Person
Nham Ngao
Commandant of Nam Hai under the Qin. By Sima Qian's own verdict the kingdom of Nam Viet began with him: the idea of founding a state was his dying counsel, not the notion of the man who became king.
At a glance
- Role
- Commandant of Nam Hai; on his deathbed he summoned Trieu Da, magistrate of Long Xuyen, showed him that a state could be founded on Phien Ngung, and handed over the commandant's authority1
- End
- Died of his illness immediately after handing over power; the history records nothing further of him1
Life
The old chronicles say
His deathbed words are set down in full in the Shiji, and they are the decisive passage of the whole chapter. He runs through the state of the north — Chen Sheng in revolt, the Qin without principle, Xiang Yu and Liu Ji raising troops and contending for the empire like tigers — then turns to the ground beneath him: Nam Hai is remote, and he had meant to raise troops and cut the newly opened road to defend himself while he waited on events among the lords, but illness had overtaken him. His closing line is the one that founded a country: Phien Ngung has steep hills at its back and the South Sea barring its front, runs several thousand li from east to west, and has no few men of the central plains to help — this too is the master of a province, and a state can be founded on it.1
Sima Qian does not let that go unmarked. He opens his closing verdict with six characters: Uy Da became king, and the root of it was Nham Ngao. The man the histories treat as a founder was, to the historian, carrying out another man's idea. As for how the handover happened, the main text says only that Nham Ngao gave Da a letter making him acting commandant; but a later note, quoting an earlier commentator, puts it more bluntly — that he forged an imperial edict to put Da in the post.2
Mentioned in
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