 900
Years of Vietnamese Independence Part 2
The
Tran Dynasty and the Defeat of the Mongols
In 1225 the Tran
family, which had effectively controlled the Vietnamese
throne for many years, replaced the Ly dynasty by
arranging a marriage between one of its members and the
last Ly monarch, an eight-year-old princess. Under the
Tran dynasty (1225-1400), the country prospered and
flourished as the Tran rulers carried out extensive land
reform, improved public administration, and encouraged
the study of Chinese literature. The Tran, however, are
best remembered for their defense of the country against
the Mongols and the Cham. By 1225, the Mongols
controlled most of northern China and Manchuria and were
eyeing southern China, Vietnam, and Champa. In 1257,
1284, and 1287, the Mongol armies of Kublai Khan invaded
Vietnam, sacking the capital at Thang Long (renamed
Hanoi in 1831) on each occasion, only to find that the
Vietnamese had anticipated their attacks and evacuated
the city beforehand. Disease, shortage of supplies, the
climate, and the Vietnamese strategy of harassment and
scorchedearth tactics foiled the first two invasions.
The third Mongol invasion, of 300,000 men and a vast
fleet, was also defeated by the Vietnamese under the
leadership of General Tran Hung Dao. Borrowing a tactic
used by Ngo Quyen in 938 to defeat an invading Chinese
fleet, the Vietnamese drove iron-tipped stakes into the
bed of the Bach Dang River (located in northern Vietnam
in present-day Ha Bac, Hai Hung, and Quang Ninh
provinces), and then, with a small Vietnamese flotilla,
lured the Mongol fleet into the river just as the tide
was starting to ebb. Trapped or impaled by the
iron-tipped stakes, the entire Mongol fleet of 400 craft
was sunk, captured, or burned by Vietnamese fire arrows.
The Mongol army retreated to China, harassed enroute by
Tran Hung Dao's troops.
The fourteenth
century was marked by wars with Champa, which the Tran
reduced to a feudatory state by 1312. Champa freed
itself again by 1326 and, under the leadership of Cham
hero Che Bong Nga, staged a series of attacks on Vietnam
between 1360 and 1390, sacking Thang Long in 1371. The
Vietnamese again gained the upper hand following the
death of Che Bong Nga and resumed their southward
advance at Champa's expense. Despite their earlier
success, the quality of the Tran rulers had declined
markedly by the end of the fourteenth century, opening
the way for exploitation of the peasantry by the feudal
landlord class, which caused a number of insurrections.
In 1400 General Ho Quy-ly seized the throne and
proclaimed himself founder of the short-lived Ho dynasty
(1400-07). He instituted a number of reforms that were
unpopular with the feudal landlords, including a limit
on the amount of land a family could hold and the rental
of excess land by the state to landless peasants;
proclamations printed in Vietnamese, rather than
Chinese; and free schools in provincial capitals.
Threatened by the reforms, some of the landowners
appealed to China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to
intervene. Using reinstatement of the Tran dynasty as an
excuse, the Ming reasserted Chinese control in 1407.
The
Le Dynasty and Southward Expansion
Le Loi, one of
Vietnam's most celebrated heroes, is credited with
rescuing the country from Ming domination in 1428. Born
of a wealthy landowning family, he served as a senior
scholar-official until the advent of the Ming, whom he
refused to serve. After a decade of gathering a
resistance movement around him, Le Loi and his forces
finally defeated the Chinese army in 1428. Rather than
putting to death the captured Chinese soldiers and
administrators, he magnanimously provided ships and
supplies to send them back to China. Le Loi then
ascended the Vietnamese throne, taking the reign name Le
Thai To and establishing the Le dynasty (1428-1788).
The greatest of the
Le dynasty rulers was Le Thanh Tong (1460-97), who
reorganized the administrative divisions of the country
and upgraded the civil service system. He ordered a
census of people and landholdings to be taken every six
years, revised the tax system, and commissioned the
writing of a national history. During his reign he
accomplished the conquest of Champa in 1471, the
suppression of Lao-led insurrections in the western
border area, and the continuation of diplomatic
relations with China through tribute missions
established under Le Thai To. Le Thanh Tong also ordered
the formulation of the Hong Duc legal code, which was
based on Chinese law but included distinctly Vietnamese
features, such as recognition of the higher position of
women in Vietnamese society than in Chinese society.
Under the new code, parental consent was not required
for marriage, and daughters were granted equal
inheritance rights with sons. Le Thanh Tong also
initiated the construction and repair of granaries,
dispatched his troops to rebuild irrigation works
following floods, and provided for medical aid during
epidemics. A noted writer and poet himself, he
encouraged and emphasized of the Confucian examination
system.
A great period of
southward expansion also began under Le Thanh Tong. The don
dien system of land settlement, borrowed from the
Chinese, was used extensively to occupy and develop
territory wrested from Champa. Under this system,
military colonies were established in which soldiers and
landless peasants cleared a new area, began rice
production on the new land, established a village, and
served as a militia to defend it. After three years, the
village was incorporated into the Vietnamese
administrative system, a communal village meeting house
(dinh) was built, and the workers were given an
opportunity to share in the communal lands given by the
state to each village. The remainder of the land
belonged to the state. As each area was cleared and a
village established, the soldiers of the don dien
would move on to clear more land. This method
contributed greatly to the success of Vietnam's
southward expansion.
Although the Le
rulers had ordered widespread land distribution, many
peasants remained landless, while the nobility,
government officials, and military leaders continued to
acquire vast tracts. The final conquest of Champa in
1471 eased the situation somewhat as peasants advanced
steadily southward along the coast into state-owned
communal lands. However, most of the new land was set
aside for government officials and, although the country
grew wealthier, the social structure remained the same.
Following the decline of the Le dynasty, landlessness
was a major factor leading to a turbulent period during
which the peasantry questioned the mandate of their
rulers.
In the Confucian
world view, emperors were said to have the "mandate
of heaven" to rule their people, who, in turn, owed
the emperor total allegiance. Although his power was
absolute, an emperor was responsible for the prosperity
of his people and the maintenance of justice and order.
An emperor who did not fulfill his Confucian
responsibilities could, in theory, lose his mandate. In
practice, the Vietnamese people endured many poor
emperors, weak and strong. Counterbalancing the power of
the emperor was the power of the village, illustrated by
the Vietnamese proverb, "The laws of the emperor
yield to the customs of the village." Village
institutions served both to restrain the power of the
emperor and to provide a buffer between central
authority and the individual villager. Each village had
its council of notables, which was responsible for the
obligations of the village to the state. When the
central government imposed levies for taxes, for corvee
labor for public projects, or for soldiers for defense,
these levies were based on the council of notables'
report of the resources of the villages, which was often
underestimated to protect the village. Moreover, there
was a division between state and local responsibilities.
The central government assumed responsibility for
military, judicial, and religious functions, while
village authorities oversaw the construction of public
works projects such as roads, dikes, and bridges, which
were centrally planned. The autonomy of the villages,
however, contributed to the weakness of the Vietnamese
political system. If the ruling dynasty could no longer
protect a village, the village would often opt for the
protection of political movements in opposition to the
dynasty. These movements, in turn, would have difficulty
maintaining the allegiance of the villages unless they
were able both to provide security and to
institutionalize their political power. Although it
insured the preservation of a sense of national and
cultural identity, the strength of the villages was a
factor contributing to the political instability of the
society as it expanded southward.
|
