Person

Duong Phieu

The governor of Giao Chau whom the Liang sent to command the army against Ly Bi in 545, with Tran Ba Tien as his adjutant; the Chinese histories credit him with taking the citadel of Gia Ninh, while the Complete Annals give that credit to Tran Ba Tien instead.

At a glance

Also known as
His name is written with a different character in each book — the Liang shu, the Nan shi, the Chen shu and the Complete Annals each use a different one; the character in the Complete Annals is so rare that the book has to note its pronunciation right beside it1
Role
Governor of Giao Chau, sent by the Liang to command the army against Ly Bi in 545, with Tran Ba Tien as his adjutant; the Chinese histories credit him with taking the citadel of Gia Ninh in the first month of 54623

Life

The old chronicles say

The Tongjian records the dispatch of the army in one short sentence: the Liang emperor sent the governor of Giao Chau, Duong Phieu, to attack Ly Bi, with Tran Ba Tien as his adjutant, and ordered the governor of Dinh Chau, Tieu Bot, to join forces with Phieu at Tay Giang. The Complete Annals copy almost the same thing but in a different tone: the Liang made Duong Phieu governor and Tran Ba Tien adjutant, and brought an army over to invade. The nominal commander was Duong Phieu; yet the books cannot even agree on how to write his name, while the adjutant under him would later be honoured by one official history as Cao To, a dynasty's founder.21

Where the books disagree most plainly about him is the affair of the citadel of Gia Ninh, early in 546. The Liang shu records it down to the day: on the day Quy Suu, the governor of Giao Chau, Duong Phieu, took the citadel of Gia Ninh; Ly Bi fled into a cave of the Lao people; Giao Chau was at peace — and in that whole book of annals, the name of Tran Ba Tien does not appear once. The Nan shi copies this exactly, and the Tongjian also credits Duong Phieu and those with him. But the Complete Annals, which follow the Tongjian almost word for word, change the subject of that very sentence to Tran Ba Tien. The histories give no reason for the change. And at the Dien Triet lake, by the Chen shu, Duong Phieu had to ask Tran Ba Tien for a plan.34521

Mentioned in

  1. Episode 7The Liang strike back, and Ly Nam De dies, 545-54816 min

Sources for this page

Every row of the profile and every passage below points to one of these documents. How we choose and check sources

  1. Dai Viet su ky toan thu

    the annals of the Early Ly, folios 14b-17a — main text and the Complete Annals’ own small notes

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  2. Zizhi tongjian

    book 159, Annals of the Liang 15 — main text, in an edition without commentary

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  3. Liang shu

    book 3, the annals of Emperor Wu, last part, the first year of the Zhong Datong era and the second year of the Taiqing era — main text

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  4. Chen shu

    book 1, the annals of Cao To, first part — main text

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  5. Nan shi

    book 7, the annals of the Liang, middle part — main text

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