A further study on Northern Song’s generals participating in battles in Dai Co Viet (980-981)

Abstract

Looking back at the first Song - Viet war 1040 years ago, scholars from the two countries, Vietnam and China, have done many studies to discuss the causes of the Northern Song’s defeat. The most common conclusion comes from the internal conflict between the generals of Jiaozhou xingying. However, with the exception of Tran Ba Chi's The First Anti-Song Resistance War (980-981), Vietnamese and Chinese academic communities hardly conduct a systematic study on generals of the Northern Song army. Even the research on Tran Ba Chi explains briefly many issues related to the Northern Song generals, which makes the topic relatively vague, even lacking authentic historical data. Therefore, a review of the behavior of the Northern Song generals who participated in the war at Dai Co Viet is necessary for new historical research. Only when we fully understand the background and political career of these generals can we make an objective evaluation of their abilities. From this point of view, it is obviously a misunderstanding and lack of objectivity to blame the general for the defeat of the Northern Song army in Dai co Viet without evaluating their roles.