Ngo Quyen is a king and also a national hero of Vietnam. He led Vietnamese people to fight Chinese army and claimed back the peace of country after one thousand years of domination.
Ngo Quyen was born in 897 – When Vietnam was dominated by Chinese - in Duong Lam village, Bavi district, Hanoi. Legend has it that, when he was born, he had three moles in the back, the augur said that he would be a king in the future, so that his father named him Quyen mean power. He was taught strictly from his father, therefore from he was a child he was very intelligent, had a large lice, and diligent in practicing martial.
In 920, Ngo Quyen followed Duong Dinh Nghe – a national hero - and helped him to fight Chinese army. They seized Dai La (now is Hanoi) in 931. But in 937, Duong Dinh Nghe was assassinated By Kieu Cong Tien. Ngo Quyen became leader. He called upon people to kill Kieu Cong Tien and fight Chinese army.
The fight in Bach Dang river:
After killing Kieu Cong Tien, Ngo Quyen was concentrated all the generals to prepare for the fight to Chinese army. He was very intelligent to use the power of nature. Ngo Quyen predicted Chinese army would come to Vietnam from Bach Dang river – the main waterway. He chose this river to be the battlefield for this war. This area has a very complex terrain. The water level of tide changes very fast. He steered all people to cut down the big trees and make the pickets that the top were covered by iron to put in riverbed. When the tide rises up, all the pickets were hided, He let a group of soldier move out to fight Chinese army and wile them to come in the having pickets area. When the tide ebbed, the pickets exposed and brook through the warships of Chinese. But they could not come out of the battlefield. In a very short time, all the Chinese army was defeated. In 938, the war finished, Vietnamese people regained their independence after a thousand years of domination.
Using pickets is an unique feature of this war, it is also a creation in military art that the initiator is Ngo Quyen. In 1288, under Tran Dynasty, Tran Hung Dao reused this tactic to defeat Yuan army (Mongol), and also succeed in protecting the peace of the country.
In 939 Ngo Quyen became the King and established Ngo dynasty. The capital of Ngo dynasty is Co Loa (out skirt of Hanoi). Unfortunately, He passed away very early in 944 when he was 47 years old, after 6 years ruled the country. After that the country weakened quickly and became chaos.
Ngo Quyen even just had 6 years of ruling, but He has a very important role for the country's history. He was the person who finished one thousand year of domination from Chinese and opened a new era: era of developing and protecting the country. To show the respect to Ngo Quyen, Vietnamese people was built many temples to worship him. The most famous is Ngo Quyen tomb in his Home Town, Duong Lam, Ba Vi, Hanoi.
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