Lam Sơn uprising

The Lam Sơn uprising (Chinese: 藍山起義; Vietnamese: Khởi nghĩa Lam Sơn) was a nationalist rebellion led by Lê Lợi in the province of Jiaozhi from 1418 to 1427 against the occupation of Vietnam by Ming China.

Lam Sơn uprising
Date1418–1428
Location
Northern Vietnam, Central Vietnam, Laos
Result

Lam Sơn rebel victory.

Belligerents
Ming Dynasty
Lan Xang (1422–1423)		 Vietnamese Lam Sơn rebels
Commanders and leaders
Li An
Fang Zheng
Chen Zhi
Li Bin †
Cai Fu (POW)
Wang Tong
Wang Anlao
Liu Sheng †
Mu Sheng
Liang Ming †
Li Qing †
Huang Fu (POW)
Lương Nhữ Hốt		 Lê Lợi
Lê Thạch †
Đinh Lễ †
Lý Triện †
Lưu Nhân Chú
Lê Sát
Lê Ngân
Nguyễn Chích
Phạm Vấn
Trịnh Khả
Phạm Văn Xảo
Lê Văn Linh

Background
Main article: Fourth Era of Northern Domination

The Chinese Ming empire destroyed the Hồ dynasty in 1407 and put Vietnam under Ming rule. However, they met fierce resistance from the former Trần royal family, led by Prince Trần Ngỗi. Although the rebellion was defeated, the rebellion of the Trần princes created a great inspiration for Vietnamese nationalist movements. However, the Yongle Emperor underestimated the Vietnamese love for independence. 31 revolts occurred from 1415 to 1424 against Ming rule before the rebellion of Lê Lợi in 1418.[1] The Ming army in Jiaozhi consisted at least 87,000 regulars, scattered in 39 citadels and towns in Northern Vietnam.[2]

Revolt in Thanh Hóa 1418-1423

On 7 February 1416, a group of 18 men included Lê Lợi and Nguyễn Trãi, secretly met in the jungle near Lam Son, swore to stay together until the final victory.[3]

In Tết 1418, Lê Lợi raised the revolt flag against the Ming rule in Lam Sơn, Thanh Hóa. He proclaimed himself as Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"). Lê Lợi divided his army into small bands of partisan fighters, utilized the guerrilla tactics to fight against regular Ming units.[4]

In February, a Ming army under general Ma Ji attacked into Lam Sơn, but was ambushed by the Lam Sơn partisans near Chu River.[5] A betrayer led the Ming army the way to Lam Sơn, which attacked Lê Lợi in surprise.Lê Lợi's nine-year-old daughter was seized and sent to Yongle's harem.[4]

In 1419, Lê Lợi's force attacked and seized a Ming garrison near Lam Sơn.[5]

In late 1420, Li Bin led an Ming army to attack Mường Thôi, but was defeated. The Lam Sơn partisans also gained the control of the upper Mã River.[5]

In early 1422, a large Ming army under General Chen Zhi marched to the Mã River valley to attack the Lam Sơn rebels.[6] A Laotian army with 30,000 men and 100 elephants from Lan Xang approached down the valley from the opposite direction,[7] joined with the Chinese force to besiege the Vietnamese.[8]

In 1423, because of exhaustion and a lack of provisions, Lê Lợi was forced to disband his partisans and sued for peace, and returned to Lam Sơn.[5][6]

Capture of Nghệ An and southern provinces

One of his comrades, Nguyễn Chích, suggested that they would move to the south to the province of Nghệ An.

In December 1424, the Lam Sơn partisans seized the citadel of Vinh.

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 defeated a Ming army in modern Quảng Bình and then marched through modern Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên, and gained control of the southern lands.[9]

By the end of 1425, the Lam Sơn army had already liberated all lands from Thanh Hóa to Đà Nẵng.

Pushing north

In 1426, Zhu Zhanji proclaimed a general amnesty and abolished all taxes in Jiaozhi, except for land taxes to be paid in rice, needed to supply Ming garrisons.[10]

In September, Lê Lợi sent his armies led by his generals, Trịnh Khả, Lý Triện, Đỗ Bí, Lưu Nhân Chú, Bùi Bị, Đinh Lễ, Nguyễn Xí, to advance to the Red River Delta and the Sino-Vietnamese borders. Lê Lợi installed a man named Trần Cảo as king of Dai Viet.[9]

Battle of Tốt Động-Chúc Động

The Ming army under general Wang Tong responded by counterattacking the Vietnamese in Ninh Kiều, south of Hà Nội. On 4 December, 54,000 Ming troops engaged 3,000 or 6,000 Vietnamese troops in the Battle of Tốt Động – Chúc Động.[11] The battle ended with a decisive Vietnamese victory. Most of Ming firearms and weapons were captured.[12]

Siege of Đông Quan

On 8 December, the Lam Sơn army laid siege of Đông Quan (Hà Nội), the Ming stronghold on the Red River Delta, then captured it in January 1407.[12] Cai Fu, a Ming commander-in-chief and an engineer, surrendered to Lê Lợi and taught the Vietnamese how to make siege weapons.[13]

Siege of Xương Giang

In March 1427, the Ming citadel of Xương Giang in at the modern city of Bắc Giang was being besieged. Ming Chinese and Muslim POWs and defectors provided the Vietnamese manufacturing and launching siege weapons such as primitive tanks (fenwen che), Muslim counterweight trebuchet (Xiangyang pao or Huihui pao), hand cannon (huopao).[14] The siege took six month and the citadel felt to Vietnamese hands.[14]

On March 29, 1427, around 120,000 Chinese reinforcements led by Liu Sheng and Mu Sheng advanced into Jiaozhi from Yunnan and Guangxi, included 10,000 crack troops who had followed Zheng He on his expeditions.[15]

Battle of Chi Lăng and victory

In September, Liu Sheng's force was defeated by Lê Lợi at Chi Lăng Pass. Liu Sheng himself was beheaded in battle.[16]

On 29 December 1427, Wang Tong accepted Nguyễn Trãi's terms of orderly withdrawal with "the solemn oath of eternal friendship."[17] After this confirmation, Lê Lợi repatriated 86,640 Ming prisoners to China and disarmed them of all of their weapons.[18]

In 1428, Lê Lợi became Emperor of a restored Dai Viet, and ordered his comrade-in-arm Nguyễn Trãi to write the Binh Ngo Dai Cao–Grand Pronouncements.[19]

Legend of Hoàn Kiếm Lake

According to the legend, in early 1428, Emperor Lê Lợi was boating on the Hoàn Kiếm lake when a golden turtle surfaced and asked for his magic sword. Lê Lợi concluded that the turtle had come to reclaim the sword that its master, the "Dragon King" (Long Vương) had given 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", meaning Lake of the Returning Sword, to commemorate this event.

References
  1. Tsai 2011, p. 182.
  2. Anderson 2020, p. 92.
  3. USAFA 1998, p. 208.
  4. Tsai 2011, p. 184.
  5. Taylor 2013, p. 182.
  6. Tsai 2011, p. 185.
  7. Simms 1999, p. 47-48.
  8. Stuart-Fox 2006, p. 20-21.
  9. Taylor 2013, p. 184.
  10. Taylor 2013, p. 183.
  11. USAFA 1998, p. 209.
  12. Sun 2006, p. 85.
  13. Sun 2006, p. 86.
  14. Kiernan 2019, p. 196.
  15. Sun 2006, p. 88-89.
  16. Sun 2006, p. 88.
  17. USAFA 1998, p. 210.
  18. Sun 2006, p. 89.
  19. Baldanza 2016, p. 80.

Bibliography
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  • Hall, Daniel George Edward (1981), History of South East Asia, Macmillan Education, Limited, ISBN 978-1-349-16521-6
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