English: No. 60. (Barker: 38.1-38.6)

Obverse: 端慶通寶 Thoai-khanh-thong-bao. Reverse: plain. Copper coin issued by King 威穆帝 Oai-muc-de (1505-1509). 8th King. - 襄翼帝 THUONG-DUC-DE. 1509-1517. During this rebellion General UINH had proclaimed as king of Annam his own brother 宗 TONG, whose history will be found with that of the rebels. When TONG died. UINH seized the throne for himself in the last moon of 1509, taking 洪順 HONG-THUAN for the name of his reign. The example of his revolt and success was contagious, rebels appearing in all the provinces, and in 1511 the king very nearly lost his throne, being saved by the personal valour of General 鄭 TRINH. This king did not attend to the well-being of his people, but devoted himself entirely to his own pleasures. He ordered the construction of boats to be manned by naked women, and invented many other ways of pandering to his lustful desires. To the mild remonstrances made on this subject by General TRINH. the king replied by ordering him to be bambooed. The General revenged himself by rebelling with his troops, and he murdered the king in 1517. TRINH, being then master of the country, took advantage of this to proclaim as king a boy of eight years called 光治 QUANG-TRI, who reigned only three days, and was later on strangled in the province of 清華 Thanh-hoa. Another general called 阮 NGUYEN appeared in arms against the General TRINH, and he proclaimed as king the Prince 誼 Y. At that time the rebels had in their power more than half the kingdom, and allusion will subsequently be made to their struggles. Then began the rivalry between the two families of 鄭 TRINH and 阮 NGUYEN. Their power increased to such an extent that they ended by abolishing the royal authority altogether. The NGUYEN family were soon compelled to retire to 廣南 Quang-nam, where they became independent, giving birth to the kingdom of Cochinchina, which two hundred years afterwards conquered Tunquin. The Trinh, being Lords of the Palace, except on very rare occasions, always lived at the royal court of the LE kings. They were at the head of the army, they appointed successors to the kings, and they governed the country under the veil of a king who was made to disappear when he did not serve the interests of the Lords. This great authority at length became hereditary, and thus called forth another dynasty side by side with the Royal LE.

Another family of successful Generals then appeared on the scene, and ultimately becoming more powerful than the two last-named, drove out the LE Dynasty and usurped the throne. This was the 莫 MAC family, whose real power began in 1508, when one of its members was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 天武 Thien-vo, the king's guards. The history of this family will be treated in chapter XVIII.