The Đại Việt–Lan Xang War of 1479–84, also known as the White Elephant War, was a military conflict precipitated by the invasion of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang by the Vietnamese Đại Việt Empire. The Vietnamese invasion was a continuation of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông's expansion, by which Đại Việt had conquered the kingdom of Champa in 1471. The conflict grew into a wider conflagration involving the Ai-Lao people from Sip Song Chau Tai along with the Mekong River valley Tai peoples from the Yuan kingdom of Lan Na, Lü kingdom Sip Song Pan Na (Sipsong Panna), to Muang along the upper Irawaddy River. The conflict ultimately lasted approximately five years growing to threatened the southern border of Yunnan and raising the concerns of Ming China. Early gunpowder weapons played a major role in the conflict, enabling Đại Việt's aggression. Early success in the war allowed Đại Việt to capture the Lao capital of Luang Prabang and destroy the Muang Phuan city of Xiang Khouang. The war ended as a strategic victory for Lan Xang, as they were able to force the Vietnamese to withdraw with the assistance of Lan Na and Ming China. Ultimately the war contributed to closer political and economic ties between Lan Na, Lan Xang, and Ming China. In particular, Lan Na's political and economic expansion led to a "golden age" for that kingdom.
Background
Demographics
For centuries before the Lê dynasty, the Vietnamese and Lao polities existed side by side and frequently interacted. The Vietnamese chronicles records growing clashes between various Tai polities with the Viet court in the 1320s and 1330s, specifically the Ngưu Hống of Sip Song Chau Tai and the Ailao of Houaphanh and Vientiane. A Vietnamese inscription in Laos, dated 1336, discovered in 1960s by Emile Gaspardone, concerns the defeat of Vietnamese army led by Emperor Trần Minh Tông in a battle against the Ailao chief Souvanna Khamphong, the grandfather of Fa Ngum, in the previous year. In the 15th century, the number of Tai speaking people around Đại Việt was close in number to those speaking Viet. The Ming census of 1417 showed that there were 162,559 households, while Muang Phuan had 90,000 households, according to the Vietnamese chronicle. Adding the population of Lan Xang, a larger polity of the same period would have made the Viet-speaking people a minority in the region. In fact, contemporary records from Lao, Vietnamese and Chinese sources suggest that the central Lao and central Vietnam area during the 14th and 15th century would have been relatively densely populated, more so than the coastal areas of the time.
During the Ming occupation of Vietnam (1406–1427), the Chinese subdued some principalities around the established Đại Việt territory. Early Lê dynasty expeditions to the northwest border of Đại Việt further sought to extend control of the area. Lê Lợi led two “punitive expeditions” (chinh) in the Black River area in 1423 and 1433. His successors led similar expeditions in 1434, 1437, 1439, 1440 and 1441, and another two in 1440 and 1448 against the tribes of the Tuyen Quang area. The Vietnamese-Yunnan border was clearly the main focus of the Lê dynasty strategic and territorial efforts in the region. The most likely intention was to subdue local Tai-speaking groups and safeguard the transport of copper for the purpose of making firearms. By the end of the 1440s the northeast and northwest borders of Đại Việt were basically settled and under firm Vietnamese control. By 1475, Yunnan became a preferred tribute route to China.
Territory
The terrain of the territory in which the conflict took place was mountainous, ranging from the Annamese Cordillera to the western frontier of Đại Việt. The western areas were characterized by river valleys controlled by diverse ethnic groups. First was the Black river, running parallel to the Red River on its south-west, and Sipsong Chu Tai. To the south were the valleys of the Hua Phan and the Ai-Lao, reaching into the upper valleys of streams that ran east through the Vietnamese lowlands to the sea. Further south were other valleys of the Cam peoples, and the Phuan (Bon-man) of Xiang Khuoang. West of these highland valleys were more valleys that reached towards the great valley of the Mekong River, where Lan Xang (Lao-qua) was located with its capital in Luang Prabang.
Vietnamese expeditions in the 1430s and 1440s were characteristically attempts to hold down active groups of Tai in the scattered valleys west of Vietnamese territory. By the 1460s, the Lê dynasty, in connection with nearby Tai chieftains, had been able to establish a series of stable positions from north to south, from the Black river down to Xieng Khouang along the western frontier of Đại Việt. By the time Lê Thánh Tông invaded, there would have been a vague sense of a maze of mountain valleys, with the major threat of Lan Xang beyond them. Vietnamese maps were of little help as they did not extend far into the mountains. Tactically, Đại Việt had veteran generals from fringe areas of the Tai world and had fought in various nearby valleys over decades. Their knowledge of the nearby terrain, as well as of the general ecological pattern, would have been of significant use in battlefield decisions throughout Tai territory.
The Xiang Khouang Plateau is a western extension of the Annamese Cordillera, drained principally by the Ngum and Ngiap rivers to the south and the Khan river to the north, all of which are Mekong River tributaries. The area is also referred to as “Muang Phuan” or “country of the Phuan” since the majority population of the area is Tai Phuan a subgroup of Lao Loum. The principal city of the region was Xiang Khouang, which together with Luang Prabang (Xiang Dong Xiang Thong or Muang Sua), Vientiane (Viang Chan Viang Kham), and Sikhottabong constituted the major power centers of Lan Xang. Throughout its history, the region has been of significant military and commercial importance. In the 15th century, the Phuan region most likely served as one of the main sources of cattle for Vietnamese peasants on the coast. The capital, Xieng Khuang, and surrounding plain were well suited for rice cultivation with excellent forage for cattle and dependable water supplies from mountain streams.
Gunpowder in 15th century Mainland Southeast Asia
As early as the 1390s, Ming Chinese gunpowder technology had started to spread to upper and mainland Southeast Asia, including the Tai Shan regions and Vietnam. Relying upon its gunpowder technology, Ming China conquered Vietnam and made it into a province in 1407. Although Vietnam gained independence with Lê Lợi in 1428, the Vietnamese were greatly influenced by the Ming as evident by their adoption of the neo-confucian model and military technology.
During the Ming occupation of Đại Việt (1407–1427), Chinese firearms were a key element in the Ming defeat of Vietnamese resistance; they were particularly effective in defeating war elephants, a force which had been a formidable obstacle to the Chinese over the centuries in their Southeast Asian campaigns. Over the course of the occupation, the Ming troops gradually lost their technological superiority over the Viet. Under the leadership of Lê Lợi, increasing numbers of Chinese weapons and other military supplies were captured in major battles between 1418 and 1425. In addition, Ming captives and defectors also provided military technology which the Vietnamese were able to copy.
The use of gunpowder technology permanently shifted the balance between the Đại Việt and their principal rivals, the Cham. In March 1471, the Cham capital Vijaya collapsed after four days of siege. The Vietnamese annexed about four-fifths of Champa's total territory, and the Cham never fully recovered. There is no evidence that the Cham ever acquired firearms; a Chinese source reported in 1441 that their army was ‘weak’ and that the guards on the city walls were armed only with bamboo spears. By the time of the “long-march” west to the Tai regions, some scholars estimate that as much as one-third of the Vietnamese army was equipped with either hand guns, hand cannons, or cannons.
During the same period, early rockets and rocket arrows spread overland from Ming China to Sipsong Panna, Lan Na, Lan Xang, Burma, India, and Đại Việt. The Lao chronicles do not make extensive mention of firearms during the conflict with the Đại Việt as a greater emphasis was placed on the military use of elephants. Although gunpowder weapons were not unknown in Lan Xang during the period, they were incorporated less effectively in both quantity and quality than by the Đại Việt.
The first recorded use of firearms by Lan Na was around 1411. In 1443 cannons helped Lan Na subdue Phrae. In 1457/8 Lan Na was using firearms against the kingdom of Ayutthaya in chronicles that record a battle where an Ayutthayan prince was killed by a bullet to the forehead. In 1462/3, the king of Lan Na provided two cannon and 200 matchlocks to each of the Shan chiefs of Muang Nai, Muang Tuk Tu, and Muang Chiang Thong. Cannon also played a role in Lan Na's capture of Nan in 1476, where “they set up cannon and bombarded the city gate, and then took the city.”
Forces
Đại Việt
One of the defining characteristics of the Lê dynasty was the transformation of the Đại Việt kingdom into a bureaucratic monarchy. John Whitmore, one of the preeminent scholars of the Lê dynasty, has identified four major results of the transformation. First, generals were displaced from civilian power. Second, administrative structures extended to the village level allowing for a more efficient recording and gathering of material and human resources into the capital. Third, a greater emphasis was placed on administrative control by professional Confucian-educated bureaucrats chosen through formal examinations. Fourth, a different approach to foreign relations was taken. The new foreign relations approach contained the goal of bringing “civilization” to the uncivilized, effectively changing from an eclectic Southeast Asian model to one following the model of Ming China. Local aristocratic power gave way to the bureaucracy. Local fiefdoms gave way to provincial, prefectural and district offices. Personal power required functional expertise, and civilian control of the military.
Military reforms were also undertaken along the same lines. In 1466, the armed forces were reorganized into five commands based on the Ming model. A central command was established for Thanh Hóa and Nghệ An provinces; the Eastern provinces of Nam Sach and An Bang; the Southern provinces of Thien Truong and Thuan Hoa; the Western provinces of Quoc Uy and Hung Hoa; and the Northern provinces of Bac Giang and Lang Son. Ranks were also changed to fit the Ming pattern as units were reorganized and placed under tighter bureaucratic control. In addition, a large number of men remained on the rolls in reserve and could be called up if required, as was done in both the Cham and Tai campaigns.
Then in 1471, Lê Thánh Tông attacked Vijaya, the capital of Champa, ending over one thousand two-hundred years of independent existence. An estimated 40,000 inhabitants were killed and the capital was razed. Champa ceased to exist as an independent kingdom from that time on.
Lan Xang
The Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, the kingdom of the “million elephants,” became a regional power in the mid-fourteenth century. When king Fa Ngum held a census, there were a total of one million people, of whom 700,000 were Lao and 300,000 of other ethnicities, plus 2,500 elephants and 1,500 horses. By the late-14th century, however, aristocratic feuds and provincial revolts had become endemic.
According to Vietnamese chronicles, during the reign of Lan Kham Daeng, an offer was made to Lê Lợi of 30,000 men and 100 war elephants to help drive out the Chinese. In 1421, when the Ming invaded, however, the Lao joined with the Chinese in what may have been a prior agreement, much to Viet anger at the defection. Nevertheless, Lê Lợi eventually prevailed over the Chinese forces and gained final independence for the Vietnamese in 1428. Relations between the newly emerged Dai Viet and Lan Xang kingdoms remained strained throughout the period leading up to the invasions of the 1470s.
As the internal political struggles over Lao succession left the central administration of the Lao kingdom in a weaker position, Tai-Lao areas around the Black river, and the Phuan region fell increasingly under the control of the Vietnamese. In 1448, Phuan was designated a Vietnamese outlying district, though the ruling Kham dynasty was confirmed in office in return for annual tribute. To the West, Lan Xang was fighting with Lan Na for control of the Nan province in 1449 and 1454.
Lan Na
Lan Na saw power divided into two distinct regions, one to the northeast with Chiang Rai as its core, and a second to the southwest with Chiang Mai at its core. Chinese records in the Ming Shilu stated that in 1404 two “Military-cum-Civilian Pacification Commissions” were established in Lan Na, namely Ba-bai zhe-nai (Chiang Rai and Chiang Saen) and Ba-bai da-dian (Chiang Mai). The Chinese recognition of two separate political entities named “Ba-bai” demonstrates that in the eyes of Ming China, Chiang Rai-Chiang Saen was at least as important as Chiang Mai.