Uc Trai Nguyen Trai was a great Vietnamese cultural celebrity who was recognized by the world for spending his whole life of complete ideal, sentimental attachment and sweets and bitters in life, and his heart always shining as Khue constellation over Thang Long land.
Nguyen Trai was born in 1380 while the Tran dynasty was declining and state affairs were in disorder. He was the son of Nguyen Phi Khanh, a poor student who passed the national examination, and Mrs. Tran Thi Thai – daughter of Tran Nguyen Dan, who was of the noble birth from Tran dynasty. Therefore, although his home town was in Chi Ngai village, Chi Linh district, Hai Duong province, Nguyen Trai was born in Thang Long in the palace of his grandfather, and then moved to Ngoc Oi Village, Nhi Khe Commune, Thuong Tin district, now in Ha Noi.
In 1400, Nguyen Trai passed the national examination and was nominated to be a mandarin under the Ho dynasty. Nguyen Phi Khanh and Nguyen Trai, father and son both, held mandarin positions in the Court and they were both famous for their political and literature talents.
Nguyen Trai worked as a mandarin in the court for a short time, with his ambition unfulfilled, and there was disturbance in the country. In 1407, Minh troops invaded the country. The resistance war by Ho dynasty was a failure, and Ho Quy Ly and his son as well as many mandarins in his court were arrested and brought to China, including Nguyen Trai’s father. Legend has it that Nguyen Trai wanted to show his dutifulness and loyalty so he and his brother Nguyen Phi Hung followed his father to China. When they came to Nam Quan pass, their father told them to come back and find ways to revenge for the country. Nguyen Trai repressed his tears and came back. He was caught by Minh troops and imprisoned in Dong Quan citadel. During his imprisonment, Nguyen Trai was in continuous torment to find ways to revenge for the country.
In the spring of 1423, Nguyen Trai and Tran Nguyen Han fled from Dong Quan, found the way to Loi Giang and participated in Lam Son insurgent army, presented “Binh Ngo book” and became the chief adviser for the leader of the insurgent army, Le Loi. Being reliable and assigned with important tasks, Nguyen Trai was responsible for composing documents of the insurgent army and at the same time took part in preparing plans to fight against Minh troops. Especially, between 1425 to the time when Lam Son insurgent army fully succeeded, Lam Son continued encircling many bastions of Minh troops. Nguyen Trai implemented the policy “mind attack” by regularly writing letters for leaders and troops in bastions to call for surrender or make the enemy become discouraged.
The year of 1427 could be considered the decisive year for the success of Lam Son insurgent army, which was full of momentum and enthusiasm, decisive moves and all possible efforts made for the independence of the nation. In such circumstances, Nguyen Trai had a chance to show his talents, proposing to Le Loi most appropriate strategies and policies. Lam Son army step by step liberated the Northern areas of the country, and defeated Vuong Thong reinforcements. Vuong Thong was forced to withdraw to stand on his ground in Dong Quan citadel and wait for reinforcements.
Then Minh dynasty continued to send 10 million reinforcements led by Lieu Thang and Moc Thanh to suppress the uprising. In that situation, the majority of commanders impatiently wanted to attack Dong Quan citadel and wipe out all spy forces for Lieu Thanh and Moc Thanh. Nguyen Trai was the only person who did not agree with that plan and he showed Le Loi strategic values of that situation. Finally Le Loi agreed with Nguyen Trai that “Attacking Dong Quan is a worse solution. It might take us several months or even a year to attack this well-constructed citadel, but success is uncertain; furthermore it makes our soldiers tired and discouraged. Meanwhile, as soon as their reinforcements come, we will be attacked both in front and behind which is very dangerous. It would be better to take care of our health, and prepare our courage to fight against the reinforcements. When their reinforcements are defeated, the troops in Dong Quan citadel certainly will have to surrender, thus we kill two birds with one stone.”
The fighting situation unfolded as Nguyen Trai predicted. Le Loi sent excellent leaders to defeat the 2 reinforcements, killed Lieu Thang and forced Moc Thanh to run away to his country immediately. Vuong Thong in Dong Quan citadel was desperate because there were no reinforcements left, and had to open the citadel gate and surrender. He also had to follow “Dong Quan oaths” with Le Loi, asked for permission to withdraw his troops and promised not to invade the country again.
The war was over and the glorious victory was attributed to Lam Son heroes. In the jubilant atmosphere of victory, Nguyen Trai, the adviser of the uprising wrote Binh ngo dai cao, which was considered the 2nd declaration of freedom of Vietnam, narrated the 20 years of fighting against Minh troops and 10 years of Lam Son uprising, which included both the hard, difficult and dangerous beginning to the final complete victory. Using flexible, gentle but strong, powerful sentences, Binh ngo dai cao expressed the goodwill, sense of determination and uprightness, spirit and intellect of the whole nation.
“Benevolence and righteousness are to win people’s hearts
The duty of an insurgent army is to eliminate brutality;
Like our Dai Viet country from the past,
This proclaimed our traditional culture for a long time,
Territories are separately divided,
Northern and Southern customs are different;
From Trieu, Dinh, Ly, Tran dynasties, we have built up the Independence;
Along with Han, Duong, Tong, Nguyen dynasties, each dynasty has its own territory;
Despite of differences in strength and weakness,
Each dynasty also has talented people”
(Translated by Ngo Tat To)
“Binh ngo dai cao” was admired by everyone and considered as “eternal powerful style”. “Binh ngo dai cao” was an immortal piece of literary work, making Nguyen Trai’s talents shining.
The country became peaceful. In 1428, Le Loi declared himself King, set up the Le So dynasty. Nguyen Trai was appointed “Quan Phuc Hau” and awarded to get Le surname. Nguyen Trai was eager to start a new period in hopes that he could use his talents to construct the nation. Unexpectedly, his life suffered from much injustice during this time. No longer favored by the King, Nguyen Trai could not promote his abilities. Firstly he was wrongly doubted that he and Tran Nguyen Han initiated a revolt, and was arrested and imprisoned in the dungeon. After being justified and sent out of the dungeon, Nguyen Trai wrote “Oan than” to express his pessimistic and unhappy attitude for his loyalty.
In 1433, Le Thai To died, and Prince Le Nguyen Long inherited the crown. Although he was young, Le Thai Tong King showed his intelligence and clear-slightness so he quickly reorganized the court, dismissed and killed usurpers of Le Sat and Le Ngan, and assigned important tasks to people who were loyal. Nguyen Trai, nearly 60 years old by that time, was nominated “Han Lam Vien Thua Chi” to oversee the work of army and people of 2 Eastern and Northern areas. Under Le Thai Tong dynasty, Nguyen Trai continued to show his talents. He advised the King: “You should love and nurture people so that everyone will be happy, there will not be complaints about injustice any more”. He composed The geography book for the King to read in order to improve his knowledge, pride and responsibility for the country. While he was living a peaceful life, suddenly troubles occurred to Nguyen Trai’s life. He suffered from an extremely terrible injustice which was a forever resentment.
In July 1442, Le Thai Tong King paid a visit to the Eastern area and rested in Nguyen Trai’s house in Con Son (Chi Linh, Hai Duong). Nguyen Trai’s wife, Nguyen Thi Lo, was allowed to work as a servant to the King. On the way back to the capital, the King suddenly passed away in Le Chi Vien garden (currently Gia Binh, Bac Ninh). Nguyen Trai was accused of killing the King and was sentenced with “3 generation killed”. With this unjust case of “Litchi Garden”, Nguyen Trai’s life ended on the 16th of August 1442.
More than 10 years later, the youngest son of Le Thai Tong King, Le Tu Thanh came to throne, naming himself Le Thanh Tong. In 1464, Le Thanh Tong King issued a royal proclamation to vindicate for Nguyen Trai, and praised Nguyen Trai “Uc trai’s spirit shines as a star”.
Nguyen Trai left many works including Chinese and Vietnamese scripts but they were lost after the “Le Chi Vien” case. In 1467, Le Thanh Tong King ordered a collection of Nguyen Trai’s literary posthumous manuscript. He was one of the most famous poets of Vietnam in feudal regimes with numerous excellent poems: Quoc am thi tap, Uc Trai thi tap, Quan trung tu menh tap, Geographical book, Lam Son thuc luc, Phu nui Chi Linh, Lam Son Vinh lang than dao bi, Ngoc Duong di cao…
In 1980, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of Nguyen Trai’s birthday (1380-1980), UNESCOrecognized him world cultural celebrity.
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