XV.
Chinese domination and war of independence. 1414-1428.
It has already been noticed that the Chinese invaded An-nam in 1407,
and, after seven years of resistance from the armed rebels and the
Annamese who remained loyal to the last two kings of the TRAN Dynasty,
they occupied the country, and it was formally annexed to China. But
this domination was never consolidated, and did not last very long, on
account of the coming to the front of the Annamese hero LE-LOI.
To pay the numerous troops sent to Annam, the Chinese
Commander-in-Chief LY-BAN ordered in 1419 the following cash to be cast.
No. 39. - Obverse:
Giao-chi-thong-bao, or public currency of Giao-chi (Annam)
Reverse: plain. The metal employed for the casting of these cash
was very bad and mixed with a great quantity of lead and sand. As they
were not made in large quantities, specimens are very difficult to
procure at the present day.
Towards the end of 1417, there appeared in the province of Nghe-an
the Annamese LE-LOI, the chief of the party fighting for
independence against the Chinese. His good fortune was by no means
continuous, and be suffered several defeats; but his personal valour and
his power over the Annamese armies kept up the movement and enabled him
to inflict severe losses upon the Chinese army, and to force it to
retire from the country.
In 1426 LE-LOI proclaimed a descendant of the TRAN Dynasty king of
Annam under the name of THIEN-KHANH, but his power was always
eclipsed by that of LE-LOI, who in 1428, when Annam was freed from the
invader, pro-claimed himself king, giving birth to the second Le
Dynasty.
During LE-LOI'S rebellion several coins were cast for the payment of
his followers. They are all of diminutive size, and the copper employed
varies in colour according to the provinces wherein the coins were cast
No. 40. - Obverse:
An-phap-nguyen-bao. The character
Nguyen
written in the seal form.
Plain Reverse.
No. 41. - Same as before, but having
Nguyen-bao
written in seal characters
No. 42. - Obverse: Same as before.
Reverse: without rim.
No. 43. - Same as before, but having the hole in
the middle round instead of square.
No. 44. - Obverse:
Chanh-phap-nguyen-bao The characters
Nguyen-bao, written in the seal style.
Reverse: without rim.
No. 45. - Obverse:
Tri-thanh-nguyen-bao. Only the character
Bao is
written in the seal form.
Reverse: plain.
Nos. 46, 47 and 48. - Obverse: same
as before, but having
Binh-bao
instead of
Nguyen-bao. The four characters written in plain form. No. 48 has
the hole in the-middle round.
Reverse: without rim.
No. 49. - Obverse:
Thai-phap-binh-bao.
Reverse: without rim.
No. 50. - Obverse:
Thanh-quan-thong-bao.
Reverse: The adversative particle
 noi, the
meaning of which is uncertain. Coin made of tin and lead. |
