Tran Due Tong Trần Duệ Tông ( Hán tự : 陳睿宗 , 1337 – 1377 ) , given name Trần Kính ( 陳曔 ) , was the ninth emperor of the Trần Dynasty who reigned Đại Việt from 1373 to 1377 . Duệ Tông succeeded the throne from his brother Trần Nghệ Tông who was credited with the re - establishment of Trần clan ' s ruling in Đại Việt from Hôn Đức Công . During his short - lived reign , Duệ Tông had to witness the rising of Hồ Quý Ly in royal court and several consecutive attacks in Đại Việt from Chế Bồng Nga , king of Champa . In 1377 Duệ Tông decided to personally command a major military campaign against Champa , this campaign was ended by the disastrous defeat of Trần ' s army in Battle of Đồ Bàn where Duệ Tông himself was killed in action with many other high - ranking mandarins and generals of Đại Việt . Duệ Tông ' s death was one of the main events that led to the collapse of Trần Dynasty in 1400 . Background . Duệ Tông was born in 1337 as Trần Kính , eleventh child of the Retired Emperor Minh Tông and Royal Consort Đôn Từ , he was younger brother of three emperors Hiến Tông , Dụ Tông and Nghệ Tông and was entitled as Prince Cung Tuyên . During the reign of Dương Nhật Lễ , it was Prince Cung Tuyên who supported his brother Prince Cung Định Trần Phủ overthrow Nhật Lễ to regain the power for Trần clan , Prince Cung Tuyên was also the most important figure of this plot who personally prepared soldiers and arms for Prince Cung Định , or Trần Nghệ Tông from 1370 . Because of Prince Cung Tuyên ' s essential role in helping the Emperor to take over the power , Nghệ Tông decided to cede the throne to his younger brother , now Trần Duệ Tông in 1373 and held the title Retired Emperor . After the coronation , Duệ Tông changed the era name to Long Khánh ( 隆慶 , great joy , 1373 – 1377 ) . As emperor . According to " Đại Việt sử kí toàn thư " , although having an active part in the overthrown of Dương Nhật Lễ , Trần Duệ Tông was indeed an arrogant and hard - headed ruler . who ignored the advice from mandarins about the power of Champa ' s army , therefore right after the enthronement he began to prepare a military campaign in the southern border against Chế Bồng Nga ' s troop . Duệ Tông officially announced his plan of attacking Champa in December 1373 while there were several revolts rising right in Đại Việt . On the other hand , Duệ Tông had some activities to improve the domestic situation after the chaos during Dụ Tông and Nhật Lễ ' s reigns such as establishing the royal examination in February 1374 or re - organizing army and the administrative system . In royal court the Emperor appointed Hồ Quý Ly , whose cousin is the Queen Gia Từ , for the position of military counsellor and Trần Nguyên Đán for the position of controlling the northern border . Another factor that reinforced the Emperor ' s decision for the decisive military campaign Champa was the refusal of Chế Bồng Nga to pay tribute for Đại Việt , afterwards historical books reveal that actually king of Champa did send fifteen trays of gold to Đại Việt but Đỗ Tử Bình , official responsible for the southern border , kept the gold for himself while reported to royal court that there was not any tribute from Champa . In December 1376 , Duệ Tông personally commanded an army of 12 . 000 Đại Việt soldiers operating towards Champa while Hồ Quý Ly took charge of the campaign ' s logistics and Đỗ Tử Bình conducted the reargoard . On January 23 of Lunar calendar , 1377 , Duệ Tông ' s army arrived at Thị Nại near the capital of Champa Đồ Bàn . In a plot of luring the opponent to his trap in Đồ Bàn , Chế Bồng Nga had a small mandarin pretend to surrender who made Duệ Tông believe that Champa ' s army had fled from the empty capital . The next day , Duệ Tông led his army directly to the ambush that Chế Bồng Nga prepared for him . As a result , Trần army was heavily defeated in this Battle of Đồ Bàn where the Emperor himself was killed in action with many other high - ranking mandarins , generals and seventy percent of his troops . On the contrary , Hồ Quý Ly and Đỗ Tử Bình survived because they both ran away from the battle instead of trying to rescue the Emperor . Afterwards , Đỗ Tử Bình was only dismissed to the position of plain soldier by the order of Nghệ Tông while Hồ Quý Ly even did not have to face with any charge . After the death of the Emperor , the Retired Emperor in May 1377 passed the throne to Duệ Tông ' s eldest prince , Prince Kiến Đức Trần Hiện , now Trần Phế Đế . Family . Trần Nghệ Tông had two wives : Nghệ Tông had four children : | - style = " text - align : center ; "