Item: i100092

Authentic Coin of:

Vietnam – Tay Son Dynasty (1778-1802)
Quang Toan – Emperor: 1793-1802
Bronze Canh Thinh Thong Bao Cash Token 24mm, Struck 1793-1802
Reference: B 95.2, H 25.34, T-202
Chinese Symbols.


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Emperor Cảnh Thịnh (Hán tự: 景盛), born Nguyễn Quang Toản (Hán tự: 阮光纘; 1783–1802), was the third and last emperor of the Tây Sơn dynasty. He followed his father Quang Trung (Nguyễn Huệ ruled 1788–1792) at the age of 9, and reigned for 10 years.

Cảnh Thịnh was defeated by Nguyễn dynasty in 1802. He was taken, along with a number of his royalties, officials and generals, to Phú Xuân. There, he was executed by Gia Long, first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty.

Nguyễn Quang Toản was the eldest son of Nguyễn Huệ (Emperor Quang Trung). According to Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện, he was born to the Empress Consort Phạm Thị Liên. After Nguyễn Huệ crowned the emperor, Nguyễn Quang Toản was designated as Crown Prince. In 1790, Toản received the title An Nam quốc vương thế tử (“Crown Prince of Annam”) from China. The title indicated that his heirship was also recognized by China.

Quang Trung died in 1792. On the deathbed, Quang Trung described Nguyễn Quang Toản as “a clever boy but too young”. Toản ascended the throne and changed the era name to “Cảnh Thịnh” (景盛) in the same year, when he was only nine years old. He granted his stepmother Bùi Thị Nhạn the title Empress dowager. Bùi Đắc Tuyên was granted the position thái sư (“Grand Preceptor”). Bùi Đắc Tuyên was favoured by the young emperor, and became the de facto ruler of the country. Tuyên banished one of important ministers, Trần Văn Kỷ (陳文紀), from the capital Phú Xuân (mordern Huế). His behavior had aroused the anger of many ministers and generals.

In 1793, Nguyễn Nhạc was attacked by Nguyễn lord, asked for Nguyễn Quang Toản’s help. Toản repulsed the attack, then annexed Nhạc’s territory. Nhạc died soon after suffering from vomiting blood. Nhạc’s eldest son, Nguyễn Văn Bảo, was granted the title Hiếu công by Toản. Bùi Đắc Trụ (裴得宙) and Nguyễn Văn Huấn (阮文訓) were left in Quy Nhơn to watch Bảo.

Tây Sơn launched a powerful offensive in 1794. Two Tây Sơn generals, Trần Viết Kết (陳曰結) and Nguyễn Văn Huấn, laid siege to Diên Khánh. in 1794, but Nguyễn lord’s forces were able to keep them out. Several months later, Trần Quang Diệu and Nguyễn Văn Tứ (阮文賜) were sent to attack Diên Khánh again. However, a coup d’état occurred in the next year, forcing Diệu to withdraw. One night, Nguyễn Quang Toản was in Bùi Đắc Tuyên’s house. Vũ Văn Dũng, Phạm Công Hưng and Nguyễn Văn Huấn, besieged house, forcing Cảnh Thịnh to hand over Tuyên. Later, Tuyên was executed together with Bùi Đắc Trụ and his right hand Ngô Văn Sở. Toản could do nothing but weep. As a niece-in-law of Tuyên, general Trần Quang Diệu was not trusted by the three generals. Diệu quickly marched north and stayed at An Cựu. In the same time, an army under Vũ Văn Dũng and Nguyễn Văn Danh (阮文名) also marched there. A civil war might break out at any moment, which made the young emperor afraid. Finally, Diệu was reconciled with the three generals.

Nguyễn Quang Toản started to rule the country directly; he appointed Trần Quang Diệu, Vũ Văn Dũng, Nguyễn Văn Huấn, Nguyễn Văn Danh (or Nguyễn Văn Tứ) as his assistants. This arrangement proved to be unsatisfactory. Not long after, Diệu was removed from military leadership. Diệu was fearful and anxious, from then on, he refused to attend the imperial court.

The power struggle destabilized the regime, which provided Nguyễn lord an opportunity to launch an offensive attack in 1797. What was worse, Nguyễn Văn Bảo occupied Quy Nhơn and planned to surrender to Nguyễn lord. Fortunately, the rebellion was put down in 1798. However, many ministers were accused of getting involved in the incident, including Lê Trung (黎忠) and Nguyễn Văn Huấn. They were arrested and executed. Tây Sơn generals felt themselves imperilled, they were at odds with the emperor.

In 1799, Quy Nhơn was besieged by Nguyễn Ánh. Trần Quang Diệu and Vũ Văn Dũng was sent to reinforce, but was ambushed by Nguyễn army in Thạch Tân. Hearing the news of defeat, governor Lê Văn Thanh (黎文清) surrendered to Nguyễn Ánh. Quy Nhơn was captured by Nguyễn lord, its name was changed to Bình Định. Trần Viết Kết and Hồ Công Diệu (胡公曜), spoke evil of Trần Quang Diệu. Nguyễn Quang Toản ordered Dũng to kill Diệu. But, Dũng showed the letter to Trần Quang Diệu. Trần Quang Diệu marched to Phú Xuân. Hồ Công Diệu was chosen as scapegoat; he was arrested and transferred to Trần Quang Diệu.

In 1800, Trần Quang Diệu and Vũ Văn Dũng were sent south to besiege Quy Nhơn. Nguyễn Ánh led a large number of army to reinforce Bình Định. However, Võ Tánh, the governor of Bình Định, suggested that he would pin the main Tây Sơn force down there so that Nguyễn Ánh could attack their capital Phú Xuân. Ánh agreed, and then he marched north.

In this time, Nguyễn Quang Toản had to deal with several internal rebellions. Hà Công Thái (何功泰), a Degar leader, revolted in Thanh Hóa Province and pledged loyalty to Nguyễn lord; a Christian-inspired revolt broke out in Tonkin. To make matters worse, Vientiane and Muang Phuan attacked Nghệ An Province, cooperating with Nguyễn forces.

Nguyễn Quang Toản had to ask Nguyễn Thiếp for advice. Thiếp said it was impossible to deal with current affairs; however, if the capital could be relocated in Phượng Hoàng trung đô (鳳凰中都, in present-day Vinh), the lifetime of the dynasty might be prolonged. Toản vacillated for too long and the opportunity to accept was lost. In 1801, Nguyễn Ánh’s army reached Tư Dung estuary (present-day Tư Hiền estuary), defeated Nguyễn Văn Trị in Quy Sơn Hill. A naval battle broke out in Nộn estuary (present-day Thuận An estuary); both Nguyễn Quang Toản and Nguyễn Ánh directed the battle personally. Many Chinese pirates were hired by Tây Sơn to fight against Nguyễn lord. In Nguyễn lord side, several Western adventurers joined the battle, including Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau, Philippe Vannier and Laurent André Barisy. Chaigneau described that it was the fiercest battle between Tây Sơn dynasty and Nguyễn lord. The battle ended with a near annihilation of both Tây Sơn navy and Chinese pirates. Three famous pirates, Mo Guanfu, Liang Wengeng (梁文庚, Lương Văn Canh) and Fan Wencai (樊文才 Phàn Văn Tài), were captured by Nguyễn lord.

Nguyễn army soon occupied the capital Phú Xuân. Nguyễn Quang Toản fled to Đồng Hới, with a dozen men, then to Thăng Long. In there, he was supported by his brother Nguyễn Quang Thùy. Nguyễn Quang Toản changed the era name to “Bảo Hưng” (寶興). He made efforts to gain popularity among Northern Vietnamese. In foreign affairs, he sent an envoy to seek aid from the Jiaqing Emperor of Qing China. Meanwhile, Nguyễn Ánh also sent an envoy, extraditing Mo Guanfu, Liang Wengeng and Fan Wencai to China. Three pirates confessed that they were supported by Tây Sơn dynasty. It proved that Tây Sơn dynasty had shielded many Chinese pirates. Before this incident, Chinese government had captured two pirates Wang Guili (王貴利, Vương Quý Lợi) and Fan Guangxi (范光喜, Phạm Quang Hỉ); in their vessels, Chinese found two Tây Sơn official seals. The irate Jiaqing rejected to help Nguyễn Quang Toản, and deported his envoy.

In 1802, Nguyễn Quang Thùy was sent to attack Lũy Thầy (in present-day Quảng Bình Province). Later, Nguyễn Quang Toản led 30 thousand men marched to Linh River (modern Gianh River) to attack Nguyễn Ánh. Both of their army were utterly beaten. Toản fled to Nghệ An, in there he met Nguyễn Quang Thùy. They fled back to Thăng Long together.

Nguyễn Ánh’s army marched further north. In June, they captured Thăng Long. Nguyễn Quang Toản fled across the Nhị River (present day Red River) along with Nguyễn Quang Thùy, Nguyễn Quang Thùy, Nguyễn Quang Thiệu (阮光紹), Nguyễn Văn Dụng (阮文用), Nguyễn Văn Tứ and the Empress dowager Bùi Thị Nhạn. In Phượng Nhãn (Lạng Giang), They were captured alive by local villagers. Nguyễn Quang Thùy and Bùi Thị Nhạn committed suicide; the others were transferred to Phú Xuân, and executed by Nguyễn Ánh. According to Đại Nam thực lục, Nguyễn Quang Toản and his three brothers, Nguyễn Quang Duy (阮光維), Nguyễn Quang Thiệu and Nguyễn Quang Bàn (阮光盤), were executed by slow slicing, then their bodies were dismembered by having five elephants pull the limbs and head (五象分屍).

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.