The hill country north of the delta is where the kingdom's iron comes from, and the smiths' villages sit at the foot of it (board).
Thái Nguyên is the gate of the road north-east to Cao Bằng. The chiefs here are given Ly titles and Ly princesses and left alone. We recall a Dương house at Thái Nguyên in the early twelfth century but could not verify it, so we name no holder.
Who holds it
- Title
- Hereditary lords of Thái Nguyên holding Ly titles
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board entry notes only
Lord in 1200
A hereditary lord; not named.
What the town holds
- Iron workings and forges
- The road from Thăng Long to Cao Bằng
- Rice floors on the Cầu and the Công
Communities
Smiths' villages; Tai-speaking hill folk; Viet settlers.
Walls and castle
A chief's seat; no wall known.
Trade and crafts
Iron and iron tools; forest goods; rice.
Places of note
- Thai Nguyen: Seat
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 Chiefs of the south-west
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.
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. 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
- Miscellaneous Notes on Court and Country since the Jianyan Era, Li Xinchuan (李心傳) (first series 1202, second series 1216). A contemporary handbook of the Southern Song state, written in Sichuan by the historian Li Xinchuan and finished in its first part in 1202, two years after the start of 1200. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. 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.