The Tây Sán dynasty (; , (chữ Hán: æÂÂ西山; Chữ Nôm: è¹西山), officially ÃÂại Viá»Ât (Chữ Hán: 大è¶Â), was an imperial dynasty of Vietnam. It originated in a revolt led by three peasant brothers with the surname Nguyá» n, rebelling against the Lê dynasty, Trá»Ânh lords and Nguyá» n lords (no relation). The Tây Sán would later be succeeded by the Nguyá» n dynasty.
The Tây Sán dynasty ended the century-long war between the Trá»Ânh and Nguyá» n families, overthrew the Lê dynasty, and united the country for the first time in 200 years. They acknowledged Qing suzerainty and gained recognition from the Qianlong Emperor as the legitimate rulers of Vietnam. Under the most prominent of the Tây Sán brothers Nguyá» n Huá» (Emperor Quang Trung) Vietnam experienced several years of relative peace and prosperity. But Quang Trung died relatively young at the age of 40 and his successor Cảnh Thá»Ânh, aged 9, was unable to prevent civil conflict among the Tây Sán court which allowed the last Nguyá» n lord Nguyá» n ÃÂnh to retake the south of Vietnam, extinguish the Tây Sán and establish the Nguyá» n dynasty.
The Tây Sán dynasty was named after the Tây Sán district in Bình ÃÂá»Ânh province, the birthplace of the three brothers who established the dynasty. The name "Tây Sán" means "western mountains" from Chinese 西山 XëshÃÂn where 西 xi means west and å±± shan means mountain.
In the 18th century, Vietnam was de jure ruled by the Lê dynasty, but real power lay in the hands of two warring families, the Trá»Ânh lords of the north who ruled from the imperial court in ThÃÂng Long and the Nguyá» n lords in the south, who ruled from their capital Huế. Both sides warred extensively for control of the country. Life for the peasants during these times was difficult: ownership of land concentrated in the hands of a few powerful landlords as time passed on. The imperial bureaucracy grew corrupt and oppressive; at one point the imperial examination-degrees were sold to whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. The lords continued to live lavish lifestyles in opulent palaces as the poor grew poorer. While the Trá»Ânh lords had enjoyed peace since the end of the war between the Trá»Ânh and the Nguyá» n in 1672, the Nguyá» n lords regularly campaigned against Cambodia and later the Kingdom of Siam. While the Nguyá» n lords usually won these wars and opened up new fertile lands for the landless poor to settle, the frequent warring cost money, resources, and lives.
In 1769 the new king of Siam Taksin launched a war to regain control of Cambodia. He was successful and forced the Nguyá» n lords to abandon some of their conquests, such as the Principality of HàTiên on the southernmost coast of Vietnam. Lord Nguyá» n Phúc Khoát had also died in 1765, which put power in the hands of the regent Trðáng Phúc Loan, plunging the Nguyá» n court into political crisis. These developments, coupled with heavy taxes and endemic local corruption spurred three peasant brothersâÂÂNguyá» n Nhạc, Nguyá» n Huá»Â, and Nguyá» n Lữ (no relation to the Nguyá» n lords) from the village of Tây Sán, central Vietnam, to revolt in 1771 against the Nguyá» n lord Phúc Thuần.
The Tây Sán brothers styled themselves as champions of the people. Over the next year, the revolt gained traction and they won some battles against the Nguyá» n army that was sent to crush their rebellion. The Tây Sán drew their support from not only poor farmers but also by some indigenous highland tribes. Nguyá» n Huá»Â, the brothers' leader, said that his goal was to end the people's oppression, reunite the country, and restore the power of the Lê emperor in Hanoi. The Tây Sán also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistribute land.
In 1773 the Tây Sán captured the port of Qui Nhán, where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyá» n, lent the uprising their financial support. The Nguyá» n, at last recognizing the serious scale of the revolt, made peace with the Siamese, giving up some land they had conquered in previous decades. However, their problems were compounded when Trá»Ânh Sâm chose to end the 100-year peace and exploit the turmoil in the south by sending his army to attack Phú Xuân (modern-day Huế), the Nguyá» n capital. The Trá»Ânh army captured the city, forcing the Nguyá» n to flee to Gia ÃÂá»Ânh (now modern day Saigon).
The Trá»Ânh army continued to march south and the Tây Sán army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The forces arrayed against the Nguyá» n were simply too many and in 1776 the Tây Sán army captured the last Nguyá» n stronghold of Gia ÃÂá»Ânh and massacred the town's Chinese population. The entire Nguyá» n family was killed at the end of the siege, except for one nephew, Nguyá» n ÃÂnh, who managed to escape to Siam. The eldest Tây Sán brother, Nguyá» n Nhạc, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. A conflict with the Trá»Ânh thus became unavoidable.
The Tây Sán spent the next decade consolidating their control over the former Nguyá» n territory. Nguyá» n ÃÂnh proved to be a stubborn enemy. He convinced the King of Siam, P'ya Taksin, to invade Vietnam in support of him. The Siamese army attacked in 1780, but in several years of warfare, it was unable to defeat the Tây Sán army, as gains were followed by losses. In 1782, the Siamese king was killed in a revolt, and less than a year later, Nguyá» n ÃÂnh's forces were driven out of Vietnam. In 1785, Siam launched an invasion again and occupied part of the Mekong Delta, but was defeated by Nguyen Hue in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
Having vanquished the Nguyá» n for the time being, Nguyá» n Huá» decided to destroy the power of the Trá»Ânh lords. He marched to the north at the head of a large army in 1786, and after a short campaign, defeated the Trá»Ânh army successfully. The Trá»Ânh were also unpopular and the Tây Sán army seemed invincible. The Trá»Ânh lord fled north into China. Nguyá» n Huá» later married princess Lê Ngá»Âc Hân, the daughter of the nominal later Lê Emperor, Lê Hiá»Ân Tông.
A few months later, realising that his hope of retaining power had gone, the Emperor Lê Chiêu Thá»Âng fled north to the Qing Empire of China, where he formally petitioned the Qianlong Emperor for aid. The Qianlong Emperor agreed to restore Lê Chiêu Thá»Âng to power, and so in 1788, a large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital ThÃÂng Long.
Nguyá» n Huá» gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Qing army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying:
In a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating the Lunar New Year, Nguyá» n Huá»Â's army defeated them at the Battle of Ngá»Âc Há»Âi-ÃÂá»Âng ÃÂa and forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thá»Âng, to retreat. The Tay Son were supported by Chinese pirates. Anti-pirate activities were undertaken by a joint alliance between the Qing dynasty and Nguyá» n lords Gia Long while Chinese pirates collaborated with the Tay Son.
After the battle, NguyỠn HuỠsought to restore the tributary relationship in order to deter a joint Qing-Siam pincer attack and prevent further Qing Chinese attempts to restore the Lê dynasty. NguyỠn HuỠsent a ritually submissive request to the Qianlong Emperor under the name of NguyỠn Quang Bình (also referred to as Ruan Guangping).
In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor agreed to re-establish the tributary relationship and enfeoff Nguyá» n as the King of Annam on the condition that Nguyá» n Huá» personally lead a special delegation to Beijing to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor's 80th birthday. For the Qianlong Emperor, the motivation for accepting the arrangement was to retain the Qing's supremacy and stabilize their southern border. Chinese and Vietnamese sources agreed that Nguyá» n Huá» sent an imposter with a delegation to Beijing, where they were received with lavish imperial favors. The Qianlong Emperor approved the proposal and bestowed Nguyá» n Huá» with the title An Nam quá»Âc vðáng ("King of Annam"). The title indicated that Nguyá» n Huá» was recognized as the legal ruler of Vietnam and Lê Chiêu Thá»Âng was no longer supported.
Quang Trung, was resentful. He trained his army, built large warships and waited for an opportunity to take revenge. He also provided refuge to organizations such as the Tiandihui and the White Lotus. Chinese pirates, such as Chen Tien-pao (é³添ä¿Â), Mo Kuan-fu (è«è§Âæ¶), Liang Wen-keng (æ¢ÂæÂÂåºÂ), Fan Wen-tsai (æ¨ÂæÂÂæÂÂ), Cheng Chi (éÂÂä¸Â) and Cheng I (éÂÂä¸Â) were granted official positions and noble ranks under the Tây Sán empire. All attack plans had to be given up due to Nguyá» n Huá»Â's sudden death. The attack never materialized by the time that Quang Trung died in 1792.
After the Tây Sán massacred ethnic Han Chinese settlers in 1782, the support of the Qing Chinese shifted towards to the NguyỠn lords.
After Quang Trung's death, his son Nguyá» n Quang Toản was enthroned as Emperor Cảnh Thá»Ânh at the age of ten. However, the real power was in the hands of his uncle Bui Dac Tuyen, who enacted a massive political purge. Many who served under Quang Trung were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening the Tây Sán. This paved the way for Nguyá» n ÃÂnh to capture the entire country within 10 years, with the help of French military adventurers enlisted by French bishop Pigneau de Behaine. In 1800, Nguyá» n ÃÂnh occupied Quy Nhán citadel. In 1801, he occupied Phú Xuân, forcing Nguyá» n Quang Toản to flee to ThÃÂng Long. In 1802, ÃÂnh besieged ThÃÂng Long. The then 20-year-old Nguyá» n Quang Toản escaped, but then was captured and executed, ending the dynasty after 24 years, and the Nguyá» n, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, took over the country in 1802.
The NguyỠn lords eventually defeated the Tây Sán dynasty, took complete control of Vietnam, and established the imperial NguyỠn dynasty in 1802. The NguyỠn executed the defeated Tây Sán leader Bùi ThỠXuân by crushing the body with an elephant. The heart and liver from her body were consumed by soldiers of the NguyỠn.