Nguyễn Trãi
Poet, strategist, and advisor who helped defeat Ming rule.
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Nguyễn Trãi (1380–1442), pen name Ức Trai, was a Vietnamese poet, politician, and Confucian scholar. He served as the principal advisor, strategist, and propagandist for Lê Lợi during the war of independence against the Ming dynasty, and is credited with writing the political statements that rallied Vietnamese support for rebellion. He authored the "Great Proclamation upon the Pacification of the Wu" (Bình Ngô đại cáo) and is remembered as a national hero.
Lore & Background
Nguyễn Trãi was born in 1380 in Thăng Long (present-day Hanoi), originally from Hải Dương Province. Under the brief Hồ dynasty, he passed examinations and served in government. After the Ming invasion in 1406, he joined Lê Lợi in 1417, serving as chief advisor, strategist, and propagandist during the war of independence (1417–1427).
He sent missives to Ming commanders to undermine enemy resolve and negotiate peace, and penned the victory proclamation after the defeat of Chinese reinforcements at the battle of Chi Lăng-Xương Giang. After the war, Nguyễn Trãi was elevated in court but not appointed regent upon Lê Lợi's death; that role went to Lê Sát. Finding court life difficult, he retired to his country home in the mountains of Chí Linh, where he wrote poetry and meditated.
In 1442, the young emperor Lê Thái Tông began an affair with Nguyễn Trãi's wife or concubine, Nguyễn Thị Lộ. After the emperor died suddenly following a visit, both Nguyễn Trãi and Nguyễn Thị Lộ were accused of regicide and executed along with most of their extended family. Twenty years later, emperor Lê Thánh Tông pardoned Nguyễn Trãi, declaring him innocent, and granted him the posthumous title Count of Tán Trù.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Nguyễn Trãi (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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