Le Loi, a wealthy Vietnamese landowner, had…

Le Loi, a wealthy Vietnamese landowner, had fomented an anti-Chinese resistance movement in 1416, organizing, with the help of the poet Nguyen Trai, a guerilla force in the Lam Son region.

Initially, the guerillas attacked outposts and supply lines without directly engaging the Chinese army of occupation, aiming to win a war of attrition.

Eventually drawn into three costly battles, Le Loi’s troops retreat to the Chi Linh Mountains near Lam Son, and obtain help in 1419 from the Laotians.