Đỗ Thanh Nhơn

ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â Thanh NhÃÂ¡n (died 1781) was an 18th-century Vietnamese military commander.

Early life

Details of NhÃÂ¡n's early life are unknown except that he was a low-ranking naval officer of lord NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc ThuÃ¡ÂºÂ§n.

The Dong Son army

In the early 1770s, the TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n revolt broke out and quickly occupied a large part of the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân LordsÃ¢ÂÂ territory, in the southern half of modern-day Vietnam. Moreover, the TrÃ¡Â»Ânh lords, who ruled the northern half of the country, sent a large army to attack, which forced Lord NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc ThuÃ¡ÂºÂ§n to flee to TrÃ¡ÂºÂ¥n BiÃÂªn (present-day ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âng Nai). The TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n kept pursuing NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc ThuÃ¡ÂºÂ§n and forced him to call for reinforcements from the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân garrison in Saigon, but the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân governor of Saigon could not send his reinforcements in time. This situation gave ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â Thanh NhÃÂ¡n the chance to aid the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân lord.

In 1775, under the banner of the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân Lords, NhÃÂ¡n proclaimed himself ÃÂÃÂ´ng SÃÂ¡n ThÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Â£ng TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng QuÃÂ¢n ("Eastern Mountain High General") and gathered an army of 3,000 men, called the ÃÂÃÂ´ng SÃÂ¡n army. Then, NhÃÂ¡n led his forces in attacking the TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n and drove them out of Saigon in 1776. After capturing Gia Dinh, NhÃÂ¡n invited the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân lord NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc ThuÃ¡ÂºÂ§n back and was highly rewarded. Thereafter, NhÃÂ¡n conflicted with LÃÂ½ TÃÂ i, an ethnic Chinese mercenary general of the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân army, and was forced to flee to BÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n Tre where he set up a defensive position.

In midspring of 1777, the TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n defeated the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân and captured Saigon. Meanwhile, LÃÂ½ TÃÂ i fled and was captured and killed by Nhon's men. Afterwards, Nhon and his army rejoined the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân. The TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n kept pursuing the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân and they captured and executed two NguyÃ¡Â»Ân lords, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc ThuÃ¡ÂºÂ§n and Nguyen Phuc Duong and almost all the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân descendants except a few, including NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh, the 15-year-old nephew of NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc ThuÃ¡ÂºÂ§n.

After the killing of the NguyÃ¡Â»Âns, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân HuÃ¡Â»Â, one of the three TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n brothers withdrew his troops to the north, leaving a small army in Saigon. In 1778, taking advantage of the absence of the TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n's main force, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh and NhÃÂ¡n led an army of NguyÃ¡Â»Ân loyalists in attacking and recapturing Saigon. Afterwards, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh re-established the family's authority in Saigon and proclaimed himseft ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i nguyÃÂªn sÃÂºy (Commander-in-chief) of the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân clan. The following year, NhÃÂ¡n expelled further TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n troops from the surrounding provinces of Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh, and inflicted heavy losses on the TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n naval fleet. Taking advantage of the more favourable situation, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh sent a diplomatic mission to Siam to propose a treaty of friendship. However, this pact was derailed in 1779 when the Cambodians held an uprising against their pro-Siamese leader, Ang Non. NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh sent ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â Thanh NhÃÂ¡n to help the uprising, which saw Ang Non defeated decisively and executed. NhÃÂ¡n returned to Saigon with high honour and concentrated his efforts on improving the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân navy.

In 1780, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh proclaimed himself NguyÃ¡Â»Ân vÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng (NguyÃ¡Â»Ân king or NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ruler) and NhÃÂ¡n became "NgoÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i hÃ¡Â»Â¯u, PhÃ¡Â»Â¥ chÃÂnh, ThÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Â£ng tÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng cÃÂ´ng", the second most-powerful position in the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân army.

Death

In 1781, NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh pretended to be ill and asked ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â Thanh NhÃÂ¡n to visit him. Unaware of his leader's trap, NhÃÂ¡n came to the palace and was killed by NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh's bodyguards. The reason for this assassination remains unclear, but it was postulated that NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh did so because Nhon's fame and military success was overshadowing him.

Although NguyÃ¡Â»Ân ÃÂnh foresaw the rebellion of ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â Thanh NhÃÂ¡n's supporters following their leader's assassination, he could not prevent it, thus badly weakening the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân army. Moreover, NhÃÂ¡n's death also led to the recapture of Saigon by the TÃÂ¢y SÃÂ¡n rebels shortly thereafter because NhÃÂ¡n was the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân officer that they feared the most and the forces were disunited following his death.

In popular culture

NhÃÂ¡n, along with ChÃÂ¢u VÃÂn TiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿p and VÃÂµ TÃÂ¡nh, was called "Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh Tam HÃÂ¹ng" (Three Heroes of Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh) in Vietnamese folk culture.

Notes

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