Item: i100087

Authentic Coin of:

Vietnam – Tay Son Dynasty (1778-1802)
Nguyen Nhac – Emperor: 1777-1793
Bronze Thai Duc Thong Bao Cash Token 24mm, Struck 1777-1793
Reference: B 91.1, H 25.32, T-184
Chinese Symbols.
Van, Tuc (=10,000 Years)



You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

 
Nguyễn Nhạc 
(阮岳, died 1793) was the founder of the Tây Sơn dynasty, reigning from 1778 to 1788.

From 1778 to 1788, Nguyễn Nhạc proclaimed himself Emperor Thái Đức (Vietnamese:  ] Hán tự: 泰德). In 1788 after his younger brother proclaimed himself Emperor Quang Trung, Nguyễn Nhạc resigned his Emperor title and declared himself as King of Tây Sơn. Nguyễn Nhạc and his brothers, namely Nguyễn Lữ and Nguyễn Huệ, known as the Tây Sơn Brothers, ended the centuries-long civil war between the two feudal families- the Trịnh Lords in northern Vietnam and the Nguyễn Lords in southern Vietnam, seizing reigning power from these groups and the Lê dynasty.

Later, Nguyễn Huệ marched north and put down the rebellion in Tonkin. Huệ proclaimed himself as Emperor Quang Trung in 1788, and defeated Qing army in Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa. Meanwhile, the civil war of Tây Sơn brothers had provided Nguyễn Ánh with the chance to go back to Cochinchina again. Nhạc’s territory was eroded by Nguyễn lord. During his final years, he only controlled three provinces: Quy Nhơn (modern Bình Định), Quảng Ngãi and Phú Yên. He was described as “an old man who is resigned to the present state of affairs” by Nguyễn Huệ. Huệ was also worried about the future of Tây Sơn dynasty.

Nguyễn Huệ suddenly died in 1792. Nhạc prepared to attend Huệ’s funeral, however, the road to Phú Xuân was blocked by the successor Nguyễn Quang Toản, he had to return, and sent a sister to attend the funeral. In the next year, Quy Nhơn was attacked by Nguyễn lord. When Nguyễn navy reached Thị Nại Port, Nhạc ordered his crown prince Nguyễn Văn Bảo to fight against them. Tây Sơn navy suffered from a double-pronged attack, Bảo was defeated by Tôn Thất Hội (尊室會), Võ Tính, Nguyễn Huỳnh Đức and Nguyễn Văn Thành, and fled back to Quy Nhơn. Nhạc had to ask for Nguyễn Quang Toản’s help. 17,000 men under Phạm Công Hưng, Ngô Văn Sở, Nguyễn Văn Huấn (阮文訓) and Lê Trung (黎忠) marched south to reinforce Quy Nhơn. A navy led by Đặng Văn Chân was also sent there in the same time. Nguyễn army had to retreat. Hưng marched into the city, claiming that the emperor of Phú Xuân had taken over it. Nhạc was angry, and died soon after suffering from vomiting blood.

Nhạc’s eldest son, Nguyễn Văn Bảo, was stripped off the position, and granted the title Hiếu công (孝公, “Duke of filial piety”) by Nguyễn Quang Toản. The territory of Nhạc was annexed by Toản, Bảo only received Phù Ly (modern Phù Mỹ and Phù Cát) as his fief. In 1798, Bảo launched an unsuccessful rebellion against Toản, and was executed.

Tây Sơn dynasty was overthrown by Nguyễn Ánh in 1802. Nhạc’s three sons, Nguyễn Thanh (阮清), Nguyễn Hân (阮昕) and Nguyễn Dũng (阮勇), were executed together with Nguyễn Quang Toản and other princes of Tây Sơn dynasty. The tombs of Nguyễn Nhạc and Nguyễn Huệ were razed to the ground, their remains were dug out and crushed into ashes. The skulls of Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ and Huệ’s wife, were locked up in prison in perpetuity. It was said that Nguyễn Huệ had desecrated the tombs of Nguyễn lords before, Nguyễn Ánh did that to “revenge for the ancestors” (爲九世而復讎).

Two other sons, Nguyễn Văn Đức (阮文德), Nguyễn Văn Lương (阮文良), and grandson Nguyễn Văn Đâu (阮文兜, son of Nguyễn Văn Đức) escaped, they hid in countryside secretly. In 1831, they were found by Nguyễn dynasty, and executed by waist chop.

 
The Tây Sơn dynasty (Vietnamese: Nhà Tây Sơn (Chữ Nôm: 茹西山); Vietnamese: Tây Sơn triều (Hán tự: 西山朝) was a ruling dynasty of Vietnam, founded in the wake of a rebellion against both the Nguyễn lords and the Trịnh lords before subsequently establishing themselves as a new dynasty. The Tây Sơn were led by three brothers, referred to by modern Vietnamese historians as the Tây Sơn brothers because of their origin in the district of Tây Sơn.

The Tây Sơn dynasty ended the century-long war between the Trịnh and Nguyễn families, fought off an attack by Qing China, and united the country for the first time in 200 years. Under the most prominent of the Tây Sơn brothers, Nguyễn Huệ (era name Quang Trung), Vietnam experienced an age of relative peace and prosperity. His heir, however, was not capable of properly ruling the country, allowing the exiled Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Ánh to retake the south of Vietnam and eventually pave the way for his own imperial dynasty, the Nguyễn dynasty.

 
In the 18th century, Vietnam was officially ruled by the Lê dynasty, but real power lay in the hands of two warring families, the Trịnh lords of the north who ruled from the imperial court in Thăng Long and the Nguyễn lords in the south, who ruled from their capital Huế. Both sides warred extensively for control of the country while simultaneously claiming to be loyal to the Lê emperor. Life for the peasants during these times were difficult- ownership of land became concentrated in the hands of a handful of landlords as time passed. The imperial bureaucracy became corrupt and oppressive; at one point the imperial examination-degrees were sold to whoever was wealthy enough to purchase them. As the people grew poorer, the ruling lords lived lavish lifestyles in opulent palaces. While the Trịnh lords had enjoyed peace since the end of the war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn in 1672, the Nguyễn lords regularly campaigned against Cambodia and later the Kingdom of Siam. While the Nguyễn lords usually won these wars and opened up new fertile lands for the landless poor to settle, the frequent warring took a toll on their popularity.

Conquest of Nguyễn lords

 
In 1769 the new king of Siam Taksin launched a war to regain control of Cambodia. The war went against the Nguyễn lords and they were forced to abandon some of the newly conquered lands, which included the Principality of Hà Tiên in the eastern coast of Cochinchina. Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát died in 1765, the court power was transferred to the unpopular regent Trương Phúc Loan, creating a political crisis. This coupled with heavy taxes and endemic corruption at the local level, spurred three brothers Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ, and Nguyễn Lữ (not related to the Nguyễn lords) from the village of Tây Sơn, central Vietnam, to begin a revolt in 1772 against the Nguyễn lord Phúc Thuần.

The Tây Sơn brothers styled themselves as champions of the people. Over the next year, the revolt gained traction and they won some battles against the Nguyễn army that was sent to crush their rebellion. The Tây Sơn drew their support from not only poor farmers but also by some indigenous highland tribes. Nguyễn Huệ, the brothers’ leader, said that his goal was to end the people’s oppression, reunite the country, and restore the power of the Lê emperor in Hanoi. The Tây Sơn also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistribute land.

In 1773 the Tây Sơn captured the port of Qui Nhơn, where the merchants, who had suffered under restrictive laws put in place by the Nguyễn, lent the uprising their financial support. The Nguyễn, at last recognizing the serious scale of the revolt, made peace with the Siamese, giving up some land they had conquered in previous decades. However, their problems were compounded when Trịnh Sâm chose to end the 100-year peace and exploit the turmoil in the south by sending his army to attack Phú Xuân (modern-day Huế), the Nguyễn capital. The Trịnh army captured the city, forcing the Nguyễn to flee to Gia Định (now modern day Saigon)

The Trịnh army continued to march south and the Tây Sơn army continued its conquest of other southern cities. The forces arraigned against the Nguyễn were simply too many and in 1776 the Tây Sơn army captured the last Nguyễn stronghold of Gia Định and massacred the town’s Chinese population. The entire Nguyễn family was killed at the end of the siege, except for one nephew, Nguyễn Ánh, who managed to escape to Siam. The eldest Tây Sơn brother, Nguyễn Nhạc, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. A conflict with the Trịnh thus became unavoidable.

Conflict with Siam

The Tây Sơn spent the next decade consolidating their control over the former Nguyễn territory. Nguyễn Ánh proved to be a stubborn enemy. He convinced the King of Siam, P’ya Taksin, to invade Vietnam in support of him. The Siamese army attacked in 1780, but in several years of warfare, it was unable to defeat the Tây Sơn army, as gains were followed by losses. In 1782, the Siamese king was killed in a revolt, and less than a year later, Nguyễn Ánh’s forces were driven out of Vietnam. In 1785, Siam launched an invasion again and occupied part of the Mekong Delta, but was defeated by Nguyen Hue in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.

Conquest of Trịnh lords

Having vanquished the Nguyễn for the time being, Nguyễn Huệ decided to destroy the power of the Trịnh lords. He marched to the north at the head of a large army in 1786, and after a short campaign, defeated the Trịnh army successfully. The Trịnh were also unpopular and the Tây Sơn army seemed invincible. The Trịnh lord fled north into China. Nguyễn Huệ later married princess Lê Ngọc Hân, the daughter of the nominal later Lê Emperor, Lê Hiển Tông.

War with the Qing dynasty, ending the Lê dynasty

A few months later, realising that his hope of retaining power had gone, the Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled north to the Qing Empire of China, where he formally petitioned the Qianlong Emperor for aid. The Qianlong Emperor agreed to restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power, and so in 1788, a large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital Thăng Long.

Nguyễn Huệ gathered a new army and prepared to fight the Qing army. He addressed his troops before the battle saying:

The Qing have invaded our country and occupied the capital city, Thăng Long. In our history, the Trưng Sisters fought against the Han, Đinh Tiên Hoàng against the Song, Trần Hưng Đạo against the Mongol Yuan, and Lê Lợi against the Ming. These heroes did not resign themselves to standing by and seeing the invaders plunder our country; they inspired the people to fight for a just cause and drive out the aggressors… The Qing, forgetting what happened to the Song, Yuan and Ming, have invaded our country. We are going to drive them out of our territory.

In a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating the Lunar New Year, Nguyễn Huệ’s army defeated them at the Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa and forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to retreat. The Tay Son were supported by Chinese pirates. Anti-pirate activities were undertaken by a joint alliance between the Qing dynasty and Nguyễn lords Gia Long while Chinese pirates collaborated with the Tay Son.

After the battle, Nguyễn Huệ sought to restore the tributary relationship in order to deter a joint Qing-Siam pincer attack and prevent further Chinese attempts to restore the Lê dynasty. Nguyễn Huệ sent a ritually submissive request to the Qianlong Emperor under the name of Nguyễn Quang Bình (also referred to as Ruan Guangping).

In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor agreed to re-establish the tributary relationship and enfeoff Nguyễn as the King of Annam on the condition that Nguyễn personally lead a special delegation to Beijing to celebrate the Qianlong Emperor’s 80th birthday. For the Qianlong Emperor, the motivation for accepting the arrangement was to retain the Qing’s supremacy and stabilize their southern border. Chinese and Vietnamese sources agreed that Nguyễn sent an imposter with a delegation to Beijing, where they were received with lavish imperial favors. The Qianlong Emperor approved the proposal and bestowed Nguyễn with the title An Nam quốc vương (“King of Annam”). The title indicated that Huệ was recognized as the legal ruler of Vietnam and Lê Chiêu Thống was no longer supported.

War with Nguyễn Ánh and fall

Nguyễn Huệ, now stylized as Quang Trung, was resentful; he trained his army, built large warships and waited for an opportunity to take revenge on Qing. He also provided refuge to anti-Manchu organizations such as the Tiandihui and the White Lotus. Infamous Chinese pirates, such as Chen Tien-pao (陳添保), Mo Kuan-fu (莫觀扶), Liang Wen-keng (梁文庚), Fan Wen-tsai (樊文才), Cheng Chi (鄭七) and Cheng I (鄭一) were granted official positions and/or noble ranks under the Tây Sơn empire. All attack plans had to be given up due to Nguyễn Huệ’s sudden death. The attack never materialized by the time that Quang Trung died in 1792.

After a 1782 massacre of ethnic Chinese settler was carried out by the Tây Sơn, the support of the Chinese shifted towards to the Nguyễn lords.

After Quang Trung’s death, his son Nguyễn Quang Toản was enthroned as Emperor Cảnh Thịnh at the age of ten. However, the real power was in the hands of his uncle Bui Dac Tuyen, who enacted a massive political purge. Many who served under Quang Trung were executed, while others became discouraged and left the regime, considerably weakening the Tây Sơn. This paved the way for Nguyễn Ánh to capture the entire country within 10 years, with the help of French military adventurers enlisted by French bishop Pigneau de Behaine. In 1800, Nguyễn Ánh occupied Quy Nhơn citadel. In 1801, he occupied Phú Xuân, forcing Nguyễn Quang Toản to flee to Thăng Long. In 1802, Ánh besieged Thăng Long. The then 20-year-old Nguyễn Quang Toản escaped, but then was captured and executed, ending the dynasty after 24 years, and the Nguyễn, the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam, took over the country in 1802.

The Nguyễn lords eventually defeated the Tây Sơn dynasty , took complete control of Vietnam, and established the imperial Nguyễn dynasty in 1802. The Nguyễn used crushing by elephant to execute the defeated Tây Sơn leader Bùi Thị Xuân. The heart and liver from her body were consumed by soldiers of the Nguyễn.