English: Coins and Banknotes of Vietnam and French Indochina

ANNAM AND ITS MINOR CURRENCY XX. Chinese intervention in Tunquin, and the 阮 Nguyen Dynasty. At the request of the wife and son of King CHIEU-TONG, who was hiding himself in the Cao-bang mountains, the Emperor K'IEN-LUNG ordered his armies to enter Annam and to re-establish the former state of affairs, that is to say, to restore to the LE Dynasty the entire territory of Tunquin of which they had been deprived by the Tay-son rebels. The Viceroy of the Liang Kuang provinces, 孫士毅 SUN CHE-I, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Chinese armies, and assisted by General 許世亨 SHIU CHE-HENG, he entered Annam from Kuang-si in November 1788 at the head of ten thousand Cantonese soldiers. Another Chinese army commanded by General 烏大經 HU TA-KING invaded Annam from Yunnan. They were joined by the irregular Annamese troops who had remained faithful to the fallen dynasty, and after several easy victories following each other in rapid succession, the Chinese commander-in-chief entered Ha-noi in Drcember of the same year and re-instated King CHIEU-TONG on the throne. A month afterwards, however, the rebel chief HUE entered Ha-noi by stratagem, and having come upon the Chinese unawares, completely routed them and forced the Viceroy and the Annamese king to re-cross the frontier into China. The court of Peking degraded the Viceroy SUN and gave the supreme command of the army to 富綱安 FU KANG-NGAN, Viceroy of the 雲貴 Yun-Kuei (Yunnan and Kuei-chao). The new commandef-in-chief re-entered Annam without delay, concluded a truce with HUE, and wrote a long report to the Emperor in support of the rebellion. Thereupon K'IEN-LUNG issued the following edict, published in the 大清會典 Ta Tsing Vui-tien in 1789. "In consequence of a revolution King 黎昭統 LE CHIEU-TONG lost his royal seal and became a fugitive. The Annamese then recognized as head of the Government 阮光平 NGUYEN QUANG-BINH (光中 QUANG-TRUNG, Or HOE) who now submits to our authority and craves permission to come to Peking to gaze upon our august Majesty. The provincial judge of Kuang-si, 成林 TCH'ENG-LIN, is hereby commanded to invest him with royal power in our name, and to bestow upon him a gilt silver seal in the shape of a camel." After the promulgation of this edict the Chinese armies were ordered to retire from Annam, and thus closed the war.

No. 212. (Barker: 98.1-98.2) Obverse: 乾隆通寶 Can-long-thong-bao.

Reverse: 安南 An-nam. White Copper. Cast in Yunnan for the payment of the Chinese troops.