The monument of Rach Gam-Xoai Mut Victory at My Tho District, Tien Giang Province

Vietnamese King Quang Trung  is not supercilious like Caesar, a famous king of ancient Roman Empire. However, he possesses a very unshakeable belief in final triumphal wins of his troops over enemies. These victories are on basis of the king’s daring art of conducting resistance wars at lightening speed and firmly grasping winning opportunities.

In the 16^th century, Dai Viet (the old name of Vietnam at that time) suffered constant wars between Trinh and Mac dynasties, then between Trinh and Nguyen dynasties. At the end of the century, the war-worn country was separated into 2 parts – north and south. That separation lasted nearly 2 centuries later.

The country was in danger but the Le Kings and the Trinh Lords in the 2 parts of north and south just cared of looting and indulging themselves in debauchery. Common people was leading a wretched life. Given that situation, many resistance wars against the oppressive ruling dynasties broke out. However, no resistance war gained victory.

In 1771, three brothers of Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Lu and Nguyen Hue rose up in arms at Tay Son Upland (the mountainous region of An Khe, Gia Lai now). Backing by the common people, during 12 years from 1777 to 1789, Tay Son insurgent troops continuously had won a lot of glorious victories such as coups to overthrow the Le Kings and the Trinh Lords, fight against 50,000 Siam invaders and crush on 290,000 of Qing aggressors from China.

During the insurgent course, Nguyen Hue proved himself to be not only an excellent leading politician but also a talented general. Not many general could do like him.

* Audacity-unpredictable strategy of attacking

It was combination between his talent of military leadership and his nature of boldness, quick perception and self-confidence that featured the prominent commanding style of Nguyen Hue.

In the 1785 counter-attack against the Siam invaders, Nguyen Hue chose Rach Gam-Xoai Mut wide section of river which had more difficult terrain than another section of My Tho River from Cai Be to Binh Chanh Dong to lay an ambush.

In the 1789 assault against the 290,000 of Qing aggressors, Nguyen Hue-King Quang Trung at that time- led his troops from Phu Xuan (the central province of Hue nowadays) to Thang Long (now Hanoi). He decided to attack the Qing aggressors from the southern direction where the enemies took stringent defense measures. The Qing strongly believed that they would never been attacked from the south. So, they were very subjective and underestimated the rival.

The attacking course took place quickly within 6 days, from his troop deployment in the 30^th day of the last lunar month (1789) to his victory claim in Dong Da fight in the 5^th day of the first lunar month of the following year (1789).

* Gaining strength from quick army deployment

The audacity of King Quang Trung couldn’t have shown its full power unless the troop had been unexpectedly deployed in dizzy speed.

4 years after the Rach Gam-Xoai Mut Victory, troops of Nguyen Hue gained another typical model triumph over the 290,000 Qing aggressors in 1789.

The 6-day victorious assault in 1789 was a good example of military commanding art itself, not mentioning fast operation of the Tay Son troops from Phu Xuan to Thanh Long which has been a controversial mystery so far.

In the late evening of the 30^th day of the last lunar month, Tay Son troops secretly crossed Gian Khau River, annihilating all of the enemy troop at an outpost and its scouts. In the evening of the 3^rd day of the first lunar month in the following year, Nguyen Hue’s troops secretly surrounded Ha Hoi military post (at Thuong Tin District, Ha Tay Province now). Being attacked suddenly, the enemies was scared and surrendered. In the early morning of the 5^th day, Quang Trung himself led a troop to attack Ngoc Hoi military post (at Thanh Tri District, Hanoi Capital now) while another troop attacked Dong Da post (also in Hanoi now).

Simultaneously, fights at Dai Ang, Dam Muc, Nhan Muc, Ha Yen Quyet also won victories. All of the assaults took place repeatedly in a twinkling of an eye. As a result, the Qing aggressors had no time to resist, inform or call for help together.

Unpredictable and fast attacking was the central point of Nguyen Hue’s art of leadership. That was the clever way to balance the strength of small troops against their much more powerful rivals. Moreover, Nguyen Hue was  good at not only grasping opportunities but also creating chances to take the most advantage of his troops’ strength.

* Firmly seize the opportunities

At the end of 1788, Qing troops entered Dai Viet as helpers to the Le Kings in the fight against the Trinh Lords. Under patronization of King Le Chieu Thong, the Qing troops won favour of many patriotic personalities who were loyal to the Le Kings. Thang Long people hesitated to follow Tay Son insurgent troops or the Le Kings. Tay Son was undoubtedly in very unfavourable situation.

Hearing that King Le Chieu Thong invited the enemies to the country, Nguyen Hue immediately claimed himself as a king of Dai Viet under official name of Quang Trung. He quickly gathered his troops to operate northwards with aim to defeat the Qing enemies. The of the events from enthronement, troop mobilization and operation took place within only 1 day.

Having a lot of war experiences, King Quang Trung predicted of the good chance to win favour of Dai Viet people and wipe the enemies out of the country.

On the way to Thang Long, he stopped at Nghe An province to recruit more soldiers and consult La Son Phu Tu Nguyen Thiep about the opportunities and way to defeat the Qing enemies. “The Qing enemies come from distant outside. They don’t know whether our troops are strong or weak. They don’t know whether they should combat or defense. In addition, they tend to underestimate us. If we launch an offensive against them within a maximum of 10 days, they will be surely defeated. If not, we won’t improbably win” said Nguyen Thiep. Nguyen Hue found very pleased with the advice of Nguyen Thiep.

The Qing enemies would soon let out their invasive plot. That the time Tay Son troops should take chance to easily win favour and assistance of the people nationwide.

The Qing troops easily entered Imperial City of Thang Long. Tay Son troops retreated to Tam Diep (Ninh Binh Province now) and Bien Son (Thanh Hoa Province now). The Le Kings heartedly supported the Qing troops. Thus, the closer the new year of chicken came, the more hare-brained the Qing enemies were.

All of the factors assured the best opportunity of victory over the Qing aggressors. King Quang Trung reinforced his troops and hurried up quick military deployment. At the same time, he tried to stimulate arrogance of the enemies so that they became more and more hare-brained. It would take no long time to the Tay Son troops to sing the song of triumph.

* Hero of Dai Viet southern country

When stopping at Nghe An Province to recruit more soldiers, Nguyen Hue proclaimed an edict to encourage his officers and soldiers:

“We fight for our sake of preserving our own culture in keeping long hair and blackening our teeth. We fight until the enemies find no way to return home. We fight until the aggressors have no cuirass to act counter. We fight so that generation after generation of people all over the world realize that the southern country of Dai Viet has its own sovereignty”.

And his élite troops entered Thang Long Imperial City in the such fervent ardour.

“The Qing troops were unable to sustain a defeat. They ran away helter-skelter, dieing of mutual trample together…Their corpses lied in disorderly heaps. Their blood ran like stream.  The Qing troops suffered a very bitter defeat” narrated “Hoang Le Nhat Thong Chi” history book.

Keen attacks of Tay Son troops were always deadly blows to the enemies. Being defeated at the only fight of Rach Gam-Xoai Mut, the Siam invaders were terrified of the Tay Son troops as if they encountered powerful wide tigers. The Chinese Qing Dynasty has given up its invasive scheme since the bitter defeat in 1789.

• Source: VNN
• Translated by To Uyen