Testament of Third Prize Winner Nguyen Huy Oanh

(Baonghean) -At the Hoang family temple, Nghi Thu ward, Cua Lo town (Nghe An), a precious heritage is currently preserved, which is the stele "Hau Than bi ky". According to the inscription on the stele, this stele was engraved on an auspicious day in the autumn of At Hoi year, Canh Hung 16th year (1755), under the reign of King Le Hien Tong. Thus, this stele is 258 years old.

The stele was originally placed in the village communal house, but later the descendants of the Hoang family brought it to the church for better preservation and storage. The stele is about 1.30m high, 55cm wide, and 16cm thick. The stele is carved in the shape of a tower, with the bottom being larger than the top, and a stylized gourd is carved on top. The stele has no decorative motifs, but that does not detract from the rustic, simple, and elegant beauty of the character praised in the stele, as well as the author of the text.

Stele inscription "Hậu thần stele".

The stele has two sides engraved with Chinese characters, typical of the Le Trung Hung period. The front of the stele has 19 lines, above the stele is the word "Hau Than Bi Ky". It tells us that this is a stele of the later gods. The later gods mentioned in the stele are Mr. Hoang Khac Dong and his wife, Mrs. Pham Thi Lenh. Both of them were people who "... played music and sang in harmony, built houses and doors, their virtues spread like a thousand branches, their good roots were ten thousand seeds, sparrows threw flower baskets, ants crawled on bamboo beams, engraved with urging, their luck was good, all things were peaceful, the dragon's pearls were bright, the orchid chambers were beautiful, the phoenix's words poured out pearls,...".

And above all, they are the Manh Thuong Quan of Thu Lung village. "In the year of Quy Dau, the village had an event, he donated sixty thousand, saw the grace and extended good fortune, relied on the branch to win the fruit, the dragon mirror shined. The statue of the god and the front hall of the village temple were previously damaged, thanks to that, they were renewed. Although they had a good heart to do good, it was not to ask for reward". Therefore, he and his wife were elected by the villagers as the later gods and a stone stele was engraved to remember this event: "At that time, the whole village together elected him as the later gods, to repay the merit of the quynh dao....

The villagers were happy to repay the good deeds, erected a good stele and engraved the dates, rituals and ceremonies of worship, and wanted to display the story to pass it on forever. The back of the stele has 26 lines, engraved with the names of the village's local leaders; the locations and areas of the fields that Mr. Hoang Khac Dong donated to the village; regulations on worshiping the queen when she was alive and after she was a hundred years old. Unfortunately, the back of the stele has many words recording the names of the fields that have been carved away. This has lost a valuable source of documents for researching the administrative place names of the locality during the Le Trinh period.

This stele belongs to the “Bia hau” genre, a special type of document that is both a commemorative document and a contract signed between the village community and an individual, engraved on stone to be passed down for generations. This “Hau than bi ky” stele was composed by a very famous person at that time, the third-ranked doctorate laureate Nguyen Huy Oanh. The last line on the front of the stele clearly states “Tu Mau Thin, the first-class doctorate laureate, third-ranked, Hoang tin dai phu, Thuong bao tu khanh, Thac Dinh cu si Nguyen Huy Oanh composed the text”.

Hoang family temple in Nghi Thu commune.

Third-rank Doctor Nguyen Huy Oanh, from Truong Luu village, La Son district (now Truong Loc commune, Can Loc district, Ha Tinh province), his given name was Thu Hien, his pen name was Thac Dinh. In the Mau Thin examination (1748), he passed the Dinh Nguyen exam, first class doctoral exam, third rank (that is, passed the Third-rank Doctoral exam, ranked third in the three ranks). Nguyen Huy was a noble family in Hong Lam land, had many people who passed the exam, but Nguyen Huy Oanh was the first and most brilliant great scholar of the Nguyen family in Truong Luu land.

During his lifetime, Nguyen Huy Oanh and his brother Nguyen Quynh were both famous for their poetry and literature in the Hong Son literary school. He was not only the pioneer of the Nguyen Huy literary line in Truong Luu, but also one of the most prominent writers of the 18th century. After passing the exams, Nguyen Huy Oanh was appointed as a lecturer in the Lord's palace and concurrently held the position of Imperial Academy Inspector. He was once the teacher of Lord Trinh Sam, and also the teacher who trained dozens of other famous scholars in history. He successively held the positions of: Left Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Grand Scholar of the Eastern Palace, Censor-in-Chief, Chief Envoy to the Qing Dynasty, and then promoted to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Finance, with the title of Thac Linh Ba...

When composing the stele for Thu Lung village, the third-ranked mandarin Nguyen Huy Oanh was holding the position of Hoang Tin Dai Phu, Thuong Bao Tu Khanh. Inviting a high-ranking mandarin with high prestige and virtue to compose the stele was truly a great honor for the Hoang family, as well as the entire Thu Lung village. The third-ranked mandarin Nguyen Huy Oanh was one of the great writers of 18th-century Vietnamese literature with many monumental works. In addition to the works that remain today, there are still many other of his writings scattered throughout the provinces and cities of the country that have not been found. The discovery of the stele in Thu Lung village, Nghi Thu commune, Cua Lo town contributed to supplementing the source of documents about Nguyen Huy Oanh's works, enriching the country's literary treasure!

Tu Quang - Quang Phuoc