Person
Phung Hung
By the Complete Annals and the Cuong muc, the man who led the 791 siege of the seat of the Protectorate of Annam, given the title Bo Cai Dai Vuong after his death. The Chinese histories compared record that siege under the name Do Anh Han, with no mention of him.
At a glance
- Also known as
- The only title the books record for him while he lived is Do Quan. The title Bo Cai Dai Vuong came only after his death — the Complete Annals say his son Phung An honoured his father with it; the Cuong muc says the people honoured him as Bo Cai Dai Vuong and set up An as Do phu quan12
- Dates
- By the Complete Annals, he had already been a force since around the Dali era of Emperor Daizong of Tang, that is, somewhere between 766 and 779; in the year Tan Mui, 791, he besieged the protectorate seat, the protector-general died, and he moved into the seat of government, dying not long after1
- Role
- By the Complete Annals, he was rich and strong, could throw down a buffalo and wrestle a tiger; sometime in the Dali era, when Giao Chau fell into disorder, he and his younger brother Phung Hai brought the neighbouring villages under control. He fought the protector-general Cao Chinh Binh for a long time without winning, and only then took up the plan of a man from his own village, Do Anh Han, to besiege the protectorate seat1
- Origin
- The Complete Annals record him as a man of Duong Lam in Giao Chau; the Cuong muc calls Giao Chau a mistake and corrects it to Phong Chau, and notes that the Phuc Loc district of the old histories has now (in the nineteenth century) been renamed Phuc Tho, in Son Tay province, that the commune of Cam Lam was once called Duong Lam, and that Phung Hung and Ngo Quyen were both men of that commune12
- Family
- His younger brother was Phung Hai, titled Do Bao, who joined him in bringing the neighbouring villages under control in the Dali era. His son was Phung An, who surrendered to Trieu Xuong after his father's death; by the Complete Annals it was An himself who honoured his father as Bo Cai Dai Vuong1
- End
- After Cao Chinh Binh died, he moved into the seat of government, and not long after, he died. No version gives a date for his death; by the order of the sentences in the Complete Annals, it falls somewhere between the fourth and the seventh month of 791, but that is only inferred from the sequence of the text, which the book does not state outright1
- Earliest record
- His name is absent from the four Chinese sources compared for the events of 791 — those books record only the name Do Anh Han. Among the histories opened here, the name Phung Hung appears only in the Complete Annals (fifteenth century) and the Cuong muc (nineteenth century)13
- Worshipped at
- The Complete Annals record it in the main text itself: he showed his power as a spirit, the people took him for a god, and built a temple to him west of the protectorate seat, with offerings in all four seasons; a small note names it as the temple of Phu Huu Chuong Tin Sung Nghia Bo Cai Dai Vuong, in Thinh Quang ward as of the annotator's own time, not today1
Life
The old chronicles say
The Complete Annals open the entry for the year Tan Mui exactly where the Tongjian opens: in spring, Cao Chinh Binh, at the Protectorate of Annam, governed by heavy taxation. In summer, in the fourth month, Phung Hung, a man of Duong Lam in Giao Chau, raised troops and besieged the seat; Chinh Binh died of worry. The book then turns back in time: before this, Phung Hung had been rich and strong, able to throw down a buffalo and wrestle a tiger, and sometime in the Dali era, when Giao Chau fell into disorder, he and his younger brother Phung Hai brought the neighbouring villages under their control. Hung was styled Do Quan, and Hai, Do Bao.1
The two brothers fought Chinh Binh for a long time without winning. Only then did they take up the plan of a man from their own village, Do Anh Han, and bring their troops to besiege the seat. Read by the Complete Annals, 791 is not when the rising began but the end of a process already under way since the Dali era. The Complete Annals even record Cao Chinh Binh's death twice in the same entry: the first time in one short sentence, the second time in more detail — his worry and anger turned into illness, a boil broke out on his back, and he died. The protector-general did not die by the sword; on that point the Vietnamese and Chinese histories agree.1
Where the two versions differ is precisely the part Do Anh Han plays. To the Chinese histories, Do Anh Han is the leader at the head of the siege; to the Complete Annals, Do Anh Han is only the man from the same village who offered a plan, and the leader is Phung Hung. The Nguyen court historians who compiled the Cuong muc saw this mismatch and explained it themselves: examining the basic annals of the Tang history, the seventh year of Zhenyuan records only the Annam chieftain Do Anh Han, not the affair of Phung Hung, perhaps because the land was far away and not clearly known. The word perhaps is their own — a nineteenth-century guess, not a newly found document.12
Even who gave him the name Bo Cai is not agreed. The Complete Annals record that his son, Phung An, honoured his father as Bo Cai Dai Vuong — a small note explains the name: by common usage a father is called bo and a mother cai, and so it was taken as the name. The Cuong muc tells it differently: the people set up An as Do phu quan, and it was the people, not the son, who honoured Hung as Bo Cai Dai Vuong. The two versions do not agree on who gave the title, but both show one thing: it came after he had died. In his lifetime, the only title the books record for him is Do Quan.12
How later ages remembered
The Vietnamese national history itself looks at him two different ways. Le Tung's general essay of 1514, printed at the front of the Complete Annals, holds nothing back in praising him: Phung Bo Cai was a hero of the land of Duong Lam who hated the harshness of Chinh Binh, and he and his brother seized the moment to rise, save the people and put down disorder — he may be called a humane ruler. Yet at the front of that same history, the editorial principles say he took advantage of disorder and used Do Anh Han's plan, died before his rank and title were rightly established, and was honoured as king only afterward by his son, so he is recorded with less weight. One calls him a humane ruler; the other will not let him stand as an annal of his own.45
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