Nanyue
Nanyue was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family continued to rule until 111 BC. Nanyue's geographical expanse covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Zhao Tuo, then Commander of Nanhai Commandery of the Qin dynasty, established Nanyue in 204 BC after the collapse of the Qin dynasty. At first, it consisted of the commanderies of Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang.
Nanyue and its rulers had an adversarial relationship with the Han dynasty, which referred to Nanyue as a vassal state while in practice it was autonomous. Nanyue rulers sometimes paid symbolic obeisance to the Han dynasty but referred to themselves as emperor. In 113 BC, fourth-generation leader Zhao Xing sought to have Nanyue formally included as part of the Han Empire. His prime minister Lü Jia objected vehemently and subsequently killed Zhao Xing, installing his elder brother Zhao Jiande on the throne and forcing a confrontation with the Han dynasty. The next year, Emperor Wu of Han sent 100,000 troops to war against Nanyue. By the year's end, the army had destroyed Nanyue and established Han rule. The dynastic state lasted 93 years and had five generations of monarchs.
The existence of Nanyue allowed the Lingnan region to avoid the chaos and hardship surrounding the collapse of the Qin dynasty experienced by the northern, predominantly Han Chinese regions. The kingdom was founded by leaders originally from the Central Plain of China and were all of Han Chinese in origin. They were responsible for bringing Chinese-style bureaucracy and handicraft techniques to inhabitants of southern regions, as well as knowledge of the Chinese language and writing system. Nanyue rulers promoted a policy of "Harmonizing and Gathering the Hundred Yue tribes", and encouraged ethnic Han to immigrate from the Yellow River region to the south. Nanyue rulers were then not against the assimilation of Yue and Han cultures.
In Vietnam, the rulers of Nanyue are referred to as the Triệu dynasty. The name "Vietnam" is derived and reversed from Nam Việt, the Vietnamese pronunciation of Nanyue. In traditional Vietnamese historiography, important works, such as the Đại Việt sử ký, considered Nanyue to be a legitimate state of Vietnam and the official starting point of their history. However, starting in the 18th century, the view that Nanyue was not a legitimate Vietnamese state and Zhao Tuo was a foreign invader started gaining traction. After World War II, this became the mainstream view among Vietnamese historians in North Vietnam and after Vietnam was reunified, it became the official state orthodoxy promoted by the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party. Nanyue was removed from the national history while Zhao Tuo was established as a foreign invader.
History
A detailed history of Nanyue was written in Records of the Grand Historian by Han dynasty historian Sima Qian. It is mostly contained in section 113, Ordered Annals of Nanyue. A similar record is also found in the Book of Han Volume 95: The Southwest Peoples, Two Yues, and Chaoxian.Founding
Qin southward expansion (218 BC)
After Qin Shi Huang conquered the six other Chinese kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi, he turned his attention to the Xiongnu tribes of the north and west and the Hundred Yue peoples of what is now southern China. Around 218 BC, the First Emperor dispatched General Tu Sui with an army of 500,000 Qin soldiers to divide into five companies and attack the Hundred Yue tribes of the Lingnan region. The first company gathered at Yuhan and attacked the Minyue, defeating them and establishing the Minzhong Commandery. The second company fortified at Nanye, and was designed to put defensive pressure on the southern clans. The third company occupied Panyu. The fourth company garrisoned near the Jiuyi Mountains, and the fifth company garrisoned outside Tancheng. The First Emperor assigned official Shi Lu to oversee supply logistics. Shi first led a regiment of soldiers through the Lingqu Canal, then navigated through the Yangtze and Pearl River water systems ensure the safety of the Qin supply routes. The Qin attack of the Western Valley Yue tribe went smoothly, and Western Valley chieftain Yi-Xu-Song was killed. However, the Western Valley Yue were unwilling to submit to the Qin and fled into the jungle where they selected a new leader to continue resisting the Chinese armies. Later, a night-time counterattack by the Western Valley Yue devastated the Qin troops, and General Tu Sui was killed in the fighting. The Qin suffered heavy losses, and the imperial court selected General Zhao Tuo to assume command of the Chinese army. In 214 BC, the First Emperor dispatched Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo at the head of reinforcements to once again mount an attack. This time, the Western Valley Yue were completely defeated, and the Lingnan region was brought entirely under Chinese control. In the same year, the Qin court established the Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang Commanderies, and Ren Xiao was made Lieutenant of Nanhai. Nanhai was further divided into Panyu, Longchuan, Boluo, and Jieyang counties, and Zhao Tuo was made magistrate of Longchuan.Qin Shi Huang died in 210 BC, and his son Huhai became the Second Emperor of Qin. The following year, soldiers Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, and others seized the opportunity to revolt against the Qin government. Insurrections spread throughout much of China and the entire Yellow River region devolved into chaos. Soon after the first insurrections, Nanhai Lieutenant Ren Xiao became gravely ill and summoned Zhao Tuo to hear his dying instructions. Ren described the natural advantages of the southern region and described how a kingdom could be founded with the many Chinese settlers in the area to combat the warring groups in the Chinese north. He drafted a decree instating Zhao Tuo as the new Lieutenant of Nanhai, and died soon afterward.
After Ren's death, Zhao Tuo, sent orders to his troops in Hengpu Pass, Yangshan Pass, Huang Stream Pass, and other garrisons to fortify themselves against any northern troops. He also executed Qin officials still stationed in Nanhai and replaced them with his own trusted friends.
Conquest of Âu Lạc
The kingdom of Âu Lạc, which was a merger of Nam Cương and Văn Lang, lay south of Nanyue in the early years of Nanyue's existence, with Âu Lạc located primarily in the Red River delta area, and Nanyue encompassing Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang Commanderies. During the time when Nanyue and Âu Lạc co-existed, Âu Lạc acknowledged Nanyue's suzerainty, especially because of their mutual anti-Han sentiment. Zhao Tuo also built up and reinforced his army, fearing an attack by the Han. However, when relations between the Han and Nanyue improved, in 179 BC Zhao Tuo marched southward and successfully annexed Âu Lạc.Proclamation (204 BC)
In 206 BC the Qin dynasty ceased to exist, and the Yue peoples of Guilin and Xiang were largely independent once more. In 204 BC, Zhao Tuo founded the Kingdom of Nanyue, with Panyu as capital, and declared himself the Martial King of Nanyue.Nanyue under Zhao Tuo
After years of war with his rivals, Liu Bang established the Han dynasty and reunified Central China in 202 BC. The fighting had left many areas of China depopulated and impoverished, and feudal lords continued to rebel while the Xiongnu made frequent incursions into northern Chinese territory. The precarious state of the empire therefore forced the Han court to treat Nanyue initially with utmost circumspection. In 196 BC, Liu Bang, now Emperor Gaozu, sent Lu Jia to Nanyue in hopes of obtaining Zhao Tuo's allegiance. After arriving, Lu met with Zhao Tuo and is said to have found him dressed in Yue clothing and being greeted after their customs, which enraged him. A long exchange ensued, wherein Lu is said to have admonished Zhao Tuo, pointing out that he was Chinese, not Yue, and should have maintained the dress and decorum of the Chinese and not have forgotten the traditions of his ancestors. Lu lauded the strength of the Han court and warned against a kingdom as small as Nanyue daring to oppose it. He further threatened to kill Zhao's kinsmen in China proper and destroying their ancestral graveyards, as well as coercing the Yue into deposing Zhao himself. Following the threat, Zhao Tuo then decided to receive Emperor Gaozu's seal and submit to Han authority. Trade relations were established at the border between Nanyue and the Han kingdom of Changsha. Although formally a Han subject state, Nanyue seems to have retained a large measure of de facto autonomy.After the death of Liu Bang in 195 BC, the government was put in the hands of his wife, Empress Lü Zhi, who served as Empress Dowager over their son Emperor Hui of Han and then Emperor Hui's sons Liu Gong and Liu Hong. Enraged, Empress Lü sent men to Zhao Tuo's hometown of Zhending who killed much of Zhao's extended family and desecrated the ancestral graveyard there. Zhao Tuo believed that Wu Chen, the Prince of Changsha, had made false accusations against him to get Empress Dowager Lü to block the trade between the states and to prepare to conquer the Nanyue to merge into his principality of Changsha. In revenge, he then declared himself the emperor of Nanyue and attacked the principality of Changsha and captured some neighboring towns under Han domain. Lü sent general Zhou Zao to punish Zhao Tuo. However, in the hot and humid climate of the south, an epidemic broke out quickly amongst the soldiers, and the weakened army was unable to cross the mountains, forcing them to withdraw which ended in Nanyue victory, but the military conflict did not stop until the Empress died. Zhao Tuo then annexed the neighboring state of Minyue in the east as subject kingdom. The kingdom of Yelang and Tongshi also submitted to Nanyue rule.
In 179 BC, Liu Heng ascended the throne as Emperor of the Han. He reversed many of the previous policies of Empress Lü and took a conciliatory attitude toward Zhao Tuo and Nanyue. He ordered officials to revisit Zhending, garrison the town, and make offerings to Zhao Tuo's ancestors regularly. His prime minister Chen Ping suggested sending Lu Jia to Nanyue as they were familiar with each other. Lu arrived once more in Panyu and delivered a letter from the Emperor emphasizing that Empress Lü's policies were what had caused the hostility between Nanyue and the Han court and brought suffering to the border citizens. Zhao Tuo decided to submit to the Han once again, withdrawing his title of "emperor" and reverting to "king", and Nanyue became Han's subject state. However, most of the changes were superficial, and Zhao Tuo continued to be referred to as "emperor" throughout Nanyue.