Person
Cao Chinh Binh
The An Nam protector-general under the Tang who died of worry when the protectorate seat was besieged in 791; the Tongjian and the Complete Annals record that he taxed heavily. The Chinese histories and the Complete Annals agree on the year, the month, the cause and his death, and differ only on who led the siege.
At a glance
- Dates
- Died in the seventh year of Zhenyuan under Emperor Dezong of Tang, that is 791; the Old Book of Tang records it on the day Ky Mui, in the fourth month1
- Role
- An Nam protector-general under Emperor Dezong of Tang; of the four Chinese passages compared, only the Zizhi tongjian gives a cause for the 791 siege: he taxed heavily. The Complete Annals likewise open the entry for the year Tan Mui with his governing by heavy taxation23
- End
- The Old Book of Tang, the Tongjian, the biography of Trieu Xuong in the New Book of Tang and the Complete Annals all record that he died of worry, not by the sword. The Complete Annals give more detail: his worry and anger turned into illness, a boil broke out on his back, and he died. By the Tongjian, when the Man heard of his death, they all submitted1243
- Earliest record
- The earliest of the histories compared is the Old Book of Tang, compiled in the middle of the tenth century, more than a hundred and fifty years after the events1
Life
The old chronicles say
The Old Book of Tang has one terse sentence: on the day Ky Mui, the Annam leader Do Anh Han rebelled and attacked the protectorate; the protector-general Cao Chinh Binh died of worry. Only the Zizhi tongjian gives a cause: he taxed heavily; in summer, in the fourth month, the Man chieftains, Do Anh Han and his like, raised troops and besieged the protectorate; he died of worry, and when the Man heard the news they all submitted — by the Tongjian, the rising broke up of its own accord the moment he died, before the court had even sent a new man out. Hu Sanxing, who annotated the Tongjian in the thirteenth century, adds a line: the history says this to show that the Man were not fond of disorder, but rose in disorder because they suffered under a greedy commander.125
The Complete Annals open the entry for the year Tan Mui exactly where the Tongjian opens: in spring, he governed the Protectorate of Annam by heavy taxation. In summer, in the fourth month, Phung Hung, a man of Duong Lam, raised troops and besieged the seat; Chinh Binh died of worry. The book records that death a second time, in more detail: his worry and anger turned into illness, a boil broke out on his back, and he died. Set the two versions side by side and the overlap is hard to ignore: the same year, 791, the same fourth month, the same protector-general, the same death from worry, the same cause, heavy taxes, and the same name, Do Anh Han. Where they differ is the part that name plays: the leader in the Chinese histories, a man of the same village who offered Phung Hung a plan in the Complete Annals.3
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