Which Vietnamese scholar helped the Ming emperor pray for rain and to relieve drought?

The person mentioned is Nguyen Nghieu Tu.

According to the book Sages in Vietnamese History, when he was young, Nguyen Nghieu Tu's father worked as a butcher, and he was born in the 10th lunar month (the month of the Pig), so he was called Uncle Pig. After he passed the imperial examination, people called him Trang Lon.

From a young age, Nguyen Nghieu Tu was a person who cared about studying. When going to the pond to wash duckweed or to the garden to pick vegetables, he still held a sharp stick and scratched the ground or wrote on banana leaves or taro leaves to learn difficult words. He passed the royal examination in the year of Mau Thin, the 6th year of Thai Hoa (1448), under King Le Nhan Tong and became an official with the position of Han Lam Truc Hoc Si, An Phu Su of Tan Hung Thuong road.

The king saw that he had made great contributions to the country and was also an intelligent person, so he granted him the title of First Class Scholar.

Nguyen Nghieu Tu, a former ambassador to China, is famous for the story of helping the Ming emperor pray for rain. (Illustration)

In particular, Nguyen Nghieu Tu has many famous anecdotes about his diplomatic talent. The book "Sages in Vietnamese History" records the story of Trang Lon helping the Ming Dynasty set up an altar to pray for rain to fight drought, thanks to his exceptional response skills:

“At that time, there was a prolonged drought in China. When Trang Lon came to visit, the Ming king invited him to pray to test his ability. Trang accepted and asked him to build a majestic altar for him to pray. The purpose was to prolong the time. When he saw the grass, Trang went up to the altar to perform a ceremony, praying in a pun: "Huong binh, hoa binh, tam tinh, keo tinh, bat tinh, linh tinh tinh... The Ming king heard and admired Trang's profound knowledge, his understanding of astronomy, and his knowledge of all the stars. As soon as the ceremony ended, it immediately rained heavily, making the king even more impressed."

After this event, he was appointed as the top scholar of the Northern Dynasty by the Ming emperor.

Kim Nha

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/trang-nguyen-viet-nao-tung-giup-vua-minh-cau-mua-giai-han-ar901176.html