How luxurious did the kings of Dai Viet play?

But, filtered in history books, there are still many sporadic records for future generations to know what kings and kings used to eat and drink.

Build luxury palaces

In the main history “Dai Viet history book“, showing how the early kings of the Early Le Dynasty loved luxury. History writes, in 984, King Le Hoan “built many palaces, made Bach Bao Thien Tue palace on Dai Van mountain, the electric poles inlaid with gold and silver, as a place of adoration; On the East side is Phong Luu Palace, on the West side is Tu Hoa Palace, on the left is Bong Lai Palace, on the right is Cuc Lac Palace, then Dai Van Pavilion is built, Truong Xuan Palace is built as a place for the king to sleep, next to Truong Xuan Palace is roofed with clay. silver tile”.

Or, when the Song Dynasty envoys Ly Nhuoc Chuyen and Ly Giam came to book the title of King of Annam to dominate the Tinh Hai military moderation porcelain, our country’s history wrote: “The king daily brought strange treasures to display all over the world. yard to brag about being rich.” At that time, the construction was also simple, so perhaps the king’s luxury pleasures were just that.

During the Ly Dynasty, history books have recorded that there was a 5 storey Chung Tien radio station on the roof of silver tiles. But, magnificent construction is probably only for the royal palace, because at the beginning of the Tran dynasty, Tinh Quoc Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Khang, the eldest brother of King Tran Thanh Tong, when sent to guard Dien Chau, built the palace. large, afraid of reputation, so he had to change to a place to worship Buddha. In the Le Dynasty, the founding god Tran Nguyen Han was accused of treason because of building a great palace, was arrested by King Le Thai To and then resentfully jumped into the river to drown himself.

When the Tran dynasty declined, King Tran Du Tong also indulged in his luxury hobbies. The king allowed him to dig a pond in the garden and live in the harem. In the lake that stacks rocks to make mountains, the 4 circuits are all open to flow together. On the shore of the lake planted pine, bamboo and other kinds of fragrant flowers and strange grass. Again raise precious birds and strange animals in it. In the west of the lake, two cinnamon trees were planted and Song Que Palace was built. Then, he dug another small lake, sent Hai Dong people to carry salt water into it, and brought all kinds of seafood such as turtles, crabs, and fish raised in the lake. Again, the people of Hoa Chau (present-day Thua Thien area) brought crocodiles to release them there. There is also Thanh Ngu lake to release fishes…

King Le Tuong Duc is also a famous king of depraved play. According to historical records, the king did many earthworks, built a large citadel that took thousands of feet, surrounded the Tuong Quang palace, Tran Vu restaurant, and Thien Hoa pagoda in Kim Co ward, from the east to the northwest, blocking the To Lich river. , on the embankment of the citadel. “Again to build a war boat, send a stylist, send nude female historians to row in West Lake, the king plays together, it’s very fun”, “Toan Thu” writes like this and further describes: “The craftsman Vu Nhu To make electricity bigger than a hundred roofs, all the money and people’s energy in the country. When Trinh Duy San raised his army to kill the king, Nguyen Hoang Du also sent his troops to burn down the streets in the capital, cut Vu Nhu To outside the gate of the city, and the nine-story tower also disappeared into smoke.

After the Mac dynasty, when the Trinh family helped the Le king to recover and returned to Thang Long, from then on, the Le king was only a vanity, the power in the hands of all belonged to the government. The king’s palace is increasingly dilapidated and dilapidated, the king goes out to see and pay homage twice a month, while the lord’s palace is splendid and magnificent, with hundreds of mandarins coming in and out.

According to the description of Samuel Baron, an English merchant came to Thang Long in 1680: The royal palace in the center of Ke Cho city. The mansions for the lords were built on 2 floors with many open doors. The doors are massive, elaborately carved and all made of ironwood. The private rooms and palaces for women are splendid, lavish, carved, painted with gold and gold. The front yard of the mansion has a large stable of elephants and good horses, behind the road are gardens, trees, fish ponds… and any other pleasures that this kingdom can provide for the lord’s amusement for him. rarely go out.

Especially, at the gate of Tay Long (about the location of the History Museum today), in 1644, Lord Trinh Doanh built the Ngu Long floor bearing the image of 5 dragons. According to the records left, the floor is very high, inlaid with porcelain pieces and wrapped with marble, so it can be seen from afar.

Fingers play

In terms of hobbies, while King Le Dai Hanh only knew “putting gold and silver on the yard to show off his wealth”, or simple games such as wading, fishing in the river, King Le Ngoa Trieu had many monstrous pleasures. , like the cruel tortures of criminals that history books have full of reproach. Less barbaric than “killing cats to feed the kings, after eating, raise the cat’s head to show it, making the kings afraid, the king is pleased”.

The entertainments of the nobility in the Tran dynasty were much more elegant. History writes, Chieu Van Vuong Tran Nhat Duat in the house did not go a day without opening a singing competition, playing tricks, which no one considered passionate. “Compared to Quach Tu Nghi’s extreme luxury that no one criticized, he was also close to that”, the historians praised. Under Tran Du Tong, in 1362, the king ordered the princes and princesses to offer various antics. Before that, during the resistance war against the Nguyen army, when we fought Toa Do, our army captured the singer Ly Phuong Cat, who was very good at singing, and the young children of rich families followed him to practice singing Northern tunes. Our country has a story line that started from there and the noble families also raised their children to sing from there.

“Dai Viet history book” Tells more about a game played by the Tran nobles. It is the story that took place in the Year of the Horse (1126): “The king of Thien An palace watched the kings kick the shuttlecock”. Professor Hoang Xuan Han, in the book “Ly Thuong Kiet“, describing the badminton game of the Tran dynasty aristocrats that we see as horse hockey in the West: “On the left and right, two wooden doors called the goal are built with a height of more than one foot. The royal court was divided into 2 factions wearing different colors. In front of the two flag stands, if any side can, they can put a flag on that side. Sometimes we play jogging, sometimes we play horseback riding. The person sitting on the horse holds the reins in one hand and the long stick in the other hand to hit the ball. Beats with accompanying music. The music starts playing. When the fruit is spread, the drum is sifted. The closer the spread, the faster the drum urges. When the fruit passed through the door, three drums sounded. After playing for a long time, the prince took a break to drink, and then continued to fight.”

Details about soccer,”Full letter“Tells a story about a single player, Tran Cu, who is tolerant, careful, honest, good at fishing, shooting crossbows, and playing bridge. King Tran Anh Tong ordered the crown prince to do those jobs. Tran Cu’s way of making a sphere is to consider the skin, give the 12 packs to weigh together, the only 3 pack at the mouth of the bridge is the place to put the pig ball, it’s a bit thin and light, to weigh with the weight at the top of the bubble, so when kicking the shuttlecock, the which is above until it falls to the ground, remains the same, never changes.

Such was the elegant playboy father, but by the time of Tran Du Tong, the king only used gambling and drinking for pleasure. The king used to call the rich in the country, such as in Dinh Bang village in Bac Giang district, Nga Dinh village in Quoc Oai to gamble for fun. There is a silver word to put up to 300 francs, 3 hours has reached nearly a thousand francs. The king also held a drinking contest, whoever drank the most would be promoted. There was a Chief of Staff of Vinh An Palace, Bui Khoan, who made a trick to drink and pretend to drink all 100 pounds of wine, and was rewarded with 2 and 4 titles (promoted 2 ranks).

The historian Phan Phu Tien of the Le dynasty commented: “Although the Tran Dynasty’s law strictly punished gambling, in the reign of Du Tong, the king openly organized it. People in the country imitated the bad behavior, so it was impossible to stop it. can no longer be banned. Gambling becomes a crime and leads to loss of the country.”

In the Le Trung Hung period, all the most stylish hobbies in the country were concentrated on the Trinh lord’s palace. Author Nguyen An described in the diary “Random grief“, about the lavish Mid-Autumn Festival in the royal palace: “Every year, to the Mid-Autumn Festival, a few months before, the lord distributes brocades in the palace to make hundreds or thousands of lanterns, each of which is exquisite and wonderful. , each cost many taels of gold. On the day the Lord came to play in the North Palace, the palace had a pond called Long Tri, half a mile wide. In the pond planted a lot of lotus, water lily. Along the pond, soil is covered with stones to make mountains, high places and low places, the arrangement is shaped. There are elbows for musicians to sit on the flute. The pond bank planted a few hundred ephedra trees, hanging lights above. The waves of the moon wavered, looking like thousands of bright stars from afar. The inner city is from three products or more, wearing scarves like a woman, displaying goods on the roadside, selling groceries and fruits, cakes, wine, whatever food is available, piled up like a mountain… Midnight The king came to the pond and got into the boat. The mandarins and the concubines knocked on the boards, cheered, paced back and forth and floated on the river. Suddenly playing the lute again, playing the flute again, singing again, the echo is crisp, making people think that they are going to play the Quang Han bow and listen to Quan Thien’s music. The Lord looked on and rejoiced, until the rooster crowed.