ĐVSKTT NK 1
[NK 1/1a] Chapter One of the Outer Annals of the Complete Book of the Historical Records of Đại Việt
Compiled by the official, Ngô Sĩ Liên, Director of Studies of the Directorate of Education and concurrent Senior Compiler of the Historiographers.
Comment: During the time of the Yellow Emperor, the myriad kingdoms were established and Giao Chỉ/Jiaozhi was delimited in the southwest, far beyond the area of the Hundred Việt/Yue.[1] Yao commanded Xi [Shu] to take up residence in Nam Giao/Nanjiao to fix the position of the land of the southern region’s Giao Chỉ/Jiaozhi. Yu then demarcated the Nine Regions.[2] The Hundred Việt/Yue were in the territory of Yang Region.[3] Giao Chỉ/Jiaozhi was under its jurisdiction. Only during the reign of King Cheng of the Zhou was [Giao Chỉ/Jiaozhi] finally referred to as [the realm of the] Việt Thường/Yuechang clan. [The use of] the name Việt/Yue commenced from this time.[4]
Annals of the Hồng Bang Clan
King Kinh Dương. [1/1b] His name was Lộc Tục, and he was a descendent of Thần Nông/Shen Nong.
Nhâm tuất [2879 BCE]; the first year [of his reign].
Originally, Đế Minh/Di Ming, a third generation descendent of the Fiery Emperor Thần Nông/Shen Nong sired Đế Nghi/Di Yi. He then toured the south to the Five Passes, and obtained the Vụ Tiên maiden, who gave birth to the king.[5] The king was perspicacious and had sagely virtue. Di Ming treated him specially and wished to pass the throne on to him. The king insisted on conceding the throne to his older brother, and dared not accept this order. Di Ming thereupon appointed Di Yi as heir apparent to rule over the north, and invested the king as King Kinh Dương to rule over the south, which was called the Xích Quỷ Kingdom.[6]
The king married Thần Long, the daughter of Lord Động Đình/Dongting, who gave birth to Lord Lạc Long. (Note: According to the annals of the Tang, Kinh Dương/Jingyang at that time had a shepherd woman who claimed herself to be Lord Dongting’s youngest daughter. She married the second son of Kinh Xuyên/Jingchuan, but was later expelled. She entrusted a letter to Liễu Nghị/Liu Yi who submitted a memorial to Lord Dongting. Therefore the marriages each generation between Jingchuan and Dongting have a long history.)[7]
Lord Lạc Quan. [1/2a] His name was Sùng Lãm, and he was the son of King Kinh Dương.
Lord [Lạc Long] married Đế Lai’s/Di Lai’s daughter, named Âu Cơ, who gave birth to one hundred sons (or as is commonly told, one hundred eggs). These were the ancestors of the Hundred Việt/Yue. One day [Lord Lạc Long] said to Cơ “I am of dragon stock and you are of immortal stock. Just as water and fire annul each other, so would it be truly difficult for us to be together.” He thereupon parted with her. Fifty sons were divided off to follow their mother and return to the mountains, while Fifty followed their father to dwell in the south (“Dwell in the south” is also recorded as “return to the Southern Sea.”). He invested his eldest son as King Hùng, and passed the sovereign throne on to him.
The Historian, Ngô Sĩ Liên, stated: “When heaven and earth formed, the one who could make use the transformation of khí/qi was Pangu.[8] With the transformation of khí/qi, you then had the transformation of forms. This is nothing other than [the workings of] the two [types of] khí/qi, yin and yang. The Classic of Changes states, ‘Heaven and Earth mesh together, and the myriad things develop and reach maturity; male and female blend essences together, and the myriad creatures are formed and come to life.’[9] Therefore, there must be a husband and wife before there can be a father and son, and there must be a father and son before there can be a sovereign and minister. [1/2b] However, the birth of the sagely and virtuous is definitely different from the births of ordinary people, for [the births of the sagely and virtuous] are determined by Heaven. Swallowing a sparrow’s egg and giving birth to [the founder of the] Shang [dynasty], stepping on a giant’s footprint and giving rise to [the house of Zhou], are both records of true events.[10] Shen Nong’s descendant, Di Ming found the Vụ Tiên maiden, who gave birth to King Kinh Dương, the progenitor of the Hundred Việt/Yue. He in turn married the Thần Long maiden, who gave birth to Lord Lạc Long. Lord [Lạc Long] married Di Lai’s daughter who gave birth to an auspicious one hundred sons. This is how the establishment of the enterprise of Our Việt was possible. I have found in the Outer Annals of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government that Di Lai was Di Yi’s son. Based on this record, King Kinh Dương was Di Yi’s younger brother, and yet [these two lines] intermarried. I guess this happened because that was still a primordial age and the proper rites and music had yet to become manifest.”
King Hùng. [1/3a] This was Lord Lạc Long’s son. (His name is not known.) His capital was at Phong Region. (This is present-day Bạch Hạc District.)[11]
When King Hùng ascended the throne, he established his kingdom’s name as Văn Lang. (His kingdom pressed against the Southern Sea to the east, and came up against Ba Shu to the west. To the north it reached Lake Dongting, and to the south it touched the Kingdom of Hồ Tôn, that is, the Kingdom of Champa. This is where Quảng Nam is today.)[12]
[He] divided the kingdom into fifteen regions: Giao Chỉ, Chu Diên, Vũ Ninh, Phúc Lộc, Việt Thường, Ninh Hải, Dương Tuyền, Lục Hải, Vũ Định, Hoài Hoan, Cửu Chân, Bình Văn, Tân Hưng, and Cửu Đức, and placed them under the control of his officials. As for Văn Lang, that is where the king had his capital.
[He] established ministers called lạc marquises, and generals called lạc generals. (“Lạc generals” was later mistakenly rendered [in texts] as “hùng generals.”) The princes were called quan lang, and princesses were called mỵ nương. Officials were called bồ chính. From one generation to the next fathers passed [positions] on to their sons. This is called the way of the father [phụ đạo]. The ruler of each generation was called the Hùng king.
At that time there were people who lived at the foot of the mountains who saw that fish and shrimp congregated in the rivers and streams. They went to catch and eat them, but were injured by serpents. [1/3b] They complained to the king. The king said, “Those of mountain savage stock are truly different from those of the water lineage. The latter like that which is similar and dislike that which is different. That is why this problem exists.” He thereupon ordered people to use ink to trace images of aquatic monsters on their bodies. From this point onward, when the serpents saw people, they no longer harmed them with their bites. The custom of tattooing among the Hundred Việt/Yue probably started with this.
[During the time of the] sixth generation Hùng king, there was a wealthy man in Phù Đổng Township in Vũ Ninh Region who sired a son. At over three years of age he was big and fat from eating, but still could not speak or laugh. Right at that time there was an emergency within the kingdom. The king ordered that people who could hold off the enemy be sought. On that day the little boy was suddenly able to speak. He told his mother to invite the celestial emissary, and then said to him, “If I can obtain a sword and a horse, then the sovereign will have no worries.” The king granted [the boy] a sword and horse. The little boy then leaped onto the horse, waved the sword, and advanced. The official troops followed behind. The bandits were defeated at the foot of Mount Vũ Ninh as they turned their swords on each other and died in great numbers. Those that remained prostrated, declared [the boy] a general from Heaven, and all surrendered. The little boy jumped on his horse [1/4a] and soared off into the empty sky. The king ordered that a temple be built on the grounds of [the boy’s] residence and that offerings be regularly offered. Later, [Emperor] Lý Thái Tổ [r. 1010-1028 CE] granted [his spirit] the title of Soaring-to-Heaven Divine King. (His spirit shrine is next to Kiến Sơ temple in Phù Dổng township.)
During the time of King Cheng of the Zhou [11th cent. BCE], Our Việt sent an emissary to the Zhou for the first time. (It is not clear which generation [of Hùng king] this was.) Calling [themselves] the Việt Thường clan, [they] presented a white pheasant. Zhou Gong stated, “No governmental orders have been issued [pertaining to you]. My sovereign has not made you a vassal.”[13] He then ordered that a chariot which detected the direction of the south be made to deliver [the emissaries] back to their kingdom.
In the final years [of the period of the Hùng kings], the king had a daughter named Mỵ Nương who was beautiful and elegant. The Thục/Shu king heard about her and visited the king to request her hand in marriage. The king wished to assent, but the lạc marquises stopped him, saying “He has designs on our [land], and is just using marriage as an excuse.” The Thục/Shu king bore a grudge over this. The king wished to find a good match [for his daughter] and said to his officials, “This girl is of immortal stock, only he who has a full store of both talent and virtue can marry her.” Right at that time two outsiders arrived, prostrated before the palace, and requested to marry [the king’s daughter]. The king found this odd and asked who they were. They responded that one was [1/4b] a mountain spirit and the other a water spirit, that they lived within the realm and heard that the illustrious king had a sagely daughter so they took the liberty to come and seek [the king’s] order. The king said, “I have one daughter. How can there be two worthies [for her]?” [The king] then agreed that he would allow [to marry his daughter] whoever could bring on the following day all of the betrothal gifts first. The two worthies agreed to this, bid farewell, and departed. The next day the mountain spirit offered such objects as precious gems, gold, silver, mountain birds and wild animals. In keeping with the agreement, the king gave his daughter in marriage to him. The mountain spirit welcomed her back to the high peak of [Mount] Tản Viên where they lived. The water spirit also brought betrothal goods but came later, and was angry and regretted that he had not made it in time. He then brought clouds to form and to produce rain, incited the waters to rise, and led the members of the water lineage to chase [the mountain spirit]. The king and the mountain spirit spread an iron net across the upper reaches of the Từ Liêm River to block [them]. The water spirit followed a different river. From Ly Nhân it came to the foot of Mount Quảng Oai. It followed the bank up to the mouth of Hát River. It came out in the big river, and then entered Đà River to attack [Mount] Tản Viên. Places all over were drilled to make deep reservoirs and pools to amass water for the attack. The mountain spirit went through divine transformations and called on [1/5a] the savage people to weave bamboo together to create a barrier to block the water, and to fire at [the water spirit and his followers] with their crossbows. The various types of water creatures fled when they were hit by the arrows, and in the end none were able to transgress. (Custom has it that the mountain spirit and water spirit later entered into a perennial feud, and that with the flooding each year it is said that they attack each other.)
Tản Viên is a mountain range of Our Việt. Its numinous powers are especially efficacious. Mỵ Nương having married the mountain spirit, the Thục/Shu king became furious and ordered his descendents that they must annihilate Văn Lang and annex that kingdom’s land. His grandson, Thục Phán, courageous and a good strategist, attacked and captured [Văn Lang].
The Historian, Ngô Sĩ Liên, stated: “During the time of the Hùng kings, marquises were established, defenses put in place, and the kingdom was divided into fifteen regions. Each of the fifteen regions had its own ruler and assistants, and each of the [Hùng king’s] sons were apportioned an area to rule over according to rank.[14] As for the fifty sons who followed their mother to the mountains, perhaps this was also the case. There perhaps the mother was the ruler, and each of the sons ruled over an individual area. When one considers how at present there are savage chiefs called male phụ đạo [lit., “way of the father”] [1/5b] and female phụ đạo (This is what the current dynasty has changed to phụ đạo [lit., “assist and guide”].), perhaps this is why. As for the matter of the mountain spirit and the water spirit, it is utterly ridiculous. It is better to not have books than to [completely] believe in them.[15] For now I am recounting this old tale, in order to pass on my doubts.”
Above [are the annals of] the Hồng Bàng clan, starting with the investment of King Kinh Dương in the nhâm tuất year, coterminous with the life of Di Yi, and passing on to a culmination at the end of the time of the Hùng kings, equivalent to the fifty seventh year in the reign of King Nan of the Zhou [258 BCE], a quý mão year, a total of some 2,622 years [2879-258 BCE].
Annals of Thục/Shu
King An Dương – on the throne for 50 years.
His surname was Thục/Shu, and his given name Phán/Pan. He was from Ba Shu. His capital was at Phong Khê. (This is present-day Cổ Loa.)
[1/6a] Giáp thìn [257 BCE]; the first year of his reign (the 58th year in the reign of King Nan of the Zhou).
Having annexed the Kingdom of Văn Lang, he changed the name of the kingdom to the Kingdom of Âu Lạc. Prior to this, the king had repeatedly sent troops to attack the Hùng king. The Hùng king’s soldiers were strong and his generals were courageous, so the king was repeatedly defeated. The Hùng king said to the king, “I have divine powers. Is Thục not afraid?” After that [the Hùng king] quit maintaining [the kingdom’s] defenses and just indulged in food and wine for entertainment. When the Thục soldiers closed in, [the Hùng king] was still in a drunken slumber. He then spat out blood and jumped into a well and died. His followers dropped their swords and surrendered to Thục.
The king then built a citadel in Việt Thường. It was 1,000 trượng wide and wound around in the shape of a snail [loa].[16] It was thus called Loa Citadel. It was also called Tư Long Citadel (People of the Tang [Dynasty] called it Côn Lôn/Kunlun Citadel, which referred to the citadel’s great height.).[17] When the citadel was completed, it collapsed. The King was distressed by this, so he fasted and then prayed to the spirits of Heaven, earth, the mountains and rivers, and again went to work on constructing it.
Bính ngọ [255 BCE]; the third year of his reign (the first year in the reign of the Sovereign of the Eastern Zhou).[18]
In spring, during the third lunar month, a divine man suddenly arrived at the gate of the citadel. He pointed to the citadel [1/6b], laughed and asked, “When will the construction be completed?” The king received him in the palace and asked about this matter. [The man] answered, “Wait for the River Emissary to come,” and then departed.
Early the next day the king exited the gate of the citadel and indeed saw a golden turtle coming from the east, floating along the river. It called itself the River Emissary and could speak human language and talk of future events. The king was extremely pleased. He had the turtle raised onto a golden tray and placed in the palace. He asked [the turtle] the reason for the citadel’s collapse. The golden turtle stated that “This is the vital qi of this area’s mountains and rivers. The previous king’s son relied on it to get revenge for the kingdom. It hides on Mount Thất Diệu. There are ghosts on the mountain. They are entertainers from the previous generation who died and were buried there, and then transformed into ghosts. Next to the mountain is an inn. The owner of the inn, named Ngộ Không, has a daughter and a white chicken which is the residual qi of this vitality. Whenever people go to spend the night there they invariably die, having been harmed by the ghosts. Therefore, they can band together and knock down the citadel. If you kill the white chicken and eliminate this vital qi, then the citadel will naturally become whole [1/7a] and stable.”
The king took the golden turtle to the inn and pretended to be a guest. The innkeeper said, “You are a noble person, sir. You should quickly depart, so as to not invite calamity.” The king laughed and said, “Birth and death are determined by fate. What can ghosts and demons do?” He then stayed there.
That night ghosts game from outside and called for the door to be opened. The golden turtle cursed them, and they could not enter. At the cock’s crow the ghosts dispersed. The golden turtle asked the king to pursue them. Upon reaching Mount Thất Diệu, the numinous khí/qi became almost completely concealed. The king returned to the inn.
At daybreak, the innkeeper, thinking that the king must have died, called people to the inn to collect and bury [the corpse]. When he saw the king happily laughing and talking, he raced up, saluted, and said, “How did you become like this, sir? You must be a sage!” The king requested that [the innkeeper] get the white chicken, kill it and offer it as a sacrifice. When the chicken was killed, the daughter also died. [The king] then ordered people to dig on the mountain. They obtained ancient musical instruments and the skeletons [of the entertainers], burned them to ashes, and then spread the ashes in a river. The demon khí/qi was thereupon eradicated.
After this, construction of the citadel was completed in less [1/7b] than half a month. The golden turtle bid farewell. The king thanked it, saying, “Thanks to your benevolence the citadel is now stable. If we are harassed by outsiders, how can we defend against them?” The golden turtle then pulled off a claw, entrusted it to the king, and said, “The security of the kingdom is determined by Heaven, but people can also defend it. If you see bandits coming, use this numinous claw as a crossbow trigger, and fire at the bandits. You will have no worries.” The king ordered his official, Cao Lỗ (some say Cao Thông), to make a divine crossbow using the claw for its trigger and called it the Potently-Radiant Golden-Claw Divine Crossbow.
(When King Cao/Gao of the Tang pacified Nanzhao, he passed with his troops through Vũ Ninh Region on his return.[19] At night he saw in his dream an extraordinary individual who called himself Cao Lỗ/Gau Lu and who said, “In the past I assisted King An Dương and had great success in holding off the enemy, but I was dismissed after being slandered by the lạc marquises. After I passed away, the Celestial Emperor pitied the fact that I had done no wrong. He ordered that a stretch of mountains and rivers be granted me. I am in charge of both punishing raiding bandits as a campaign-commanding general, and ensuring the proper timing of planting and harvesting. I have now followed you, sir, to fight the lowlife traitors. Having again returned to my own region, for me to not bid farewell would be inappropriate.” King Cao/Gao woke up, told his subordinates about this, and composed a poem which went,
How beautiful is the land of Giao/Jiao Region,
Eternal through the ages.
Ancient worthies can still be seen,
Never betraying their trust.)
Nhâm tý [249 BCE]; the ninth year of his reign (the seventh year in the reign of the Sovereign of the Eastern Zhou. There were seven kingdoms at this time: Qin, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Qi.).
In this year the Zhou [Dynasty] came to an end.
[1/8a] Canh thìn [221 BCE]; the 37th year of his reign (the 26th year in the reign of the First August [Emperor] of Qin, Lu Zheng).
The [King of] Qin annexed six kingdoms and declared himself August Emperor. At that time, Lý Ông Trọng, a man from Từ Liêm [District] in Our Giao Chỉ/Jiaozhi was two trượng and three thước tall.[20] When he was still young he went to a town to labor. He was flogged by a senior official and then went to serve the Qin, where he was eventually promoted to metropolitan commandant.[21] When the First Emperor obtained All Under Heaven, he had [Lý Ông Trọng] lead troops to garrison Lintao and awe the Xiongnu.[22] When [Lý Ông Trọng] became old, he returned to his village and died. The First Emperor found him to be an extraordinary man. He had [Lý Ông Trọng’s] image cast in bronze and placed at the Outer Palace Gate in Xianyang.[23] It could hold several tens of men, who would secretly rock it back and forth. The Xiongnu believed that it was the living commandant, and dared not trespass.
(During the Tang, Protector-General of Giao/Jiao Region Triệu Xương/Zhao Chang would often dream at night of talking with Ông Trọng about the Spring and Autumn Annals and Master Zuo’s Commentary.[24] He then visited [Lý Ông Trọng’s] old residence and found that it was there. He had a shrine set up and made an offering. Later, at the time when King Cao/Gao defeated Nanzhao, [Lý Ông Trọng’s spirit] often responded by assisting with the submission [of rebels]. King Cao/Gao had the shrine renovated, and an image carved in wood and erected there, which he called Commandant Lý. His spirit shrine is in Thụy Hương Community, Từ Liêm District.)
Đinh hợi [214 BCE]; the 44th year of his reign (the 33rd year in the reign of The First August [Emperor] of Qin).
The Qin mobilized as soldiers from each circuit fugitives, superfluous sons [1/8b] and people who had been purchased. [The Qin] had Commandant Đồ Huy/Tu Hui lead sailors of tower ships, and Sử Lộc/Shi Lu excavate a canal to transport provisions. They went deep into Lĩnh Nam/Lingnan, and captured the area of Lục Lương/Luliang, establishing Quế Lâm/Guilin (this was in present-day Minggui District, Guangxi [Province]), Nam Hải/Nanhai (that is, Guangdong) and Tượng/Xiang commanderies (that is, An Nam/Annan). Nhâm Ngao/Ren Xiao was appointed commandant of Nam Hải/Nanhai, and Triệu Đà/Zhao Tuo, magistrate of Long Xuyên/Longchuan (Long Xuyên/Longchuan was a district in Nam Hải/Nan Hai [Commandery]). They sent 50,000 convict foot soldiers to garrison the Five Passes [area].[25] Xiao and Tuo then made plans to invade Us. (Superfluous sons are men who do not have money for betrothal gifts and who offer themselves as collateral to a wife’s family. They are called superfluous sons. They are like a cyst on someone’s body, a superfluous object.[26] As for the area of Lục Lương/Luliang, Lĩnh Nam/Lingnan people live mainly on mountain land and are fierce and violent by nature. That is why it is called Lục Lương/Luliang.)[27]
Tân mão [210 BCE]; the 48th year of his reign (the 37th year in the reign of The First August [Emperor] of Qin).
In winter, during the tenth lunar month, the First August [Emperor] of Qin died at Shaqiu.[28] Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo led troops to invade. Tuo stationed his troops at Mount Tiên Du in Bắc Giang, and engaged in battle with the king.[29] The king shot at [Tuo and his troops] with the numinous crossbow. Tuo was defeated and fled.
At that time, Ren Xiao and the navy were on the Tiểu River. (This was [in] Đô [1/9a] Hộ Prefecture. It was later erroneously labeled Đông Hồ. Today it is Đông Hồ Landing.)[30] He offended a local spirit, became ill and [had to] return, saying to Tuo, “The Qin is finished. Find a strategy to attack [Thục] Phán and you can establish a kingdom.” Tuo knew that the king had a divine crossbow, and could not be defeated. He retreated to Mount Vũ Ninh, and dispatched an emissary to make peace. The king was pleased, and divided off the land to the north of the Bình River (now it is Tiên Đức River in Đông Ngàn [District]) for Tuo to govern, and the land to the south for himself to govern.
Tuo sent his son Trọng Thủy/Zhongshi to serve as a bodyguard [for King An Dương]. [Zhongshi] requested to marry the king’s daughter, Mỵ Châu. [The king] consented. Zhongshi coaxed Mỵ Châu to let him view the divine crossbow, at which point he secretly destroyed its trigger and replaced it. Then using the excuse of having to return to the north to visit his parents, he said to Mỵ Châu, “The feelings of gratitude between husband and wife can never be forgotten. If the peace between the two kingdoms is lost and north and south become separated, how will I be able to find you when I come here?” Mỵ Châu replied, “I have a goose-down brocade quilt which is always by my side. I will place goose feathers at each intersection to show you [where I am].” Zhongshi returned and reported to Tuo.
[1/9b] Quý tỵ [208 BCE]; the 50th year of his reign (the 2nd year in the reign of Ershi of the Qin, Huhai).
Ren Xiao become ill. Before dying he said to Tuo, “I have heard that Chen Sheng and others have rebelled. The people are not sure where to place their loyalty. This area is remote and distant. I fear that groups of bandits will encroach upon us all the way here. I would like to cut off the roads (that is, the roads which the Qin opened into Việt/Yue [lands]) and provide for ourselves, and then wait to see what changes the vassals take.” When his illness worsened he said, “Phiên Ngung/Panyu (what the Han called Nancheng) is backed by mountains and blocked off by water. It stretches from east to west for several thousands of leagues. There are quite a few men of Qin there who can provide assistance, so there are sufficient means to establish a kingdom, crown a king, and rule over the area.[31] None of the senior subalterns in the commandery have what it takes to plan for this. I have therefore specially summoned you to inform you of this.” He thereupon had Tuo serve as his replacement.
After Xiao died, Tuo issued a summons to the officials guarding the Hengpu, Yangshan and Huangxi border posts which said, “The bandit troops will soon arrive. Quickly cut off the roads, and amass troops for self-protection.”[32] Whatever region or commandery the summons made it to, the officials there all responded. [Tuo] thereupon had all of the senior subalterns that the Qin had appointed executed, and had his relatives and followers govern over the area in their place.
Tuo launched an attack on the king. The king did not know that the trigger on his crossbow was gone. [1/10a] As he played chess, he laughed and said, “So Tuo is not afraid of my divine crossbow?” When Tuo’s troops neared, the king raised his crossbow [and found that] it was broken. He then fled and was defeated. He placed Mỵ Châu on a horse and had her flee with him to the south. Zhongshi recognized the goose feathers and pursued her. When the king reached the coast, the road came to an end and there were no boats. He called repeatedly to the golden turtle, “Quickly come and save me.” The golden turtle emerged from the water and shouted, “The one riding behind you is a bandit. You should kill her.” The king pulled out his sword and was about to behead Mỵ Châu when Mỵ Châu said the following prayer: “I am loyal but have been deceived by someone. Please let me transform into pearl-white jade to cleanse this disgrace.” The king then beheaded her. Her blood flowed into the water where oysters imbibed it into their hearts and transformed it into bright pearls. The king grabbed a seven thốn patterned rhinoceros [horn] and departed into the sea.[33] (Today it is known as a water-avoiding rhinoceros. It is said to be from Mount Dạ in Cao Xá Community, Diễn Region.)
When Zhongshi arrived, he saw that Mỵ Châu had already died. He wept bitterly as he held her corpse. He brought it back and buried it at Loa Citadel where it transformed into a piece of jadestone. Zhong Shi missed Mỵ Châu and regretted his actions. When he returned to the places where she used to make herself up [1/10b] and bathe, he became so overcome with grief that he threw himself into a well and died. Later, when people obtained bright pearls from the Eastern Sea and washed it with water from this well, their color became even more radiant.[34]
The Historian, Ngô Sĩ Liên, stated: “Should the story of the golden turtle be believed? Perhaps there were the cases where spirits descended into Shen and a stone could speak.[35] It is probably that spirits rely on people to move and objects to speak. When a kingdom is about to rise, enlightened spirits descend into it in order to observe its moral virtue; and when it is about to perish, spirits also descend into it in order to view its wickedness. Therefore, spirits are awaited for the rise and for the demise [of kingdoms]. In constructing the citadel, King An Dương did not conserve the people’s labor. Therefore, the spirits relied on the golden turtle to inform him. It is not that there must be resentment and complaints that stir the people for this to happen. It can also be like this. As for making requests of the spirits because one is worried about future disasters, this gives rise to self-interest. Once self-interest sprouts, heavenly principle is destroyed. How can the spirits [1/11a] not be disgraced, and bring about calamities? The entrusting of a numinous claw with the claim that it would be sufficient to hold off the enemy; was this not the sprout of calamity? It is like the spirits’ order to grant land to [the Kingdom of] Guo, and the subsequent demise of Guo.[36] With a consequence like this, how could it have been anything other than that [the spirits] acting through the people? If one does not make requests, but acts according to principle, how can one think that the kingdom will not enjoy longevity?
As for the matter of Mỵ Châu’s goose feathers marking a trail, this may not have occurred. If it did perhaps exist, then it could have only occurred once. Why was it the case that later the daughter of King Việt of the Triệu again imitated this? Perhaps it was that historians saw that the Thục and Triệu were both lost because of sons-in-law, and used the same event to describe both cases.
And then there is the ghost which destroyed the citadel. Is this also believable? I would say that it is similar to Bo You’s acting violently. After they appointed his descendent, he was put at ease and ceased [harming people].[37] Here the demon [i.e., the white chicken] was eradicated, and [ghosts] had nothing [1/11b] to adhere to and ceased [harming people].
As for the historical records of King An Dương’s defeat because the trigger on the divine crossbow was changed, and of King Việt of the Triệu’s defeat because his helmet lost its claw, they were written in this way in order to add a sense of the divine.[38]
Solidifying a kingdom and engaging in defending against military attacks has its own principle (đạo). When one upholds this principle a great deal of support will be forthcoming and [the kingdom] will flourish. If does not uphold this principle then little support will be forthcoming and [the kingdom] will perish. Is this not how it is?
The above [covers the years of] King Kinh Dương, starting in the giáp thìn year [257 BCE] and ending in the quý tỵ year [208 BCE], some fifty years.
This is the end of the first fascicle of the Complete Book of the Outer Annals of the Historical Records of Đại Việt.
[1] “Hundred Yue” (Bách Việt/Baiyue) is a term which Chinese began to use in the first millennium BCE to collectively refer to various ethnic groups who lived south of the Yangzi River.
[2] These sentences are referring to the demarcation of the known world in Chinese antiquity as recorded in the Shangshu [Venerated Documents], also known as the Shujing [Classic of Documents]. See Shangshu, Yao dien and Yu gong for the references to Yao and Yu, respectively. For a discussion of the terms, Giao Chỉ/Jiaozhi and Nam Giao/Nanjiao, two ancient Chinese terms which eventually came to be associated with the area of what is today northern Vietnam, see Chen Jinghe, “Jiaozhi mingcheng kao” [An examination of the name Jiaozhi], Guoli Taiwan daxue wen shi zhe xuebao 4 (1952): 79-130.
[3] Yang Region was one of the nine regions of ancient China. It corresponded to an area south of the Yangzi River covered today by the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Fujian.
[4] There were two characters which were both pronounced việt/yue and which were used interchangeably as late as the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Subsequent to that point, one of them came to refer to the people who we today identify as the Cantonese (粵), while the other came to be used for the people who we today refer to as the Vietnamese (越). In a break with common usage, Ngô Sĩ Liên uses the character which by his day was used to refer to the Cantonese in the expression “Hundred Yue.”
[5] When the term for “woman” comes after a name, it often takes the meaning of “daughter.” In the passage below, this usage is clear when Ngô Sĩ Liên makes reference to “Di Lai’s daughter.” Vụ Tiên, however, would appear to be the name of a woman. It literally means “beautiful immortal.” As such, it is not clear if the meaning here should be the “Vụ Tiên maiden” or the “daughter of Vụ Tiên.”
The “Five Passes” (Ngũ Lĩnh/Wuling) are in the mountains which run along the northern border of present day Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in southern China.
[6] This name, which literally translates as the “Scarlet Ghost Kingdom” (Xích Quỷ quốc/Chigui guo), does not appear in any Chinese histories. Also, the name of one of Shen Nong’s descendents in this passage is incorrect. Shen Nong’s fourth generation descendent was named Di Zhi, not Di Yi. See, Huangfu Mi, Diwang shiji [Chronological records of emperors and kings], 4 and Li Fang, Taiping yulan [Imperially Reviewed Encyclopedia of the Taiping era], 78/9a. Finally, while the name Di Lai appears in the above two works, it is listed as Di Li in a work which Ngô Sĩ Liên cites below, Liu Shu’s Zizhi tongjian waiji [Outer Annals of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government], 1/8a.
[7] The information which Ngô Sĩ Liên refers to here does not come from any historical “Tang annals,” but from a Tang Dynasty short story called “The Biography of Liu Yi” (Liu Yi zhuan) by Li Zhaowei. As such, there is no evidence that any of the individuals mentioned here ever existed. In any case, Jingyang is the name of a district in what is today Shaanxi Province, and Jingchuan, or “Jing River,” is the name of a river there. The characters for Jingyang and Kinh Dương are the same. It appears then that Ngô Sĩ Liên was drawing a connection between King Kinh Dương’s marriage to the daughter of Lord Dongting and the supposed Tang Dynasty marriage between the second son of Jingchuan, presumably from the area of Jingyang, and Lord Dongting’s youngest daughter. Perhaps Ngô Sĩ Liên understood King Kinh Dương’s name to mean “Prince of Kinh Dương,” with Kinh Dương literally referring to the area of Jingyang/Kinh Dương in Shaanxi Province.
[8] Pangu was a mythical figure who crafted the world out of formless matter.
[9] Yijing [Classic of Changes], Xici xia 5. The translation here is from Richard John Lynn, trans., The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi, 85.
[10] There was a tradition that a woman by the name of Jiandi swallowed an egg that a sparrow, which had been sent by Heaven, dropped near where she was bathing. Jiandi became pregnant and gave birth to Qi, the founder of the Shang dynasty (16th to 11th centuries BCE). See Sima Qian, Shiji [Records of the Grand Historian], 3/1b, or Liu Xiang, Lienu zhuan [Biographies of Exemplary Women]. Qi mu Jian Di.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan stepped on the footprint of a giant, became pregnant, and gave birth to Hou Ji, the founder of the Zhou dynasty. See Shijing [Classic of poetry], Daya, Shengmin; Liu Xiang, Lienu zhuan, Qi mu Jiang Yuan.
[11] Today this would be in Vĩnh Phú Province, to the northwest of Hanoi.
[12] Ba and Shu were the name of two ancient kingdoms in the area of what is today Sichuan Province.
[13] Zhou Gong was King Cheng’s uncle.
[14] The sentence here actually begins as follows: “Beyond the fifteen regions, each had its own ruler and assistants.” This does not make sense, as it is not clear what was “beyond the fifteen regions.”
[15] This is a line from Mencius. Ngô Sĩ Liên omits the word “completely,” but this is clearly what he means. See Mengzi, Jinxin xia; James Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. I & II, 479.
[16] A trượng/zhang was around ten feet. The term loa/luo can also mean conch (shell).
[17] The Côn Lôn/Kunlun Mountains separate Tibet from Qinghai Province. To men who lived during the Tang Dynasty, they were likely thought of as simply high mountains in the far west.
[18] The Zhou Dynasty essentially came to an end in 256 BCE when the Kingdom of Qin captured its capital, Luoyang. However, for the next seven years some supports of the fallen Zhou Dynasty supported an Eastern Zhou Dynasty under a certain King Hui. This is who this passage is referring to.
[19] “King Cao/Gao” was not actually a king. Instead, this is a reference to the Tang Dynasty administrator, Cao Biền/Gao Pian. Ngô Sĩ Liên referred to Cao/Gao and another Chinese administrator, Sĩ Nhiếp/Shi Xie (137-226 CE), as “kings” in honor of the degree to which they benevolently ruled over the region as if it were a separate kingdom.
[20] Scholars have determined that during the Qin period one thước/chi was approximately 23.1 centimeters. Ten thước/chi made one trượng/zhang, or 2.31 meters. Lý Ông Trọng was therefore 2.91 meters, or over 9.5 feet, tall. Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A Manual, 237-38.
[21] The position of metropolitan commandant (sili xiaowei) was not created until 89 BCE. Therefore, Lý Ông Trọng, if such a person ever existed, could not have held this position. See Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 451.
[22] Lintao was the name of a district in what is today Gansu Province. The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes who lived to the north of the area of Qin control.
[23] Xianyang, in what is today Shaanxi Province, was where the Qin Dynasty capital was located.
[24] The Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu) is an ancient chronicle and the Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan) or Master Zuo’s Commentery (Zuoshi zhuan) is a commentary to it.
[25] The “Five Passes” (Ngũ Lĩnh/Wuling) refers to five passes in the mountains which run across the northern borders of the current provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong. In the past, however, this term was often employed as a general reference to the area south of those passes.
[26] The term which Ngô Sĩ Liên explains here is chuế tế/zhuixu. The first character means “superfluous” and the second is usually translated as “son-in-law,” but can also be used in some restrictive senses to mean a “man.” Likening these individuals to cysts is not Ngô Sĩ Liên’s idea, but that of the eighth-century commentator of the Shiji, Sima Zhen. Sima Zhen wrote in his Shiji suoyin [Search into the Hidden Meanings in the Historical Records] that “chuế tế/zhuixu is a daughter’s husband. Compared to a son, he is like somebody’s wart, a superfluous object.” See Sima Qian, juan 126, liezhuan 66/1b.
[27] The name Lục Lương/Luliang consists of two characters. According to this explanation, this name was made by taking one character from each of the two expressions “mountain land” (sơn lục/shanlu) and “fierce and violent” (cường lương/qiangliang). This is again not Ngô Sĩ Liên’s original comment, but that of the Tang Dynasty scholar, Zhang Shoujie. Zhang also wrote a commentary to the Shiji, the Shiji zhengyi [Orthodox Meaning of the Historical Records]. See Sima Qian, juan 6, Qin benji 6/26a.
[28] Shaqiu was in what is today Hebei Province.
[29] Mount Tiên Du is located in what is today Bắc Ninh Province. At the time this text was compiled it was in Bắc Giang Circuit.
[30] It is not clear what river this is referring to. Further, there was no Đô Hộ Prefecture. The three characters for Đô Hộ Prefecture (đô hộ phủ/duhufu) can also mean “protectorate,” that is, the administrative unit which northern and north-central Vietnam were placed in during the Tang Dynasty. However, such a reading would not make sense here.
[31] This paragraph paraphrases a passage from the Shiji [Historical Records] where it states that in the area there were quite a few “men of the Middle Kingdom,” rather than “men of Qin.” This makes more sense, for as we will see below, Zhao Tuo took control of the area by eliminating “men of Qin” and replacing them with his own relatives and followers, many if not all of whom were likely “men of the Middle Kingdom.” See Sima Qian, juan 113, liezhuan 53/2a.
[32] Using today’s provincial borders for reference, Hengpu was at the border of Guangdong and Jiangxi Provinces, and Yangshan was at the border of Guangdong and Hunan Provinces. It is not clear where Huangxi border post was.
[33] One thốn was approximately 23.1 millimeters. Seven thốn was therefore 161.7 millimeters, or just over six inches.
As for the “patterned rhinoceros horn,” this is a reference to a type of rhinoceros horn called a “heaven-reaching” (thông thiên/tongtian) rhinoceros horn. People would carve this rhinoceros horn, which had a red line on it, into the shape of a fish, and then place it in their mouth as they entered water. Supposedly the water would then divide before the person, but it is more likely that the horn functioned like a snorkel and allowed the person to breathe under water. See Ge Hong, Baopuzi neipian [The Master who Embraces Simplicity, Inner Chapters], 4/23b.
[34] This story of Zhao Tuo’s defeat of King An Dương more or less follows information recorded in the Lĩnh Nam chích quái. However, it is clear that the version in that work is a compilation of information from different sources. For instance, the conversation between Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo, and Tuo’s subsequent decision to assassinate the Qin officials in the region is contained in the Shiji. However, no mention is made in that work of King An Dương. See Sima Qian, juan 113, liezhuan 53/1b-2b.
King An Dương is mentioned, however in two later works. Li Daoyuan’s sixth century Shuijing zhu [Annotated Classic of Waterways] cites a work which is no longer extant, but which probably dated from the late third or early fourth century, the Jiaozhou waiyu ji [Record of the Outer Territory of Jiao Region] for information about King An Dương, his divine crossbow, Zhongshi’s relationship with Mỵ Châu, and the resulting defeat of King An Dương. However, that version has King An Dương flee out to sea in a boat, rather than employ a rhinoceros horn to descend under water. See Li Daoyuan, Shuijing zhu [Annotated Classic of Waterways], 37/7a-8a, and for the dating of the Jiaozhou waiyu ji, see Rao Zongyi, “Annan gushi shang Anyang wang yu Xiong wang wenti” [The Question of King An Dương and the Hung Kings in the Ancient History of Annan], 42.
King An Dương’s use of a rhinoceros horn to breathe under water is recorded in a tenth century work by Yue Shi, the Taiping huanyu ji [Record of the World During the Taiping era (i.e., 976-83 CE)]. This work likewise cites for its information a text from the fifth century which is no longer extant, the Nanyue zhi [Treatise on Southern Yue]. See Yue Shi, Taiping huanyu ji [Record of the world during the Taiping era], 170/10a-b.
What is absent from these earlier Chinese works are the statements made by King An Dương, Zhongshi and Mỵ Châu, as well as the information about the golden turtle, the goose feathers, and the deaths of Mỵ Châu and Zhongshi. This information is only found in the Lĩnh Nam chích quái.
[35] In the Zuozhuan [Zuo Commentary] there is a passage in which King Hui of the Zhou asks about an incident where some spirits reportedly descended to Shen, an area in the Kingdom of Guo, in what is today Henan Province. King Hui is told what Ngô Sĩ Liên repeats below, “When a kingdom is about to rise, enlightened spirits descend into it in order to observe its moral virtue; and when it is about to perish, spirits also descend into it in order to view its wickedness.” See Zuozhuan, Zhuanggong 32, or James Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. V, 120.
There is another passage in the Zuozhuan in which the sovereign of the Kingdom of Jin asks his music master about a report that a stone has spoken. The music master then states, “Stones cannot speak. Perhaps something relied on it [to transmit words]. Otherwise the people did not hear correctly. I have heard it said though that ‘If one engages in activities in an untimely manner and discontent and complaints stir among the people, that speechless objects will speak.’ At present, lofty and luxurious palaces are being built and the people’s labor is being exhausted. Discontent and complaints are on the rise as people have no means to maintain their livelihood. Is it not appropriate that a stone would speak?” See Zuozhuan, Zhaogong 8, or Legge, vol. V, 622.
[36] The sovereign of the Kingdom of Guo sent some officials to make offerings to the spirits in Shen. The spirits then granted the Kingdom of Guo land. However, when they did so, one of the officials stated that, “[The Kingdom of] Guo will perish! I have heard that a kingdom which is about to flourish listens to its people, whereas a kingdom which is about to perish listens to the spirits. The spirits are intelligent, upright, and of one heart and mind. They act through people. [The Kingdom of] Guo has many who are lacking in virtue. How can it thus obtain land?” See Zuozhuan, Zhuanggong 32, or Legge, vol. V, 120.
[37] Bo You was an official in the Kingdom of Zheng who was killed. His ghost later tormented people in the kingdom until his son was granted an official position. See Zuozhuan, Zhaogong 7, or Legge, vol. V, 618.
[38] In the fifth century CE there is a story concerning King Việt of the Triệu which is very similar in structure and content to this one about King An Dương.