Item: i100123


Authentic Coin of:

Vietnam – 
Rebel Period (Circa 1400-1500)
Bronze Tri Binh Thanh Bao Cash 
Token 22mm, Struck 1400-1500
Chinese Symbols.


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The Lam Sơn uprising (Chinese: 
藍山起義; Vietnamese: Khởi nghĩa Lam Sơn) was a 
nationalist rebellion led by Lê Lợi in the 
province of Jiaozhi from 1418 to 1427 
against the occupation of Vietnam by Ming 
China. Contents

1 Background 2 Revolt in Thanh Hóa 
1418-1423 3 Capture of Nghệ An and southern 
provinces 4 Pushing north 5 Battle of Tốt 
Động-Chúc Động 6 Siege of Đông Quan 7 Siege 
of Xương Giang 8 Battle of Chi Lăng and 
victory 9 Legend of Hoàn Kiếm Lake 10 
References 10.1 Bibliography

Background Main article: Fourth Era of 
Northern Domination

The Chinese Ming empire destroyed the Ho 
regime in 1407 and put the Vietnamese under 
Ming colonial rule. However, they met 
fiercely resistance from the former Tran 
royal family, led by Prince Tran Ngoi. 
Although the rebellion was defeated, the 
rebellion of Tran princes created a great 
inspiration for Vietnamese nationalist 
movements; the Tran princes became martyrs; 
Yongle underestimated the Vietnamese love 
for independence; and other 31 revolts 
occurred from 1415 to 1424 against the Ming 
rules before the rebellion of Lê Lợi in 
1418. The Ming occupying army of Jiaozhi 
consisted at least 87,000 regulars, 
scattered in 39 citadels and towns in 
Northern Vietnam. Revolt in Thanh Hóa 
1418-1423

On 7 February 1416, a group of 18 men 
included Lê Lợi and Nguyễn Trãi, secretly 
met in the jungle near Lam Son, swore to 
stay together until the final victory.

In Tết 1418, Lê Lợi raised the revolt 
flag against the Ming rule in Lam Sơn, Thanh 
Hóa. He proclaimed himself as Bình Định 
vương (平定王; “Prince of Pacification”). Lê 
Lợi divided his army into small bands of 
partisan fighters, utilized the guerrilla 
tactics to fight against regular Ming units.

In February, a Ming army under general Ma 
Ji attacked into Lam Sơn, but was ambushed 
by the Lam Sơn partisans near Chu River. A 
betrayer led the Ming army the way to Lam 
Sơn, which attacked Lê Lợi in surprise.Lê 
Lợi’s nine-year-old daughter was seized and 
sent to Yongle’s harem.

In 1419, Lê Lợi’s force attacked and 
seized a Ming garrison near Lam Sơn.

In late 1420, Li Bin led an Ming army to 
attack Mường Thôi, but was defeated. The Lam 
Sơn partisans also gained the control of the 
upper Mã River.

In early 1422, a large Ming army under 
General Chen Zhi marched to the Mã River 
valley to attack the Lam Sơn rebels. A 
Laotian army with 30,000 men and 100 
elephants from Lan Xang approached down the 
valley from the opposite direction, joined 
with the Chinese force to besiege the 
Vietnamese.

In 1423, because of exhaustion and 
lacking of foods, Lê Lợi was forced to 
disband his partisans and sued for peace, 
and returned to Lam Sơn. 6] Capture of Nghệ 
An and southern provinces

One of his comrades, Nguyễn Chích, 
suggested that they would move to the south 
to the province of Nghệ An.

In December 1424, the Lam Sơn partisans 
seized the citadel of Vinh.

In June 1425, Lê Lợi’s generals Lê Sát 
and Lưu Nhân Chú attacked Thanh Hóa. In the 
south, the Lam Sơn army under Trần Nguyên 
Hãn defeated a Ming army in modern Quảng 
Bình and then marched through modern Quảng 
Trị and Thừa Thiên, and gained control of 
the southern lands.

By the end of 1425, the Lam Sơn army had 
already liberated all lands from Thanh Hóa 
to Đà Nẵng. Pushing north

In 1426, Zhu Zhanji proclaimed a general 
amnesty and abolished all taxes in Jiaozhi, 
except for land taxes to be paid in rice, 
needed to supply Ming garrisons.

In September, Lê Lợi sent his armies led 
by his generals, Trịnh Khả, Lý Triện, Đỗ Bí, 
Lưu Nhân Chú, Bùi Bị, Đinh Lễ, Nguyễn Xí, to 
advance to the Red River Delta and the 
Sino-Vietnamese borders. Lê Lợi installed a 
man named Trần Cảo as king of Dai Viet. 
Battle of Tốt Động-Chúc Động

The Ming army under general Wang Tong 
responded by counterattacking the Vietnamese 
in Ninh Kiều, south of Hà Nội. On 4 
December, 54,000 Ming troops engaged 3,000 
or 6,000 Vietnamese troops in the Battle of 
Tốt Động – Chúc Động. The battle ended with 
a decisive Vietnamese victory. Most of Ming 
firearms and weapons were captured. Siege of 
Đông Quan

On 8 December, the Lam Sơn army laid 
siege of Đông Quan (Hà Nội), the Ming 
stronghold on the Red River Delta, then 
captured it in January 1407. Cai Fu, a Ming 
commander-in-chief and an engineer, 
surrendered to Lê Lợi and taught the 
Vietnamese how to make siege weapons. Siege 
of Xương Giang

In March 1427, the Ming citadel of Xương 
Giang in at the modern city of Bắc Giang was 
being besieged. Ming Chinese and Muslim POWs 
and defectors provided the Vietnamese 
manufacturing and launching siege weapons 
such as primitive tanks (fenwen che), Muslim 
counterweight trebuchet (Xiangyang pao or 
Huihui pao), hand cannon (huopao). The siege 
took six month and the citadel felt to 
Vietnamese hands.

On March 29, 1427, around 120,000 Chinese 
reinforcements led by Liu Sheng and Mu Sheng 
advanced into Jiaozhi from Yunnan and 
Guangxi, included 10,000 crack troops who 
had followed Zheng He on his expeditions. 
Battle of Chi Lăng and victory

In September, Liu Sheng’s force was 
defeated by Lê Lợi at Chi Lăng Pass. Liu 
Sheng himself was beheaded in battle.

On 29 December 1427, Wang Tong accepted 
Nguyễn Trãi’s terms of orderly withdrawal 
with “the solemn oath of eternal 
friendship.” After this confirmation, Lê Lợi 
repatriated 86,640 Ming prisoners to China 
and disarmed them of all of their weapons.

In 1428, Lê Lợi became Emperor of a 
restored Dai Viet, and ordered his 
comrade-in-arm Nguyễn Trãi to write the Binh 
Ngo Dai Cao–Grand Pronouncements. Legend of 
Hoàn Kiếm Lake According to the legend, in 
early 1428, Emperor Lê Lợi was boating on 
the Hoàn Kiếm lake when a Golden Turtle God 
(Kim Quy) surfaced and asked for his magic 
sword, Heaven’s Will. Lê Lợi concluded that 
Kim Qui had come to reclaim the sword that 
its master, a local God, the Dragon King 
(Long Vương) had given Lợi some time 
earlier, during his revolt against Ming 
China. Later, Emperor Lê Lợi gave the sword 
back to the turtle after he finished 
fighting off the Chinese. Emperor Lê Lợi 
renamed the lake “Hoàn Kiếm”, meaning Lake 
of the Returning Sword, to commemorate this 
event.

Cash was a type of coin of China and East Asia, used from the 4th century BC until the 20th century AD. Originally cast during the Warring States period, these coins continued to be used for the entirety of Imperial China as well as under Mongol, and Manchu rule. The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the Republic of China. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or bronze alloys, with iron, lead, and zinc coins occasionally used less often throughout Chinese history. Rare silver and gold cash coins were also produced. During most of their production, cash coins were cast but, during the late Qing dynasty, machine-struck cash coins began to be made. As the cash coins produced over Chinese history were similar, thousand year old cash coins produced during the Northern Song dynasty continued to circulate as valid currency well into the early twentieth century.

In the modern era, these coins are considered to be Chinese “good luck coins”; they are hung on strings and round the necks of children, or over the beds of sick people. They hold a place in various superstitions, as well as Traditional Chinese medicine, and Feng shui. Currencies based on the Chinese cash coins include the Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn.