Phan Văn Lân (潘文璘, 1730–?) was a general of the

Tây Sơn dynasty The Tây Sơn dynasty (; , (chữ Hán: 朝西山; Chữ Nôm: 茹西山), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was an imperial dynasty of Vietnam. It originated in a revolt led by three peasant brothers with the surname Nguyễn, r ...

. He joined the Tây Sơn army in an early time. In 1787,

Vũ Văn Nhậm Vũ Văn Nhậm (武文任, ?–1788) was a general of Tây Sơn dynasty. At first Nhậm was a low-ranking officer of Nguyễn lord. Later, he committed a crime and had to join Tây Sơn army. Nguyễn Nhạc appreciated his bravery, and mar ...

led an army marching north into

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

. Lân and Ngô Văn Sở followed the army to assist him. Nhậm occupied Thăng Long (modern

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

), had

Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh ( vi-hantu, 阮有整, 1741–1788) was an official during the Revival Lê dynasty in Vietnam. Chỉnh was a disciple of Hoàng Ngũ Phúc. He had been sent to Tây Sơn as a diplomat. Nguyễn Nhạc admired him for ...

executed, and installed

Lê Duy Cận Lê Duy Cận ( vi-hantu, 黎維𬓑, ?–?) or Lê Duy Cẩn, was a Vietnamese prince during Revival Lê dynasty. Cận was the second son of Lê Hiển Tông. In 1769, his elder brother, Lê Duy Vĩ, was stripped of his position as Crown Pr ...

as a puppet "Prince Regent" (監國 ''giám quốc''). Sở and Lân regarded it as treason, and reported Nhậm's actions to

Nguyễn Huệ Emperor Quang Trung (; vi-hantu, 光中, 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ ( vi-hantu, 阮惠), also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình ( vi-hantu, 阮光平), or Hồ Thơm (chữ Hán: 胡𦹳) was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dy ...

. Huệ led an army marched north and had Nhậm executed. Huệ retreated from Tonkin, and left Ngô Văn Sở, Phan Văn Lân, Nguyễn Văn Tuyết,

Nguyễn Văn Dụng Nguyễn (阮) (sometimes abbreviated as Ng̃) is the most common surname of the Vietnamese people. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as ''Nguyen''. By some estimates 30 to 39 percent of Vietnamese peopl ...

, Trần Thuận Ngôn, and

Ngô Thì Nhậm Ngô Thì Nhậm or Ngô Thời Nhiệm ( vi-hantu, 吳時任, 1746–1803) was an important Vietnamese scholar and official who served several regimes during the turbulent last decades of the eighteenth century. He had served as an official for t ...

in Thăng Long to watch Cận.''

Việt Nam sử lược ( vi-hantu, 越南史略, , lit. "Outline History of Vietnam"), was the first history text published in the Vietnamese language and the Vietnamese alphabet. It was compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Kim. It covered the period from ...

'', Quyển 2, Chương 10'' Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện'', vol. 30

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...

invaded Vietnam to reinstall the deposed emperor

Lê Chiêu Thống Lê Chiêu Thống (1765–1793), born Lê Duy Khiêm and later Lê Duy Kỳ, was the last emperor of the Vietnamese Later Lê dynasty. He was overthrown by the Tây Sơn dynasty. He appealed to the Qing dynasty of China to help regain the th ...

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...

. Ngô Văn Sở decided to retreat, but was opposed by Lân. He then led a troop to attack the Chinese army in Nguyệt Đức River (modern

Cầu River Cầu River () is a river of northern Vietnam. It flows through the provinces/cities of Bắc Kạn, Thái Nguyên, Bắc Giang, Hanoi, Bắc Ninh Bắc Ninh () is a city in the Northern Vietnam, northern part of Vietnam and is the capital o ...

), but was utterly beaten and fled back to Thăng Long. Sở concealed the fact and retreated to Tam Điệp, and sent Nguyễn Văn Tuyết to

Phú Xuân Phú Xuân (富春) was the historic capital of the Nguyễn lords, the Tây Sơn dynasty, and later became the Nguyễn dynasty's capital (renamed Huế). History In 1306, the King of Champa Chế Mân offered Vietnam two Chăm prefectures, Ô ...

(modern

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

) to ask support.''

'', Quyển 2, Chương 11 Huệ then led an army marching north, and defeated the Chinese army in the battle of Ngọc Hồi and Đống Đa. Lân also played an important role in this battle.

References

1730 births Tây Sơn dynasty generals Year of death unknown {{vietnam-mil-bio-stub