Sui rule By late AD 500s,
Jiaozhou (northern Vietnam) was ruled autonomously by a regime of localized Chinese
Early Lý dynasty. As the Sui dynasty consolidated power in China,
Lý Phật Tử acknowledge Sui overlordship in 589. In 602 when Ly Phat Tu openly rebelled,
Emperor Wen of Sui deployed General
Liu Fang and 27,000 troops, conquering the region. In 605, Yang Jian pushed further south,
invaded the
Cham Simhapura kingdom in central Vietnam, briefly set up an administration and divided the country into 3 counties: Tỷ Ảnh, Hải Âm and Tượng Lâm. Liu Fang was nominated as the viceroy of Jiaozhou. He died while returning from Champa to the north and Qiu He (丘和) replaced him to rule the land. However, in 618,
Emperor Gaozu of Tang overthrew the Sui dynasty and established the
Tang dynasty. Qiu He first submitted to
Xiao Xian's empire in 618, then to the Tang emperor in 622, incorporating northern Vietnam into the Tang dynasty. A local ruler of Jiuzhen (today's
Thanh Hóa), Lê Ngọc, stayed loyal to Xiao Xian and fought against the Tang for another three years.
Tang rule In 627, Emperor Taizong launched an administrative reform which reduced the number of provinces. In 679, Jiaozhou province was replaced with the
Protectorate General to Pacify the South (Annan Duhufu). This administrative unit was used by the Tang to govern non-Chinese populations on the frontiers, similar to the
Protectorate General to Pacify the West in Central Asia and the
Protectorate General to Pacify the East in northern Korea. Every four years, the "southern selection" would choose aboriginal chiefs to be appointed to fill positions of the fifth degree and above. Taxation was more moderate than within the empire proper; the harvest tax was one-half the standard rate, an acknowledgement of the political problems inherent in ruling a non-Chinese population. Native girls of Vietnam: Tais, Viets and others were also targeted by the slave traders. The women of Viet tribes were most likely used as everyday household slaves and handmaidens during most of the Tang. For the first time since the
Han dynasty, Chinese schools were built, and dykes were constructed to protect the capital city of
Songping (later
Đại La). The
Red River delta was the largest agricultural plain in the empire's south, with roads connecting
Champa and
Zhenla to the south and the southwest, and sea routes connected to the
Indian Ocean. Buddhism flourished in Annan, although the Tang's official religion was
Daoism. At least 6 monks from northern Vietnam traveled to China,
Srivijaya, India and Sri Lanka during the Tang period. Very few natives engaged in the Confucian scholarship and civil service examination.
Revolts and notable events In 687, the Li chief
Lý Tự Tiên rebelled against Tang authority due to the governor of Annan, Liu Yanyou, doubled the taxes. Liu Yanyou killed Lý but couldn't stop the rebellion and was killed. Cao Xuanjing marched into Annan, put down the rebellion, and executed the rebel leader Đinh Kiến. In 722,
Mai Thúc Loan from Jiude (today
Hà Tĩnh Province) led a large insurrection against Chinese rule. Styling himself "Swarthy Emperor" or "Black Emperor" (Hắc Đẽ), he rallied 400,000 people from 23 counties to join, and also allied with
Champa and
Chenla, an unknown kingdom named Jinlin ("Gold Neighbor") and other unnamed kingdoms. A Tang army of 100,000 under general Yang Zixu, including a multitude of mountain tribesmen who had remained loyal to the Tang, marched directly along the coast, following the old road built by Ma Yuan. Yang Zixu attacked Mai Thúc Loan by surprise and suppressed the rebellion in 723. The corpses of the Swarthy Emperor and his followers were piled up to form a huge mound and were left on public display to check further revolts. Later from 726 to 728, Yang Zixu suppressed other rebellions of Li and
Nung peoples led by Chen Xingfan and Feng Lin in the north, who proclaimed the title "Emperor of Nanyue", causing another 80,000 deaths. Because of the An Lushan rebellion in 755, the Annan Protectorate's name was briefly changed to Zhennan Protectorate (guarded south). In 767, the northern Vietnam coast was invaded by
Shailendra/Javanese army but was driven back by Chinese general Zhang Boyi. In 785, chieftains of the indigenous,
Đỗ Anh Hàn and
Phùng Hưng, rebelled due to Tang governor Gao Zhengping's doubling of taxes. Tang forces retook Annan in 791. In 803 and 809, Champa raided southern Annan. Troops working on garrison fortifications also revolted. From 803 to 863, local rebels killed or expelled no fewer than six protector-generals of Annan. In 820, Dương Thanh seized Songping and killed the protectorate general. Dương Thanh was unpopular due to his cruelty and put to death by the locals soon after, however the region continued to experience disorders for the next 16 years.
Nanzhao invasion Kingdom In 854, the new governor of Annan, Li Zhuo, provoked hostiles and conflicts with the mountain tribes by reducing the salt trade and killing powerful chieftains, resulting in the defection of prominent local leaders to the
Nanzhao Kingdom. The local chief
Lý Do Độc, the Đỗ clan, the warlord
Chu Đạo Cổ, as well as others, submitted or allied with Nanzhao. In 858 they sacked the capital of Annan. In the same year the Tang court responded by appointing
Wang Shi as the military governor of Annan, aiming to restore order, strengthen the defense of Songping. Wang Shi was recalled to deal with the rebellion of Qiu Fu in Zhejiang in late 860. Northern Vietnam then degenerated back to chaos and turmoil. The new Chinese military governor, Li Hu, executed Đỗ Thủ Trừng, a prominent local chief, thus alienating many of the powerful local clans of Annan. The Nanzhao army was initially welcomed by the locals, and their joint force captured Songping in January 861, forced Li Hu to flee. The Tang managed to retake the region in summer 861. In spring 863 Nanzhao and rebels numbered 50,000 under generals Yang Sijin and Duan Qiuqian launched the
Siege of Songping. The city fell in late January as the Chinese army withdrew north. The Protectorate of Annan was abolished. The Tang launched a counterattack in September 864 under
Gao Pian, an experienced general who had fought the
Türks and the
Tanguts in the north. In winter 865–866, Gao Pian recaptured Songping and northern Vietnam, and expelled Nanzhao from the region. Gao punished local people who had allied with Nanzhao, executed Chu Đạo Cổ and 30,000 local rebels. In 868 he renamed the region to "The Peaceful Sea Army" (
Jinghai guan). He rebuilt the citadel in Songping, named it
Đại La, repaired 5,000 meters of damaged city wall, and reconstructed 400,000 bays for its residents. He was well respected even by the later Vietnamese.
End of Chinese rule The Tang continued campaigning against local chieftains in Annan in 874 and 879. In 877, troops deployed from Annan in
Guangxi mutined. In 880, the army in Annan mutinied, took the city of
Đại La, and forced the military commissioner Zeng Gun to flee, ending
de facto Chinese control in Vietnam. By 880, power was transferred to the local Sino-indigenous elites who governed in the name of Tang. At that point the region was probably still very diverse in terms of ethno-linguistics with a predominance of
Kra-Dai and
Austroasiatic-speaking peoples, who have since been marginalized by Chinese and Vietnamese histories, as historian and archaeologist
John N. Miksic speculates. In 905, a leader named
Khúc Thừa Dụ came to power as commissioner for
Tĩnh Hải quân (Jinghai guan). The Khúc's origins are unknown but they manipulated the
Later Liang dynasty court in the north to maintain their own autonomy. In 930, the emperor of
Southern Han Liu Yan attacked Jinghai and removed the Khuc family from power. In late 931,
Duong Dinh Nghe, a noble from Aizhou (Thanh Hoa) who was much less sinicized than the Khucs revolted and ousted Southern Han. However Duong Dinh Nghe was assassinated in 937 by a leader of a pro-Chinese faction bent on restoring the sinified leadership he had displaced.
Ngo Quyen, son-in-law of Duong, quickly overthrew of the revanchist leaders and defeated the meddling Southern Han fleet in the
Battle of Bạch Đằng River in late 938. In 939, he claimed himself king (vua), and chose the ancient town of
Co Loa as the court's capital. The Jinghai Circuit became a de facto independent state, and it could be considered that Vietnamese history came into its own at that point. ==List of governors==