Based on historical analysis, archaeological results and the results of the reconstruction of the magic crossbow, a powerful weapon that can kill thousands of soldiers with one shot, a weapon completely different from ancient China, along with sharp military explanations, leading experts raised big questions about Trieu Da's annexation of Au Lac, a chapter of history that is considered "default" in many documents, including the legend of My Chau and Trong Thuy.
According to legend, My Chau sat behind her father, spreading goose feathers to show Trong Thuy the way. Illustration: Internet.
Refuting the legend of My Chau and Trong Thuy, reconstructed from the magic crossbow, historical documents, archaeology
Talking to PV Tri Thuc and Cuoc Song, engineer Vu Dinh Thanh , technical expert of the research and production agency NPO ALMAZ (Russia), the author of the exclusive patent for the crossbow that can shoot tens of thousands of bronze arrows at the same time, said that restoring the crossbow and finding the lethal principle of this weapon is the key to understanding the history of our ancestors.
Senior Lieutenant General, Academician, Doctor, Hero of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces Nguyen Huy Hieu (holding the magic crossbow); Lieutenant General, Professor, Doctor Nguyen Dinh Chien, Colonel, Professor, Doctor Le Dinh Sy; Colonel, Professor, Doctor Vu Tang Bong (wearing the hat on the far left) and engineer Vu Dinh Thanh (first in the bottom row) shoot the reconstructed magic crossbow. Photo: NVCC.
According to engineer Vu Dinh Thanh, while all types of crossbows in the world use force to shoot straight at the target, our ancestors had a completely different way of shooting. Instead of shooting straight at the target, they shot high. Then, the tiny Co Loa bronze arrows, thanks to the gravity of the Earth, will fall faster and faster and rotate around the axis. The higher the height, the more dangerous it is, the greater the damage. This mechanism is similar to the flechette weapon or the nail-strewn bullets of modern artillery, capable of effectively neutralizing both infantry and cavalry.
Drawing of an archer with an extremely powerful bronze arrow on the Ngoc Lu bronze drum. Photo: NVCC.
In addition to the “ magic crossbow ” firing in series, the image of the archer on the bronze drum also shows the use of the technique of shooting a Co Loa bronze arrow high up, so that the arrow takes advantage of gravity to fall down and destroy the target. When deployed from positions with the advantage of height such as walls or mountain tops, the destructive power of both the magic crossbow and the Co Loa bow and arrow is amplified: from a height of 18m it can penetrate the skull, 56m penetrate iron armor, and from 500m it can penetrate many enemy soldiers. Of course, to achieve this effect, the processing technique of the Co Loa bronze arrows must ensure that they are able to self-stabilize, accelerate, and rotate when falling.
Ten thousand bronze arrows from Co Loa were shot from the magic crossbow and flew high into the sky, then fell down, rotating around the axis, piercing all iron armor, killing ten thousand enemies. Photo: NVCC.
“It is these superior and different technological features that gave Au Lac weapons an overwhelming advantage over the weapons of the Qin and Trieu dynasties. This is also the main evidence to strengthen the argument that the Trieu dynasty may never have dared to invade Au Lac,” engineer Thanh analyzed.
From the above arguments, looking at the legend of My Chau - Trong Thuy, engineer Thanh believes that this legend contains many details that are detrimental to the national image, that is, the Vietnamese princess was blinded by the enemy's prince, the king had to kill his son, especially "accusing" Au Lac of being occupied by Trieu Da, which needs to be reconsidered.
Scene from the movie My Chau, Trong Thuy. Source: Vietnam Animation Studio.
Another important basis, engineer Thanh pointed out, is that contemporary Chinese historical sources, such as Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian and the book Hoai Nam Tu, which were the same era as An Duong Vuong, did not record the event of Trieu Da conquering Au Lac, nor did they mention My Chau or Trong Thuy, even though the Records of the Grand Historian described in detail the reigns of the Trieu kings and princes (while many Vietnamese historical books compiled more than 1,000 years later relied on this legend to conclude that Trieu Da annexed Au Lac).
The Records of the Grand Historian also clearly stated that Trieu Da had to "bring wealth and goods to bribe Au Lac to make them dependent" and meticulously described the attack of the king of Man Viet (a small country) on Nam Viet, forcing Trieu Da to ask for help from the Han Dynasty. The Records of the Grand Historian also affirmed the powerful existence of Au Lac four times with the statement that "Au Lac fought and made Nam Viet tremble", after defeating 500,000 Qin invaders ("people died in piles" - Records of the Grand Historian; "hundreds of thousands of corpses and blood flowed" - Hoai Nam Tu).
In addition, the fact that no crossbows or traces of Co Loa weapon technology were found in Trieu Dynasty sites, along with archaeological evidence of a large-scale bronze arrow foundry with hundreds of stone or terracotta molds covering nearly 1,000 square meters right in the Co Loa citadel, which is still intact, without any signs of destruction or relocation, is important evidence to further strengthen the assertion that Trieu Da never occupied Co Loa citadel, or that the Vietnamese princess did not betray her country for love.
Revisiting the "dark spots" and political factors
Sharing the same view, Senior Lieutenant General, Academician, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hieu, Hero of the People's Armed Forces, former Deputy Minister of National Defense, gave many sharp explanations.
Firstly, according to General Hieu, from a political perspective, the Vietnamese feudal dynasties mentioning the Trieu dynasty may have aimed to assert sovereignty and seek opportunities to reclaim the territories of Guangdong and Guangxi, but it does not mean recognizing the invasion. Notably, feudal historical records only generally mentioned the death of An Duong Vuong, and did not record the Trieu dynasty's massacre of the Au Lac people - which is difficult to understand if they really won after many losses. The silence of historical records about Trieu Da's acts of revenge and looting in Au Lac is also indirect evidence.
Illustration of an archer on a bronze drum shooting arrows from above, able to pierce 10 Qin soldiers, killing tens of thousands of enemy soldiers. Source: NVCC.
Second, it was military absurdity. With his extensive battle experience, General Hieu affirmed that the plan to "change the crossbow trigger" to neutralize the "magic crossbow" and then mobilize a large army to invade was unrealistic under the communication conditions of that time. The "magic crossbow" was envisioned as a complex weapon system, requiring many people to operate, and the risk of the plan being exposed over a long period of time (from when Trong Thuy reported the news to when Trieu Da sent troops) was very high. More importantly, contemporary Chinese historical documents such as Hoai Nam Tu and Sima Qian's Historical Records did not have any records of Trieu Da attacking Au Lac.
Third, the origin of the legend. During the time of the Trung Sisters, feminism in Vietnam was highly valued, with the appearance of many female leaders. This contrasted with the image of My Chau as weak and dependent, which was closer to the concept of women in Chinese culture.
Fourth, in terms of historical context: Trieu Da was actually weaker than Au Lac, had to rely on the remnants of the Qin army, the Viet people in Nam Viet, and was even attacked by the Min Viet to the point of having to ask for help from the Han Dynasty. Meanwhile, Au Lac was a military power, possessing a powerful "magic crossbow", once defeating hundreds of thousands of Qin troops.
Fifth, Trieu Da relied on the small number of Han people who were the remnants of the 500,000 Qin troops to become king in Nam Viet and had to use a policy of demagoguery against the native Vietnamese people, so it was very difficult for Trieu Da to organize a Vietnamese army to fight the Vietnamese in Au Lac. In fact, Trieu Da only organized the Nam Viet army, that is, the Vietnamese people, to fight against the Han Dynasty.
“These analyses, together with archaeological evidence of the Co Loa weapons foundry, strongly support the hypothesis that the Trieu dynasty never captured Co Loa citadel,” General Hieu affirmed.
Hypothesis of a civil war in Au Lac
Analyzing the legend further, engineer Vu Dinh Thanh pointed out the core contradiction: The whole story revolves around the magic crossbow, Trong Thuy obtained the "genuine turtle claw", but after supposedly conquering Au Lac, Trieu Da did not possess this weapon. The fact that China discovered that the Trieu Dynasty tomb had absolutely no trace of the magic crossbow or related technology is solid evidence that Trieu Da may never have conquered Au Lac.
Based on the results of the reconstruction of the magic crossbow and the image of the archer on the bronze drum, engineer Thanh affirmed that Au Lac possessed a special archery technique with the Co Loa bronze arrow, along with many types of crossbows capable of simultaneously firing many arrows of different sizes and quantities. This explains why ancient historical books describe the "magic crossbow" as being able to shoot 10 arrows at a time, killing 300 enemy troops at a time, and even the largest crossbow of the Au Lac king (possibly made by Cao Lo since the time of the 18th Hung King) capable of killing tens of thousands of troops.
The invention "The magic crossbow shoots many arrows, the force of the crossbow acts on the quiver, the quiver has many small arrows" by Engineer Vu Dinh Thanh was granted an exclusive patent by the Intellectual Property Office in 2022. Photo: NVCC.
He completely agreed with Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Huy Hieu's assessment that it was impossible to build a large-scale military plan based solely on "changing the crossbow trigger" for many days. Because the "magic crossbow" is a complex weapon system, requiring many operators, and the crossbow trigger is just a simple mechanical part, easy to process and can be replaced in a very short time, measured in hours. The strength of Au Lac does not only depend on a single "magic crossbow" but also on the elite archers and smaller crossbows.
From there, engineer Thanh proposed another hypothesis: It is very possible that a civil war occurred. An internal force of Au Lac suddenly disabled the king's largest crossbow, an event that happened in a flash within a few hours. At that time, only the archers and smaller crossbows remained, forcing the Au Lac king to retreat. This was completely unrelated to Trieu Da. This hypothesis is also consistent with the record of the Historical Records: "The Au Lac fight caused Nam Viet to tremble."
"Thus, the deactivation of the "magic crossbow" could be the result of internal conflict, explaining why the people of Co Loa were not massacred and the weapon foundries remain intact to this day," engineer Vu Dinh Thanh analyzed.
Many clear evidences, need to restore historical truth
Engineer Thanh and General Hieu, after carefully reviewing the Records of the Grand Historian of Sima Qian and Huainanzi, both found that the documents indicated that Au Lac fought with 500,000 Qin troops led by a commander named Da, namely Uy Da Do Thu (ordered Uy Da Do Thu to bring ships to the South to attack the Bai Viet), not Trieu Da. The Qin troops entered by water (Tien Du mountain area) and by land (Cao Bang), but were defeated by the Au Lac troops using crossbows and bows.
According to engineer Vu Dinh Thanh, Chinese scientists have not been able to recreate a crossbow that can fire a bunch of arrows at the same time, which proves that the Vietnamese princess did not reveal state secrets. Source: NVCC.
"Based on ancient Chinese history books, the results of the restoration of Co Loa weapons, and experience from World War I (Flechette arrows), it is clear that the Au Lac army and people fought for 5-6 years, killing tens of thousands of Qin troops led by Uy Da Do Thu, unrelated to Trieu Da," said engineer Thanh. As a result, Au Lac maintained its territory, while Trieu Da and the remnants of the Qin army rose up and established themselves in Guangdong and Guangxi.
Engineer Thanh also mentioned the recent study on decoding Vietnamese genes by the VinBigData Institute (Vingroup) showing that Vietnamese genes are completely different from Han genes, proving that Han people have never assimilated Vietnamese people at any level, which also indirectly supports the fact that Au Lac was never occupied by the Trieu Dynasty.
From their solid arguments, both experts concluded that Trieu Da could not have brought troops to invade a powerful country like Au Lac, which possessed superior weapons and had just defeated hundreds of thousands of Qin troops. Mobilizing Vietnamese people in Nam Viet to fight fellow Vietnamese in Au Lac was also unlikely. The legend of My Chau - Trong Thuy was most likely created by some force, combining real events (magic crossbow, resistance against Qin, Au Lac civil war) to impose the idea that Au Lac was under Trieu Da's domination.
“Being ruled by foreign powers has a profound impact on the nation’s identity and national pride. Even the smallest sign that proves we were not colonized needs to be carefully examined. Currently, we have too much clear evidence that we were not colonized by Trieu Da. I hope that the authorities will step in to find the historical truth, because that is very important to the self-respect of every Vietnamese person,” General Hieu suggested.
Engineer Vu Dinh Thanh said: “Our ancestors created the magic crossbow, an extremely powerful weapon and completely different from the enemy. Understanding this, we will see that in reality, it is difficult for any army to occupy Au Lac. Because just a group of archers like the one on the bronze drum entrenched on the mountain can shoot and kill tens of thousands of invaders, the evidence is that hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers have died in Au Lac. It is worth mentioning that Chinese scientists have admitted that China did not know about the technology of shooting bronze arrows from the failed reconstruction of the crossbow that shoots many arrows. This is evidence that the Vietnamese princess has never revealed military secrets.”
Dear readers, please watch the video of Engineer Vu Dinh Thanh discussing with Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Huy Hieu about the basis for the statement: Trieu Da never annexed Au Lac. Source: NVCC.
Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/cong-chua-viet-khong-phan-quoc-vi-tinh-yeu-post1542280.html
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