File:Toda No. 177 泰德通寶.png

English: Coins and Banknotes of Vietnam and French Indochina

ANNAM AND ITS MINOR CURRENCY XIX. The 西山 Tay-son Rebellion. 1764-1801. Annam is certainly the country in which there have been the greatest number of rebellions, and the most important one is without doubt that of the Western Mountaineers, who rebelled in 1764 in the province of 平定 Binh-dinh, and soon afterwards became the masters of the whole Annamese territory. There exist two different versions of the origin of this great rebellion. According to the Annamese version, as given by Mr. PETRUS VINH-KY, there lived in the country of Binh-dinh a Tunquinese family of prisoners of war who had formerly inhabited 爻安 Nghe-an, and who were taken down to Cochinchina by the NGUYEN armies during the reign of 神宗 Than-tong. One of the members of this family, called 阮文岳 NGUYEN VAN-NHAC, rose to the position of Bien-lai or Treasurer of the Customs station at Van-don. This Nguyen Van-nhac lost heavy sums by gambling, and to pay these amounts he embezzled Government money under his charge. Fearing discovery, he fled to the Tay-son mountains, and there soon collected around him about three thousand criminals, thiefs and pirates. He appointed his two brothers 文惠 VAN-HUE and 文錄 VAN-LU lieutenants of this army, whose first operations were to attack and plunder the Customs stations on the frontier and to pillage the rich families in the country. The men of that army took the name of 西山 Tay-son. and the revolt is known by the name of the Rebellion of the Western Mountaineers. The Tay-son rebels successfully resisted the armies sent against them, emboldened by the victories they obtained, until they seized the citadel of Binh-dinh, having entered its walls by a stratagem somewhat similar to that of the famous wooden horse of the siege of Troy. The rebel chief however soon found himself hard pressed on the North by the royal troops of the LE Dynasty, under the command of Trinh-sum, and on the South by those of the Lords NGUYEN. VAN-NHAC thought it prudent to cast in his lot with that of the Lords Trinh, by whom he was soon employed to expel the Nguyen from the country. This end being obtained, he was created 鄭靖王 Trinh-thanh Vuong, in 1775, and appointed by royal authority Governor of Qnang-nam. In 1776 the war against the Nguyen was continued and their last King 睿宗 DUE-TONG and his son were made prisoners and beheaded in Saigon. In 1777 Van-nhac took advantage of the royal armies having returned to Tunquin to proclaim himself king of Cochinchina under the name of 泰德 THAI-DUC. But at the same time a nephew of King DUE-TONG, the last representative of the NGUYEN family, raised his standard against the Tay-son rebels, and after many contests in which success and reverses were equally divided, he put an end to the rebellion, and in 1801 occupied the throne of Annam, taking 嘉隆 GIA-LONG as the name of his reign and founding the present Dynasty of the country. The Chinese version of the Tay-son revolt is that the Lords TRINH, in order to take advantage of every possible way of destroying the power of the NGUYEN, bribed two of their officials, VAN-NHAC and VAN-HUE, and commanded them to revolt and take the capital Hue, and thus annihilate the race of their rulers. It is easy to perceive that this version is not a correct one, as it was Lord Trinh himself who took Hue and subsequently received the submission of the Tay-son. We have seen that in 1777 VAN-NHAC proclaimed himself king and appointed his brother HUE commander-in-chief. Rivalry soon broke out between the two brothers, and a fight ensued between their two armies, but a common danger brought them together again. In order to prevent such differences for the future, they divided, in 1785, the territories already conquered into three kingdoms, each kingdom to be governed by one of the brothers. The following table will give an exact idea of this division. NAME. ACCESSION. NAME OF REIGN. YEAR OF ADOPTION OF NAME OF REIGN. First brother. 阮文岳 Nguyen Van-nhac 1764 泰德 Thai-duc 1777 Second brother. 阮文惠 Nguyen Van-hue 1785 光中 Quang-trung 1786 阮文纘 Nguyen Van-toan 1791 景盛 Canh-thinh 1791

寶興 Bao-hung 1800 Third brother. 阮文錄 Nguyen Van-lu 1785 東定 Dong-dinh 1785 The above notices will be sufficient to give an idea of the importance of the Tay-son rebellion. These rebels occupied in fact the whole of Annam, and the Chinese Emperor K'IEN-LUNG, after having invaded that country and failed to restore the throne of the Last LE Prince, recognized Van-hue as king, in 1789, and received him in his summer palace at Jehol. The story of the contest between the armies of the Tay-son and those of GlA-LONG is a long one, and of no special interest, as it merely consists of a long list of battles in the Annamese style, in which appears as victor the very same chief who the day before had been defeated. Gia-long had the good fortune of being assisted by the Bishop of Adran who caused the French Government to interfere for the first time with the affairs of Annam. In 1801 Quinhon, the last stronghold of the rebels, fell into his hands, and thus ended the most formidable rebellion that has ever devastated Annam. VAN-NHAC took the title of 大皇帝 Dai-hoang-de or Emperor, and occupied the territories of the 廣南 Quang-nam to the South of 平定 Binh-dinh, his capital being at the port of Quinhon. He died in 1792 leaving as accessor his son 思朝 Tu-trieu, who was immediately deposed and some time afterwards murdered by his uncle Hue.

No. 177. (Barker: 91.3-91.4) Obverse: 泰德通寶 Thai-duc-thong-bao.

Reverse: plain. Copper.