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Quy Nhon Citadel historical relic is now just a ruins at Chau Thanh Hamlet, Nhon Thanh Commune, An Nhon District, Binh Dinh Province.
Quy Nhon Citadel,as its name, is in fact the chief town of Quy Nhon County. After a troop operation to pacify Khmer Dynasty in 1471, King Le Thanh Tong established Hoai Nhon County including 3 districts: Bong Son, Phu Ly and Tuy Vien. In 1604, Hoai Nhon County was renamed Quy Nhon County. In 1651, Quy Nhon County was called Quy Ninh County and in 1742, the old name Quy Nhon was employed again.
Do Ban Citadel, which was built in the 10th century as once capital of the Khmer Dynasty, had been the chief town of the county during two and a half centuries. Chau Thanh Hamlet whose vestige still remains now was named in 1744.
The Chau Thanh Hamlet name was in fact born in the reign of Minh Mang. It had been formerly just a ward, then became Thoi Luong Commune and finally Phu Ly District.
After its base establishment and its troop reinforcement in Upper Tay Son, the Tay Son insurgent army moved toward Lower Tay Son and liberated the region. It continued attacking and occupying Quy Nhon County. This was the very first battle of the Tay Son insurgent army.
Nguyen Nhac ordered Nguyen Thung to lead a vanguard from general headquarters at Kien Thanh Hamlet, hometown of three Tay Son siblings, to Quy Nhon County on one evening of September, 1773. Being unable to resist the attack of the insurgent army, County Chief Nguyen Khac Tuyen together with his sentry force had to flee Quy Nhon County. According to “Dai Nam Official Stories of Celebrities”, “Nguyen Nhac is very smart and has a lot of military tricks. One day, he pretendedly chained himself in a cage and asked his partisans to take turns informing his enemy. The County Chief didn’t expect the feign hand over and ordered his sentry force to open the county entrance gate. At night, while the partisans secretly were getting close to Quy Nhon County, Nguyen Nhac broke the chain and opened the gate. The partisans caried the citadel with a rush, killing the enemy commander and occupying the citadel”.
That had been the maiden triumphal victory of the Tay Son insurgent army since its movement raising. It marked a historical momentous turning-point of the Tay Son Movement. In figurative words of mullah D.Jumila, a once witness of the event, it tokened “a death verdict by the Allah to Nguyen feudal Lord”.
Feeling so excited and confident at the victory, the Tay Son insurgent army expanded its troop deployment and liberation missions all over Quy Nhon region, then moving southward provinces such as Quang Ngai, Quang Nam, Phu Yen, Binh Thuan,etc. The Tay Son insurgent army then gained many glorious feat of arms during its revolutionary course against Xiem invaders (old reference of the Thailander), its overthrow over the Le Kings and Trinh Lords and victory over Chinese Manchu Dynasty.
Chau Thanh Hamlet, where the once Quy Nhon County Citadel was situated, is now one of seven hamlets of Nhon Thanh Commune. Its local people mainly live on agriculture, industry of silver-topped conical hat making, carpentry, etc. The silver-topped conical hat is a typical product of the locality. It is also known as Go Gang silver-topped conical hat because it is sold at Go Gang Market.
Chau Thanh Hamlet includes 5 villages: Đong (East), Tay (West), Nam (South), Bac (North) and Trung (Middle). Quy Nhon County Citadel once located at Trung village. More than two centuries pass by with many ups and downs and only vague vestige of the old citadel remains. We may find a clay rampart surrounding an rectangular area (100m x 65m). The wall is 1.6m at the highest and more than 2m at the widest.
Architectural traces of the old citadel can be proved as presence of some broken bricks near the rampart’s side. Size of an unbroken brick is 32cm x 13cm x 165cm. Inside the citadel area, 15m away from the South rampart, locates an ancient square well made of laterite. Each side of the square well is 0.85m wide. The well is 54 m deep (bottom-to-top length) and still usable now. Several similar ancient wells scattering in the villages outside the citadel are bigger (each size is about 1m wide) but shallower (about 6m deep). They are all the ancient wells built by Khmer people.
Until the end of 20th century, the citadel area had been a desolate land. Local people said that no one dared to break the ground there because they respected sublimity of the ancient.
The Nguyen Lords were actually very thoughful to choose Chau Thanh the chief town of Quy Nhon County because it located in a favourable geographical place. Many rivers and streams (Cau Van River in the North, Cau Dai River in the South) surrounded it like natural moats. Phoc Loc Tower on a hill in the North and Mo O Mountain in the South were considered as natural defence. Such location was very convinient for travelling and safe for military encampment. However, the Nguyen Lords couldn’t resist the attack of the Tay Son insurgent army because their feudal administration were so rotten. Quy Nhon Citadel was destroyed in the twinkling of an eye by the peasant insurgents who had suffered much oppression.
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