Person

Trieu Xuong

The prefect of Qianzhou whom the Tang made protector-general of Annam in the seventh month of 791, after the siege in which the protector-general Cao Chinh Binh died of worry. By the Complete Annals, he sent an envoy to win Phung An over into surrendering; his term of office is recorded differently across the histories, ten years or seventeen.

At a glance

Dates: Made protector-general of Annam in the seventh month, on the day Canh Thin, of the seventh year of Zhenyuan, that is 791¹
Role: Made protector-general of Annam by the Tang, with the added post of commissioner to govern the region and to bring rebels to submit or put them down, after the 791 siege. By the Complete Annals, when he entered the land, people's hearts were at peace; he sent an envoy to win Phung An over, An brought out his troops and surrendered, and he then built up La Thanh to make it stronger. The New Book of Tang says only that the tribes submitted and dared not defy him¹²³
End: His term of office is recorded differently: the Complete Annals give him seventeen years in the post; the New Book of Tang gives ten years, after which his feet troubled him and he asked to go home; the Cuong muc, quoting a book called the An Nam ky yeu, also gives ten years²³⁴
Earliest record: His appointment as protector-general already appears in the basic annals of the Old Book of Tang, compiled in the middle of the tenth century; the New Book of Tang (1060) has a biography of him¹³

Life

The old chronicles say

His own biography in the New Book of Tang opens with the Annam chieftain Do Anh Han rebelling and the protector-general Cao Chinh Binh dying of worry. The Tang did not wait long. In the fifth month the court set up the Nhu Vien army at the protectorate — the Tongjian and the Complete Annals give the day as Tan Ty, the Old Book of Tang gives Tan Mui. In the seventh month, on the day Canh Thin, the Tang made him, then prefect of Qianzhou, protector-general of Annam, with the added post of commissioner to govern the region and to bring rebels to submit or put them down.³⁵¹

The versions differ on how peace returned. The Complete Annals tell it from the side of the Phung: when Xuong entered the land, people's hearts were at peace; Xuong sent an envoy to win An over, and An brought out his troops and surrendered; then he built up La Thanh. The New Book of Tang, in his biography, says only that the tribes submitted and dared not defy him. The Tongjian closes it off in a few words: the Man were then at peace — and by the Tongjian, the Man had submitted as soon as they heard that Cao Chinh Binh was dead. Even his term of office does not match: the Complete Annals give seventeen years; the New Book of Tang gives ten, after which his feet troubled him and he asked to go home; the Cuong muc, quoting a book called the An Nam ky yeu, also gives ten.²³⁵⁴

Mentioned in

Episode 12Phung Hung, Bo Cai Dai Vuong13 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

Old Book of Tang
book 13, the basic annals of Dezong, part two, the seventh year of Zhenyuan, main text
Back to the text
Dai Viet su ky toan thu
Outer Annals book 5, the annal of the period under the Sui and Tang, folios 6a-6b, the year Tan Mui, main text and small notes
Back to the text
New Book of Tang
book 170, the biography of Trieu Xuong, main text
Back to the text
Kham dinh Viet su thong giam cuong muc
Preliminary Annals book 4, the year Tan Mui, 791, the main entry, the detailed entry and the notes of the Nguyen court historians
Back to the text
Zizhi tongjian
book 233, Tang annals 49, the seventh year of Zhenyuan, main text
Back to the text