Tư tưởng trị nước của các vị vua gia long, minh mệnh, thiệu trị và ý nghĩa lịch sử của nó tt tiếng anh

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES NGUYEN THI NGUON THE THOUGHT ON RULING THE COUNTRY OF EMPERORS GIA LONG, MINH MENH AND THIEU TRI AND ITS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE PhD THESIS Major: Philosophy Code: 9229001 HANOI - 2019 THE WORK IS COMPLETED AT Graduate Academy of Social Sciences Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr LE THI LAN Opponent 1: Prof Dr Do Quang Hung Opponent 2: Prof Dr Le Van Quang Opponent 3: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Minh Hoan The thesis is defended before the Board of Thesis Assessment at grassroots level at Graduate Academy of Social Science – 477 Nguyen Trai – Thanh Xuan District– Hanoi At on 2019 The thesis can be found in: Library of Social Sciences LIST OF AUTHOR'S SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH WORKS RELATING TO THE THESIS Co-author (2013), "Dialectics between the process of industrialization and modernization and cultural development and improvement of the spiritual life of the people", Journal of Political Science (Vol 2), pp.46 - 51 Nguyen Thi Nguon (2015), “Understanding the thought on ruling the country in ancient Chinese philosophy”, Journal of Theoretical Education (Vol 227), pp.37 - 39 Nguyen Thi Nguon (2018), "The basic thought on ruling the country of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty", Journal of Human Resources and Social Sciences (Vol 02/57), pp.34 - 41 Nguyen Thi Nguon (2018), “Achievements and limitations in the thought on ruling the country of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty”, Journal of Human Resources and Social Sciences (Vol 12/67), pp.57 - 65 Nguyen Thi Nguon (2018), "Education policy of Nguyen Dynasty's emperors, especially for ethnic minorities", Journal of Education and Society (Special issue, December 2018), pp.68 - 71 INTRODUCTION Rationale In history, when discussing the way of ruling the country, Confucianists of our country also mentioned concepts such as the people, the role of the people, the way to be the ruler, the way to be the subjects, the relationship between the ruler and his subjects, etc The views of Confucianists in our country were also influenced by the views of Confucianists in China However, these views were built on the practical requirements of Vietnamese people at that time Therefore, Vietnamese Confucianists' thought also contributed significantly to the construction of the country and was appropriate for the development trend of the feudal society in Vietnam at that time with very positive significance Up to date, there have been many studies on the sociopolitical ideology of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri However, the thought on ruling the country hasn't been mentioned, even the concept of that idea has also not been clearly referred to and some researchers, when discussing about that thought, said that it actually is the thought on supervising bureaucrats In the process of researching, we think that the thought on ruling the country is the thought on the management, construction and development of the country, as well as the management of the state apparatus Stemming from these urgent theoretical and practical issues, and on the basis of the research results from many branches of social sciences regarding the way of ruling the country of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty, I decide to choose: “The thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri and its historical significance” as the topic for my PhD thesis, with the desire to make a small contribution to the study of the history of philosophy in Vietnam, as well as the career of developing and perfecting the socialist republic rule-of-law state "of the people, by the people and for the people" under the current leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam Theoretical basis and research methodology The theoretical basis of the thesis originates from the dialectical materialistic and historical materialistic concepts of Marxism - Leninism, namely, the dialectical relationship between social existence and social consciousness, the relative independence of social consciousness manifested by its positive impact on social existence and the interaction between forms of social consciousness Research methodology used includes: Method of analysis - synthesis, method of logic-history, method of comparison, etc Research objectives and research missions 3.1 Objectives: To clarify the basic contents in the thought on ruling the country of the first Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty: Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri; thereby point out the values, limitations and historical lessons of that thought in the development of sociopolitical policy in our country today 3.2 Missions: To achieve the above objectives, the thesis focuses on accomplishing the following missions: First, analyze and clarify the historical context and the basic premises for the birth of the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Second, present the basic content in the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Third, point out values, limitations and historical lessons in the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Research subject and scope of study * Research subject: The thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri *Scope of study: The thought on ruling the country through the works of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri from 1802 to 1847, historical text as well as research works on that thought of domestic and overseas scholars to date New scientific contributions of the thesis First, the thesis clarifies the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri in the first half of the XIX century with a philosophical analysis of the organization and perfection of the state apparatus, as well as the construction and perfection of the law for the development of centralized feudal state - the fundamental goal which was set up at the very beginning of the dynasty Second, the thesis clarifies the values and limitations in the management and administration in the fields of economy, politics, culture, education, religion, etc in the era of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Third, the thesis draws historical lessons from such values and limitations in the thought on ruling the country of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty for the sociopolitical life in our country today Thesis structure In addition to the introduction, conclusion and references, the thesis consists of chapters and 13 periods Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW AND ISSUES RELATED TO THE THESIS 1.1 Research works on the economic, political and social context of the Nguyen Dynasty in the first half of the XIX century First is the very monumental research work of Alexander Barton Woodside: “Vietnam and the Chinese model: A comparative study of the Nguyen and the Qing civil administrations in the first half of the XIX century”, published in 1971 by Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was translated to Vietnamese The contents that are most related to the thesis are mainly in Chapter II, which refers to the central civil administrations of the Nguyen Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty In Chapter IV, the author discussed the education and examination regime under the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam, and in Chapter V, he provided an overview of the trade during the reign of the Nguyen Dynasty, especially in the era of Emperor Minh Menh In this work, the author focused on Chinese culture and its limitations on political, literary, social and educational life in Vietnam The author focused on the study of Vietnamese society after 1802, a period which, according to him, was the "recovery" period of the Nguyen Dynasty In his work, "Legal institutions and proceedings of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1885"), published by Thuan Hoa Publishing House in 2016, Dr Huynh Cong Ba considers the Nguyen Dynasty the last one of the feudalism in our country Under the rule of the dynasty, our country was unified for more than two-third of the century After rising to power, the Nguyen royal court absorbed and learned from the experiences of the previous dynasty regarding the management of the country Therefore, under the reign of the Nguyen Dynasty, legal institutions were relatively complete Thus, the author thinks that the research on Vietnamese legal institutions in the Nguyen Dynasty will help provide us with an objective view of the law enforced at that time, as well as its contributions and values to our country's history in the current period In general, the above works still cause controversy regarding the merits and crimes of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty Some authors deny their merits, while more recent studies have had a more objective view on the contributions of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty It can be said that, a summary of basic research works on the economic, political and social context of the Nguyen Dynasty in the first half of the XIX century has provided a fairly clear picture of this period At the same time, some authors also pointed out the limitations in the policies of the Nguyen royal court, which had had significant impacts on the country development at that time, thus restrained the socioeconomic development of the country 1.2 Research works on the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri “Administrative reforms under the reign of Emperor Minh Menh” by Nguyen Minh Tuong, Social Sciences Publishing House, 1996 In this work, the author has focused on thoroughly studying the organizational structure and operation of the supervisory body under the reign of Emperor Minh Menh and made a comment that in this period, the idea of rule by law was promoted At the same time, this idea was also very strictly implemented in order to facilitate the efficient operation of the administrative apparatus and prevent the corruption of the court officials The work, however, did not provide an indepth analysis of such idea and only stopped at generalizing the political thought of Emperor Minh Menh The most recent article is "The thought on ruling the country of Emperor Gia Long" by Assoc Prof Le Thi Lan, PhD, which is published in the Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 1, in 2016 According to the author, Emperor Gia Long was the founder of the Nguyen Dynasty And for the first time in the history of the nation, the Nguyen Dynasty ruled a unified and vast country expanding from Nam Quan Pass to Ca Mau Cape At the early stage of building the country, the Nguyen Dynasty faced many difficulties and challenges, thus Emperor Gia Long used a combination of Confucianism and Legalism in ruling the country As both a knowledgeable Confucianist and a war veteran, he succeeded in governing the country after the civil war, laying a solid foundation for the Nguyen Dynasty and consolidating his dominance all over the territory of Vietnam His thought on ruling the country was the basis for the thought on ruling the country of the Nguyen Dynasty 1.3 Research works on the values and limitations in the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri In the seminar of "Nguyen Lords and the Nguyen Dynasty in the history of Vietnam from XIV century to XIX century" held in Thanh Hoa on 18 October 2008, most scientists agreed and evaluated that the monopoly of Confucianism under the Nguyen Dynasty has many negative and irrational impacts They agreed that that period is a step backward of the history; however, their onesided assessment failed to provide objective explanations for why the Nguyen Dynasty promoted the dominance of Confucianism, as well as how such monopoly had impacts on various aspects of social life at that time These are very important contents of the historical period of the Nguyen Dynasty Author Do Bang, in the article "Nguyen Dynasty: Institutions for power concentration and institutions for attenuating totalitarianism" published in Journal of Historical Studies in 2007, said that when the centralized regime reached its peak, the totalitarianism also reached an absolute level and transformed into an extreme absolute monarchy In order to maintain its development, the Nguyen Dynasty had to apply the Eastern doctrine of ruling the country which proposes solutions to the management mechanism of the State The article provided an in-depth analysis of how the Nguyen Dynasty applied Eastern thoughts on ruling the country; however, it didn't point out the values and effects of this application in drawing lessons for those in charge of governance and for the contemporary society To date, in the discussion of merits and contributions of the Nguyen Dynasty, due to objective conditions, the cognitive process of researchers still reflects an inadequate perspective Thus, historians often come up with harsh comments, such as a "completely reactionary dynasty" or a dynasty that "invited the snake into its home", etc From this new perspective, it can be seen that researchers have somewhat recognized the rather significant contributions of Emperor Gia Long (Nguyen Anh) to the country 1.4 Overview of research on the Nguyen Dynasty regarding the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri and the issues that need to be further researched and settled in the thesis Looking through the scientific works of researchers, it can be seen that there are two main points of view The first is, the Nguyen Dynasty did not make any contributions to the country, is even considered the author of "the dark picture that shadowed the history of the nation", and the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty were those who "invited the snake into its home " In short, that viewpoint completely denies the contributions of the Nguyen Dynasty to the country The second one is, contrary to the above point of view, researchers have had a new and more objective view on the contributions of the dynasty to the development of the way to rule the country based on the combination of rule by benevolence and rule by law, taking territorial unification and integrity as well as people pacification as the basic goals Results from the research of the scholars which we refer to in this Chapter are the basis for us to have a philosophical approach to the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri During the research, we will continue to study and clarify the following issues of the thesis: First, based on the viewpoint of historical materialism, the thesis will research more deeply into Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri At the same time, it will point out the factors affecting the process of forming the thought on ruling the country of the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty and its significance for the current period Second, the thesis focuses on systematizing, analyzing and clarifying the basic contents in the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Third, the thesis assesses the positiveness and limitations in the thought on ruling the country in the early Nguyen Dynasty At the same time, it draws lessons and proposes recommendations on the inheritance of positive values in the process of building the State of Vietnam in the current period Conclusion of Chapter 1: The philosophical history of the Nguyen Dynasty in general and of the early period of the Nguyen Dynasty in particular is very rich and diverse According to researcher, this is the most complicated period of Vietnamese history, leaving many imprints as well as cultural and historical works to the country However, researchers, experts and scientists still have many different views on the contributions of the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty as well as the early days of the Nguyen Dynasty On this basis, research works in some other fields will be used by the author as scientific premises From there, the author will approach from many different directors to form a comprehensive system for the complete study of the thesis Chapter 2: VIETNAMESE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND IN THE EARLY XIX CENTURY AND PREMISES TO GENERATE THE THOUGHT ON RULING THE COUNTRY OF THE FIRST EMPERORS OF THE NGUYEN DYNASTY 2.1 Vietnamese historical background in the early XIX century 2.1.1 Political situation The beginning of the XIX century is considered the most brilliant period of the Nguyen Dynasty Gia Long's victory over the Tay Son court had helped the Nguyen Dynasty enjoy the sweet fruit of a unified country that expands from Nam Quan Pass to Ca Mau Cape * Regarding administration and organization: After ascending to the throne, Emperor Gia Long chose Phu Xuan as the citadel, re-checked the old administrative units and appointed officials to be in charge of them In particular, Emperor Gia Long merged 11 towns of the North into Bac Thanh province, which was headed by the imperial military protector Nguyen Van Thanh He also merged towns of the South into Gia Dinh province, which was headed by protectors Nguyen Van Nhân (1808 – 1812) and Le Van Duyet (1812 - 1816) Emperor Gia Long ordered the construction of traffic roads from the central to the local, as well as stations to send and receive documents In order to unify the domestic administrative units, in the 1831-1832 period, Emperor Minh Menh eliminated the two provinces above and divided the country into 30 provinces and Thua Thien city (the centrally-controlled city today) Below provinces, there are municipalities, districts, towns and communes Statistics available in 1840 showed that the whole country had 90 municipality, 20 sub-municipalities, 379 districts, 1742 towns and 18265 communes, villages and hamlets This division remained until the end of the Nguyen Dynasty *Regarding home affairs Emperor Gia Long advocated the policy of “Confucianism on the outside, Legalism on the inside”in order to develop the economy and culture, thus stabilize the society, suppress the rise of forces rebelling against the royal court and consolidate unification throughout the territory One of the very important causes leading to this policy was that the dynasty was newly established, thus it was not strong enough to control the whole territory Therefore, in this period, the Emperor only had the supreme power in the Central region It can be said that the Nguyen Dynasty was very well aware of the increasing conflicts between the State and the people, which was why Emperors Gia Long and Minh Menh ordered the execution or dismissal of many major officials who committed acts of corruption as a deterrence However, it was not enough to prevent local officials from harassing people * Regarding the law and legal system After ascending to the throne, Emperor Gia Long carried out a lot of works to stabilize the country Especially, he rebuilt the legal system of the royal court by ordering his officials to consult Hong Duc Code and compile 15 most important laws to be enacted and disseminated among people However, these laws primarily referred to lawsuits and leave out other fields of social life, thus they were unable to meet the needs of the society In 1811, the Nguyen Dynasty ordered Bac Thanh province protector Nguyen Van Thanh to compile the new legal code of the royal court in order for it to preserve disciplines and laws of the country, prevent moral degeneration and deterioration, and become the indispensable standards of the royal court Emperor Gia Long said: “Kings and Emperors have long been setting up the legal system for ruling the country If the system is inappropriate, people will have nothing to depend on As the law is not determined and the legal system is not established, it is against my desire to be respectful, merciful and wise, and trust the right persons You should wholeheartedly examine the legal codes of the previous dynasties as well as consult Hong Duc code and the Great Qing legal code, carefully consider them and compile a book of laws I myself will review it for promulgation” [60, pp.807 - 808] * Regarding the military In addition to other fields, the military was highly regarded by the Nguyen royal court in order to consolidate its position and create a solid 2.2 Basic prerequisites for the formation of the thought on ruling the country of the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty 2.2.1 The unification of the country In terms of internal affairs, Emperor Gia Long implemented the strategy of "Confucianism on the outside, Legalism on the inside" in developing the economy and culture, thus bringing people a stable social life The Emperor's power, in fact, was only asserted over the Central region For the Northern and the Southern region, it was entrusted to the military protectors Under the reign of Emperor Minh Menh, in order to concentrate the power to the hands of the emperor and at the same time strengthen the administration of the country, the seat of military protector was abolished The emperor directly governed the country and carried out reforms in 31 localities Along with inheriting the strategy of ruling the country from Emperor Gia Long, Emperor Minh Menh also built one of the most powerful, even absolute, feudal political institutions in the region 2.2.2 Confucian political theory When the Nguyen Dynasty ascended to power, Confucianism was the ideological foundation of the royal court However, Confucian concepts were also used for political purposes in consistence with the ruling strategy The Nguyen Dynasty also strongly supported the thought of "mandate of Heaven", which believes the king/emperor is the son of the Heaven who represents the Heaven to rule the world Social administration and management is the will of the Heaven, and the Heaven’s son is only tasked with executing Heaven's mandate Thus, it was the mandate of Heaven that the Nguyen Dynasty rose to power and rule the people It can be said that the thought of "mandate of Heaven" had strongly manipulated the lives of people It was an invisible rope that bound and paralyzed their resistance to injustices and harsh laws of the Nguyen Dynasty 2.2.3 The role in the society of Confucian scholars in the early days of the Nguyen Dynasty In this period, the structure of four occupations, namely scholars, farmers, craftsmen and merchants was also reflected more and more clearly Confucian scholars played a very important role in this period In order to consolidate the power of the Nguyen Dynasty, the royal court restored the monopoly of Confucianism and maintained the traditional way of ruling the country Thus, innovations and reforms could not be implemented in this period Scholars were Confucianists, including both those who worked as court officials and those who did not This class was the most prestigious and influential in the society, as they were the pillars of feudalism They were considered the immediate class, the bridge between the emperor and the people Because of their reputation, their views were taken seriously by the emperor, 10 thus if they could be controlled, then so could the people Because the Confucian scholars was always highly regarded as the pillars of the feudal state, they were also an additional resource for the bureaucracy This class originated from a system of education and examination that took Confucianism as the basis 2.3 Some information about the biography of early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty Emperor Gia Long (1762-1820), reigned from 1802 to 1820, born Nguyen Phuc Anh, was the first emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty He defeated the Tay Son rebellion, restored the rule of the House of Nguyen and founded the Nguyen Dynasty In 1806, Emperor Gia Long officially ascended to the throne at Thai Hoa Palace The history of the country began to turn to a new page Emperor Minh Menh (1791-1841), reigned from 1820 to 1841, born Nguyen Phuc Dam, was the fourth son of Emperor Gia Long After ascending to the throne and inheriting the solid foundation left by his father, Emperor Minh Menh was determined to build a mighty dynasty He was one of the emperors with the most profound knowledge of Confucianism and the most power of the Nguyen Dynasty Emperor Thieu Tri (1807-1847), reigned from 1841 to 1847, was born as Nguyen Phuc Tuyen, courtesy name Mien Tong He lost his mother when he was still a child, thus he was raised by the side of his grandmother His reign lasted for only years When he ascended to the throne, due to his gentle nature, he did not like changes, so the legacy that his grandfather and his father left were still unchanged Conclusion of Chapter 2: After more than twenty years of struggle, Nguyen Anh finally won over the Tay Son Dynasty and founded the Nguyen Dynasty He also ascended to the throne as Emperor Gia Long Since its rise to power, the Nguyen Dynasty had inherited the fruits from the Tay Son Dynasty, which is the unification of the whole country However, in the early days of the Nguyen Dynasty, Emperor Gia Long and his successors both had advantages and faced challenges in the country as well as in the world In the country, forces loyal to the Le Dynasty and the Tay Son Dynasty were still strong, the consequences of power division and a long civil war made people's lives extremely miserable Therefore, the task of restoring the country and social security was very urgent Chapter BASIC CONTENTS OF THE THOUGHT ON RULING THE COUNTRY OF EMPERORS GIA LONG, MINH MENH AND THIEU TRI 3.1 Construction of political ideology 11 As we all know, before Nguyen Anh ascended to the throne as Gia Long (1802), the country of Dai Viet experienced a period of profound sociopolitical crisis Although Nguyen Anh took over the basically unified country, the risk of it being divided into realms under the control of warlords still existed Therefore, his thought on ruling the country was first and foremost based on the theoretical system drawn from the history of feudal dynasties of Vietnam as well as the region, then from the practical sociopolitical life, in order to directly solve the problems in the most timely and reasonable way for his reign to survive and develop In general, it can be immediately determined that this is the combination of rule by benevolence and rule by law, creating a flexible way for internal, external and military affairs as well as social and cultural development Before Emperor Gia Long (Nguyen Anh) passed away, he chose Prince Dam as the heir to the throne Therefore, after his death, Prince Dam become the second emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty - Emperor Minh Menh Being welleducated in Tap Thien Duong (School of Good Deeds) as well as receiving the education from his father, he had a firm grasp of Confucian knowledge and became an intelligent emperor with profound knowledge as both a scholar and a warrior, as well as knowledge of social areas Among the emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty, he is considered the most powerful As a result, after ascending the throne in 1821, Emperor Minh Menh developed Emperor Gia Long's way of ruling the country into a complete system of sociopolitical ideology with his own imprints It was the clever use of rule by law combined with rule by benevolence in the ruling policy, along with the promotion of Confucian moral values such as loyalty, filial piety and chastity, as well as the strictest punishments for those who violate the laws Emperor Minh Menh's thought on ruling the country is clearly reflected in the appreciation of morality, the emphasis on being an example for the people, the manifestation of respect to the Heaven and the fulfillment of duties of the son of Heaven The key ruling policies had been implemented by him throughout his reign and had great significance in the strategy of rule by benevolence Emperor Minh Menh's ruling policies on the basis of Confucian morality are clearly reflected in the book of “Minh Menh's principal policies", whose content can be summarized as follows: First, about the way to be a ruler According to Minh Menh, the ruler is the root of customs and culture, thus he must set an example for his people: "As the emperor of a whole country, I know deep down inside that I am the root of customs and culture, thus I must set an example for my people" [69, p.11] Therefore, he determined that a king/emperor needs to constantly train and cultivate his morality "Since my ascending to the throne, the country has been plagued by disasters, which causes people to be less satisfied This worries me a 12 lot Isn't that what destined to be? But a ruler should not speak of destiny, because it might be because of some mistakes that he made" [69, p.85] Confucianism regards the practice of self-cultivation to become an example as "self-education", so that as the leader of the dynasty, the Emperor must focus on building his qualities to set an example for the court officials He said: "Everyone should be determined to keep his righteousness and should not indulge anyone Once you have pledged to be my subject, you must sacrifice yourself for the country and put the public's interest above your own Even if it's your wife, your children or your relatives, you have to what needs to be done to keep your righteousness Our ancestors often did not mind their own interests while serving the public.”[69, tr.104] Second, about the training and use of talents Emperor Minh Menh especially attached importance to and promoted talented people, because this critically affects the safety of the country Under the reign of Emperor Thieu Tri, as a gentle man who disliked changes, he still kept and complied with the rules set forth under Emperor Minh Menh's reign He also always followed what his father told him on his deathbed Therefore, when he was crowned Emperor, Thieu Tri made no changes to the apparatus built by his father and still used the the old court officials who earned the trust of his father The Nguyen Dynasty in general and Emperor Thieu Tri in particular were also very concerned about the strategy to rule the country Therefore, Emperor Thieu Tri also came up with the advice for ruling the country, including: “respect the Heaven, honor the ancestors, be diligent and righteous, and love the people” He said: "Those are the four qualities of a ruler Just those four things that make me work hard day and night, and also them that worry me a lot" [18, p.290] Thus, it can be said that also the combination of rule by benevolence and rule by law is both rigid and flexible, the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty were very determined to rebuild the country left to them by their forebears If Emperor Gia Long was the one who laid the foundation for the rise of the dynasty, then Emperor Minh Menh was the one to inherit and develop, and Emperor Thieu Tri was the one who had merit in preserving those achievements In short, the emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty were very determined to develop the thought on ruling the country on the basis of Confucianism 3.2 The thought on organizing and building the state apparatus The thoughts on ruling the country of the previous generations along with the forms and ways of running the state management apparatus were inherited and learned by Emperor Gia Long In 1802, after unifying the whole country, Nguyen Anh crowned himself with the reign name of Gia Long, but it was not until 1804 did he officially name our country Vietnam and ascend to 13 the throne Confucian view of heaven's mandate was taken very seriously by Emperor Gia Long in choosing the time to officially ascend the throne and organizing the state apparatus It was an important ideological premise for Emperor Gia Long and the successive emperors in the early days of the Nguyen Dynasty to build the centralized feudal state, in which the emperor calls himself "son of Heaven" and is tasked by the Heaven to rule over the country in the spirit of educating all people Accordingly, the Emperor held full power over the legislature, executive, supervision, justice, foreign affairs and military Thus, it can be said that the administrative reform under the reign of Minh Menh was a bold step which achieved great results and well met requirements of the model of centralized feudal monarchy It created favorable conditions for the feudal state of the Nguyen Dynasty to manage and unify the country from Nam Quan Pass to Ca Mau Cape, from the remote borders of mountains and forests to the faraway islands The change of our country's name from Vietnam (1804) to Dai Viet (1811) and finally Dai Nam (1838 - 1884) proved Minh Menh's desire for our country to become an independent and powerful nation on par with other countries in the region After the death of Emperor Minh Menh, Emperor Thieu Tri succeeded to the throne and ruled the country in a rather brief period of years However, he inherited a massive legacy of his forefathers regarding legal system and the organization of the state apparatus from the central to the local level; at the same time, he put a lot of efforts in overcoming some limitations in the previous directives and institutions due to the inefficiency of those documents which was proved in practical application Basically, the institutions and regulations in Dai Nam Hoi Dien Su Le as well as the provisions of Gia Long code were barely changed during the reign of Emperor Thieu Tri If there were any changes, it was because these regulations were not effective in the actual sociopolitical life, thus requiring appropriate adjustments For example, the Court of Judicial Review (Dai Ly tu) was established by Emperor Minh Menh in 1823 with 29 court officials; however, by 1842, Emperor Thieu Tri reduced its staff to 12 people in order to increase the operational effectiveness of this agency In his inspection, the Emperor was assisted by the Three Departments of Law (Tam Phap ti) which consists of the Court of Judicial Review, the Board of Justice (Hinh Bo) and the Censorate (Do Sat vien) to deal with the complaints and lawsuits in localities Emperor Thieu Tri approved the inspection plan and decided a method to receive and resolve the lawsuits of each level in order to avoid the excessive flow of lawsuits to the central level, many of which can be resolved at the lower ones Regarding this, Emperor Thieu Tri gave the following direction: "Cases of injustice and serious crimes such as robbery, corruption or murder, if qualified, can be referred to the central level If it is just about small matters 14 without important reasons, unlike the abovementioned, petitions must be filed at the local juridical office so that the matter can be considered If anyone is stupid enough to not be afraid of the law and slander others, he must be punished as an example for those who like to exaggerate and tell lies" [47, p.197] 3.3 Policies to rule the country of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty 3.3.1 Economic policy After conquering the entire territory, Emperor Gia Long continued to implement an incentive policies for agriculture, paying special attention to prevent farmers from leaving their fields to beg for food - if they abandon the fields, they will lose their right to own them "It was the first victory of the Nguyen Dynasty in asserting the power over the land that had long been under the reign of Trinh lords and the Le Dynasty Because in feudal era, farmland and money were not only valuable in terms of property, transaction and use, but also affirmed kingship and imperialism to their subjects” [7, pp.10 -11] An issue that needs to be addressed in the industry & trade policy of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty was tax policy In 1807, Emperor Gia Long decided to issue operating license to boat owners and take measurements of the boat as a basis for imposing the tax This measurement was redefined in 1815 and "despite being very meticulous, it lacks the scientific factor and thus can easily be taken advantage of by the inspecting officials and the boat owners; therefore, the royal court should come up with strict regulations on this issue" [6, pp.51-52] and have punishments based on the degree of wrongdoing The collection of commodity tax was also very specifically regulated from 1812: "In markets and border gates where commodities and traders pass through, the tax is impose with the rate of 1/40 on the quantity of packages or boats, or the weight of the commodities" [6, p.52] Emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty from Gia Long to Minh Menh and Trieu Tri all paid great attention to reclamation Under the reign of Emperor Minh Menh, the state issued very specific and appropriate regulations on rewards and punishments for officials at all levels regarding the work of reclamation Since then, plantations were established in many localities, including Tien Hai (Thai Binh) and Kim Son (Ninh Binh) in the Northern region; An Giang, Gia Dinh and Dinh Tuong in the Southern region The trade economy under the reign of Minh Menh was also paid attention to, with the construction of transport infrastructure In the era of Minh Menh, the 200-mile-long Vinh Te Canal was completed, facilitating the passage of waterway cargoes However, Nguyen Dynasty's policies of "promoting agriculture, limiting trade" and "closed-door" always hindered the development of foreign trade This situation was caused due to the Nguyen Dynasty's 15 prudence against the practical risk of foreign invasion, especially from the West; and also because the Nguyen Dynasty's ideology was based on Confucian political-ethical doctrine, which considered itself the absolute truth for governing the country and the firm guarantee for every aspect of the society 3.3.2 National defense and security policy During the reign of Emperor Gia Long, although the country was unified, the opposing forces still often sought to rebel against the Nguyen royal court in many places Therefore, in the thought on ruling the country of Emperor Gia Long, one of the most important issues was the preservation of social security and smashing rebel and opposing factions in order to protect the integrity of the territory and the rule of the Nguyen Dynasty His thought on military was clearly reflected in the view of war, of how to use the armed forces and of military discipline As for the use of the armed forces, he said: "Going to war is not what the saints want - it is only to save people from the flames of fire" [58, p.408] Along with the administrative institution is the military institution, which also plays a critical role in maintaining order and security both internally and externally According to the Emperor, "The military is a major political affair of the state If our army is regulated, we can not lose in battle Therefore, generals that commit wrong actions must be punished Now the disciplines in the military have been fixed, you soldiers and generals must respect them and not cross the line The state discipline only consists of rewards and punishments Anyone who breaks the law must not be forgiven, even if he has merit or is your relative.”[58, p.378] The battlefield experiences of Emperor Gia Long had been shown not only in his knowledge of military tactics but also in the ability to subdue his opponents when he dealt with the internal conflicts of generals in the army, which was greatly helpful for him to identify those who had an intention to oppose the royal court Those experiences led him to issue important military orders in that time 3.3.3 Cultural and ideological policy As he rose to power, Emperor Gia Long proceeded to build the royal dynasty and continued to use Confucianism as the foundation of his dynasty's ideology Therefore, following the Later Le Dynasty, Emperor Gia Long once again promote the monopoly of Confucianism in the field of politics The royal court also modified customs and practices of the people regarding some areas of social and spiritual life in order to unify the cultural space across the country Clearly recognizing the position of Confucianism in the cultural and ideological life of the dynasty, Emperor Gia Long always strictly followed the political policies as well as the rules and rituals of Confucianism, thus gradually making it the dominant religion in the spiritual life of the society He was praised as follows: "The Emperor respects Confucianism and pays great attention to rituals" 16 [58, p.724] Because of that, right after holding the authority, Emperor Gia Long ordered the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) to be established in many places to pay homage to the founder of Confucianism - Confucius Confucian ideology of ruling the country was clearly expressed not only in the promotion of the rule by benevolence as mentioned above, but also in the education to win people's hearts, and it also contributed to the development and strengthening of Confucian moral standards In order to make good use of people, Emperor Gia Long considered loyalty and righteousness the most basic criteria; at the same time, he also encouraged Confucian morality to be more developed and become more and more popular and widespread among people The upholding of the loyalty was most evidently expressed in the Emperor's reaction to the sacrifices of two very talented martial officials, Vo Tanh and Ngo Tong Chu when Binh Dinh City was lost He praised them as follows: "Their deaths prove their loyalty, even the generals of the old time like Zhang Xun or Xu Yan" (two excellent and faithful generals in the Tang Dynasty) "could not be better than that" [58, p.448] The loyalty of these two generals became a role model that was respected by both the Emperor and the court officials Emperor Gia Long also made clear his view on using talents, that he would only use those who were absolutely loyal to the royal court; for those who were not, he would punished them with no hesitation no matter how talented they were 3.3.4 Education and examination policy In this period, along with many policies to promote the monopoly of Confucianism nationwide, Emperor Gia Long paid special attention to training and fostering talents for the country He said: "Education is the comfortable path for students, it is not expendable A good education followed by examinations at the royal court will produce talented people to help us.” [58, p.527] This thought also clearly showed that he advocated the strict implementation of examination system in order to select the truly talented people to support the country Under the reign of Emperor Gia Long, our country's education was restored after a long slumber due to many turbulences of the history Many of his policies such as opening up examinations, setting rules for examinations, issuing encouraging policies for education, etc contributed significantly to the new page of the country's education Therefore, examinations which took place periodically to select talented people made significant contributions to the construction of the country It also proved that the training of the next generations to succeed the throne as well as to undertake the great mission of the royal court under the Nguyen Dynasty in general and in the era of Emperor Minh Menh in particular had been paid a lot of attention Emperor Minh Menh first and foremost focused on the virtues of people, then their professional compentency This 17 lesson was learnt from the experiences of training princes under the reign of Le Thanh Tong, a very decent but subjective and reckless king who left his seat to the "Evil King" and "Pig King", thus led the Early Le Dynasty to the inevitable fall 3.3.5 Religious policy It can be said that under the reign of Emperor Gia Long, Confucianism was the red thread binding the entire cultural and spiritual life of the nation Perspectives of culture and education brought about many positive aspects, creating a solid foundation for the future development of culture, education and religion In terms of culture, the Nguyen Dynasty had accumulated experiences from its previous lords in promoting Confucianism and seeing it as the doctrine that has all the guidelines for the development of social life, especially the spiritual life After ascending the throne, Emperor Gia Long order a Temple of Literature to be built in Hue and restored the Temple of Literature in Hanoi Confucianism affected not only the social and spiritual life, such as moral conduct, rituals, psychology, and lifestyle, but also political life such as education and legal system In order to establish social order on the basis of rule by benevolence, the Nguyen Dynasty tried all the ways for Confucian ideas to penetrate and spread into social life Emperor Minh Menh himself did the same thing as Emperor Le Thanh Tong, which was giving his commandments Le Thanh Tong gave 24 commandments, while Minh Menh gave "Ten commandments" and required local officials to read and explain them to people so that they could understand and comply with However, unlike the time of Emperor Le Thanh Tong, the Nguyen Dynasty under the reign of Minh Menh did not restrict the religious life of Buddhism and Taoism, but focused on limiting Christianity Consequently, many pagoda and temples were renovated and built In fact, from 1825 to 1831, Emperor Minh Menh had began issuing policies to limit activities of trade and missionary work of the French in our country The relation between Vietnam and other Western countries was also not very positive After the Opium Ward, the situation in the region changed adversely to Vietnam If our country were to maintain the "closed door" policy in foreign relation, it would be very dangerous Therefore, Emperor Minh Menh sent a diplomatic delegation, led by the Officer in Charge, with Ton That Thuong as the deputy, to France and England to negotiate and establish official relations with these two countries However, both countries seemed to not welcome this due to many different reasons [82, pp.104-106] Thus, under the reign of Minh Menh, many orders to forbid religion had been given to no avail, and even became an excuse for the French to intervene in our country under the guise of "protecting missionaries and Christian followers later on." 18 With the "non-Western" foreign policy attached to the policy of opposing Christian propagation, Emperor Gia Long and Emperor Minh Mẹnh inadvertently created a disadvantage for their successors such as Thieu Tri and Tu Duc Minh Menh was considered a brilliant emperor with profound knowledge of Confucianism and decisiveness in ruling the country, however his choice to maintain the abovementioned foreign policy and the unwise hostile towards Christianity caused some researchers to think of him as "a tyrant of the Nguyen Dynasty" 3.3.6 Foreign policy Emperor Gia Long's foreign policy was influenced by Chinese national culture, particularly the thought of looking down on other countries He evidently expressed his pride for the nation, but at the same time showed obedience to the Qing Dynasty by always duly paying tributes For neighboring countries such as Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, etc., Emperor Gia Long promoted the spirit of cooperation with them, while to others that are near to us and depend on us such as Laos and Cambodia, he provided supports and assistances He was also always on guard and did not establish diplomatic relations with Western countries The fact that Emperor Gia Long was more tolerant towards French merchant ships, however, is understandable: considering the whole history of the Nguyen Dynasty and his relation to the French in the past, he was unable to bluntly refuse them He tried to apply a bipolar foreign policy, which aims to harmonize and bridge the gap between Vietnamese people and the French people present in our country at that time His ruling strategy was completely independent and was not dominated or influenced by the French at the court The political and diplomatic landscape in Gia Long period exuded a gentle yet cautious manner He used to warn his heir: "Be grateful to the French, but never let them set foot in your court" [82, p.55] In short, the thought on ruling the country of Emperor Gia Long in the early days of building the dynasty and the country reflected his extraordinary efforts in politics, economy, society, religion and foreign relation In any field, he stood for independence and autonomy in choosing the direction of country development towards a centralized monarchy; however, there were always flexible and appropriate inheritance and development After inheriting the royal court left by Emperor Minh Menh, Emperor Thieu Tri continued to preserve and promoted the achievements of the previous generations For examples: First, the policy of sending officials to mountainous areas Previously, in the 1827-1828 period, Emperor Minh Menh announced the dismissal of hereditary succession of local ethnic leaders and appointed capable local people to be in charge These people were called Tho quan (local officials) By 1835, 19 Emperor Minh Menh dismissed the regime of local officials and replaced it with the regime of sending officials from the lowland to the mountainous region to coordinate with local officials to govern the land Second, Emperor Thieu Tri was the one who had merits of remedying the consequences from his father's decision to eliminate dykes in the Northern region because of its inefficiency When Emperor Thieu Tri came to power, realizing that the people all wished to restore the embankment, he allowed them to build a dyke across the estuary of Cuu An River Third, in the field of foreign relation, Emperor Thieu Tri always tried to maintain a peaceful relationship with Western countries Unlike his father, Thieu Tri was more flexible in relations with Western countries, which was reflected in the loosening of the policy against Christianity enforced under the reign of his father In the early years of his ascension to the throne, he neither gave any further instructions to capture missionaries nor urge local officials to so In this regard, Nguyen Van Kiem explained as follows: “First, Thieu Tri was inherently gentle; he saw that Minh Menh's ordinances on religion were so clear and complete, thus he did not want to anything more to cause a stir in the people and worry the court Second, in the years of Thieu Tri's reign, the relationship between French missionaries and the French navy in the East Sea was very intimate, and the French navy did not bother hiding their intention to intervene by force to protect their missionaries and for Christianity to be freely spread Thieu Tri was very afraid of a large armed clash, in which victory could be the French Navy's because Vietnam was not really ready for such a conflict ”[35, p.197] Thus, it can be said that in the short reign of Thieu Tri, he also had to deal with many complicated issues in the country as well as in the region Although he did not leave many imprints in the field of law and administrative reforms like Minh Menh, he also made some basic contributions to the reign of the Nguyen Dynasty with his determination to preserve the legacy left by the previous generation Conclusion of Chapter 3: The thought on ruling the country of successive emperors like Minh Menh or Thieu Tri was in consistence with the one founded by Emperor Gia Long, which was reflected in the construction of a highly centralized monarchy in order for the dominant power of the Nguyen Dynasty to last long, for the country to be powerful and for the people to be well off That consistency is reflected in the following major areas: First, determining Confucianism as the official ideology of the dynasty, aiming to build a central feudal monarchy, which can be achieved by the combination of rule by benevolence and rule by law 20 Second, with such a way to rule the country, Gia Long sought a smart way to deal with the French, who was his partner in the struggle to seize power from the hand of the Tay Son dynasty When his career was successful, he proved his steadfastness by choosing Prince Dam (later Emperor Minh Menh) to succeed him instead of Prince Canh It is a signal to inform France and some other Western countries of his consistent domestic and foreign relation policies Third, the domestic policy from the time of Emperor Gia Long to the time of Emperors Minh Menh and Thieu Tri is a consistent process towards the goal of building an absolute central feudal regime of the Nguyen Dynasty The Nguyen Dynasty was the first Vietnamese feudal dynasty that ruled a large and unified territory from Nam Quan Pass to Ca Mau Cape, thus Gia Long had to apply a decentralized model to the state apparatus Fourth, in the field of foreign affairs, the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty implemented a "bipolar" policy based on peaceful relations with Western countries and good relations with neighboring countries Chapter VALUES, LIMITATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE THOUGHT ON RULING THE COUNTRY OF EMPERORS GIA LONG, MINH MENH AND THIEU TRI FOR THE SOCIOPOLITICAL LIFE IN OUR COUNTRY TODAY 4.1 Values and limitations in the thought on ruling the country of the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty 4.1.1 Values After ascending the throne and founded the Nguyen Dynasty, Emperor Gia Long advocated the construction of a unified country across the entire territory The process of building a central absolute monarchy that lasted from the reign of Gia Long to the reign of Minh Menh and was completed by the results from the reform of the administrative apparatus That was also the greatest achievement ever in the history of Vietnamese feudalism, which at the same time ended the division of the country encountered by the Tay Son dynasty The Nguyen Dynasty's domination was of great historical significance, as it ended the civil war that had lasted for years and unified the country from Nam Quan Pass to Ca Mau Cape and expanded our country's territory At that time, the country of Dai Nam was nominally dependent on the "all-underheaven" Qing Empire, but in fact, it was completely independent and autonomous This was reflected in the determination of the way to rule the country in the context of very complicated social life in Dai Nam and in the world The Nguyen Dynasty had to cope with both the nostalgic forces of the Le and Tay Son dynasties, and to deal with a series of diplomatic issues regarding the West and other countries in the region In addition to paying attention to education and examination regime, the Nguyen Dynasty also paid special attention to the academic field, including 21 the recording of history During this period, many books of history had been completed and became extremely valuable documents At the same time, the recording of history that faithfully reflects each events, the assignment of officials in charge of recording history as well as the way to compile the books were also some of the most important achievements of the Nguyen Dynasty In short, the selection of Confucianism as the dominant ideology in the course of ruling the country of the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty was an inevitable choice By ruling the country on the basis of Confucianism, it was easy for the Nguyen emperors to prove the orthodoxy of the dynasty in persuading scholars who were still loyal to the Le Dynasty and building the loyalty of classes of people to the Nguyen Dynasty, thus preventing uprisings against the royal court Another great meaning of this was that in addition to affirming the independence of the nation, the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty also established our country's position in the region at that time 4.1.2 Limitations Besides some great values in choosing Confucianism as the ideology for ruling the country, the fact that the emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty tended to overvalue Confucianism led to a lot of consequences This is one of the main causes that greatly affected their goals of ruling the country and the people The Nguyen royal court steadfastly selected Confucianism to serve its political purposes, which was to maintain the centralized feudal state Thus, the Nguyen emperors put too much emphasis on and were heavily influenced by the thought of heaven's mandate To summarize, the Nguyen Dynasty was under the monopoly of Confucianism, therefore, the culture was heavily Chinese-influenced In addition, the burdensome bureaucratic ideology as well as the limitations and weaknesses of the internal and external policies had dramatically reduced all aspects of life, from economy and politics to culture and society, etc During this period, the field of industry and trade was only maintained only to meet the minimum needs of the people and the royal court The extremely strict regulations of the Nguyen Dynasty, which reflected the hierarchy in consumption, limited production capacity of the people In addition, the policy of "promoting agriculture and limiting trade" accompanied by a harsh farmland regime further inhibited the production 4.2 Historical lessons learned from the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri for the sociopolitical life in our country today Although selecting Confucianism as the dominant religion, the early emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty did not show disdain or oppression towards Buddhism Emperor Minh Menh clearly stated his view as follows: "Buddhism uses the symbol of gods; Confucianism only refers to virtues; however, they 22 both teach people to good things Buddhism teaches people by the doctrine of cause and effect and the law of karma, which should not be seen as superstition Buddhism encourages people to good deeds - that is something that even a saint cannot deny” [68, pp.54] Therefore, the practical lesson is that it is not advisable to have any ideology monopolized; it is necessary to find the gold in different ideologies, and those in power also need to have a deep and profound understanding to come up with the right policies Another great lesson for the Nguyen Dynasty was about agricultural production: although agriculture was promoted, agriculture production, mainly rice cultivation, did not develop In summary, by analyzing the values and limitations as mentioned above, some key features in the thought on ruling the country of the Nguyen emperors can be drawn as follows: First, establishing a unified administrative apparatus from the central to the local levels in order to maintain the reigning power of the dynasty in the context of a unified country Second, continuously instituting administrative reforms from the central to the local levels in order for the organization structure to be more and more improved and operate more effectively Third, the country is ruled on the basis of Confucian ideology combined with rule by law Fourth, lessons must be drawn from the mistakes of the Nguyen Dynasty, which were the closed-door policy and the policy of promoting agriculture and limiting trade Fifth, a wrong domestic policy affected social life: the harsh view of religions, especially Christianity Sixth, the external relation policies were not trendy and did not grasp the complicated developments in the world and the region, which pushed foreign relations to a confrontation, while the military forces of the Nguyen Dynasty was weak in all aspects Seventh, the education, examination and recording of history were not scientific and objective, history was even distorted to uphold the role of the royal court Conclusion of Chapter 4: The Nguyen Dynasty, with its first emperors such as Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri had built a strong feudal state which used Confucianism as a foundation of ideology in the combination with rule by law for their way to rule the country In the process of governing the country, these emperors were always well aware of their responsibilities towards and country and the people; however, due to objective and subjective factors, their policies did not keep up 23 with the changes of time, leading to negative consequences in the field of domestic and foreign affairs The thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri brought about undeniable values to the country in the first half of the XIX century; however, their limitations both were historical in nature and stemmed from their subjectivity as well as their thought on different social classes CONCLUSION The Nguyen Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in the history of the feudal regime of Vietnam, which was founded after the struggle for power with the Tay Son dynasty and began to dominate the entire country from Nam Quan Pass to Ca Mau Cape Under these historical conditions, the Nguyen Dynasty and its first emperors, such as Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri inherited experiences in ruling the country of the previous feudal dynasties of Vietnam, especially the Later Le Dynasty which had reached the peak of the central monarchy model in terms of socio-politics, culture, education and ideology These emperors, in turn, revised the monopoly of Confucianism and considered it the platform and handbook for ruling the country In addition, these emperors also combined the thought of rule by benevolence with the thought of rule by law, compiling the Gia Long code as the legal basis for social management and the operation of the state apparatus The legal system of the Nguyen Dynasty is confirmed as the most completed one in Vietnamese feudal period First, with the name Vietnam (1804), our country became an independent country that did not belong to the community of Vietnamese people in China but still supported the friendly relationship between Vietnam and China at that time However, in 1811, Emperor Gia Long changed the name back to Dai Viet Finally, under Minh Menh's reign, the country was named Dai Nam (the great nation in the South) to affirm its equality in sovereignty with other countries Second, the Nguyen Dynasty proceeded to organize the state - a very critical task that affects the management, operation and survival of any institutions Inheriting a unified country, the first emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty put all efforts in organizing the state apparatus, strengthening the authoritarian regime across the country, including areas that hadn't been expanded to by the previous Nguyen lords The central government was located in Phu Xuan with a very large scale, worthy of a powerful dynasty in Southest Asia The Nguyen emperors gradually consolidated the power of the central government, established six departments and other administrative agencies under the direct and total rule of the royal court 24 ... on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Second, present the basic content in the thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Third, point... the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri Research subject and scope of study * Research subject: The thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri... thought on ruling the country of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Menh and Thieu Tri “Administrative reforms under the reign of Emperor Minh Menh” by Nguyen Minh Tuong, Social Sciences Publishing House,