Battle of Bạch Đằng ( 938 ) At the Battle of Bach Dang River in 938 the Vietnamese forces , led by Ngo Quyen , defeated the invading forces of the Southern Han state of China and put an end to centuries of Chinese imperial domination in Vietnam . It took place at the Bach Dang River , near Halong Bay in northern Vietnam . In 937 , Liu Yan ( ; ) , the Southern Han ruler , took the chance to intervene in Vietnam again after the death of the Annam Lord Protector Duong Dinh Nghe . He had been foiled by Duong Dinh Nghe in 931 , but now that Duong Dinh Nghe was dead , he thought the time was ripe for another attempt . He placed his own son , Liu Hongcao ( ; ) , in command of the expedition , naming him " Peaceful Sea Military Governor " and " King of Giao . " He hastily assembled an army at Sea Gate , where he personally took charge of the reserve force . He ordered Liu Hongcao to embark the army and sail to Giao . By the time Liu Hongcao arrived in Vietnamese waters with the Southern Han expedition , Liu Hongcao ' s plan was to ascend the Bach Dang River ( 白藤江 ) and to place his army in the heart of Giacannoto Chau before disembarking ; the Bach Dang was the major riverine route into the Red River plain from the north . Ngo Quyen anticipated this plan and brought his army to the mouth of the river . He had his men plant a barrier of large poles in the bed of the river . The tops of the poles reached just below the water level at high tide and were sharpened and tipped with iron . When Liu Hongcao appeared off the mouth of the river , Quyen sent out small , shallow - draft boats at high tide to provoke a fight and then retreat upriver , drawing the Chinese fleet in pursuit . As the tide fell , the heavy Chinese warboats were caught on the poles and lay trapped in the middle of the river , whereupon they were attacked by Ngo Quyen ' s forces . More than half the Chinese were drowned , including Liu Hongcao . When news of the battle reached Sea Gate with the survivors , Liu Yan wept openly . He collected what remained of his army and returned to Canton . This victory ended China ' s long domination of Vietnam and began a period of Vietnam ' s independence until the conquest by Ming China . Ngo Quyen ' s tactic would later be copied by Tran Hung Dao in a battle at Bach Dang River against the Mongols in 1288 . Background . In 931 AD , Dương Đình Nghệ defeated the Southern Han army - One of the Ten Kingdoms near Tĩnh Hải quân ( Army of Peaceful Sea - the name used for Vietnam ' s army at that time ) and achieved the independent status of the Vietnamese at Tĩnh Hải quân ; he named himself Jiedushi . In 937 AD , Đình Nghệ was killed by Kiều Công Tiễn to revoke the Jiedushi title . Đình Nghệ ' s son in law and also his general , Ngô Quyền , mobilized his army to revenge Công Tiễn . Feared of Ngô Quyền , Công Tiễn requested help from the Southern Han . Thereforce , Emperor of Southern Han , Liu Yan took his chance and prepare to invade Tĩnh Hải ( Peaceful Sea ) again . Liu Yan claimed that if Dương Đình Nghệ was dead , then Tỉnh Hãi Quân would be out of good generals . He ordered his ninth son , Liu Hongcao ( ) to become " Bình Hải tướng quân " ( Peaceful Sea Military Governor ) and " Giao Chỉ vương " ( King of Giao Chỉ ) , he commanded the naval forces of Southern Han into Giao Chỉ . Executing the protestors . In the year 938 AD , after calling of all the soldiers in the nation to his side , Ngô Quyền led his army from Ái Châu to the North to kill Kiều Công Tiễn . Công Tiễn was surrounded by Ngô Quyền ' s army and could not resist . He waited for the reinforcements of Southern Han . The Emperor of Southern Han , Liu Yan , gave his son Liu Hongcao the title Tĩnh Hải quân ' s Jiedushi , then Hongcao ' s title was changed rather prematurely into King of Giao ( Jiaozhi ) . He led over twenty thousand troops into Giao Chỉ in the name of " Công Tiễn ' s Reinforcements " . Liu Yan asked Chongwen ' s courtier ( known by the Vietnameses as Tiêu Ích ) for advice . Ích said : The Han ' s Emperor wanted to move fast and quickly reconquer Tĩnh Hải , so he didn ' t listen to the advice of Tiêu Ích . He ordered Hongcao to lead his army into the river of Bạch Đằng immediately . Emperor Liu Yan , as a general himself , stayed at Haimen as an alternative reinforcement . While Liu Yan was mobilizing his army , Ngô Quyền marched to Đại La to kill Kiều Công Tiễn . Công Tiễn at that time , completely surrounded by Ngô Quyền ' s forces and was killed beforce the Southern Han ' s reinforcements march into the borders of Vietnam . The pole and tide tactic . Ngô Quyền knew that Hongcao was coming , and told his generals : Ngô Quyền ordered his soldiers to nail the iron - headed poles under the waters of the Bạch Đằng river . At high tide , the poles would be covered with water , and thus , remain unseen by the Chinese . Ngô Quyền intended to lure the enemy into this area when the tide was up . When the tide was down , the enemy ' s boats would be stranded , and be easy targets for attack . On a late Winter day in 938 AD , on Bạch Đằng River , the entire Han ' s naval fleet led by Hongcao entered Tĩnh Hải . The Southern Han ' s soldiers , seeing the small ships of Ngô Quyền , argressively marched in , thinking that they could easily defeat the small force of Ngô Quyền . Ngô Quyền ordered his army to retreat upstream . He waited until the tide lowered and ordered his army to fight back . The big ships of Southern Han were stranded and penetrated by the poles . At that time , Ngô Quyền used all of his forces to attack . The Southern Han ' s Army lost the battle and retreated , Liu Hongcao and more than half the force was killed by the Vietnamese . The Emperor of Southern Han was leading his army at the borders , so he could not respond to the situation . Hearing the news that Hongcao was dead , Liu Yang was horrified , and ordered his remaining forces to retreat ( ) . After that , the dynasty of Southern Han forgot about invading Tĩnh Hải quân . Year 939 , Ngô Quyền became King , took the title Ngô Vương ( Ngô King ) , created Vietnam ' s Ngô Dynasty , set his capital at Cổ Loa ( Today ' s Đông Anh , Hà Nội ) . Later , in Battle of Bạch Đằng ( 1288 ) , Trần Hưng Đạo would reuse this tactic to win against the Mongols . ) Tactics . The military tactic of Ngô Quyền is unique , as Lê Văn Hưu described : " " Great tactic , good combat " " ( Vietnamese : " " Mưu giỏi mà đánh cũng giỏi " " or " " mưu tài đánh giỏi " " ) in Complete History of Đại Việt ( Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư ) . However , according to the militarists , applying the pole - and - tide stratagem to inflict damage upon an enemy navy required the successful combination of two factors : These two processes were integrally linked , for if the enemy came in at low tide , they would have seen the poles , but if low tide did not come in time , Liu ' s boats would have easily sailed over the poles . This is the situation that the militarists of Vietnam recorded of Battle of Bạch Đằng ( 981 ) , that the Song ' s army ( ) passed the poles and forward into the land without obstacles ( But then they was tricked by Lê Hoàn and was defeated . Thereforce , to let the tactic take effect , beside preparing the poles secretly and fast , luring the enemy right into the right route and the right time is the most decisive work . Ngô Quyền successfully achieved success with this tactic due to preparing and calculating the right rules of nature and won the battle in one day with it . The one who reused this tactic was Trần Hưng Đạo in Battle of Bạch Đằng ( 1288 ) , also knowing how to take into account the requisites behind this tactic and apply them successfully , pushed the army of Mongols out of Bạch Đằng River . Using poles to destroyed ships was not easy in realism , not coincidence that both Ngô Quyền and Trần Hưng Đạo are the great generals in the History of Vietnam . Significance of the Battle . The great victory at Bạch Đằng , 938 , has an important signification to Vietnam , because it ended 1000 years of First Chinese domination of Vietnam ( The Long Eclipse ) in History of Vietnam , opened up an independence age for the nation of Vietnam . The Victory of Bạch Đằng is the victorious final of Vietnam in the fighting the Chineses ' s domination and assimilation to retake the independence of Vietnameses people . The full great meaning of this victory can only be seen in the background of the 1117 years Long Eclipse . Moreover , in those 1000 years , the enemy of the Vietnameses people is a large empire , one of the highest military positions in the Eastern Asia , with the Han ' s expansionism is being increasing at it highest rate . Especially under the Han , Tang Dynasty . Continuing the expansion of Qin Shi Huang , the Han ' s Dinasty successfully conquered Northern Korea and the nomads in the North , expand it borders to Middle Asia and invade the countries at the South Western . In the 7th Centuary , the Sui conquered Korea , today ' s Taiwan , Giao Châu ( North Vietnam ) , and Tây Đồ Quốc . . . , the Tang Dynasty expanded in all directions , formed a vaste empire as Tang Taizong declared : " " I have conquered more than 200 kingdoms , parcified both four directions , the Di Mans at the far land have to come here and serve me " " . From the first days after Anno Domini , the population of Han ' s empire was over 57 million . At that time , the population of Vietnam was just over 1 million . After conquered Vietnam , the plot of the Han not just stopped at destroying the national sovereignty , exploiting the people , scavenging the treasures of Vietnam but also assimilate the entire Vietnameses people forever , annex the lands into China . The Chineses ' s assimilation plan is a featured of Han ' s expansionism , was used from the Han ' s Dynasty to the Tang . In the entire History of Vietnam , this is one of the most dangerous and destinying time that the Vietnameses people must pass . Ngô Quyền - the hero in the great Victory of Bạch Đằng in 938 , is the King that has rebuilt Vietnam , King of the Kings , as the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư described . He is surely worthy with the title " The Mid - Ancestor " of Vietnameses people , as Phan Bội Châu said . After Victory of Bạch Đằng , Vietnam entered a new age to rebuild the country in large - scale . That is the age of the modern Đại Việt , of Thăng Long ' s traditional , the age of defeating the Song , defending against the Mongols , liberating against the Ming , a golden age of Lý Dynasty , Trần Dynasty , Lê Dynasty . Historian Ngô Thì Sĩ described :