Mac Dynasty citadel in Tuyen Quang city. Photo: Dinh Khanh.
Immediately after ascending the throne, Mac Dang Dung built the Duong Kinh in Hai Duong, reformed the army, increasing the number of troops sometimes up to 120,000 people. In 1592, retreating to Cao Bang, the Mac dynasty built a defense line from afar by building many ramparts in Quang Yen, Bac Giang, Vinh Yen, Thai Nguyen, and Lang Son.
The Mac citadel is characterized by making the most of the natural terrain, relying on mountains to make walls, taking rivers and streams as moats; most of it is an earthen citadel and is simply a military construction (except for the fortified citadel at Cao Bang base). In places where there are relics of the Mac citadel, people often tell the same story that the citadel was built in one night. According to folklore, there is a reasonable core, that is, the Mac army is very large, wherever they go to capture soldiers and translate there. Besides, the construction of the citadel was urgently needed to cope with the attacks of the Le – Trinh troops. Although the Mac army was large, it was not elite, and it was not supported by the people, so they had to use the citadel as protection.
The above characteristics are similar to the existing citadel in Tuyen Quang city: The earth citadel, taking Tho Son as the northern wall, taking the Lo river as the eastern moat, is also said to have been built in one night… Tuyen Quang bordered with Cao Bang, a line that Le – Trinh troops could attack, so the Mac dynasty had to build a citadel in Tuyen Quang (emphasis is on embankment, not construction).
It is not without reason that from ancient times to this day, Tuyen Quang people only know and talk about the Mac citadel.
Why did the Mac and Bau dynasties, two opposing forces, build citadel just over 10 km apart?
Bau house was built in An Khang commune when it was just starting out. In 1533, Lord Bau Vu Cong Mat submitted to King Le and opposed Mac. Since then, their headquarters Vu was in Dai Dong Chau Thu Vat (present-day Yen Binh district. This location is now in the heart of Thac Ba lake).
The construction of Tuyen Quang citadel is well documented in the history books of the Nguyen Dynasty. Note the statement of Nguyen Dang Giai in 1844: βIn Tuyen Quang province, the citadel is up to 3, 4 meters high, on bamboo poles, the houses in the hall are very desolate; The streets and streets look unsightly.β
In the same year, King Thieu Tri assigned Governor Nguyen Dang Giai and Warlord Nguyen Trong Thao to urge the construction of the citadel in Tuyen Quang province. From here, it got its name Tuyen Quang and was mainly used in papers.
Based on the entity of the citadel and folk documents, it is not wrong to affirm that Tuyen Quang had a citadel of the Mac dynasty, but according to the Nguyen dynasty’s history, it is not wrong to call it Tuyen Quang citadel.
Source: Collected internet.