Lê Hoàn
After the death of Nguyễn Bặc Lê Hoàn declared himself emperor and founded a new dynasty in 980 A.D. The Sung dynasty of China refused to recognize Lê Hoàn and launched an invasion of Vietnam the following year. However, Lê Hoàn refused to submit and rallied the great army that Đinh Bộ Lĩnh had built to face the Chinese expeditionary forces. The Vietnamese fought and won another decisive war against the intruding Chinese. The trap laid out by the defending Vietnamese not only killed the Chinese commander-in-chief but also captured his two top commanders. News of the routing of the land forces compelled the Chinese invading fleet to flee back to China. The successes of Lê Hoàn's campaign were due largely to the great military machine that Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, Nguyễn Bặc and Đinh Điễn had wholehearted nurtured and formed since the days they played innocent war-games in the village of Hoa-Lư.