Kiều Công Tiễn ( chữ Hán: 矯公羡 or 皎公羨; ) (870 - 938) was a general in the court of Dương Đình Nghệ, a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

Jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate" ...

of Tĩnh Hải quân who took over the position in 931. In 937 Kiều Công Tiễn assassinated the Jiedushi to seize his position and thus provoked a revolt led by

Ngô Quyền Ngô Quyền ( vi-hantu, 吳權) (April 17, 898 – February 14, 944), often referred to as Tiền Ngô Vương (前吳王; "First King of Ngô"), was a warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngô dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned from ...

who sought revenge his lord and father-in-law Dương Đình Nghệ. In response to the attack, Kiều Công Tiễn appealed to Liu Yan, the emperor of

Southern Han Southern Han (; 917–971), officially Han (), originally Yue (), was one of the ten kingdoms that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was located on China's southern coast, controlling modern Guangdong and Guangxi. The ...

, for reinforcements but he was defeated and executed by Ngô Quyền before the army of Southern Han entered the country. Later, Ngô Quyền had a decisive victory over the Southern Han in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River and marked the independence of Vietnam from Chinese authorities.

History

According to ''

Từ điển Bách khoa toàn thư Việt Nam ''Từ điển bách khoa Việt Nam'' (Literally ''Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Vietnam'') is a state-sponsored Vietnamese language encyclopedia that was published in Vietnam in 2005. It is the first state encyclopedia of the Socialist Republic o ...

'', the date of birth of Kiều Công Tiễn was unknown but he was from Phong Châu (now

Phú Thọ Phú Thọ () is a district-level town in Phú Thọ Province, Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

) where he was a notable of the region. Commonly, the Hán tự characters of his name (矯公羨) are transcribed in

as Kiều Công Tiễn but there are some sources such as the '' Khâm định Việt sử thông giám cương mục'' or the ''

Việt Nam sử lược ( vi-hantu, 越南史略, french: Précis d'Histoire du Việt-Nam, lit. "Outline History of Vietnam"), was the first history text published in the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese alphabet. It was compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Ki ...

'' of Trần Trọng Kim use the transcription Kiểu Công Tiện. In several ancient historical books of China like the ''

New History of the Five Dynasties The ''Historical Records of the Five Dynasties'' (''Wudai Shiji'') is a Chinese history book on the Five Dynasties period (907–960), written by the Song dynasty official Ouyang Xiu in private. It was drafted during Ouyang's exile from 1036 to ...

'', his family name ( 矯, ''Kiều'') was recorded by another character 皎 which is often transcribed as ''Hiệu'' in Vietnamese. When Dương Đình Nghệ took over the position of

of Tĩnh Hải quân in 931 from the

, Kiều Công Tiễn was chosen as a general in the court of Dương Đình Nghệ, according to the '' Đại Việt sử lược'', Kiều Công Tiễn was the adopted son of the Jiedushi. In the third month of

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...

in 937, Kiều Công Tiễn assassinated Dương Đình Nghệ in order to seize his position of Jiedushi. Nine months later,

, another general of Dương Đình Nghệ, commanded his army from the Ái province (now

Thanh Hóa Thanh Hóa () is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River (Sông Mã), about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Hanoi and 1560 kilometers (969 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. Thanh ...

) to rise a revolt against Kiều Công Tiễn in revenging his lord and father-in-law Dương Đình Nghệ. In response to Ngô Quyền's military campaign, Kiều Công Tiễn decided to seek help from the emperor of

Liu Yan who also wanted to profit the chaos in Tĩnh Hải quân to regain control of Giao Chỉ. Because of his action against Dương Đình Nghệ and the call on Chinese aid, Kiễu Công Tiễn is denounced by many Vietnamese historians as a usurper in

history of Vietnam The history of Vietnam can be traced back to around 20,000 years ago, as the first modern humans arrived and settled on this land, known as the Hoabinhians, which can be traced to modern-day Negritos. Archaeological findings from 1965, which are ...

. After accepting the appeal of Kiều Công Tiễn, Liu Yan appointed his son Liu Yuancao the new Jiedushi of Tĩnh Hải quân, which was renamed as King of Giao Chỉ (Giao vương), and personally conducted the reinforcements for Kiều Công Tiễn. Before the troops of Southern Han entered the territory of Tĩnh Hải quân,

got ahead by defeating and executing Kiều Công Tiễn in 938 and prepared to catch the army of Liu Yan in

Bạch Đằng River The Bạch Đằng River ( vi, Sông Bạch Đằng, ), also called Bạch Đằng Giang (from ), ''white wisteria river'', is a river in northern Vietnam, located near Hạ Long Bay. It flows through the Yên Hưng District of Quảng Ninh Provin ...

. Finally Liu Yan's army was defeated in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River where his son Liu Yuancao was killed in action, the emperor of Southern Han had to abandon his military campaign and Ngô Quyền thus successfully secured the country from invaders and marked the beginning of the independence of Vietnam from Chinese authorities. After the death of Ngô Quyền in 944, Vietnam again fell into troubled times with the 12 Lords Rebellion in which Kiều Công Hãn and Kiều Thuận, grandsons of Kiều Công Tiễn, were among the principal warlords.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * , - style="text-align: center;" , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kieu, Tien Cong 870 births 938 deaths Southern Han jiedushi of Jinghai Circuit