In the career of the Tay Son dynasty, King Quang Trung had an important role, especially in the lightening operation from Phu Xuan (Hue) to Thang Long (Ha Noi) to defeat 290,000 Chinese Qing soldiers on the 5^th of Ky Dau Luna New Year (1789). This victory is also known as the Dong Da victory. However, there are still many untold stories about this victory.

Statue of King Quang Trung (Nguyen Hue) at the Quang Trung museum (Tay Son district). Photo Dao Tien Dat

The lightening operation led by King Quang Trung seemed to be the operation with a large number of soldiers in the shortest time, using the rudimentary method (by foot) in the Vietnamese history. According to a research, on October, 1788 the Chinese Qing’s leaders Ton Si Nghi (Sun Shi-yi), Hua The Hanh and Sam Nghi Dong headed their army to invade Vietnam. Faced with overwhelming force, Ngo Thi Nham, a Tay Son adviser, argued for withdrawing secretly into Thanh Hoa, so it was easy for the Qing army to invade Thang Long. Seeing that it was too easy, Sun Shi-yi became subjective and allowed his soldiers to have the Tet holiday in Thang Long. He then bragged that his army would invade Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Phu Xuan after the Tet holiday.

When knowing that the Qing invaders had conquered Thang Long, Nguyen Hue took the title of Emperor and gave himself a new name: Quang Trung. He then led 50,000 soldiers from Phu Xuan (Hue) to Nghe An. On the way, he selected more 30,000 people. On January 23, the Tay Son soldiers went day and night without stopping so that they could reach the capital Thang Long on the occasion of the Tet holiday because King Quang Trung well knew that Sun Shi-yi underestimated and Chinese soldiers always indulged in drinking and gambling.

To help the soldiers move quickly with more than hundreds of miles each day, King Quang Trung asked the soldiers to use 3,000 stretchers to carry each other in turn. Thanks to this way, the Tay Son army could go day and night continuously.

Alongside the masterful military strategy - speed and surprise, King Quang Trung asked his soldiers to disguise to attack the Qing army. According to Dong Tay nhat bao (1939) (East-West daily newspaper) when reaching Thang Long, the Tay Son army captured many Qing drunken soldiers. King Quang Trung ordered his soldiers to put on the Qing soldiers’ battledress and marked a track of lime on their arm to distinguish them from Qing soldiers. He then requested his soldiers to make 600 big planks of wood from wooden boats, and in front of each plank there were bales of straw. 12 soldiers would then carry these plank as shields when attacking the Qing army.

After all preparations, King Quang Trung led his army to directly attack the Qing invaders’ billets and fired them. At that time, Sun Shi-yi still thought that his soldiers were careless. Only when being attacked, could Qing soldiers sober up and resist. However, they couldn’t realize who was the enemy because all wore the same battledress while the Tay Son soldiers could know them, so they were almost killed. Sun Shi-yi was so scared that he hastily jumped on a horse and together with a small group of soldiers retreated from Thang Long. But when on a bridge, the Qing soldiers drowned due to the broken bridge.

• Written by Thanh Truc
• Translated by Hong Quang