Lam Sơn uprising

Date

1418 – 1427

Location

North Vietnam

Result

Lam Sơn rebel victory

Independence of Đại Việt under the Later Lê Dynasty

Belligerents

Ming Dynasty

Lam Sơn rebels

Commanders and leaders

Li Bin
Wang Tong

Lê Lợi

Lam Sơn rebel victory

The Lam Sơn uprising (Khởi nghĩa Lam Sơn) was the uprising led by Lê Lợi in Vietnam of 1418-1427 against Ming rule.

The Ming were backed by a lot of Red River plain dwelling ethnic Kinh Vietnamese while it was the frontier dwelling ethnic minority Trai people who were the origin of the anti-Ming rebels and Le Loi himself. There was no mandatory required reparation of the voluntarily remaining Ming Chinese in Vietnam. The return of the Ming Chinese to China was commanded by the Ming and not Le Loi. The Trai made up the supporters of Le Loi in his campaign. He lived among the Trai at the border regions as their leader and seized the Ming ruled lowland Kinh areas after originally forming his base in the southern highland regions. The southern dwelling Trai and Red River dwelling Vietnamese were in effect locked in a "civil war" during the anti Ming rebellion by Le Loi. The Trai are also known as the Muong who are highlanders.

A Muong origin has been ascribed by historians to Le Loi. Clumsy Han Nom transcriptions of names like "Shoes", "Liar", "Tongue", "animal", "shabby", "Skin" and Dog" among Le Loi's supporters indicate a non Vietnamese background. They invaded the Red River area from their original home base of Nghe An and Thanh Hoa. It was said that Le Loi was a barbarian amongst barbarians in texts from China in the 1500s.

A Muong character dominated over the Vietnamese in Lam son around the river Chu and Tai, Muong, and Vietnamese according to Emile Gaspardone all lived in Tay-kinh in Lam son which was the origin of the Le rebels. Both Trai and Kinh resided near Tay Do in Mount Lam which was the origin of Le Loi. Muont Lam was the origin of the uprising.

Anti Ming sentiment came from the southern highland areas of Nghe An and Thanh Hoa while the same province's lowland areas were pro-Ming as were the Red River inhabitants. Anti Ming rebellion happened among the southern Trai people. The Muong were called Trai while the ethnic Vietnamese were called King during the Tran dynasty.

There was a mix of Trai and Kinh in the area of Mount Lam where Le Loi originated. Trần Quý Khoáng counted Le Loi among one of his partisans. The Ming received an oath of loyalty from Le Loi in 1413. The Ming launched an assault against Le Loi after the Ming were told he was an insurrectionary by one of his rivals.

The Muong people were given the name of outpost (Trai) while the ethnic Kinh Vietnamese living in the lowlands in the Ca and Ma region who were named afer the Hanoi capital area were influenced significantly by Chinese language when the Red River areas was heavily inhabited by Sinophones during the original period of Chinese rule. The Tran dynasty had used the label of Trai for the inhabitants of Ha Tinh, Nghe An, and Thanh Hoa n the south while they gave the label of Kinh to the inhabitants of the red River area in 1256.

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Wikipedia