TheAnarchy of the 12 Warlords[1] (Vietnamese:Loạn 12 sứ quân,chữ Nôm: 亂𨑮𠄩使君;Sino-Vietnamese:Thập nhị sứ quân chi loạn,chữ Hán: 十二使君之亂), also thePeriod of the 12 Warlords,[2] was a period of chaos and civil war in thehistory of Vietnam, from 965 to 968 caused by the succession of theNgô dynasty after the death of KingNgô Quyền. This period is also sometimes simply called theTwelve Warlords[3] (Vietnamese:Mười hai sứ quân, 𨑮𠄩使君). Four of the warlords are verified to have traced their direct lineage from what is now China today. This period ended in 968 with the unification war of Vietnam byĐinh Bộ Lĩnh, who later established theĐinh dynasty.
The name of this period came from a Vietnamese envoy to theSong dynasty court. The envoy used a literary allusion toEmperor Shun'sTwelve Regions which the Song translated literally, calling it theChaos of the Twelve Prefectures. Later Vietnamese historians reinterpreted the Song translation asChaos of the Twelve Lords.[4]
In 939,Ngô Quyền became King ofTĩnh Hải quân (asVietnam was called then) after defeating theSouthern Han and declaring independence from centuries of Chinese rule. After Ngô Quyền's death in 944, his brother-in-lawDương Tam Kha, who was to serve asregent to the king's son Crown PrinceNgô Xương Ngập, usurped the throne and proclaimed himself king under the titleDương Bình Vương, ruling from 944 to 950. As a result, Crown Prince Ngô Xương Ngập fled and hid in the countryside. The prince's younger brother, PrinceNgô Xương Văn became the adopted son of Dương Tam Kha.
Because of the illegitimate accession ofDương Tam Kha, many local warlords rebelled by seizing power of their local governments and creating conflicts with the Dương court. King Dương Tam Kha sent an army led by Prince Ngô Xương Văn to suppress the rebellion. However, with the army at his command, the prince staged a coup d'état in 950. Rather than administering a harsh punishment, Ngô Xương Văn forgave Dương Tam Kha and demoted him to the title of "Lord". Ngô Xương Văn was then crowned king under the title "Nam Tấn Vương", and sent envoys in search for his refuged older brother, Ngô Xương Ngập. In 951, Ngô Xương Ngập returned to Cổ Loa and was crowned king under the title "Thiên Sách Vương", and with his brother became a co-ruler of theTĩnh Hải Quân. However, the co-rulership was short-lived, as the elder brother King Ngô Xương Ngập died of illness in 954.
Despite the return of the legitimate heirs to the throne, rebellions continued to afflict the country. In965, in an attempt to quell the rebellion in 2 villages Đường and Nguyễn, King Ngô Xương Văn was killed by the rebels.[5]Lã Xử Bình, Xương Văn's subordinate general, then took control of the royal capital atCổ Loa.[6] PrinceNgô Xưong Xí, the son of King Ngô Xương Văn, inherited the throne, but he could not maintain his father's authority. He retreated to the area ofBình Kiều and established his power base there. When the Ngô dynasty collapsed under Lã Xử Bình's rebellion, Tĩnh Hải Quân became a power vacuum and divided into 12 domains where each was administered by a powerful warlord converging into three main factions during the conflict: the Ngô dynasty royalists underNgô Xương Xí; military junta under Lã Xử Bình in Cổ Loa; and the regional governorship underTrần Lãm.[7]
Other minor warlords eventually joined in and formed alliances among the three main factions of the conflict.
Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, adopted son of LordTrần Lãm who ruled the region of Bố Hải Khẩu (nowThái Bình Province), succeeded Lãm after his death. In 968, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh defeated the other eleven major warlords and reunified the nation under his rule. In the same year, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh ascended the throne, proclaiming himself emperor with the titleĐinh Tiên Hoàng, establishing theĐinh dynasty, and he renamed the nation asĐại Cồ Việt ("Great Viet"). He moved the capital toHoa Lư (modern-dayNinh Bình).
Of those, Ngô Xương Xí and Ngô Nhật Khánh were nobles of the Ngô dynasty, Phạm Bạch Hổ, Đỗ Cảnh Thạc, Kiều Công Hãn were officials of the Ngô dynasty. The remainders were considered local landlords or nobles from Northern nations, which was the ancient nations holding what is now China. Four of the lords are verified to have traced their lineage from what is now China today.
Recent findings suggest that there was a 13th warlord that is not included in the list: Dương Huy, who ruled a region to the South-East of Cổ Loa.[6]
Đinh Bộ Lĩnh used to hold some posts in Hoan Châu (Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh today), but lost his positions and went back to Hoa Lư in 950. Here, he became an adoptive son and subordinate general to Trần Lãm. Considering Đinh Bộ Lĩnh as a reasonable leader who could manage the circumstances, Trần Lãm retired and gave all power to him. Đinh Bộ Lĩnh led the army to occupy Hoa Lư, which became the national capital under his reign afterward.[8]
Đinh Bộ Lĩnh was respected asVạn Thắng Vương (萬勝王,Wànshèng Wáng, lt.the King of Ten Thousand Victories) because of the continuous victories. In 968, the era ended and was replaced by the era of theĐinh dynasty.
Đinh Bộ Lĩnh began by defeating Lã Xử Bình in Cổ Loa.[9]
The battle with Đỗ Cảnh Thạc in Đỗ Động Giang took over a year, until Đinh Bộ Lĩnh seized the fortress and Đỗ Cảnh Thạc was killed.
In Tây Phù Liệt, Nguyễn Siêu lost four of his generals in the first battle with Đinh Bộ Lĩnh. In the second battle, he split his army in half to seek backup. However, their ships were wrecked, upon which Đinh Bộ Lĩnh commanded his soldiers to set fire to the camps of the remaining army. Nguyễn Siêu died.[10]
By the beginning of 968, after defeating and killing Nguyễn Thủ Tiệp, Kiểu Công Hãn, Nguyễn Khoan, Kiều Thuận, Lý Khuê, Lã Đường, the war ended and Đinh Bộ Lĩnh successfully united the divided regions.[11][12]
He also convinced Phạm Bạch Hồ, Ngô Xương Xí, and Ngô Nhật Khánh to surrender and join his army.[13]
| Preceded by | The Anarchy of the 12 Warlords 965 - 968 | Succeeded by |
