The Anarchy of the 12 Warlords (, chữ Nôm: äºÂð¨Â®ð Â©ä½¿åÂÂ; Sino-Vietnamese: TháºÂp nhá» sứ quân chi loạn, chữ Hán: Ã¥ÂÂäºÂ使åÂÂä¹ÂäºÂ), also the Period of the 12 Warlords, was a period of chaos and civil war in the history of Vietnam, from 965 to 968 caused by the succession of the Ngô dynasty after the death of King Ngô Quyá»Ân. This period is also sometimes simply called the Twelve Warlords (, ð¨Â®ð Â©ä½¿åÂÂ). Four of the warlords are verified to have traced their direct lineage from what is now China today. This period ended in 968 with the unification war of Vietnam by ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh, who later established the ÃÂinh dynasty.
The name of this period came from a Vietnamese envoy to the Song dynasty court. The envoy used a literary allusion to Emperor Shun's Twelve Regions which the Song translated literally, calling it the Chaos of the Twelve Prefectures. Later Vietnamese historians reinterpreted the Song translation as Chaos of the Twelve Lords.
In 939, Ngô Quyá»Ân became King of Ténh Hải quân (as Vietnam was called then) after defeating the Southern Han and declaring independence from centuries of Chinese rule. After Ngô Quyá»Ân's death in 944, his brother-in-law Dðáng Tam Kha, who was to serve as regent to the king's son Crown Prince Ngô Xðáng NgáºÂp, usurped the throne and proclaimed himself king under the title Dðáng Bình Vðáng, ruling from 944 to 950. As a result, Crown Prince Ngô Xðáng NgáºÂp fled and hid in the countryside. The prince's younger brother, Prince Ngô Xðáng VÃÂn became the adopted son of Dðáng Tam Kha.
Because of the illegitimate accession of Dðáng Tam Kha, many local warlords rebelled by seizing power of their local governments and creating conflicts with the Dðáng court. King Dðáng Tam Kha sent an army led by Prince Ngô Xðáng VÃÂn to suppress the rebellion. However, with the army at his command, the prince staged a coup d'état in 950. Rather than administering a harsh punishment, Ngô Xðáng VÃÂn forgave Dðáng Tam Kha and demoted him to the title of "Lord". Ngô Xðáng VÃÂn was then crowned king under the title "Nam Tấn Vðáng", and sent envoys in search for his refuged older brother, Ngô Xðáng NgáºÂp. In 951, Ngô Xðáng NgáºÂp returned to Cá» Loa and was crowned king under the title "Thiên Sách Vðáng", and with his brother became a co-ruler of the Ténh Hải Quân. However, the co-rulership was short-lived, as the elder brother King Ngô Xðáng NgáºÂp died of illness in 954.
Despite the return of the legitimate heirs to the throne, rebellions continued to afflict the country. In 965, in an attempt to quell the rebellion in 2 villages ÃÂðá»Âng and Nguyá» n, King Ngô Xðáng VÃÂn was killed by the rebels. Lã Xá» Bình, Xðáng VÃÂn's subordinate general, then took control of the royal capital at Cá» Loa. Prince Ngô Xðong XÃÂ, the son of King Ngô Xðáng VÃÂn, inherited the throne, but he could not maintain his father's authority. He retreated to the area of Bình Kiá»Âu and established his power base there. When the Ngô dynasty collapsed under Lã Xá» Bình's rebellion, Ténh Hải Quân became a power vacuum and divided into 12 domains where each was administered by a powerful warlord converging into three main factions during the conflict: the Ngô dynasty royalists under Ngô Xðáng XÃÂ; military junta under Lã Xá» Bình in Cá» Loa; and the regional governorship under Trần Lãm.
Other minor warlords eventually joined in and formed alliances among the three main factions of the conflict.
ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh, adopted son of Lord Trần Lãm who ruled the region of Bá» Hải Khẩu (now Thái Bình Province), succeeded Lãm after his death. In 968, ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh defeated the other eleven major warlords and reunified the nation under his rule. In the same year, ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh ascended the throne, proclaiming himself emperor with the title ÃÂinh Tiên Hoàng, establishing the ÃÂinh dynasty, and he renamed the nation as ÃÂại Cá» Viá»Ât ("Great Viet"). He moved the capital to Hoa Lð (modern-day Ninh Bình).
Of those, Ngô Xðáng Xàand Ngô NháºÂt Khánh were nobles of the Ngô dynasty, Phạm Bạch Há»Â, ÃÂá» Cảnh Thạc, Kiá»Âu Công Hãn were officials of the Ngô dynasty. The remainders were considered local landlords or nobles from Northern nations, which was the ancient nations holding what is now China. Four of the lords are verified to have traced their lineage from what is now China today.
Recent findings suggest that there was a 13th warlord that is not included in the list: Dðáng Huy, who ruled a region to the South-East of CỠLoa.
ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh used to hold some posts in Hoan Châu (Nghá» An and HàTénh today), but lost his positions and went back to Hoa Lð in 950. Here, he became an adoptive son and subordinate general to Trần Lãm. Considering ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh as a reasonable leader who could manage the circumstances, Trần Lãm retired and gave all power to him. ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh led the army to occupy Hoa Lð, which became the national capital under his reign afterward.
ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh was respected as Vạn Thắng Vðáng (èÂŒÂÂçÂÂ, Wànshèng Wáng, lt. the King of Ten Thousand Victories) because of the continuous victories. In 968, the era ended and was replaced by the era of the ÃÂinh dynasty.
ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh began by defeating Lã Xá» Bình in Cá» Loa.
The battle with ÃÂá» Cảnh Thạc in ÃÂá» ÃÂá»Âng Giang took over a year, until ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh seized the fortress and ÃÂá» Cảnh Thạc was killed.
In Tây Phù Liá»Ât, Nguyá» n Siêu lost four of his generals in the first battle with ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh. In the second battle, he split his army in half to seek backup. However, their ships were wrecked, upon which ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh commanded his soldiers to set fire to the camps of the remaining army. Nguyá» n Siêu died.
By the beginning of 968, after defeating and killing Nguyá» n Thủ Tiá»Âp, Kiá»Âu Công Hãn, Nguyá» n Khoan, Kiá»Âu ThuáºÂn, Lý Khuê, Lã ÃÂðá»Âng, the war ended and ÃÂinh Bá» Lénh successfully united the divided regions.
He also convinced Phạm Bạch Há»Â, Ngô Xðáng XÃÂ, and Ngô NháºÂt Khánh to surrender and join his army.