Dan Hoa Chi

The old chronicles say

An army from the north marched on Lam Ap. The Song shu records: in the twenty-third year, the Dragon-Soaring General and inspector of Giao Chau, Dan Hoa Chi, was sent to attack. Which year that was, the books do not agree: the Song shu in its chapter on Lam Ap, the Thuy kinh chu and the Viet su luoc all give the twenty-third year of the Yuanjia era, that is, 446; the biography of Tong Xac in the Song shu, and the Nan Qi shu, give a year earlier; the Complete Annals give the thirteenth year of the Yuanjia era, that is, 436, ten years off from every other book.¹²³⁴⁵

That army took the citadel of Khu Tuc. The Song shu records the outcome in the tone of a ledger: in the fifth month it fell; the chief commander Phu Long was beheaded; gold, silver and goods were taken beyond counting.¹

The Vietnamese histories do record this expedition. The Complete Annals record Dan Hoa Chi setting out to attack, and even the story of Tong Xac and the fake lion. But the scene at Khu Tuc that the Thuy kinh chu describes — beheading the king of Khu Tuc, Pham Phu Long, burying alive or cutting down everyone fifteen years old and over, the towers and halls raining blood, the corpses heaped into mounds — exists only in the Chinese histories.⁵³