King Quang Trung and the peach branch given to Princess Ngoc Han

(Baonghean)In the Spring of the Year of the Rooster (1789), on the way to quickly destroy the invading Qing army, when entering Thang Long, the war elephants, their robes still smelling of gunpowder, seeing the Nhat Tan peach forest in full bloom, King Quang Trung immediately had someone choose the most beautiful branch, rode a post horse into Phu Xuan citadel, and gave it to Princess Ngoc Han.

It's just a legend. But this legend is still mentioned by many people because it's so beautiful!

That talented royal daughter of the Northern land went all the way to Phu Xuan to become queen, and thus became a wanderer. The love story of “a heroic man and a gentle woman” probably could not ease the longing for the cold spring in Thang Long Citadel during the reunion season.

For the hero in the cloth shirt Nguyen Hue, the Spring seasons in his childhood memories in Tay Son, Binh Dinh certainly did not have bright red peach blossoms, but in the space of Thang Long during a minute of marching, that great man seemed to sense the deep soul thread of his wife when he chose to give her the most wonderful gift to announce victory: a peach blossom branch!

That peach blossom branch, to Ngoc Han, is the whole space of her homeland, her beloved kin, her origin. That peach blossom branch is the embodiment of Thang Long Spring flowing deep in Ngoc Han’s mind. There have been countless works of poetry, music and painting written about the image of peach blossom, a noble and elegant flower. Why does the color of peach blossom in Spring have such a captivating charm?

In the middle of a remaining peach plantation on the West Lake, in the Nhat Tan area, I remember a beautiful image in the history I learned: That in the Spring of Ky Dau (1789), after the great war with the Qing army, advancing into Ngoc Hoi, King Quang Trung sent someone to bring a peach blossom branch into Phu Xuan citadel to give to Princess Ngoc Han. That peach blossom branch was planted on the land of Nhat Tan - the old Lam palace.

An old man here was excited when mentioning the story of the peach branch that King Quang Trung gave to Princess Ngoc Han, but the joy suddenly disappeared from his face, he said: “Until now, historians still consider that story a legend. But my grandfather told it to my grandfather, my grandfather told it to my father, and then my father told it to me. Four generations of people, until now I am nearly 70 years old, so comparing the age of four generations with the historical milestone of the first half of the 18th century is very close! I think, sometimes historians forget details when recording, and maybe this story is a forgetfulness”.

Let’s not talk about real or fake, real or fake here. Because that beautiful image has been deeply ingrained in the subconscious of many generations of Vietnamese people, even though it is a legend. The peach blossom color alone evokes the entire dream world of the most primitive and passionate love.

The ancients said: Peach blossom is the flower of heaven. The peach blossom in the sky is blue, but on earth it is like the peach blossom but very pink. Peach blossom leaves are also bluer than peach blossom leaves... The ancient poem "Peach blossoms of last year still smile at the winter wind" is associated with the story: An ancient Confucian scholar on his way to the capital to take the exam, on his way back met the girl of his dreams, their love blossomed right in the peach blossom season. They made a promise to each other, but because of the constant war, many years later the young man returned in the peach blossom season, the scene was still the same, but he could not find the old woman. It can be said that the purest things are often compared to peach blossoms by the ancients.

Perhaps, for that reason, the heroic warrior of the martial land of Binh Dinh sent flowers from heaven, the kind of flowers that only Thang Long has, to Hue to give to the royal daughter of the North. In this historical period, Princess Ngoc Han was likened to the most brilliant and cherished flower in the fading Le dynasty. To some, this story only has political colors, but it seems that this is the encounter between “Heroic men, boat-clad girls” and the poem of Princess Ngoc Han to the hero in cloth clothes that still resonates until now…

Ho Si Ta (337 Hoang Hoa Tham, Lieu Giai Ward, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi)