'' (光中通寶), A coin issued during the reign of Emperor Quang Trung Once in power, Emperor Quang Trung first began instituting massive and unprecedented national reforms in Vietnam. Though Quang Trung entitled as "king of Annam" by Qing China, he always regarded himself as emperor of
Đại Việt. He crowned
Lê Ngọc Hân empress, and granted her the noble title
Bắc Cung hoàng hậu (北宮皇后 "empress of Northern Palace");
Nguyễn Quang Toản was designated as Crown Prince. Taking the advice of
Nguyễn Thiếp, Quang Trung decided to relocate the imperial capital in
Nghệ An Province. He ordered
Trần Quang Diệu to build a new citadel at the foot of Kỳ Lân Hill (modern
Quyết Hill in
Vinh). The new citadel was named
Phượng Hoàng Trung Đô (鳳凰中都).
Thăng Long was renamed
Bắc Thành (北城).
Sơn Nam (山南) split into two
trấn ("town"): Sơn Nam Thượng (山南上 "Upper Sơn Nam") and Sơn Nam Hạ (山南下 "Lower Sơn Nam"). Each
trấn had two high officials:
Trấn-thủ (鎮守 "viceroy") and
Hiệp-trấn (協鎮 "deputy viceroy"). Each
huyện ("district") had two officials:
phân-tri (分知), the civil official, took charge of judicial litigation;
phân-suất (分率), the military official, took charge of army provisions. The official system of
Tây Sơn dynasty was not mentioned in official records, but we could find several names of official positions in history records, such as
tam công (三公),
tam thiếu (三少),
Đại-chủng-tể (大冢宰),
Đại-tư-đồ (大司徒),
Đại-tư-khấu (大司寇),
Đại-tư-mã (大司馬),
Đại-tư-không (大司空),
Đại-tư-cối (大司會),
Đại-tư-lệ (大司隸),
Thái-úy (太尉),
Đại-tổng-quản (大總管),
Đại-đổng-lý (大董理),
Đại-đô-đốc (大都督),
Đại-đô-hộ (大都護),
Trung-thư-sảnh (中書廳),
Trung-thư-lệnh (中書令),
Đại-học-sĩ (大學士),
Hiệp-biện đại-học-sĩ (協辦大學士),
Thị-trung ngự-sử (侍中御史),
Lục-bộ thượng-thư (六部尚書),
Tả-hữu đồng-nghị (左右同議),
Tả-hữu phụng-nghị (左右奉議),
Thị-lang (侍郎),
Tư-vụ (司務),
Hàn-lâm (翰林), etc. The system of
military units: a
đạo (道) was composed of several
cơ (奇), a
cơ was composed of several
đội (隊). Quang Trung organized the army into five major wings:
tiền-quân ("army of the front"),
hậu-quân ("army of the rear"),
trung-quân ("army of the center"),
tả-quân ("army of the left"),
hữu-quân ("army of the right"). Tây Sơn army was recruited by enforced conscription. Chose one in three adult males (
đinh 丁), the chosen one should join the army. Adult males of the whole country divided into three scales to pay taxes in
corvée (
sưu dịch) and
capitation (
thuế thân):
vị cập cách (未及格), 2 to 17 years old;
tráng hạng (壯項), 18 to 55 years old;
lão hạng (老項); 56 to 60 years old;
lão nhiêu (老饒), over 61 years old. Different scales had different tax collection standards. Farmers had to pay a fixed amount of
grain as tax. Publicly owned farmland divided into three scales: the first scale paid 150
bát (鉢, a unit of weight) per
mẫu (a unit of area); the second scale, 80
bát per
mẫu; the third scale, 50
bát per
mẫu. Privately owned farmland also divided into three scales: the first scale, 40
bát per
mẫu; the second scale, 30
bát per
mẫu; the third scale, 20
bát per
mẫu. There were also two additional taxes of farmland:
tiền thập-vật (錢什物) and
tiền khoán-khố (錢券庫). Publicly owned farmland: paid 1
tiền (currency unit) per
mẫu for
thập-vật, 50
đồng per
mẫu for
khoán-khố; privately owned farmland: paid 1
tiền per
mẫu for
thập-vật, 30
đồng per
mẫu for
khoán-khố. Quang Trung introduced the identity card system to govern the large population. A census was conducted during his reign. Every adult male was granted
tín bài (信牌), a wooden card on which was his name, birthplace and
fingerprints. If anyone did not have the wooden card, he would be arrested and
imprisoned with hard labour. Quang Trung also replaced the traditional
Chinese script with the Vietnamese
chữ Nôm as the official written language of the country. Examinees were ordered to write chữ Nôm in
imperial examination. Though this policy was criticized at that time, modern scholars stated that it had progressive significance. A religious reform was carried out during his reign. Many small Buddhist monasteries were closed and merged into larger ones. Monks had to pass an examination, otherwise, they would be ordered to return to secular life. Quang Trung also adopted a policy of religious tolerance. His religious toleration won him the support of the growing Christian community and his campaign of the common people against the traditional elites won him the admiration of the peasant majority. == Plans to invade China ==