"The Seven Tiger Generals of Tay Son" - Vo Dinh Tu: Shot, collapsed on horseback and... the ending

Vo Dinh Tu was shot and collapsed on his horse. The horse neighed loudly, jumped off the battlefield, and ran straight to his hometown in Phu Phong. When he got home, the horse fell down and died. Vo Dinh Tu's hands and feet were cold, but he had overcome a life-threatening situation...

After King Quang Trung died, Canh Thinh was enthroned at the age of 6. At that time, because Bui Dac Tuyen was the favored uncle of King Canh Thinh, he was made Grand Tutor and from then on, Tuyen became more and more powerful. The high-ranking officials in the court who sided with Tuyen were favored, those who openly opposed him were harmed, and those who were indifferent were pushed away. Therefore, the situation in the court was chaotic, with factions forming against each other.

At that time, Vo Van Dung, who was guarding Bac Ha, was called back. He took advantage of this to find an excuse to destroy Bui Dac Tuyen and his accomplices. Because he did not understand the situation clearly, Tran Quang Dieu brought his troops back to protect the court. When the two sides were about to fight, Vo Dinh Tu, who was familiar with both sides, then asked for permission from King Canh Thinh to mediate. First, Vo Dinh Tu went to see Vo Van Dung and analyzed the gains and losses when the two ministers opposed each other:

Statue of Vo Dinh Tu. Photo: IT.

- The reason why Tran Quang Dieu had to leave Quy Nhon and bring the navy back was because he was worried that chaos would break out in the capital. Now that Tran Quang Dieu has returned, please let the two sides meet to understand the cause.

Next, Vo Dinh Tu rowed a boat across the Perfume River to An Cuu to meet Tran Quang Dieu. Here, Vo Dinh Tu clearly analyzed that Bui Dac Tuyen's tyranny would ruin the great cause of the Tay Son Dynasty. Therefore, Vo Van Dung had to act to eliminate the source of the disaster. Now, the only important thing left was to restore the solidarity of the mandarins in the court to work together to defeat Nguyen Phuc Anh's army.

Thanks to Vo Dinh Tu's reconciliation, Vo Van Dung and Tran Quang Dieu reconnected their old friendship and together went to see King Canh Thinh. After that, all three of them were appointed by King Canh Thinh and assigned to take care of court affairs. But King Canh Thinh was still young and liked to listen to slander, so he appointed Vo Dinh Tu as Binh Bo Tham Tri and allowed him to supervise the army in Phu Yen and Quy Nhon. King Canh Thinh's purpose was to disperse the forces that could oppose him, the trio Tran Quang Dieu, Vo Van Dung and Vo Dinh Tu.

In April of the year Ky Mui (1799), Nguyen Phuc Anh led his troops into Thi Nai gate. Meanwhile, General Vo Tanh and General Nguyen Huynh Duc of the Nguyen Dynasty led their troops to Ham Long, Tuy Phuoc district. Ham Long mountain is also called Can Uc mountain and is a unique mountain, not very tall but located within Thuan Nghi village, shaped like a dragon's head with its mouth wide open. The Ha Thanh river runs from South to North, past this mountain it curves down to the east, then flows into Thi Nai lagoon, forming an arc hugging the foot of the mountain.

Vo Dinh Tu was on an inspection tour in Phu Yen when he heard that Nguyen Phuc Anh's army had landed in Quy Nhon. He quickly pulled his troops back and went straight up Can Uc mountain to attack Vo Tanh's army. The two sides fought fiercely for two days and nights. Faced with that situation, Vo Tanh used a plan to feign defeat and also let Nguyen Huynh Duc ambush on the mountain. Taking advantage of the victory, Vo Dinh Tu urged his troops to chase. At that moment, arrows rained down from the mountain, mixed with many gunshots. The Tay Son army was hit by arrows, some died, some were injured.

Vo Dinh Tu charged left and right, his iron rod emitting a beam of green light, deflecting thousands of arrows that were flying at him and his horse. However, it deflected the arrows but not the bronze bullets. Vo Dinh Tu was hit and collapsed on his horse. The horse neighed loudly, jumped off the battlefield, and ran straight to his hometown in Phu Phong. When he got home, the horse fell down and died, and Vo Dinh Tu's hands and feet were cold.

Commentary:

Sun Tzu's Art of War teaches that: When a stone rolls down the hill, the good warrior will use the momentum, the weak will run away and the ignorant will be crushed. And the Tay Son leaders, typically Nguyen Hue, used the favorable time, location and people to become an outstanding hero of the Vietnamese peasants, a genius strategist, a brilliant national hero, with many outstanding contributions in the fight against foreign invaders and the re-establishment of national unity in the 18th century. Therefore, although the Tay Son era existed for only more than 30 years (1771-1802), it became a strong mark in the history of the nation, in the memory of the people and the pride of every Vietnamese.

To have those heroic pages of history, every time we mention the Tay Son movement, we cannot forget the lives and careers of the typical generals and mandarins of Binh Dinh at that time, such as: Vo Dinh Tu, Tran Quang Dieu, Bui Thi Xuan, Bui Thi Nhan, Vo Van Dung, Nguyen Van Tuyet. Their intelligence and talent as well as the glorious achievements that they contributed to the Tay Son cause were boundless and history books could not record them all. And what remains after this anecdote is how future generations should live to be worthy of their predecessors!

NN - Dan Viet

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