Person
Duong San
A deputy general of Tran Ba Tien who, by the Complete Annals, was sent to fight Trieu Viet Vuong in 550 when Ba Tien was recalled over the Hou Jing revolt; his fate is recorded three different ways — defeated and killed, captured, or cut down on the field.
At a glance
- Role
- By the Complete Annals, a deputy general of Tran Ba Tien; given command of the army against Trieu Viet Vuong in the year Canh Ngo 550, when the Liang had the revolt of Hou Jing and Ba Tien was called back1
Life
The old chronicles say
By the Complete Annals, Duong San was a deputy general of Tran Ba Tien. In the year Canh Ngo 550, the Liang made Ba Tien General Uy Minh, Inspector of Giao Chau, and he planned to hold out until the other side ran out of grain; just then the Liang had the revolt of Hou Jing, and he was called back, handing the war against Trieu Viet Vuong over to Duong San. The Complete Annals' main text records it briefly: the king let his troops loose, San resisted, was defeated and died, and the Liang army broke and fled north. Yet elsewhere in the same book, under the year 571, a comment summing up Trieu Viet Vuong's achievements says something different: in the end the king captured Duong San, so that the northerners withdrew their army.12
Legend has it
The Linh Nam chich quai, the version that carries the Chu Dong Tu and Marsh of One Night story into this battle, gives a third ending: Duong San was cut down on the field. Of the three accounts — the Complete Annals' main text, Ngo Si Lien's comment, and the Linh Nam chich quai — none explains why they differ.3
Mentioned in
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