwen che''), counterweight
trebuchet
A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...
s invented by the Muslims (''Xiangyang pao'' or ''Huihui pao'') and hand cannons (''huopao''). The siege took six months and the citadel felt to the rebel hands.
On March 29, 1427, around 120,000 Chinese reinforcements led by Liu Sheng and
Mu Sheng
Mu Sheng (; vi, Mộc Thạnh; 1368–1439), courtesy name Jingmao (), was a Chinese military general and politician of the Ming dynasty.
Mu Sheng was the second son of Mu Ying, the first Marquis of Xiping (). He was a solemn man of few w ...
advanced into Jiaozhi from
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...
and
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...
, included 10,000 crack troops who had followed
Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferr ...
on his expeditions.
Battle of Chi Lăng
In September, Liu Sheng's force was
defeated
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*"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love''
*Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community
*''The Defeated
''The Defeated'', al ...
by Lê Lợi at Chi Lăng Pass. The commander, Liu Sheng, was beheaded at the battle. The prolonged war and dire situation of Ming army in Jiaozhi had drained the Empires resources down, leading to compromise. On 29 December 1427, Wang Tong accepted Nguyễn Trãi's terms of orderly withdrawal with "the solemn oath of eternal friendship." After the treaty, Lê Lợi repatriated 86,640 Ming prisoners to China and disarmed them of all of their weapons. In 1428, Lê Lợi became king of a restored
Dai Viet
Dai may refer to:
Names
* Dai (given name), a Welsh or Japanese masculine given name
* Dai (surname) (戴), a Chinese surname
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* Dai Commandery, a commandery of the state of Zhao and in early imperial China
* Dai County, in Xinz ...
, and ordered Nguyễn Trãi to write the Binh Ngo Dai Cao (''Grand Pronouncements).''
Officials in the Chinese court criticized Wang Tong's performance in the war; he was demoted to a commoner and deprived of his land, but later regained them after participating in the Defense of Beijing in 1449.
Legend of Hoàn Kiếm Lake
According to legend, in early 1428, Emperor Lê Lợi was boating on the
Hoàn Kiếm lake
Hoàn Kiếm Lake ( vi, Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, chữ Hán: 湖還劍, meaning ''"Lake of the Returned Sword"'' or ''"Lake of the Restored Sword"''), also known as Sword Lake (''Hồ Gươm'') or Tả Vọng Lake (''Hồ Tả Vọng''), is a fresh w ...
magic sword
In mythology, legend or fiction, a magic sword is a sword with magical powers or other supernatural qualities. Renowned swords appear in the folklore of every nation that used swords. Josepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 113
In some tr ...
. Lê Lợi concluded that the turtle had come to reclaim the sword that its master, the "Dragon King" (''Long Vương'') had given to Lê Lợi some time earlier, during his revolt. Later, Lê Lợi gave the sword back to the turtle after he finished fighting off the Chinese. He later renamed the lake "Hoàn Kiếm" (Lake of the Returning Sword) to commemorate the event.