The old prefecture on the northern Nghệ An coast, a circuit separate from Nghệ An proper under the Ly and the staging post between Thanh Hóa and the Ca river.
The coast road has nowhere else to stop for eighty miles (board). Salt fields lie on the shelving sand coast to the north at Quỳnh Lưu, and salt is taxed; the tax is one of the few reliable things the court still collects (board).
Who holds it
- Name
- not known for 1200
- Title
- Ly prefect of Diễn châu
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board entry notes
Lord in 1200
A prefect; not named.
What the town holds
- The Quỳnh Lưu salt pans and the salt tax
- The coast road and its rest stage
- Rice floors of the Diễn Châu plain
Wealth
Salt, rice and the tolls of the road.
Military
The prefect's levy; no numbers.
Threats
- Cham or Khmer raiders landing on the coast
Council
The prefect; not recorded.
Communities
Viet villages of the coast.
Militia
The prefect's levy; no numbers.
Walls and castle
A prefecture seat; no wall known.
Trade and crafts
Salt, rice, fish.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- August 1203The Cham king's fleet is said to come to the Nghe An coast, is refused, and flees (English Wikipedia and the campaign board).Depends on: A Khmer-backed uncle takes Vijaya. Stopped by: Suryavarmadeva holds Vijaya.
Places of note
- Dien chau: Seat
- Quynh Luu salt pans: Salt coast
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The campaign board entry notes only.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
Primary sources for Dai Viet (Ly)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- The Unofficial History of Nanzhao, Yang Shen; revised by Hu Wei (16th century, revised 1775, from Dali and Yunnan traditions and lost local histories). The kingdom of Dali has no surviving text of 1200: its own records were destroyed in the Mongol conquest and after, and the Song shi's Dali entry ends in 1175. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
- Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
- The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board notes for the Vietnam and Champa area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.