About the poem "The Coal Seller" said to be by Tran Khanh Du

He set up his headquarters in Van Don (Quan Lan, Quang Ninh today) to block the Yuan navy in the third invasion, early 1288. His greatest achievement was sinking Truong Van Ho's supply ships at "Don Son Luc Thuy Duong". This feat at sea broke the Yuan army's formation on land. Therefore, Tran Nam Vuong, Crown Prince of the Yuan Dynasty Thoat Hoan, who led this invasion, hastily ordered his troops to retreat because they did not have enough food. The Yuan army retreated in two directions, by land through Lang Son and by water through the Bach Dang River. The great victory on the Bach Dang River of the Tran Dynasty in 1288, began with this pivotal feat of Tran Khanh Du in the waters of Quan Lan, Van Don, Quang Ninh. Perhaps that is why, in "Chronicles of the Dynasties", Phan Huy Chu ranked Tran Khanh Du as one of the four generals with the greatest contributions in the resistance war against the Yuan army, in order: Tran Quoc Tuan, Pham Ngu Lao, Tran Nhat Duat and Tran Khanh Du.

Tran Khanh Du's hometown was in Chi Linh, where the Thai Binh River divided the Kinh Thay River into the sea, now bearing his title of Nhan Hue commune. After the first resistance war against the Yuan army, he was convicted of adultery with the wife of Tran Quoc Nghien, the eldest daughter-in-law of Tran Quoc Tuan, the sister of King Tran Nhan Tong, and was sentenced to death. But the king loved his talent as a general and did not kill him. The Tran king stripped him of all his titles and confiscated all his property, and he had to return to live on the land granted to him by his father, which is now Nhan Hue commune, selling coal to boats that docked at this wharf.

Because of such “hidden” feelings, many people loved him. Since the beginning of the Nguyen Dynasty, there was a poem called “The Coal Seller”, in the seven-word eight-line verse form with 100% Nguyen artistic characteristics, attributed to Tran Khanh Du. Many people in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh still believe that this was his work during his lifetime. But in my opinion, this is not a poem from the Tran Dynasty but a poem from the Nguyen Dynasty, and then attributed to him, but whose poem it was and when it was written is not clear.

The person who helps us today answer this question accurately is the great writer of Hai Duong, writer Pham Dinh Ho (1768 - 1839). He and Nguyen An (1770 - 1815) have a joint memoir called "Tang thuong ngu luc". This book consists of 90 articles, written by the two men separately but combined into one collection, the writing style is still very close and unified. According to the very elaborate research article by scholar Dao Duy Anh printed at the beginning of the book, this collection is a memoir, recording real events, real people, things seen and heard, not fiction, drafted by Pham Dinh Ho from the end of the Le Dynasty (around 1786) and finished before Pham Dinh Ho passed away (1839), thus, the memoir was written and completed from the Gia Long Dynasty to the Minh Mang Dynasty of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1840).

This book was published by the Literature Publishing House in May 1972. From page 153 to 156 is the poem “The Coal Seller”, clearly stating that the author is Mr. Nguyen, who works as a coal seller and wrote this poem in the national language. Mr. Nguyen lived in seclusion, refused to become an official, had no close relationship with anyone, and did not reveal anything personal to anyone. Mr. Hoang listened to Mr. Nguyen’s poem “The Coal Seller”, praised it very much, and awarded him 5 quan of money, but he did not accept it, and immediately carried his load of coal and left. The book does not record where Mr. Hoang and Mr. Nguyen met, but according to the atmosphere of the article, we can see that it was in Hai Duong. The original poem is as follows: "A load of cosmic weight carried down the mountain/ Ask why sell it, send it as coal/ Buy it as long as you can get good money/ More than loss, why bother with dead wood/ Stay with the incense fire for a lifetime/ Test to see if iron and stone are strong/ Angry because of dirt, wish for another job/ But the tears of heaven, there are many poor people".

According to Mr. Truong Chinh, a famous researcher, annotating in the book, this poem was previously thought to be by Tran Khanh Du. "In fact, the authors of this book (Pham Dinh Ho and Nguyen An) spoke clearly and distinctly." So he thought it was correct and did not say more. So it was clear that the poem of the Nguyen Dynasty, composed by Mr. Nguyen in the national language, was not the poem of the Tran Dynasty by Tran Khanh Du written in Nom script in the Tran Dynasty.. This scientific verification is very important for us to evaluate the poem accurately. In my opinion, this poem has only 2 lines of argument: "Stay with the incense fire for a lifetime / Test to see if iron and stone are strong" has the flavor, reminiscent of the spirit of the past, seems close to the personal situation of Tran Khanh Du, and is attributed to Tran Khanh Du, a great general, with great achievements but was not awarded any more throughout his life, after all the achievements - because of the death sentence, it is more sympathetic and passed down, that's all. Also because of that, he was not given a temple. In Quan Lan, from ancient times, there was only a communal house to commemorate him. His temple was only recently built.