Story 6: Tri Cao Nung

All kings desired that whole the country they dominated was a united entity. King Thai Tong Ly was also one of them. Along the time he ruled the country, Dai Viet, he had had many policies to achieve his purpose. One of policies was political marriages. Princesses were sent and married with patriarchs who lived in the north highland of the country and the king also married with daughters of patriarchs. The king ordained them and let them manage the area but they had to obey the king. Therefore, the king didn’t need any fighting to force them to obey him.

Nung family had ruled provinces in the north highland long time. When Thai To Ly had been king he had ordained Ton Loc Nung to manage Thang Do area and his brother, Ton Loc Nung to manage Van Nhai area and his sister’s husband, Duong Dao to manage Vu Lac (now the areas were Cao Bang and Lang Son province)

When King Thai Tong Ly ascended the throne in 1038, Ton Phuc Nung killed the others and ruled their areas. He thought that the area was distant from the capital and besides, that was near Tong, the country was ready to help him whenever he requested. Phuc showed that he didn’t obey the king. He trained soldiers and established a new country, named Truong Sinh and Cao Binh (now Cao Binh, Hoa An district, Cao Bang province) was the new capital. He called himself Thanh Hoang emperor. His wife, A Nung, was ordained to be queen and his oldest son, Tri Thong Nung, was ordained to be Nam Nhai king. Phuc used to attack other areas and made borders were chaotic.

In 1039, the king sent a messenger coming and asking him to obey the king. Phuc not only didn’t listen but also dishonored the messenger. King Thai Tong Ly was angry, he himself brought solders to and fought Phuc. The way which led to the area was distant and craggy but that couldn’t stop them. When they arrived, Phuc knew that he and his soldiers couldn’t fight against the king and his soldiers. Therefore, Phuc and his family ran into the forest. They burned all camps to show the king his intent that he would fight against till he died. Soldiers of the king chased after them and caught Phuc and his oldest son. Phuc and his son were caged and brought to the capital. They were cut off their head at one when they arrived to the capital. That was a message the wanted to send others who planned to stand up him would had the same end. But, Phuc had another son, Tri Cao Nung, had escaped with his mother.

In 1041, Tri Cao Nung and his mother grouped underlings and regained Thang Do area. They established a new country, named Dai Lich. The king ordered general to fight them and it took no long time for the general could catch Tri Cao Nung and brought to the capital. The king didn’t want to kill him because he had killed his father and his brother. Therefore, he pardoned him and gave him a position named “Quang Nguyen Muc” (the position his father had had). He was responsible for management the area his father had managed and besides, Tu Lang area (Trung Khanh) though he was only 16 years old. He and his mother stood on their knees and promised that they would obey the king. In 1043, when Tri Cao Nung tributes to the king, the king ordained him to be the lord of the area he ruled. The king, besides, gifted him a new name, Thai Bao. Thought that his kindness would make Tri Cao Phung felt grateful but the king was wrong.

In 1048, Tri Cao Nung betrayed. He got the northwest of Cao Bang area by force. Another time, he established a new country with name, Dai Nam. He requested to king of Tong to merge into Tong. But, the king of Tong didn’t accept. King Thai Tong Ly ordered soldiers to attack them. That time, Tri Cao Nung requested to reconcile. He committed that he would not annoyed the borders which between his area and the country and he only expand his land in the side abutting with Tong. From that time, Tri Cao Nung attacked Tong.

Chinese history had written that Cao from the south brought soldiers coming and fighting Tong. He had wins in any where he arrived to. Besides, he was helped by people who were in other side of border, especially, he had allies, Tri Trung Nung and Kien Hau Nung who were also landlords and had same family name. Their power was tronger and stronger.

In 1052, Tri Cao Nung attacked Hoanh Son barrack then went in Ung Chau district, killed Tran Cung the mandarin of the area. That time, he established new country named Dai Nam. He called himself Emperor Nhan Hue. Then he attacked Quang Dong and Quang Tay and captured 9 districts. That was a large area. Later they went to attack Ho Nam. The name of Tri Cao Nung spread largely that made the king of Tong worried.

Then Dich Thanh, one of best general of China that time, brought soldiers to fight against them. Dich Thanh was a great general who had passed many fighting. So he was enough wisdom to solve Tri Cao Nung. Tri Cao Nung knew that he would lose. He sent a messenger to Dai Viet to pray King Thai Tong Ly to help him. King Thai Tong Ly ordered generals to go to the border and helped them at there. But they still didn’t arrived to the border Tri Cao Nung had lost and hid himself in Dai Li, a small country at Van Nam, the country had a long border with Dai Viet. King of Dai Ly scared That Tri Cao Nung would deprive his power and besides, he feared king of Tong. Therefore, he ordered servants to cut off Tri Cao Nung’s head later. The head was put into a box and was sent to king of Tong. That time, Thai Tong Ly had died and Thanh Tong Ly ascended the throne.

After Tri Cao Nung died, Thanh Tong Ly reclaimed the area which had managed by Tri Cao Nung and gave to others to manage. From that time, the border became peaceful.

THE END

"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

Read more:

Historical stories

Story 4: Thai Tong Ly, the kindness king

Story 5: Ceremony Dong Co

Story 7: One Pillar Pagoda (Chua Mot Cot)

Story 8: King Thanh Tong Ly

Story 9: Royal Concubine Y Lan

-----

Truyện cổ tích Việt Nam

Vietnamese fairy tales

Comments

BÀI ĐĂNG ĐƯỢC XEM NHIỀU

Truyện 166. Vợ chàng Trương

Ngày xưa, ở làng Nam-xương có cô gái tên là Vũ Thị Thiết, người đã xinh đẹp lại thùy mị nết na. Nàng lấy chồng là Trương sinh vốn là người cùng làng. Trương sinh có tính cả ghen, hay để tâm xét nét vợ, nhưng vợ chàng thường giữ gìn khuôn phép nên không có chuyện gì xảy ra. Vợ chồng hương đượm lửa nồng chưa được bao lâu thì bỗng nghe tin chốn biên thùy có giặc, chồng vâng lệnh quan phải từ giã mẹ và vợ đi lính thú. Bấy giờ vợ đang có thai. Buổi chia tay thật là bịn rịn, mẹ chúc cho con chân cứng đá mềm, chồng khuyên vợ gắng phụng dưỡng mẹ già và nuôi con khôn lớn. Sau khi chồng trẩy được mươi ngày thì Vũ Thị Thiết sinh được một đứa con trai, đặt tên là thằng Đản. Thằng bé sởn sơ mạnh khỏe, còn bà nội của nó vì nhớ con sinh ra đau ốm. Vợ chàng Trương hết lòng mời thầy chạy thuốc, nhưng bệnh của mẹ chồng mỗi ngày một nặng, chẳng bao lâu thì mất. Nhờ có bà con xóm giềng, mọi việc tống táng đều lo liệu chu toàn. Đã mấy thu qua không thấy chồng...

Thuong Luong

Thuong Luong was common name of creatures which are in people’s imagines. They are distant relatives of dragons. While dragons are worshiped as gods, the gods ruled rivers and sea and the gods can make rains, Thuong Luong is not respected as dragons that the creatures are too amorous, combative, wild, and have bad behaviors. All most of them like to harm people.

List of Vietnamese fairy tales

Vietnamese fairy tales includes many stories as Tam and Cam; So Dua; Hundred – knot- bamboo tree... which were spread in folk. Each stories has its own meaning. I think I can not translate exactly each word into english but I will try my best to convey its meaning to you. Hope you like them!

The heir

Once upon a time, there had a sixty-year-old man, Le. Le was wealthy but he didn’t have son he had only a daughter. Besides, his wife had died so the girl was his only relative. When his daughter grew up, she married with a man in that area. Bui was his son-in-law and he married with his daughter because of his wealth. Le also thought that he would give them his assets when he died. “Now, I am over sixty years old, too old to give birth to any child. Son or daughter is also my child so that he or she also can be the heir”, thought him. And his intent turned more certain as his daughter had a son. One day, he went to his Bui’s house to meet his grandchild he now was three years old. While he was talking with Bui’s father, the grandchild approached the father of Bui and said: “Grandpa! Com-- in eat”. “Oh my sweet grandchild”, said the father of his son-in-law, joking “What about him? Do you want to invite him?” The child shook his head and ran toward his gran...

Tam and Cam

Once upon a time, there had a little girl named Tam. Her mother died early so her father decided to remarry on purpose the stepmother would take care of his little daughter. The stepmother gave birth to a girl, named Cam after that. Then, her father died after few years. Tam had to live with her stepmother and her sister, Cam. Since the time, she was forced to work hard, all housework, while Cam had to do nothing. One day, the stepmother gave Tam and Cam each one a corf to caught fish. She promised that who caught full her corf would receive a piece of red silk. Tam and Cam went to field together. She was hard to catch fish while Cam only wondered around till afternoon and had nothing in her coft. Cam pointed at Tam’s coft and realised it is full, thinking seconds, she said gently: “sister Tam, your head is mud, you should wash it or mother will punish you” Belive Cam, Tam went to river nearly. She left her corf on the shore, waded into water to wash. Cam, meanwhile, stayed on t...

Two Tran princesses.

The recent king, a king of Tran dynasty, had given birth to five princesses. Two of them were beautiful princesses whose names Bao Nuong and Ngoc Nuong and both of them were old enough to marry. The king planned to find husbands for them but they refused. They like traveling. One day, they came and asked the king: “Dad, My king, I and my sister are people who love our country. So, we want to travel and enjoy scenery before we marry with others”. The king couldn’t prevent them and he had to agree. The princesses disguised as two men and brought with them some servants. They set off and came to places in the country. They had landed on many places which were known as beautiful places. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com Meanwhile, the country was fighting with enemies, a country in the north of the country, Nguyen. The enemies were cruel. Wherever they had crossed, all remaining things were ruins though those were temples or houses. The recent king had many time or...

Wise rabbit

Because he couldn’t find any thing to eat in forest a rabbit went to field to steal sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, the owner was in a hut near there and sprinted to catch him. Wise rabbit, immediately, pretended that he was dead. The owner moved him few times but the rabbit didn’t move and he believed that the rabbit had been dead. He grabbed rabbit’s ears and carried to his home. As he arrived to a stall he laid the rabbit under a tree and observed but the rabbit didn’t run. Therefore, he was comfortable to come in and drank. But when he had come in the stall the rabbit woke up and ran away. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com Though the rabbit had escaped but he had not found any thing to eat for days. So hungry he risked to come to the field again. Unlucky, he was caught again. The owner had known that was a wise rabbit so that time he tied the rabbit carefully and bring to his home. He asked his wife: “Cage him. We will slaughter him on father's death anniversary”. ...

God of blacksmiths and blacksmith

Khong Lo, the god of blacksmiths, was the god who had taught people casting and also the go who governed blacksmiths. Khong Lo early realized that not all blacksmiths were good guy so he used to appear on ground and challenge blacksmiths. A street blacksmith who used to shoulder tools wander on street and helped people remold metal things. “Mold pots, mold jars, mold tray, remold metal things”, he cried to let others know he was a blacksmith. The blacksmith was great so he could mold and remold all things people needed in short time. In the time he worked he stayed in house of people who needed him to mold things. When things were molded, he got his money and set off. That was his work. One day, the blacksmith made his way to a fair. He went cross a forest and met a boy who was shouldering tools as he was. As he saw the blacksmith, the stood and bowed his head politely. “Do you see anybody go cross the direction you have passed, sir?”, said the boy. “Who do you find?”...

Cat and mouse

Ngoc Hoang was king who ruled in heaven. As other kings, he had stores which storied all treasures belonging to him. The stores needed a person to manage them. Thu was one of gods living in heaven, clear and hard work. Therefore, Ngoc Hoang entrusted the job, taking care of the stores, to Thu. Ngoc Hoang gave him keys and said: “Though all things in heaven are unlimited, we shouldn’t waste them. Therefore, I need a person to manage them. That is you. You don’t need to report to me daily. Twice a year are enough”, said Ngoc Hoang. “Follow your words, my king”, said Thu. Thu happily received his new position. Few years later, Thu did his duty well he set things at their places, didn’t wasted anything. Ngoc Hoang was very satisfied but nothing could keep its initial state pass time. Because things which belonged to Ngoc Hoang were very great none could count or measure, Thu thought about stealing. “Only a little could be enough for my family to live till the...

Vietnamese fairy tales

Search This Blog