Le Tung

The old chronicles say

In his general essay he praises Emperor Vu of Trieu for making himself emperor in his own quarter, as Han Gaozu did in his, with a benevolent love for the people and the wisdom to hold a country. But in the closing summary the same man writes that Emperor Vu of Trieu sent Trong Thuy to use a marriage to An Duong Vuong's daughter, steal the turtle's claw and then attack and take the country — so the stratagem of Emperor Vu of Trieu was an insidious one. In one breath our king, in the next an insidious scheme: the seed of the whole argument over the Trieu was already there, inside the camp that honoured them.¹

On the disaster of Ai Vuong, in the same general essay printed at the front of the Complete Annals, he does not stop at Lu Gia. He follows the line Ngo Si Lien had opened and names one more person outright: consider the disaster of Ai Vuong — though it came from Lu Gia, it was truly opened by Minh Vuong’s doting favour for Queen Cu. For him the root of the disaster lay not in Lu Gia alone but in the king who had doted on Queen Cu.²