Lê Hoàn

LÃÂª HoÃÂ n (10 August 941 Ã¢ÂÂ 18 March 1005), posthumously title LÃÂª ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i HÃÂ nh, was the founding emperor of the Early LÃÂª dynasty, who ruled ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i CÃ¡Â»Â ViÃ¡Â»Ât from 981 to 1005. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam officially designated him as one of the 14 Vietnamese national heroes.

LÃÂª HoÃÂ n first served as the generalissimo commanding a ten-thousand man army of the ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i ViÃ¡Â»Ât court under the reign of ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh. Following the death of ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh in late 979, LÃÂª HoÃÂ n became regent to ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh's successor, the six-year-old ÃÂinh ToÃÂ n. LÃÂª HoÃÂ n deposed the boy king, married his mother, Queen DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng VÃÂ¢n Nga, and in 980 he became the ruler.

Some modern historians hypothesize that DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng VÃÂ¢n Nga intrigued with LÃÂª HoÃÂ n to assassinate ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh and ÃÂinh LiÃ¡Â»Ân to enthrone her son, ÃÂinh ToÃÂ n but this is not popularly confirmed. However, the talent and contributions of LÃÂª HoÃÂ n is undeniable. He commanded the national army, which fended off a northern invasion in 981, then led a seaborne invasion of the southern Champa kingdom in 982. He achieved many notable accomplishments in governance, such as promoting agricultural development, establishing schools, and recruiting talented individuals. Besides the successful military campaign against the Song and Champa, Le Hoan also effectively suppressed domestic rebellions, conquered various tribes and barbarians, making them capitulate to the dynasty, and expand the territory of ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i CÃ¡Â»Â ViÃ¡Â»Ât. Those reasons have led many scholars and historians, such as LÃÂª VÃÂn HÃÂ°u and NgÃÂ´ SÃÂ© LiÃÂªn, to praise him as a great emperor who contributed to the nation's prosperity.

Early career

LÃÂª HoÃÂ n was born on August 10, 941, in ÃÂi Province (present-day Thanh HÃÂ³a), to a father named LÃÂª MÃ¡Â»Âch. According to ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i ViÃ¡Â»Ât sÃ¡Â»Â kÃÂ½ toÃÂ n thÃÂ°, LÃÂª HoÃÂ n's mother's surename is ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ·ng, so she was called "ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ·ng thÃ¡Â»Â" in Vietnamese. The book CÃÂ¡c triÃ¡Â»Âu ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i ViÃ¡Â»Ât Nam (Vietnamese dynasties) states that his motherÃ¢ÂÂs name was ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ·ng ThÃ¡Â»Â Sen. The birth of LÃÂª HoÃÂ n is depicted with rich mythology in the ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i ViÃ¡Â»Ât sÃ¡Â»Â kÃÂ½ toÃÂ n thÃÂ°, stating that during her pregnancy, his mother saw a lotus bloom inside her womb. A local official named LÃÂª ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ât was impressed by LÃÂª HoÃÂ n's appearance, saying that "No ordinary person can compare to this child," then adopted him, treated and provided him education as if he was his own son. One winter night, while LÃÂª HoÃÂ n was sleeping in the cold, that local official was startled by the light shining from LÃÂª HoÃÂ nÃ¢ÂÂs room. Upon investigation, he discovered that a golden dragon was covering LÃÂª HoÃÂ n to keep him warm. This convinced him that LÃÂª HoÃÂ n was destined for greatness.

He rose to power as a general of the Hoa Lu warlord ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh. In 968, after defeating all other warlords, ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh founded the ÃÂinh dynasty, renamed the Jinghai Circuit to ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i CÃ¡Â»Â ViÃ¡Â»Ât as his kingdom with Hoa Lu as the capital. LÃÂª HoÃÂ n was appointed the title "General of Ten Circuits" and commander of the kingdom's military.

Rise to the throne

In late 979, ÃÂinh BÃ¡Â»Â LÃÂ©nh and his son Dinh Lien were slain by an official named Do Thich while sleeping in the courtyard. Following the deaths of the king and the prince, notable members of the court Nguyen Bac and Le Hoan enthroned the six-year-old prince ÃÂinh ToÃÂ n as king. However Queen Duong wanted Le Hoan to become the ruler as it would be better for the kingdom. ÃÂinh ToÃÂ n gave up the crown while Le Hoan took power with the reign name Thien Phuc, thus transferring power from the ÃÂinh clan to the Le clan.

War with Song and Champa

Disturbances in Dai Viet had attracted attention from the Chinese Song Empire in the north. The emperor Taizong ordered Hou Renbao advance into Dai Viet territories, although Le Hoan had sent a message to the Song court which was declined. In early 981, the Chinese navy under Liu Cheng defeated Le Hoan's military on the BÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ch ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ±ng River, killing 1,000 Viet sailors and seizing 200 junks. Hou Renbao urged his troops to march forward, but they didn't until Liu Cheng finally arrived and the Song land forces and navy regrouped at Da La village, then returned to Hoa Bo (Chi LÃÂng). Le Hoan pretended to surrender, tricked Hou Renbao to come, and then killed him and massacred his troops. The Song army was forced to retreat and their generals were punished with summary execution in Kaifeng for military failures. The Song then sent three envoys in 986, 998, and 990 to Dai Viet, normalizing the relations between the two countries.

The king of Champa, Paramesvaravarman I, previously had attacked Dai Viet in late 979 in the name of restoring NgÃÂ´ NhÃ¡ÂºÂt KhÃÂ¡nh a Vietnamese former warlord during the Period of the 12 Warlords who had escaped to Champa, but the plan failed when a typhoon destroyed most of the Cham fleet including Khanh who drowned. In the next year Le Hoan sent an embassy to Champa, however was detained by the Cham king. The Viet King then led an army stormed south, killed Paramesvaravarman in battle and sacked Indrapura. Paramesvaravarman's Prince Jaya Indravarman IV sought refuge in the south. In the next year, LÃÂ°u KÃ¡ÂºÂ¿ TÃÂ´ng, a Vietnamese officer in the Cham army, had seized power in Champa and successfully resisted Le Hoan's attempt to remove him from power.

Kingship

In the court, Le Hoan maintained the Buddhist patriarch KhuÃÂ´ng ViÃ¡Â»Ât as the great preceptor, while appointing a Chinese named Hongjian as the position of classic and history expert of the court. He established five queens as minor wives while Queen Duong remained as his first lady. He appointed his family members including his brother and his sons to rule other parts of the kingdom. In 987, five years after a drought in 982, Le Hoan held a Royal Ploughing Ceremony on two rice fields and put a pot of gold in each. In 995, he built the Mahayana Nhat Tru church and temple in Hoa Lu and left inscriptions on it, cited verses from the ÃÂÃÂ«raÃ¡Â¹Âgama SÃÂ«tra.

Beside the military campaigns against the Song and Champa, LÃÂª HoÃÂ n also faced internal rebellions, as well as launched conquests to expand the territory of ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i CÃ¡Â»Â ViÃ¡Â»Ât. In 989, a provincial governor named DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng TiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n LÃ¡Â»Âc was appointed by LÃÂª HoÃÂ n to collect taxes in the two provinces Hoan and ÃÂi (which are present days NghÃ¡Â»Â An and Thanh HÃÂ³a). TiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n LÃ¡Â»Âc took advantages of that to seize controls of those two provinces then sought annexation by Champa, which was rejected. Upon learning of TiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n LÃ¡Â»Âc's treasonous act, LÃÂª HoÃÂ n launched a military campaign to Hoan and ÃÂi provinces, which resulted in TiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n LÃ¡Â»Âc's capture and the slaughter of countless civilians in those regions by the national army.

BÃ¡Â»Âc VÃÂn DÃÂ©ng, based in TriÃ¡Â»Âu DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng of ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i CÃ¡Â»Â ViÃ¡Â»Ât, committed murder and rebelled against the emperor before fleeing to the town of NhÃÂ° TÃÂch, a town under the Song dynasty, as a political refugee. As the commissioner of the town of Ruhong (next to NhÃÂ° TÃÂch) of Qinzhou refused to extradite BÃ¡Â»Âc VÃÂn DÃÂ©ng, in early 995, 100 Viet warships sailed onto Yongzhou (Nanning, Guangxi), sacked the town of Ruhong before leaving. In summer, Le Hoan's local officials from To Mau (modern-day Quang Ninh) led a village force of 5,000 men and sailors who invaded China, plundered Luzhou near Yongzhou, but were defeated by Chinese general Yang Wenjie. In 996, Le Hoan personally led a campaign to conquer the four tribes of ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i, PhÃÂ¡t, ÃÂan and Ba in Ma HoÃÂ ng, which resulted in a victory for the emperor. The lands of these tribes were subsequently annexed into his dynasty. In July 996, a rebellion broke out in ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âng Giang, a military base that had previously been established by ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â CÃ¡ÂºÂ£nh ThÃ¡ÂºÂ¡c during the period of the anarchy of the 12 warlords. Le Hoan personally led a campaign to quell that rebellion and brought the captured rebels back to the capital. After the sacking in Yongzhou in 995, Guangxi authorities launched an investigation into BÃ¡Â»Âc VÃÂn DÃÂ©ng and arrested him along with his followers for extradition to ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i CÃ¡Â»Â ViÃ¡Â»Ât. LÃÂª HoÃÂ n was pleased by that and extradited the captured pirates to the Guangxi authorities in returns. He also agreed to make peace with the Song dynasty after the incident in 995.

In 999, the emperor personally led a campaign to conquer a total of 49 tribes in HÃÂ ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âng. The NhÃ¡ÂºÂt TÃ¡ÂºÂ¯c tribe and others in ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh BiÃÂªn province were defeated. Since then, the remaining tribes capitulated to the emperor. In 1000, the emperor issued an imperial edict to launch a campaign against an army led by TrÃ¡Â»Ânh HÃÂ ng, TrÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng LÃ¡Â»Â and ÃÂan TrÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng ÃÂn in Phong province, forcing them to flee to the TÃ¡ÂºÂ£n ViÃÂªn mountain. Historical sources such as the ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i ViÃ¡Â»Ât sÃ¡Â»Â kÃÂ½ toÃÂ n thÃÂ° do not clearly state what crimes these leaders had committed against the dynasty that prompted the campaign.

In 1001, a rebellion broke out in CÃ¡Â»Â Long in Thanh HÃÂ³a province which the emperor led a campaign to quell. The rebels were so panicked that they dropped their arrows and snapped their bowstrings when aiming at the national army led by the emperor, ultimately leading to their retreat. LÃÂª HoÃÂ n then led the navy in pursuit of the rebels to the CÃÂ¹ng Giang River. The rebels deployed along the riverbanks to resist the national army. The former king of the ÃÂinh dynasty, ÃÂinh ToÃÂ n - now holding the title Duke of VÃ¡Â»Â - was struck by an arrow and killed on the battlefield. LÃÂª HoÃÂ n cried out upon ÃÂinh ToÃÂ n's death, then continued the battle, which ultimately ended in the rebels' defeat. In 1003, LÃÂª HoÃÂ n marched into Hoan ChÃÂ¢u, and ordered the excavation of the ÃÂa CÃÂ¡i Canal, extending it directly to the region of TÃÂ° CÃ¡Â»Â§ng in ÃÂi ChÃÂ¢u. However, the people of ÃÂa CÃÂ¡i suddenly rebelled against the emperor and were swiftly defeated and beheaded.

In 1004, Le Hoan sent a mission to China led by one of his sons, Prince LÃÂª Minh ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â. Minh ÃÂÃ¡Â»Â was invited for the 1005 Lunar New Year Festival's feast of the Song court along with emissaries of Champa and Arab. The Song records treated Dai Viet along with Java, Pagan, and the Arabs as equal sovereign states. Outside China and Champa, a Khmer inscription dated 987 records the arrival of Vietnamese merchants in Angkor.

Death

In 1005, he died at age 64 while a civil war for succession erupted between his sons. He was called ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i HÃÂ nh HoÃÂ ng ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¿ (; literally "the Departed Emperor") after his death and later became his posthumously title. His twenty-years old fifth son Le Long Dinh seized the throne in later that year after murdering his older brother LÃÂª Long ViÃ¡Â»Ât who only held the crown in 3 days, and ruled the country for the next four years.

Family

Parents
Wives
PhÃ¡Â»Â¥ng CÃÂ n ChÃÂ LÃÂ½ HoÃÂ ng hÃ¡ÂºÂu (Ã¥Â¥ÂÃ¤Â¹Â¾Ã¨ÂÂ³Ã§ÂÂÃ§ÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ)
Lady PhÃ¡ÂºÂ¡m (Ã¨ÂÂÃ§ÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ)
Children
LÃÂª Long ViÃ¡Â»Ât (Ã©Â»ÂÃ©Â¾ÂÃ©ÂÂ, 983 Ã¢ÂÂ 1005), successor, reigned 3 days (the shortest reign of Vietnamese monarchs), third son
DÃÂ°ÃÂ¡ng Hy LiÃ¡Â»Ân, adopted daughter