Quang Trung

Emperor Quang Trung (; , 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ , also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình , or Hồ Thơm (chữ Hán: 胡𦹳) was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dynasty, reigning from 1788 until 1792. He was also one of the most successful military commanders in Vietnam's history. Nguyễn Huệ and his brothers, Nguyễn Nhạc and Nguyễn Lữ, together known as the Tây Sơn brothers, were the leaders of the Tây Sơn rebellion. As rebels, they conquered Vietnam, overthrowing the imperial Later Lê dynasty and the two rival feudal houses of the Nguyễn in the south and the Trịnh in the north.

After several years of constant military campaigning and rule, Nguyễn Huệ died at the age of 40. Prior to his death, he had made plans to continue his march southwards in order to destroy the army of Nguyễn Ánh, a surviving heir of the Nguyễn lords.

Nguyễn Huệ's death marked the beginning of the downfall of the Tây Sơn dynasty. His successors were unable to implement the plans he had made for ruling Vietnam, leaving the empire weak and vulnerable. The Tây Sơn dynasty was overthrown by its enemy, Nguyễn Ánh, who established the imperial Nguyễn dynasty in 1802.

Early life

According to multiple sources, Nguyễn Huệ's ancestors were peasants who lived in Nghệ An. They left Nghệ An and moved to southern Vietnam after an attack by the Nguyễn lords against the Trịnh lords in Nghệ An. His ancestors' surname was Hồ , but Huệ's great-grandfather Hồ Phi Long, who was a servant of the Dinh family of Bằng Chân hamlet, Tuy Viễn district (or An Nhơn), Quy Nhơn province, married a woman from the Dinh family and had a son named Hồ Phi Tiễn, Huệ's grandfather. Hồ Phi Tiễn did not continue farming as his father, but instead traded in betel. Through his work he met and married Nguyễn Thị Đồng (阮氏仝), the only daughter of a rich betel tradesman residing in Tây Sơn village. One of their children was Huệ's father Hồ Phi Phúc (胡丕福, also known as Nguyễn Phi Phúc). Some sources say that in taking on the surname Nguyễn, the family followed the surname of Huệ's mother; other sources say that it followed the surname of Nguyễn lords of southern Vietnam.

Nguyễn Huệ was born in 1753 in Tây Sơn village, Quy Nhơn Province (now Bình Định Province). His father had eight children; later, three of them took part in the Tây Sơn Rebellion. According to Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện, the Tây Sơn brothers, listed from eldest to youngest, were Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Lữ, Nguyễn Huệ.

Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện described Nguyễn Huệ as "a cunning man, good at fighting; he has bright penetrating eyes, and always speak in a stentorian voice, everyone fears him." His father, Nguyễn Phi Phúc, made the three brothers dedicate themselves to their studies early in life. Their martial arts master was Trương Văn Hiến, a retainer (môn khách) and friend of Trương Văn Hạnh (張文幸), who in turn was the teacher of Nguyễn Phúc Luân, the father of Nguyễn Ánh. After Trương Văn Hạnh killed by the powerful chancellor Trương Phúc Loan, Trương Văn Hiến fled to Bình Định. He was first man to discover the talents of the Tây Sơn brothers and to advise them to do great deeds.

Later, Trương Văn Hiến encouraged Nguyễn Nhạc to revolt against Nguyễn lords: "The prophecy says: 'Revolt in the West, success in the North'. You are born in Tây Sơn District, you must do your best." Nguyễn Nhạc then gathered people to help him in his rebellion, saying to "overthrow the Trịnh lords, revive the Lê dynasty".

Seeking to overthrow the corrupted Trương Phúc Loan and to help the prince Nguyễn Phúc Dương, the eldest of the Tây Sơn Brothers, Nguyễn Nhạc, gathered an army and revolted in 1771. He was aided by his brothers Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Lữ. In the early days of the rebellion, Huệ was the most helpful of Nhạc's generals both in finance and in training the army; with the encouragement of Trương Văn Hiến and his own talent, Huệ rapidly increased his own popularity and that of the Tây Sơn Rebellion.

Due to its popularity, the Tây Sơn army grew strong and attracted many talented generals, including Nguyễn Thung, Bùi Thị Xuân, Võ Văn Dũng, Võ Đình Tú, Trần Quang Diệu, Trương Mỹ Ngọc, and Võ Xuân Hoài. The rebels became famous for their policy: "fair, no corruption, only looting the rich, and help the poor" (công bằng, không tham nhũng, và chỉ cướp của của người giàu, giúp người nghèo).

Tây Sơn rebellion

After 200 years of holding power in southern Vietnam, the government of the Nguyễn Lords had become progressively weaker, due to its poor leadership and internal conflicts. Following the death of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát, the powerful official Trương Phúc Loan began to arrogate to himself control over the Nguyễn government. For the purpose of resisting against the excessive power of Trương Phúc Loan and coming to the assistance of Prince Nguyễn Phúc Dương, the Tây Sơn Brothers gathered an army and revolted against the government of the Nguyễn Lords. The rebel army of the Tây Sơn quickly occupied the central part of Nguyễn's territory covering from Quy Nhơn to Bình Thuận, thereby weakening the authority of the Nguyễn government.

The Siamese army moved towards southern Vietnam in 1784. A fleet with twenty thousand men under Chao Fa Krom Luang Thepharirak was dispatched to attack and recapture Saigon for Nguyễn Ánh. Ánh and his supporters were also allowed to accompany with the Siamese army. Phraya Wichinarong led Siamese infantry marched to Cambodia, and manoeuvred the Cambodian army. The Cambodian regent, Chaophraya Aphaiphubet (Baen), recruited five thousand soldiers to accompany with Siamese troops.

Siamese troops defeated Tây Sơn army and captured several places including Rạch Giá, Trấn Giang (Cần Thơ), Ba Thắc (Srok Pra-sak, Sóc Trăng), Trà Ôn, Sa Đéc, Mân Thít (or Mang thít, Man Thiết), and controlled Hà Tiên, An Giang and Vĩnh Long. However, they met a stubborn resistance from Tây Sơn army, and could not capture any important places. Unable to repulse the enemy, general Trương Văn Đa sent Đặng Văn Trấn to Quy Nhơn for help.

The Tây Sơn reinforcements led by Nguyễn Huệ reached Gia Định in 1785. Huệ sent an envoy to Siamese army under a banner of truce. Huệ showed fear deliberately, requested Siamese not to support Nguyễn Ánh. It proved that it was an excellent stratagem; Thepharirak was taken in. On the morning of 20 January 1785, Siamese fleet was surrounded in Rạch Gầm River and Xoài Mút River (near Mỹ Tho River, in present-day Tiền Giang Province). The battle ended with a near annihilation of the Siamese fleet, all the ships of the Siamese navy were destroyed. Thepharirak and Nguyễn Ánh fled back to Bangkok.

Overthrow of Trịnh Lord

Northern Vietnam fell into chaos in 1786. An army under Nguyễn Huệ, Vũ Văn Nhậm and Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh marched north to attack Phú Xuân. The governor of Phú Xuân, Phạm Ngô Cầu, was a venal and superstitious coward, he was at odds with his assistant, Hoàng Đình Thể. An itinerant Taoist priest came to Phú Xuân, and said to Cầu that he should set up an altar to pray for himself. Cầu was persuaded; he built an altar, ordered his soldiers to serve him day and night, making his soldiers very tired. Take this opportunity, Huệ launched a raid on Trịnh army. Hoàng Đình Thể was killed in action. Phạm Ngô Cầu surrendered to Tây Sơn army.

After the capture of Phú Xuân, Chỉnh encouraged Huệ to overthrow Trịnh lord. Huệ took his advice, marched further north without Nguyễn Nhạc's order. Tây Sơn army easily defeated several Trịnh troops. When they reached Thăng Long (modern Hanoi), Trịnh Khải came to the battlefield to fight against Tây Sơn army. Tây Sơn army attacked war elephants with arquebuses, finally, they captured Thăng Long (modern Hanoi) successfully. Although he had not been proclaimed as an Emperor at all, Nguyễn Huệ was respected by citizens of Thăng Long as the way an Emperor would be treated.

Nguyễn Nhạc did not want to take northern Vietnam; he sent an envoy to Phú Xuân to prevent Huệ from marching north, but Huệ had left. Then he got the message that Huệ had captured Thăng Long, and realized that Huệ was hard to be controlled. Nhạc led 2500 men and marched north to meet with Huệ and the Lê emperor. In Thăng Long, Nhạc promised that he would not take any territory of Lê emperor. Then Nhạc retreated from Thăng Long together with Huệ. Chỉnh abandoned all his property, and came to Nghệ An to join Tây Sơn army. Nguyễn Nhạc did not have the heart to abandon him again; Chỉnh was left in Nghệ An together with a Tây Sơn general, Nguyễn Văn Duệ. these two words derived from Vietnamese words Ông Bảy ("Sir seven") and Bắc Bình Vương respectively. Actually, Siamese confused him with his brother Nguyễn Lữ. Ông Bảy was Nguyễn Lữ's nick name. ), the area north to Hải Vân was given as his fief. But not long after, he came into conflict with Nguyễn Nhạc. Nhạc attacked on Huệ at first, a civil war broke out. The Qianlong Emperor of Qing China decided to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to the throne, though under Qing protection. After the coronation, he marched north with 60,000 soldiers. He recruited volunteers in Nghệ An Province, now the number of his soldiers reached 100,000. In Thọ Hạc (Thanh Hóa), he made an invigorating speech before his soldiers. Soldiers replied a great shout of approval. They were encouraged, and marched quickly.

Huệ arrived in Tam Điệp on Lunar 20 December (15 January 1789). In there, Huệ gathered together the whole forces, and divided them into five branches: main force led by Huệ, marched north to attack Thăng Long directly; a navy led by Nguyễn Văn Tuyết (Commander Tuyết), sailed from Lục Đầu River to attack Lê supporters in Hải Dương; another navy led by Nguyễn Văn Lộc (Commander Lộc), sailed from Lục Đầu River to attack Phượng Nhãn and Lạng Giang; a cavalry (including war elephants) led by Đặng Tiến Đông, marched to attack Cen Yidong in Đống Đa; another cavalry (including war elephants) led by Nguyễn Tăng Long (Commander Long) marched past Sơn Tây to attack Xu Shiheng in Ngọc Hồi (a place near Thanh Trì). Modern descendants of the Lê monarch can be traced to southern Vietnam and Urumqi, Xinjiang.

Reconciliation with Qing China Late 18th-century painting depicting the Qianlong Emperor receiving Nguyễn Quang Hiển, the peace envoy from Nguyễn Huệ in Beijing.

The irate Qianlong Emperor of the Qing replaced Sun Shiyi with Fuk'anggan. Fuk'anggan did not want a conflict with Nguyễn Huệ and he sent a letter to Huệ in which he expressed that a necessary prerequisite for a cease-fire was an apology of Huệ to the emperor. Nguyễn Huệ sought to restore the tributary relationship in order to deter a joint Qing-Siam pincer attack and prevent further Chinese attempts to restore the Lê dynasty.

In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor agreed to re-establish the tributary relationship and enfeoff Nguyễn as the king of Annam on the condition that Nguyễn personally lead a special delegation to Beijing to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday.

Plans to invade China

After the defeat of China, a Lê prince, Lê Duy Chỉ (黎維祗), fled to Tuyên Quang and Cao Bằng. There, Chỉ was supported by native chieftain Nùng Phúc Tấn (儂福縉) and Hoàng Văn Đồng (黃文桐). Chỉ devised a plan to unite Vientiane and Muang Phuan in a revolt of Tây Sơn dynasty. An army under Trần Quang Diệu conquered Muang Phuan and executed their chiefs. Then, the army invaded Kingdom of Vientiane; king Nanthasen fled, Tây Sơn marched west till the border of Siam. The victorious army attacked Bảo Lộc, captured Lê Duy Chỉ, Nùng Phúc Tấn, Hoàng Văn Đồng, and had them executed. Horses, elephants and war drums were brought to Vietnam as booty of war, then handed over to Qing China as tribute, Quang Trung did it to show power to China. Quang Trung also requested for exemption from customs duties, and established a yá háng (牙行, broker house in ancient China) in Nanning, they were both agreed by the Qianlong Emperor. With the support of Tây Sơn dynasty, the number of Chinese pirates grew rapidly, they were able to block sea routes, and harassed the coastlines of China. The attack on China never materialized by the time that Quang Trung died in 1792.

In 1792, Quang Trung decided to invade China. There was evidence that he had the intention to conquer South China. Legend had it that he died actually because he was punished by spirits of dead Nguyễn lords whose tombs he seriously insulted.

Quang Trung received temple name Thái Tổ (太祖) and posthumous name Vũ Hoàng đế (武皇帝) from his successor, Nguyễn Quang Toản. Getting the information, Nguyễn Nhạc prepared to attend his funeral, however, the road was blocked by Toản. Nhạc had to return, and sent a sister to attend the funeral.

Tây Sơn dynasty was regarded as an illegal regime during Nguyễn dynasty; it was mentioned as Nguỵ Tây (僞西 "False Tây"), or Tây tặc (西賊 "Bandit Tây") in Nguyễn official records to highlight the supposed illegitimacy of the dynasty.

Legacy Nguyễn Huệ, as depicted on the South Vietnamese 200 đồng banknote.

Nguyễn Huệ was regarded as the national savior of Vietnam and one of the most popular figures in the country.

Nguyễn Huệ was deified in Vietnamese culture, Bộc Temple (Chùa Bộc) in Hanoi was a temple to him.

Nguyễn Huệ was depicted on the South Vietnamese 200 đồng banknote.

Most cities in Vietnam, regardless of the political orientation of the government, have named major streets after him.

In his hometown, Quang Trung Museum has been built to showcase valuable historical documents and artifacts from the Tay Son dynasty.

Tây Sơn hào kiệt, a Vietnamese film, was based on his story.

On 6 February 2018 the Vietnam People's Navy commissioned the Quang Trung a currently in service with the 4th Regional Command.