The Age of the Sea Falconswarships carried 50 guns.^62 The Tayson were able to maximize the space
in their warships and introduce up to 50 and 66 cannon (Figure 4.3).^63
Other reports also confirmed their advanced techniques for positioning
big cannon on vessels to reduce their shock when fired. One of those
ships known as a ting, was said to be much larger, sturdier, and better
armed than other Asian ships, including Qing war junks. Each vessel had
80-foot (24 metres) masts, sides protected by layers of thick leather and
nets and cannon weighing as much as 2,500 kilograms.^64
Tayson Naval WarfareNaval warfare was significant in most military operations between 1771
and 1802, especially regarding coastal centres. While the navy continued to
assist with logistics and mobilizing troops, the extensive use of ship-based
artillery increased its combat capacity. It now waged war in a fluid theater
of operations, particularly stretching along several hundred kilometer
coastlines from Nha Trang to Quang Binh. The Tayson (and not Nguyen
Phuc Anh) were the first to deploy naval campaigns to achieve military
supremacy. During the 1777 Gia Dinh expedition, the 1785 campaign
against the Siamese, and in the 1786 and 1789 Thang Long expeditions,
maritime mobilization gave the Tayson a clear advantage through the
speedy assaults they were enabled to direct at their unprepared enemies.
One interesting feature of the rebels’ military organization, which influ-
enced their rapid rise and decline, was that their army consisted of a loose
“confederation” of various groups of different background and ethnicities.
Emerging in mountainous central Vietnam, their naval capacity essentially
relied upon Chinese merchant pirates, the Cham, and a few Northerners
such as Nguyen Huu Chinh. During the Tayson’s early days, two Chinese
merchants named Li Tai (C. Li Cai) and Tap Dinh (C. Ji Ting) reportedly
contributed more than half of the rebel fleet.^65 Nguyen Hue welcomed
- White, A Voyage to Cochinchina, 90.
- Nguyen Ngoc Cu, “Nhung ngay tan cua Tay son”, 163.
- Renzongshilu [Veritable Record of the Renzong Reign] (Taipei: Huawenshuju,
1964), v. 189, 7 (dated Jiaqing 12. 12 [1807]), cited in Antony, Maritime Violence
and State-Formation in Vietnam, 120. - Ta Chi Dai Truong, Lich su noi chien Viet nam tu 1771 den 1802 [A History of the
Vietnamese Civil War from 1771 to 1802] (SaiGon: Van Su hoc xuat ban, 1973):
67–68; see also Murray, Pirates, 32–56.