Lý Dynasty

The Ly dynasty was a Vietnamese dynasty that began in 1009 when Lý Thái Tổ replaced the Early Lê dynasty and ended in 1225 by Lý Chiêu Hoàng (The only Queens of Việt Nam). For the first time, the Ly held the government for a long time, about 200 years, unlike the old dynasty previously existed only a few decades ago.  During Lý Thánh Tông's reign, the official of Vietnam became Đại Việt in 1054, which opened era of great Đại Việt in Vietnamese history.

In 1010, after his accession to the throne, Lý Thái Tổ ordered the transfer of the capital to Thăng Long. Thăng Long was a capital until the 19th century. The King owned all the land. However, the government just directly utilized only a small portion of this land, some of which distributed to members of the royal family . Thus, there was an agrarian regime with several sectors :
-Land used by the state
-Fiefdoms and domains
-Communal
-Private land.

The gate of Quốc Tử Giám

In this time, although the emperors worshiped Buddhism, however the Confucianism was influencing very high with opening of the first university, Văn Miếu (1070) and Quốc tử giám (1076). These was supported for choose talented people who do not come from aristocratic origin to help the country. The first examination was opened in 1075 and first doctoral candidates was Le Van Thinh.

Uniform of Army Ly

The Ly army was systematically built and in addition, The king upgraded and promoted about army such as the ministry of marine, cavalry, infantry and also the large number of weapons, spear, bows, shields and support for army, for example : catapult, this technical was learned from the Tong dynasty. Furthermore, The dynasty continued to employ "ngụ binh ư nông"-a system dated back to the Đinh dynasty. The soldier stayed in duty only several months or per year, the rest of the year, they returned to their home in peace time. However, they were still required to train regularly with their captain and other troopers. Soldiers were not paid by the state but they were exempted from tax. This system allowed for a large trained standing army while the state was not burdened with maintaining it. In the 11th century, the frontiers of Dai Viet on the north and northwest had not yet been clearly delimited. So, the army of Ly dynasty need to strong. Beside that, The Ly kings often sought alliances with local chiefs by giving them princesses in marriage or by marrying their daughter.




WARS BETWEEN NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES


In 1069, in an attempt to find the remedy to a serious economic and social crisis, the Wang Nganche(the person who a bold reformer) trying to advocated the reconquest of Dai Viet, In 1074, the provinces of southern China received the order to strengthen their armies, arm combat junks and stop trading with Dai Viet.

Như Nguyệt River.

At the Ly court, the kings was only ten years old, so all power was concentrated in the hands of General Lý Thường Kiệt (the best general of VietNam), who decided to take the offensive in order to forestall the Sung. In 1075, two army corps totaling 100,000 men were sent to China. Lý Thường Kiệt was cleverly exploited the discontent of the Chinese population with Wang Nganche's reforms, and appeared as the liberator of the peoples of southern China. The Ly troops were enthusiastically welcomed by the population and easily occupied many localities. Lý Thường Kiệt attacked the Yung chow which fell after a siege lasting 43 days. Other strongholds suffered the same fate, after the citadel was razed.

The Sung was very angry. So, they prepared for a counter-offensive. Early in 1077, the Sung troops, having forced their way through frontier passes, and they were facing the Ly army across the Nhu Nguyet River. Ly Thường Kiệt was build and made trap around Nhu Nguyet. The Sung was attacked many time with many ways. However, it could not because Lý Thường Kiệt was defense very well. In this war, Ly Thuong Kiet composed a poem and had it recited during the night, making his men trust that the river god was speaking :

Over the southern mountains and rivers, the Emperor of the South shall reign
This was written down in the Book of Heaven. 
How dare those barbarians invade our soil ? 
They will surely meet with defeat. 

Those reasons support morale higher than ever, the Ly army repelled the attackers, who were also being decimated by disease. you know what ? the weather in north VietNam very uncomfortable. We have many forest which contained parasites, mosquito and many things differences from jungle. After Everything happen, Lý Thường Kiệt made a peace proposal, which included the ceding of five frontier districts ( Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn provinces). The Sung accepted. This was in 1077, two years later through negotiations, the Ly recovered the ceded territory.

Religion :

The Main religion in the Đại Việt during the Lý dynasty was Buddhism. In this time, Buddhism was at its peak under the Ly dynasty. The pagodas owned domains worked by serfs and bronzes were exempt from taxes and military service. King and Princes had large numbers of pagodas built and bells cast, and promoted the dissemination of scared books. There are many beautiful pagodas were built under the Ly, some of them preserved up to the present day, such as Quan Thanh In Hanoi built 1102, Dien Huu (1041), Bao Thien (1050).

Education :

In a society whose members had to unite in the face of great natural calamities and the permanent danger of foreign invasion, so they need a doctrine which was needed to direct the mind of each individual towards his social obligations, obedience and loyalty to the monarch, and unconditional respect for the social hierarchy.

In 1070, Ly Thanh Tong was create Temple of Literature. This was a school dedicated to Confucius and his disciples and was where the sons of high-ranking dignitaries received moral education and  training in administrator. In 1075, the first mandarin competitions took place, through which Confucian scholars could accede to public. The appearance of Confucianism on the scene was the consequence of a dual phenomenon: on one hand was the necessity of creating a mandarin bureaucracy and on the other, there was the increasing accession of educated commoners to public office. So, there were many talents support Ly dynasty in this time.

Economy :

The main of the Đại Việt economy was agriculture. All farmland was in possession of the Emperor. Each village allocated the farmland to households. Each household had to work and paid annual tax, as well as provided mandatory labors and military services.

Because of Depend agriculture, so, the King was built irrigation facilities and river levees. Furthermore, Buffalo and cow slaughtering was strictly prohibited since these cattle provided indispensable draft force in farming.

The Ly dynasty encouraged trade with foreign countries, primarily with China, Java and Siam. Private and government traders frequently visited Chinese trading ports in present Guangxi to exchange spices, ivory and salt. However, the Ly court, particularly under Emperor Thái Tông's reign, tried to promote the consumption of domestic products.