W.Minh Tuan

Our Vietnamese people, like other peoples in the world, are not a perfect people. We also have good sides and bad sides.

However, if an ordinary person has a good, benevolent job, that person’s influence on society is only in a narrow range and for a short time.

On the contrary, if a king of a country engages in benevolent, generous acts, then that action has a profound effect on the entire society, and affects in the long run, and most likely, that kindness and generosity create the character of an entire nation.

That is the case of our Vietnamese people.

Since King Ngo Quyen defeated the Southern Han army on the Bach Dang River in 939, until today, our country has had over 1,000 years of independence, experiencing 9 Feudal dynasties, and 1 dynasty of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, that is today’s Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

9 Feudal dynasties, and 1 socialist dynasty in our country are as follows:

1. Ngo Quyen (939-944)
2. Dinh (968-980)
3. Early Le (981-1009)
4. Ly (1009-1225)
5. Tran (1225-1400)
6. Ho Qui Ly (1400-1407)
7. (Late) Le (1427-1788)
8. Quang Trung-Tay Son (1788-1802)
9. Nguyen (1802-1945)
10. Socialist Communism (from 1945 to present).

King Ngo Quyen’s reign only lasted a short period of 28 years, from 939 to 967, because after Ngo Quyen died in 944 (after 5 years as king, he died at the age of 45), Duong Tam Kha usurped the throne from Ngo Quyen’s children, causing the local authorities to disobey and fight for power, causing the 12 Warlords’ Rebellion, which lasted 22 years, from 945 to 967.

After that, King Dinh Bo Linh crushed the Rebellion of 12 warlords, unified the country in 968, and named the country Dai Co Viet.

Mr. Nguyen Van To (1889-1947), a Chinese-French linguist, later commented that the mixing of Chinese and Vietnamese language during Dinh Tien Hoang’s time created the name Dai Co Viet, “dai” being the language in Chinese, “co” is Vietnamese, both meaning big and great.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van To, just one word “Dai-great” or one word “co-great” is enough to describe the greatness of Vietnam.

Mixing the two words Dai and Co into one, even though they have the same meaning, shows that the Han people intentionally assimilated and Sinicized but failed. Vietnamese characters still exist parallel to Chinese characters, even though Vietnamese people had been ruled by the Han people for more than 1000 years.

King Dinh Tien Hoang’s reign only lasted a short period of 12 years, because King Dinh Tien Hoang’s father and son were killed by a soldier who wanted to become king in 980, when Dinh Tien Hoang and his son drank alcohol and fell asleep.

After that, the Song Dynasty in China thought that our Dai Co Viet Southern country was in chaos, and it was a favorable time to invade our country again.

At that time, King Dinh Tien Hoang’s second son became king, only 6 years old. The court officials thought that a strong and brave king was needed to fight the Song army, so the officials proclaimed Le Hoan to be king, calling him King Le Dai Hanh.

Le Hoan was originally a military general, Thap Dao general of King Dinh Tien Hoang, similar to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the army today.

Le Hoan was talented and brave, so he was honored by King Dinh Tien Hoang’s courtiers and wife, Queen Duong Van Nga, to become king to fight against the Song Dynasty, in 981.

Le Hoan used Ngo Quyen’s previous strategy to drive stakes in dangerous rivers, then used a fake surrender strategy to defeat the Song army and beheaded the enemy general.

The reign of Le Dai Hanh, also known as Early Le, to distinguish it from the later Le Loi dynasty, also only lasted a short time, because after Le Dai Hanh died in 1005, his son Le Long Dinh succeeded the throne. Le Long Dinh, also known in history as Le Ngoa Trieu, did many tyrannical things, and died early, after being king for only 4 years.

In 1009, when Le Long Dinh died, due to physical weakness, the court appointed General Ly Cong Uan to become king, King Ly Thai To, beginning the Ly Dynasty, which lasted 216 years.

It can be said that after 1,000 years of Northern domination, when our country gained independence, there were many struggles for power.

It is common sense for most countries in the world, after the war against foreign invaders, civil wars and power struggles often occur.

For example, America, after gaining independence from the British in 1776, then had a North-South civil war in 3 years from 1863-1865.

What’s more, our country was dominated by the Han people for more than 1,000 years, so after gaining independence, the country’s management was still confused, and no one obeyed anyone.

Plus the harmful influence of Han culture, always fighting and killing each other.

Therefore, chaos in our country after Ngo Quyen’s reign is also normal.

For example, during the Later Le Dynasty, there were two long civil wars: Mac Dang Dung and his son tried to usurp the power of the Le Dynasty (1527-1592), and the two Lords Trinh and Nguyen fought (1532-1788).

Then during the Vietnam War of 1954-1975, the Socialist North and the Communist South both opposed American intervention and the former Saigon Government,

But even though there are many struggles for power among each other, and there are many cruel kings, but during the Feudal period in our country there were still many gentle kings who performed many benevolent and generous deeds and were admired by the people, showing a benevolent and generous culture from the Hung King period is still continued.

Of the 9 Feudal dynasties, the 3 dynasties that developed the most brilliantly and lasted the longest were:

• Ly Dynasty 216 years (1009-1225),
• Tran Dynasty 175 years (1225-1400).
• And the Later Le Dynasty for 361 years (1427-1788).

These three Feudal dynasties in Vietnam lasted for over 700 years, and all had outstanding humanitarian deeds by good kings and good Lords, which had a great influence on the formation of the Vietnamese national character  until today.

Let’s try to list here some typical examples of the humanitarian deeds of wise kings in our country.

A-Ly Dynasty period.

1-King Ly Cong Uan, also known as Ly Thai To, was formerly the Commander of the Imperial Palace guard, similar to the position of Commander of today’s guard force, protecting the capital, and protecting the king, and was exalted by his courtiers to become king, ascended the throne in 1009, moved the capital from Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh to today’s Thang Long – Hanoi in 1010, stayed on the throne for 19 years, from 1009, to 1028.

According to the Complete History of Dai Viet, in the year 1010, King Ly Thai To granted “a general amnesty on all taxes for the world for 3 years; orphans, widowers, the elderly, and those with long-term tax debts were all forgiven”.

“Provided clothes, food, and medicine for 28 Man soldiers who were captured by Le Ngoa Trieu and sent back to their old hometown. Allow people in the Nam Gioi region, Thach Ha district, Hoan district to return to the district.”

Ly Thai To was also the first king in our country to grant tax amnesty to the people, and also the first king to let his son named Ly Phat Ma live outside the city, “living with the masses in order to understand all the affairs of the people.” Later, Crown Prince Phat Ma became king and also became a famous gentle king.

In 1016, with a great harvest, King Ly Thai To exempted people from rent and taxes for another 3 years.

In 1018, half of the land was donated to the people.

Thus, during his 19-year reign as king, King Ly Thai To exempted and reduced taxes for the people up to 3 times.

Compared to our socialist era today, after the war ended in 1975, our State also exempted agricultural taxes for people for 3 years, to comply with President Ho Chi Minh’s Will, in 1985.

However, in localities, there are all kinds of other fees, such as road construction fees, school fees, clinic fees, irrigation fees, storm and flood protection fees, military service fees, etc.

That 3-year tax exemption policy became less effective.

2-King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma, son of King Ly Thai To, reigned for 27 years, from 1028 to 1054.

When King Ly Thai To died in 1028, three princes brought troops to fight and compete for the throne with Prince Ly Phat Ma.

General Le Phung Hieu protected Prince Phat Ma, killing one rebellious prince.

The remaining two princes knew how to repent, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma mercifully forgave them all, did not kill them for rebellion, and gave them the same titles as before.

Because of the riot that usurped the throne, in 1028, King Ly Thai Tong built Dong Co Temple in West Lake, Hanoi, taking the 4th day of the 4th lunar month every year to hold the Dong Co Temple Oath Ceremony.

Every year, on April 4, the king and mandarins go to Dong Co Temple and make an oath as follows:

“Being an unfilial son, being an unfaithful servant, please God to kill.”

If only our State knew how to continue the tradition of King Ly Thai Tong, every year, on April 4, high-ranking Party and State leaders, Ministers, come to perform the oath ceremony at Dong Co Temple, for internal use the oath as follows:

“Being an unfilial son, being an inhumane and corrupt State official, please God to punish you” is very good.

One year after ascending to the throne, in 1029, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma built Quang Vu palace, “on the left and right sides of the dragon terrace, the bell towers were placed opposite each other, so that people who had unjust lawsuits could ring the bells.”

This is the first time in our country’s history that a king ordered the Bell of Injustice to be made to help the people resolve their grievances. The king directly heard and resolved the injustices of the people.

In 1040, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma again passed an edict to hand over the handling of the lawsuit to the Prince who would succeed the king: “From now on, anyone in the country who has any lawsuit will hand it over to Khai Hoang Vuong to handle it.”

He guessed and reported it, then ordered Quang Vu to be the place where Vuong tried to sue.

It is also strange that Mr. Le Van Huu, when writing about this in the Complete History of Dai Viet, made a strange comment that “The Thai Tong sent Khai Hoang Vuong to do that which is not the Crown Prince’s duty, but Using Quang Vu Palace as the place where the King will process lawsuits is not the right place.”

Mr. Le Van Huu has probably never encountered any injustice in his life, and Mr. Huu has probably never met people with any injustice, never understood the suffering of people with injustice, so he has such a very bureaucratic comment.

In 1052, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma ordered the casting of an Injustice Bell to be cast in Long Tri Palace, “so that anyone who has any injustice that they cannot express should ring that bell to announce it.”

In 1042, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma made the Penal Code to improve the handling of people’s complaints and reduce wrongful treatment of people.

King Ly Phat Ma also allowed elderly people over 70 years old young people under 15 years old, if they commit a minor crime, they will be redeemed with money to correct themselves.

In 1044, the Champa people came to plunder our country, King Ly Phat Ma led his army to attack Champa, ordering “Whoever kills the Champa people unjustly will be killed without mercy“.

In the same year 1044, King Ly Phat Ma issued an order to punish corrupt people:

“It was decreed that Quyen Kho Ty (the Ty in charge of storing fabrics and silk), whoever received a single yard of silk belonging to another person, would be sentenced to 100 rods; from 1 to 10 pieces of silk, the penalty is multiplied by the number of pieces of silk, adding 10 years of hard labor.”

This is the first law in our country to punish corruption, and the penalties are very strict.

In the same year 1044, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma also issued an edict to punish the prison warden (prison manager) for wrongdoing:

“The prison warden is forbidden to order prisoners to do personal work. Anyone who commits a crime will be beaten with 80 strokes, punishable by carving words in the face, and imprisoned in jail.”

In 1048, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma established the Xa Tac Temple (in today’s Xa Dan ward, Hanoi), to pray for the gods to bless the people’s crops during the four seasons failed.

Unfortunately, the area of Xa Tac and Xa Dan today in Hanoi has been demolished to build houses and offices, and the relics of Xa Tac Dan are no longer visible anywhere.

In 1049, King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma built Dien Huu Pagoda (today’s One Pillar Pagoda), leaving behind a cultural architectural work of immense value to the Vietnamese people to this day, and and for the next thousand years.

3-King Ly Thanh Tong.

King Ly Thanh Tong (Ton), whose birth name is Nhat Ton, is the son of King Ly Thai Tong Phat Ma. He ascended the throne at the age of 33, when his father King Ly Phat Ma died in 1054, and remained on the throne until 1072.

Just one year after ascending the throne, in 1055, King Ly Thanh Tong took pity on the prisoners imprisoned in prison. That winter was cold, the king told left and right:

“I’m in the palace, heating coals of animal bones, wearing mink fur coats, still cold like this, thinking of the prisoner imprisoned in prison, suffering from the shackles, not knowing the truth, not having enough to eat, not fully clothed, miserable because of the cold wind, or someone who died for no reason, I am very merciful. Then order the Huu unit to distribute blankets and mats and provide two meals a day.”

Back then, prisoners’ food and clothes were often brought by the prisoners’ families. Since the order of King Ly Thanh Tong, prisoners in Vietnam have been treated very humanely.

King Ly Thanh Tong also issued an edict to punish the prison guards who accepted bribes from the people. He also ordered more salaries and food to be provided to the prison guards to ensure integrity.

The king issued a decree to encourage farmers to work in agriculture. When there were years of drought and crop failure, the king ordered grants to be given to the poor.

King Ly Thanh Tong succeeded King Ly Thai To and King Father Ly Thai Tong in carrying out humanitarian works with the people.

In 1059, King Ly Thanh Tong “sent soldiers to attack Kham Chau in the Song country (present-day Guangdong and Guangxi region), to show off his troops, then returned, because he hated the Song dynasty’s treason.”

This is the first time in our country’s history that our Vietnamese army proactively attacked China to punish the Chinese people’s betrayal.

The Chinese cannot understand why the small Vietnamese people, ruled by China for over 1,000 years, now dare to send troops to the land of the Heavenly Dynasty to punish the treason of the Heavenly Dynasty.

The direct cause was probably because that year, King Ly Thanh Tong sent a strange animal to the Song dynasty, saying it was a unicorn, but the Song dynasty condescendingly refused to accept it and returned it.

Thus, our Vietnamese people under the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong have realized the dream of our Vietnamese people thousands of years ago, that the boy Thanh Giong has risen, grown up as fast as the wind, strong, heroic, daring to take on the world, stand tall against the Northern enemy.

It’s something to be proud of.

One year later, in 1060, King Ly Thanh Tong sent troops to Song land again, to hunt down Vietnamese soldiers who fled to Song land, which were secretly encouraged by the Song people to destroy us.

Our army arrested the Song envoy commander and brought him back to Vietnam to punish him for harboring an escaped Vietnamese soldiers.

In July of that year, the Song army invaded Vietnam, intending to rescue the captured Commander, but the Song army was defeated and had to flee.

In the year Quy Mao 1063, the king married  Y Lan, a farmer’s daughter, to be his Queen.

In 1064, King Ly Thanh Tong pointed to his daughter Princess Dong Thien and said:

“I love my children as much as I love my people as parents. People don’t understand and get caught up in the law. I’m very merciful. From now on, no matter how serious or light the crime, the law will have leniency.”

In the fall of August 1070, King Ly Thanh Tong built a Temple of Literature, built a statue of Confucius, offered worship in four seasons, and let the Crown Prince who would later become king come to study there.

Here, we see something very special about our Vietnamese personality.

We Vietnamese people have just escaped the harsh rule of the Chinese for more than 1,000 years, but now, just over 100 years after gaining independence, we Vietnamese people built a Temple of Literature to worship Chinese scholars. We don’t see any hatred here. Vietnamese people forgive their enemies, just like the story of My Chau and Trong Thuy above.

The Vietnamese people set up a Temple of Literature to worship their enemies scholars, because Confucius, Zhou Cong, and Tu Phoi were Chinese scholars.

After King Ly Thanh Tong established the Temple of Literature in 1070, in 1076, his son King Ly Nhan Tong established Quoc Tu Giam, right next to the Temple of Literature, as Vietnam’s first university.

This is the first school in Vietnam that teaches future kings how to rule the country. During the Tran Dynasty, King Tran Thai Tong changed the name of Quoc Tu Giam to Quoc Hoc Vien, to accept even the children of civilians who studied well to be trained to become mandarins.

Up to now, nearly 1000 years have passed, Vietnam has gone through many wars with the Chinese, but despite that, the Temple of Literature is still a place preserved to worship Confucius, and to worship Chu Van An, is a great intellectual of our Vietnamese people.

There was no way that because of enmity, war, or conflict between the two peoples, the Vietnamese people threw Confucius out.

We hope that one fine day, the Temple of Literature-Quoc Tu Giam University will be restored to become a school specializing in State management training for the country’s future leaders.

4-King Ly Nhan Tong Can Duc, son of Queen Y Lan.

King Ly Nhan Tong Can Duc succeeded to the throne at the age of 7, after his father King Ly Thanh Tong Nhat Ton passed away in 1072.

King Ly Nhan Tong (Ton) reigned for 56 years and lived to be 63 years old.

This was the reign of the king whose general Ly Thuong Kiet defeated the Song army on the Nhu Nguyet-Cau River today, and the king conducted the first doctoral examinations to select talented people to be appointed as mandarins.

3 years after ascending the throne, when King Ly Nhan Tong was 10 years old, in 1075, the king opened the Minh Kinh and Hoc Hoc exam, and the Confucian exam for three schools, to select talented people to become mandarins.

This is the first time in Vietnam’s history that we have held an exam to recruit people with excellent studies to become mandarins.

The first person to pass the Trang Nguyen exam in our country was Mr. Le Van Thinh, from today’s Bac Ninh province. He passed the doctorate exam in 1075, was appointed as a teacher for the king, and then was appointed Minister of Infantry, equivalent to the position of Minister of Defense today.

In 1074, the Song dynasty prepared its army to invade our country, the reason was that there were many reports to the Song king, that our Dai Viet country was harassed by Champa, so the country was in chaos, weak, and the army was weak, only a few parts of territory remained, which can be invaded.

King Song then ordered areas along Dai Viet’s border to prepare troops, food warehouses, weapons, and military exercises, to prepare to invade our country.

King Ly Nhan Tong heard the news and ordered General Ly Thuong Kiet and General Ton Dan to send troops to the Song Dynasty to attack the two continents of Ung and Liem (ie Guangdong, Guangxi, and Nanning today), destroying the bases of logistics of the Song army.

This was the third attack by the King of the Ly Dynasty against the Song Dynasty (the first time in 1059, King Ly Thanh Tong sent troops to the Song Dynasty because he hated the betrayal of the Song people, and in 1060, King Ly Thanh Tong sent troops again to fight the Song Dynasty the second time to hunt down fleeing Vietnamese soldiers).

This third Vietnamese attack on Song land, in 1074, had the largest scale, two generals Ly Thuong Kiet and Ton Dan led 100,000 soldiers to attack Song.

The Song army resisted fiercely and refused to surrender, so they were greatly destroyed by the troops of two generals Ly Thuong Kiet and Ton Dan. Vietnamese and Chinese historians say that over 100,000 Song troops and people were anihilated in the attack.

That shows the determination of the Song army in their plot to invade Vietnam, and also shows the talent, tenacity, and determination of the two generals Ly Thuong Kiet and Ton Dan in wanting to crush the plot of invasion of the Song Dynasty.

Two years later, in 1076, the Song army again prepared its army to invade our country.

General Ly Thuong Kiet established a defensive line at Nhu Nguyet River – Cau River today, and General Ly Thuong Kiet wrote the first Declaration of Independence of our country, pretending to be a god and reading it to the soldiers, to encourage the spirit of Vietnam. Soldier God:

“Rivers and mountains in the south, where the king of the south lives,

The fate is clear in the Book of Heaven,

Why do you turn from mischief to infringing?

They will be beaten to a pulp.”

General Ly Thuong Kiet’s army defeated the Song army at the Nhu Nguyet river defense front. The Song army retreated, but took over our Quang Nguyen province (present-day Cao Bang).

In 1078, King Ly Nhan Tong sent mandarin Dao Tong Nguyen as an ambassador to Tong to negotiate to reclaim the land of Quang Nguyen-Cao Bang. The Song Dynasty must return part of Quang Nguyen to us.

After that, King Ly Nhan Tong sent Grand Master Le Van Thinh to the Song dynasty to negotiate the border and reclaim the lands of 6 districts, the remaining 3 caves belonged to Cao Bang, the Song dynasty had to return the rest for us.

The Song people were very sad about this, so they wrote poems lamenting:

“Because of greed for Giao Chi elephans,

Should lose Quang Nguyen gold”

Actually, it was not because our Vietnam gave elephants to the Song dynasty, but because the Song dynasty returned Cao Bang land to our Vietnam. As Vietnamese people, we defeated the Song army many times, so the Song Dynasty was afraid and had to sadly return the land to the Song Dynasty.

Just like today, if one day, if Vietnam does not win against our beloved friend at sea, we will never be able to reclaim the Hoang Sa archipelago back.

In 1076, after defeating the Song army at Nhu Nguyet River, King Ly Nhan Tong issued an edict to “pray for straight words”.

This is the first time our Vietnamese king has a public policy of “praying for frank speech”, so that he can correct his mistakes.

But we all know that in the Ly Dynasty, although there were many benevolent deeds, there were also two acts of lack of benevolence:

-Queen Y Lan, out of jealousy, killed another queen and 72 maids,

– and King Ly Nhan Tong unjustly suspected Prime Minister Le Van Thinh, stating clearly in the story about the fisherman Muc Than in West Lake, Hanoi, then exiled Mr. Le Van Thinh to work as a mandarin in a distant place.

We all know that our Vietnamese people are not a perfect people.

However, we know that benevolent deeds are the profound nature of our Vietnamese people from the time of Hung King until today, so although sometimes our Vietnamese people also commit wrong and cruel actions, but then the compassionate and generous nature returned to the Vietnamese people. ///