Kiều Thạc Nhu

Kiều Thạc Nhu Kιὴυ Θᾳκ Νιυ; 喬碩柔 Kiều Thành Tổ Kιὴυ Θὰνι Τῶ; 喬成祖 Rajadhidevi I นาถราชเทวี ๑
Empress of Đại Quến Queen of Arantho Tengri Khanum
Portrait by Tống Công Bằng, 1870
Empress of the Kiếm Hoà Dynasty
Reign	14 February 1267 – 26 April 1300
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Kiều Ích Tông
Imperial Chancellor	Phạm Khuê
Queen of Arantho
Reign	16 April 1279 – 26 April 1300
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Kiều Ích Tông
Viceroy	Kulthorn of Praphun
Countess of Khoái Siêu
Reign	3 February 1263 – 14 February 1267
Predecessor	Kiều Thạc Bộ
Successor	Phạm Khuê
Born	(1244-06-11)11 June 1244 Residence of the Count, County of Khoái Siêu, Quenmin
Died	26 April 1300(1300-04-26) (aged 55) Van Lao, Quenmin
Spouse	Kiều Thạc Bộ Lê Sáng Bảo (1249-1254) Lã Siêu Nhất (1254-1256)
Issue	Kiều Ích Tông Kiều Thạc Quyên Huệ Kiều Thạc Hoài
Full name Kiều Thạc Nhu Era name and dates Chuyển Bình, Rajadhidevi I: 1268-1305, 1278-1300 Regnal name Somdet Phra Boromma Rajini Rajadhidevi Nueng Mahitalathibet Khewnphumiphrakun (สมเด็จ พระ บรม ราชินี นาถราชเทวี รามาธิบดี เควนกหเวนผู้มีพระคุณ) Posthumous name Thể Minh Thiên Hanh Trạch Vận Chí Thành Phong Đại Hoàng Hậu Temple name Thành Tổ
Clan	Kiều Thạc
Father	Kiều Thạc Sáng
Religion	Haimeism

Ruler of Quenmin
Reign Name
Latin Script	Chuyển Bình
Chữ Nôm	囀平
Birth Name
Latin Script	Kiều Thạc Nhu
Chữ Nôm	喬碩柔
Posthumous Name
Latin Script	Thể Minh Thiên Hanh Trạch Vận Chí Thành Phong Đại Hoàng Hậu
Chữ Nôm	世明天至宅武成運豐大皇厚
Temple Name
Latin Script	Kiều Thành Tổ
Chữ Nôm	喬成祖

Kiều Thạc Nhu (Chữ Nôm: 喬碩柔; Chữ Hy Lạp: Kιὴυ Θᾳκ Νιυ; 11 June 1244-26 April 1300), byname Hổ Đen ("Black Tigress"), era name Chuyển Bình (囀平; Ϫυῆν Βιν) and temple name Thành Tổ (成祖; Θὰνι Τῶ), was a Quenminese noble during the Third Anarchy. She was the founder of the Kiếm Hoà Dynasty as well as being its first Empress, ruling from 1267 to 1300. She was also the founder of the succeeding Arantho Kingdom in present-day Tamau, taking the name Rajadhidevi I as Queen.

Born to Count Kiều Thạc Sáng, a skillful military commander, Nhu learned and mastered military strategy and warfare as she grew up. In her adolescent years, she became an advisor to her father and older brother, but became a concubine of Prince Lã Siêu Nhất for three years after they were killed in battle. She was then rescued on a secret mission overseen by Phạm Khuê, the political advisor to her uncle Kiều Thạc Bộ, who would later assist Nhu in ousting and killing the latter subsequently. Nhu then ascended as Countess in 1263, with Khuê acting as both her advisor and mentor. After a period of relative peace of three years, Nhu proclaimed herself empress of the newly established Kiếm Hoà Dynasty, and partook in a set of military conflicts that would extend beyond the Dynasty’s borders called the Hodenic Wars. In its first years, Nhu subjugated the four rivaling kingdoms to officially reunify Đại Quến and cement her authority in the capital city. Afterwards, she integrated the western and northern territories of the Chamian Kingdom, and vassalized the state. Then, in 1278, Nhu invaded the Tuntayakul Kingdom which resulted in the capture of the Kingdom's capital, Prachinsanulok, and the overthrow of the Tuntayakul dynasty. Nhu declared herself Queen of the Tayamese dominion, and moved the capital to Arantho to establish the eponymous kingdom.

Nhu introduced several reforms in the Imperial government, while retaining a considerable number from the previous Early Hoạn dynasty. She reintroduced Luatcaoist tenets into the bureaucracy and legal code, advocating and emphasizing meritocratic precepts with relatively harsh punishments. This was exhibited in her Imperial Succession Law, which allowed a monarch to bequeath the throne to a succeeding progeny based on ability and talent. Moreover, a notable legal code implemented by her was the Kiếm Hoà Code, which instituted land and financial reforms that benefitted both aristocrats and peasants overall. It also granted land and financial rights to women, also both aristocrat and peasant, enabling modern Quenminese historians to state that the Code was one of the most progressive in her time. She also supplemented the imperial examination system with questions related to Luatcaoist texts to further exhibit knowledge and competence, and allowed upper-class women to become civil servants.

In 1288, Nhu invaded the Rideva Empire after being informed of its declining state and a subsequent emerging desire to become its new Empress. Regarded as her longest military campaign, Nhu managed to conquer most of its eastern territories, and during this time, Nhu had a famous affair with Anuprabha Rudrani. Nhu eventually had to abandon her goal by returning to the dynasty's homeland after much discontent from most of her soldiers. The last years of her life focused on administering the dynasty's internal affairs and newly-obtained territories. Although, signs of paranoia and megalomania increasingly affected her mental health, with conflicts of foreign policy between her and Khuê leading to the latter's resignation and the sacking of other competent mandarins, and alleged coups and assassination plots by her illegitimate son Lã Khởi and other noble lords either jealous of her achievements or expressed conservative grievances. Eventually, this demeanor culminated during the Peasant Uprising of 1299, where peasants that refused to comply with a doubled land tax to mitigate the effects of the Flood Disaster of 1299 were brutally suppressed; aristocrats that supported the peasants, especially Khuê, Bùi Ðình Thiện, Ngô Bạch Xí, Ngư Lâm Dũng, Tạ Vũ Uy and Nguyễn Thủ Khoan were apprehended and tortured. On 26 April 1300, she was assassinated during her vacation in Van Lao by the same people she tortured. Another invasion of the Rideva Empire was considered, but was abandoned until 1307.

Nhu was one of the most prominent warlords during the era, as well as one of the most renowned woman in the history of Quenmin. During the last years of the Anarchy, she had managed to establish a strong, unified state that extended from Quenmin to present-day Tamau and Kansdoen militarily and politically, with the cost of her own sanity and life. Despite being also known for her megalomania and subsequent erratic behavior, she remains one of the most revered figures in Quenmin. Military academies throughout the country still teach her strategies and tactics, placing them alongside those of Quảng Thái Tổ, Tư Mã Bằng, Hầu Chiến, Orestes II, and Hoạn Quốc Tổ. The Kiếm Hoà Code would become the basis for the Great Lận Code and the Reformed Dynastic Code for the Modern Epoch for the next two centuries. Her status as a woman is still celebrated, particularly in her deification as a Sanctified Goddess in Siêu Việt denomination of Haimeism.

Early Life

Nhu was born to Kiều Thạc Sáng on 11 June 1244 the Third Anarchy. Growing up, she displayed intelligence when she memorized the poems Return to the Capital. Nhu then took upon learning martial arts and swordsmanship with recommendation from her father, who sensed her talent and potential. She often dueled with her brother Kiều Thạc Chương, who was already proficient and had accompanied his father and lead armies to fight against their opponents, and at the age of 14, she was able to beat him. According to the Records of the Kiếm Hoà Dynasty, her father remarked to Chương upon seeing her victory: "watch out, my son. She'll grow up to be the tigress that our enemies will fear to hunt."

Sometime at the age of 11, she took the opportunity to learn military strategy. Whenever her father and son relaxed, Nhu would often play cờ tướng with either one or both of them. Her father and son would often give her lessons as they played, much to the discouragement of her mother. She would learn further when she read copies of the texts from the Giảng võ đường, a military school built during the Early Hoạn dynasty, and when her father took her to the barracks of his troops on his review during August. Proving herself adept by making suggestions to his father’s generals, Nhu had gained their respect, and eventually from many soldiers whom she conversed with, earning her the nickname Công chúa chiến lược Kiều ("Princess Strategist Kiều"). Subsequently, Nhu participated in her father's battles as one of his advisors.

When she was 16, her father fell during the Battle of Phan Rang Son against the Võ Đính Principality, one of Khoái Siêu’s bitter rivals. At his funeral, she was recorded by historians to mourn him profoundly, more so than her brother. After her brother ascended as Count, she accompanied him on his battles, and would often be offered a portion of the army to carry out tasks designated for her. At times, she offered him advice, but her brother, more cautious than their father, often dismissed them for being too risky in his eyes. One exemplary case was the Battle of Tuy Cai; after securing advantageous positions against Võ Đính, Nhu urged Chương to commit a column to smash through the center of Prince Lã Siêu Nhất's army, but he refused her advice, reportedly three times, and allowed Nhất to slip away, proving consequential in his later defeats. Eventually, at the Battle of Thanh Thiet, her brother was killed on the marshlands behind him, and with his army overwhelmed, Nhu was captured by Nhất.

For the next three years of her life, Nhu resided in Nhất's palace and rendered a concubine. According to historical accounts, Nhu was often considered a favorite of Nhất, and the latter would often have plenty of intercourses with her to the point of abuse. Upon her second year in captivity, she gave birth to a son named Lã Khởi; during her eventual escape to Khoái Siêu however, she would abandon him.

Countess of Khoái Siêu

During her capture, Phạm Khuê, an able political advisor to Sáng, was employed to Kiều Thạc Bộ, Nhu's uncle who succeeded Chương. However, his loyalty to Bộ would become strained as he opposed the latter's pacifist policies with Võ Đính, which he believed would end Khoái Siêu's sovereignty. After hearing from his spies that Nhu accepted the proposal to escape, Khuê clandestinely organized a small party to retrieve her as Bộ's replacement. However, Bộ's servants became aware of Khuê's actions, leading Bộ to sack him. Bộ then sent assassins to rid Nhu once she was within the County, but in a stroke of luck Khuê and the rest of his followers managed to kill them. After a month of secrecy, Khuê incited a revolt against Bộ, and Nhu lead an army to take the Residency, kill her uncle, and take her office as Countess. She would then defend the County from attacks from the County of Thành Bắc, Duchy of Rach Liêu, Võ Đính and the Duchy of Tế Giang in 1263, upon hearing of Bộ's death.

Khuê would become an instrumental figure in Nhu's life. As she ruled as Countess, Nhu appointed Khuê as her First Advisor, and learned politics with due diligence under his tutelage. Upon reinvigorating Khoái Siêu's economy and infrastructure, Nhu negotiated peace treaties with the rest of the warring polities in 1264 with his help. Upon meeting with Nhất, it was said that Nhu grew immensely angered upon his offensive remarks, that Khuê had his hand cut to continue negotiations and prevent another conflict. After peace was retained, Nhu spent the rest of her rule implementing policies that grew the economy of the County and provided benefits to affected peasants, ruling with much competence.

Empress of the Kiếm Hoà Dynasty

Main article: Kiếm Hoà Dynasty

Sensing a bold opportunity, Nhu declared herself empress of the newly formed Kiếm Hoà Dynasty, named after a conquered province. Khuê warned of the risks of her declaration, but Nhu dismissed them, firmly defending that her decision was the opportune moment to reunite Đại Quến. Upon accepting her views, Nhu appointed Khuê as her Imperial Chancellor and her successor as Count. Rival warlords informed of the news openly voiced their opposition, and united themselves into the Camdoc Grand Coalition to challenge her legitimacy. A couple of emissaries were executed as a display of defiance; Lã Siêu Nhất was one of the warlords who famously beheaded a Kiếm Hoà emissary and sent his head back to Nhu. She then raised an army to partake in a series of conflicts that are to become known as the "Hodenic Wars."

Military endeavors

See also: Hodenic Wars

Against the Warlords

Main articles: Kiều Thạc Nhu's Northern Campaigns and Kiều Thạc Nhu's Eastern Campaigns

Against Chamia

Main articles: Cham-Quenminese War of 1270-71 and Cham-Quenminese War of 1274

Töbedar Expedition

Queen of the Arantho Kingdom

Main articles: Arantho Kingdom and Kiem Hoa-Tuntayakul War

• Admired Purusaprabhu II

Invasion of the Rideva Empire

Nhu with Rudrani. Painting by Úc Phúc Sinh, 1868

Assassination and death

• Was assassinated by Phạm Khuê.

Memory and image

Siêu Việt Haimeism

Main article: Siêu Việt Haimeism

During her conquests of the western territories of the Rideva Empire, Nhu managed to come into contact with Hahtta priests and sages.

Practitioners of this form of Haimeism regarded her with utmost reverance.

See also

• Hodenic Wars

Kiều Thạc Nhu House of Kiều Thạc Born: 11 June 1244  Died: 26 April 1300
Regnal titles
New title Dynasty established	Empress of the Kiếm Hoà Dynasty 14 February 1267 – 26 April 1300	Succeeded by Kiều Ích Tông
New title Kingdom created	Queen of Arantho 16 April 1279 – 26 April 1300