Place
Gia Ninh
A citadel in Giao Chi — originally land of Me Linh district, according to the Yuanhe junxian zhi as quoted in a note of the Cuong muc — into which Ly Bi fled after his defeat at the mouth of the To Lich river in 545; the Liang armies besieged it and took it in the first month of 546.
At a glance
- Location
- Originally land of Me Linh district, according to the Yuanhe junxian zhi as quoted in a note of the Cuong muc1
About the place
The old chronicles say
The Tongjian tells the opening battle in three stages: Ly Bi met the Liang army with thirty thousand men, was beaten at Chu Dien, and beaten again at the mouth of the To Lich river, then fled into the citadel of Gia Ninh, which the armies advanced on and besieged. The Complete Annals copy that sentence almost word for word. The citadel fell in the first month of the following year, 546.243
The books do not agree on who took the citadel. The Liang shu records it down to the day: on the day Quy Suu, the governor of Giao Chau, Duong Phieu, took the citadel of Gia Ninh, Ly Bi fled into a cave of the Lao people, and it adds, 'Giao Chau was at peace' — though Ly Bi would live two more years and fight one more great battle. The Nan shi copies the Liang shu exactly, and only names more precisely where Ly Bi fled: the Khuat Lao cave. The Tongjian also credits Duong Phieu and those with him. But the Complete Annals, which follow the Tongjian almost word for word, change the subject: 'Ba Tien and his men took the citadel of Gia Ninh.' The histories give no reason for the change.3524
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