Hồ Nguyên Trừng

Hồ Nguyên Trừng (chữ Hán: 胡元澄; 1374? – 1446?), or Hu Yuancheng in Chinese, was a Vietnamese scholar, official, and engineer in exile in China. He was the oldest son of Emperor Hồ Quý Ly (1336–1407) and older brother of Emperor Hồ Hán Thương. Under the pen-name Nam Ông (南翁, Old Man of the South), he wrote the Nam Ông mộng lục (Hán tự: 南翁夢錄, literally Dream Memoir of Nam Ông).^[1]

Biography

Hồ Nguyên Trừng played a role in the Ming-Hồ war where he led the army of Dai Ngu (Hồ dynasty) as well as invented various new types of weapons for Dai Ngu military. He's considered to be an innovator of firearms. One of his famous inventions was an early version of "Eruptor" cannon which was later adopted by Ming dynasty to be used in many decked war vessels. After the fall of Hồ dynasty, he was captured by the Ming emperor and forced to teach the Chinese how to cast cannons. He would spend the rest of his life in exile in China. For his contribution to the manufacturing of the cannons for the Ming dynasty's military, he was appointed to be a high ranking official in the Ming dynasty's court. Nonetheless his yearning for a return to his motherland never ceased to exist. He wrote a famous book Nam Ông Mộng Lục also known as The Dream Memoirs Of A Southern Man in English containing various stories about some honorable people of Giao Chỉ (former name of Viet Nam during the period of Chinese occupation) that he either knew personally or through historical facts as a dedication to his motherland.

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