Lam Son Uprising (1418-1427): Le Loi Expels the Ming from Vietnam

The Lam Son uprising was a war of independence fought from 1418 to 1427 by Le Loi and his followers against Ming Chinese rule in Vietnam. Beginning as a small rebellion in the hills of Thanh Hoa, it grew into a national war that defeated large Ming armies and forced China to withdraw. Victory in 1427 ended two decades of occupation and led to the founding of the Later Le dynasty, the longest-lasting in Vietnamese history.

Background: the Ming conquest

Vietnam, then called Dai Viet, had been independent since the 10th century, when the Battle of Bach Dang in 938 ended a millennium of Chinese rule. The Tran dynasty had defended the country against the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but it weakened in the late 14th century.

In 1400 the powerful minister Ho Quy Ly overthrew the Tran and founded his own Ho dynasty. Opponents appealed to China, and the Yongle Emperor used the claim of restoring the Tran as a reason to invade. In 1406-1407 Ming armies overran the country, captured Ho Quy Ly and his sons, and took them to China.

Instead of restoring the Tran, the Ming annexed Dai Viet as the province of Jiaozhi, as it had been under earlier Chinese dynasties. Resistance led by members of the Tran family continued until 1414, when it was crushed.

Life under Ming rule

The Ming administration imposed heavy taxes and demanded forced labour, particularly in mines and in the collection of forest and sea products for the imperial court. Officials tried to make local customs conform to Chinese ones, and many Vietnamese books were confiscated and taken to China.

Thousands of skilled artisans and scholars were also sent to China. The harshness of rule, especially under officials such as the eunuch Ma Qi, created widespread resentment that the rebels could draw upon.

The uprising begins

Le Loi was a wealthy landowner from Lam Son in the mountainous province of Thanh Hoa, south of the Red River delta. Early in 1418 he proclaimed himself Binh Dinh Vuong, the “Pacifying King”, and raised the banner of revolt with a small group of followers.

The early years were extremely hard. Ming forces repeatedly drove the rebels into the mountains, and at times they were short of food and close to defeat. Vietnamese tradition tells that in 1419 Le Lai, one of Le Loi’s companions, dressed in his leader’s clothes and led a desperate attack so that Le Loi could escape; he was captured and killed, and is honoured as a model of loyalty.

In 1423 Le Loi agreed to a truce with the Ming, which gave him time to rebuild his strength. Fighting resumed in 1424.

The rebels relied on guerrilla tactics suited to the hills and forests: ambushes, night attacks and rapid withdrawals. Le Loi also tried to win the support of villagers by forbidding his troops to plunder and by presenting the war as a struggle to restore the country rather than a private bid for power.

From the south to the delta

On the advice of his commander Nguyen Chich, Le Loi moved south in 1424 into Nghe An, where Ming control was weaker and the population ready to rise. From there the rebels took control of the southern provinces of Tan Binh and Thuan Hoa in 1425, gaining men, supplies and a secure base.

In 1426 Le Loi’s armies advanced north into the Red River delta. In November 1426 they won a major victory at Tot Dong and Chuc Dong, south-west of the capital, over the Ming commander Wang Tong (Vuong Thong in Vietnamese). Wang Tong withdrew into the fortified capital, Dong Quan (modern Hanoi), which the rebels besieged.

Victory at Chi Lang and the Ming withdrawal

The Ming government sent large relief armies in 1427. One, under Liu Sheng (Lieu Thang), advanced from Guangxi through the Chi Lang pass in the north-east, while another, under Mu Sheng, approached from Yunnan. Vietnamese sources give Liu Sheng’s force as around 100,000 men; the true number is uncertain.

In the autumn of 1427 the Vietnamese ambushed Liu Sheng’s army in the Chi Lang area. Liu Sheng was killed and his army destroyed in a series of engagements. On hearing the news, Mu Sheng’s army retreated.

Cut off and with no hope of relief, Wang Tong negotiated. In December 1427 he agreed to withdraw, and the Ming garrisons left the country in early 1428. Le Loi allowed the Ming soldiers and officials to return home rather than taking revenge, a decision designed to make peace with China possible.

Key people

Le Loi (1385-1433) led the uprising from start to finish. He combined patience, a willingness to retreat when necessary and an ability to attract capable followers, and became Emperor Le Thai To in 1428.

Nguyen Trai (1380-1442), a scholar whose father had been taken to China by the Ming, joined Le Loi early and became his chief adviser. He is remembered for his skilled diplomatic letters and as one of Vietnam’s greatest writers. Le Lai, Nguyen Chich and Le Sat were among Le Loi’s leading commanders.

Consequences

In 1428 Le Loi took the throne in Dong Kinh, the old capital Thang Long, as Le Thai To, founding the Later Le dynasty. He soon restored tributary relations with the Ming, and China recognised him as ruler, ending the conflict without further war.

To mark the victory, Nguyen Trai wrote the Binh Ngo dai cao, the “Great Proclamation on the Pacification of the Wu”, in 1428. It presents Dai Viet as a civilised nation with its own history, rulers and customs, equal to China, and is often called Vietnam’s second declaration of independence.

The Later Le state became a strong centralised monarchy. Under Le Thanh Tong (r. 1460-1497) it developed a Confucian bureaucracy and the Hong Duc legal code, and conquered the Cham capital Vijaya in 1471.

Legacy

Le Loi died in 1433 and was buried at Lam Kinh in Thanh Hoa, where his tomb and stone guardian animals survive. The legend of the Returned Sword, in which a golden turtle reclaimed his magic sword from a lake in the capital, gave Hoan Kiem Lake in central Hanoi its name and remains one of Vietnam’s best-known stories.

The uprising became a central example of Vietnamese resistance to foreign rule, alongside the struggles against the Han, Song and Mongols, and it is commemorated in streets, monuments and school history across Vietnam.

Timeline

• 1400: Ho Quy Ly overthrows the Tran dynasty.
• 1406-1407: Ming invasion; Dai Viet is annexed as the province of Jiaozhi.
• 1414: The last Tran-led resistance is crushed.
• 1418: Le Loi proclaims himself Binh Dinh Vuong and begins the uprising at Lam Son.
• 1423: Truce between Le Loi and the Ming.
• 1424-1425: The rebels take Nghe An, Tan Binh and Thuan Hoa.
• 1426, November: Victory at Tot Dong and Chuc Dong; siege of Dong Quan begins.
• 1427, autumn: Liu Sheng is killed and his relief army destroyed near Chi Lang.
• 1427, December: Wang Tong agrees to withdraw Ming forces.
• 1428: Le Loi becomes Emperor Le Thai To; Nguyen Trai writes the Binh Ngo dai cao.

Why it matters

The Lam Son uprising restored Vietnamese independence after twenty years of Ming rule and created a dynasty that shaped Vietnam for centuries. It became one of the founding stories of Vietnamese national identity, a model of persistence against a much larger power.