A History of the Vietnamese (Cambridge Concise Histories) by K. W. Taylor

Author:K. W. Taylor
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013-05-30T17:00:00+00:00

Nguyen Phuc Khoat found nothing wrong with this argument and accordingly made peace with Chei Chéttha IV.

One year later, in 1757, Chei Chéttha IV died. Two men who endeavored to succeed him were successively murdered. Vietnamese armies were again mobilized to intervene. Once again, Mac Thien Tu provided the solution for settling matters by proposing that a Khmer prince who had found refuge with him be made king of Cambodia. Nguyen Phuc Khoat agreed to this on condition that all remaining downriver Khmer territories, in the region of modern Tra Vinh and Soc Trang, were to be ceded to the Vietnamese. On this basis, Nguyen Cu Trinh and Mac Thien Tu marched to the Khmer capital and enthroned a grandson of one of Chei Chéttha IV’s second cousins as Outeireachea III, who reigned thereafter until 1775. As part of the final settlement, Outeireachea III ceded more territories along the borders of Ha Tien to Mac Thien Tu, who then passed them along to Phu Xuan. With this, the Khmer–Viet border was drawn more or less as it exists today.

Nguyen Cu Trinh remained in the south until 1765. He and Mac Thien Tu were well-educated men who became famous for their friendship. Both loved poetry and Nguyen Cu Trinh contributed to an anthology of poems praising the “ten most scenic places” in Ha Tien. Nguyen Cu Trinh’s leadership was a critical factor in stabilizing a Khmer–Viet border that would thereafter stand the test of time.

It was during Nguyen Cu Trinh’s service in the south, in 1751, that envoys are recorded from the “Water Chieftain” and the “Fire Chieftain” of the Central Highlands in the vicinity of modern Buon Ma Thuot. Vietnamese historians considered these men to be descendents of the Cham king defeated by Le Tu Thanh in 1471 and recorded tribute and trading relationships with them since the time Phu Yen had been added to Vietnamese territory in the early seventeenth century, for access to their lands was up the Da Rang River that flowed into the sea at Phu Yen. According to southern annalists, Vietnamese traded silks, hats, brass pots, iron pans, and ceramics for beeswax, deer antlers, bear gall, stallions, and bull elephants. Trade with the Laotian kingdom via the Cam Lo Road west from Quang Tri continued to be important as well. In 1761, Laotian envoys arrived in Phu Xuan to demonstrate their interest in maintaining this trade.

Information recorded in the time of Nguyen Phuc Khoat also gives details about the maritime frontier. In 1754, a Vietnamese ship on its way to the Hoang Sa Islands (Paracel Islands) was blown off course by a storm and shipwrecked on Hainan Island. Qing magistrates sent the survivors back to Phu Xuan, and Nguyen Phuc Khoat wrote a letter of thanks to the Qing authorities. This episode was the occasion for Vietnamese historians to record information about Vietnamese activities on offshore islands. According to them, each year, since the beginning of Nguyen rule in the south, around seventy people were

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