After the Hien Phu ceremony, King Gia Long put Nguyen Hue's skull, along with Nguyen Nhac and Quang Toan's, in a jar, cast a spell and put them in solitary confinement in the Ngoai Do House, later changed to Vu Kho.
Moving “Mr. Vo” to the Prison The three jars imprisoned the three “flowers” of the three usurpers, along with the owner of the wooden box, who were imprisoned in the Military Archives (formerly the House of Foreign Affairs) from 1802 to 1822. It was not until 1822 that King Minh Mang ordered the three jars (commonly called “Mr. Vo”) to be imprisoned in the Prison. According to French priest JBRoux, Professor Nguyen Dinh Hoe, and researcher Phan Thuan An, the prison is now in Tay Loc Ward (Hue City), the southwest corner of the Hue citadel. During the Gia Long period, it was called Nguc That. King Minh Mang himself, in the 6th year of his reign (1825), changed the name of Nguc That (temporary detention house) to Kham Duong (trial room) and the official name became Kham Duong Nguc That. In the past, Tay Loc Ward was a place with fields, ponds, and swamps, specializing in agricultural production, serving a part of the food for the royal court and residents living in the citadel, to prevent war and siege. This area is square, with 3 corners: the southwest corner of the citadel, An Hoa gate, and Chanh Tay gate. The prison is in the middle of this area, surrounded by lakes, with only one door to enter and exit. The prison has several rows of houses to detain prisoners, especially a cell with three jars containing three "skulls" of the Tay Son dynasty. The prison warden, prison guards, and prisoners secretly set up an altar to worship the three "Mr. Vo" to pray for help when facing disasters... From 1822 to 1885, every month, the royal court's inspection committee came to the prison to check the three jars mentioned above. Currently, Tay Loc Primary School has been built on the land of the prison. The relics of the Prison are several exposed stone pillars, one of which is a large stone pillar and two of which are small. Researchers believe that the Prison was built during the Gia Long period, when the king planned the boundaries for the Hue citadel, that is, in 1804. However, through the style and material of the two stone pillars, bricks, etc. of the newly discovered Prison, it can be seen that this Prison was built during the Nguyen Lords' reign. The Nguyen Dynasty used the Prison until about 1900. In early 1899, there were still some prisoners there. According to research by Nguyen Dinh Hoe, Phan Thuan An, Do Bang, Phan Quan, etc., through works published from 1975 to 1988, on the night of May 22 to 23, At Dau year (1885), during the fall of the capital, King Ham Nghi and the royal family had to leave the citadel, the French army entered the citadel, and someone brought 2 of the 3 "Mr. Vo" with the army. A “Mr. Vo” (“the female flower” of King Quang Trung) was “rescued” and taken away by a military officer who was in charge of the Prison. However, where the military officer who secretly took the “female flower” of King Quang Trung out of the Prison went and where he hid the “Mr. Vo” is still a mystery. Revealing the person who brought the “female flower” of King Quang Trung From 1885 to now, more than 100 years, three “Mr. Vo” have been missing, but the people of Hue, from within the royal family to the people, have been spreading rumors by word of mouth and recently there have been some revelations. In 1988, in his research work, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Bang in the book Discoveries about Emperor Quang Trung (Thuan Hoa Publishing House, 1988) published the information he had collected and processed. In this book, Associate Professor Dr. Do Bang wrote: “For a long time, the people of Hue have shown me that - after the mutiny in Hue capital in 1885, an important figure in the court stole the jar and took it away to the southeast of the capital. We suspected that the person carrying the “Mr. Vo” had gone to Binh Dinh, the homeland of the Tay Son leaders, but after many times of investigation, there were still no results. Some people said that the character was from Thanh Thuy Chanh village, held an important position in the Hue court and used to take care of the Prison. Since 1977, I have conducted many surveys in Thanh Thuy Chanh village and some neighboring villages of Hue city, but could not come to a conclusion”. Associate Professor Dr. Do Bang said that in March 1988, during a field trip to Thanh Thuy Chanh village (now Thuy Thanh commune, Huong Thuy town, Thua Thien-Hue), he discovered the identity of the mysterious character carrying the “female flower” of King Quang Trung away from the Prison. Associate Professor, Dr. Do Bang wrote: “A recent survey, in March 1988, allowed us to announce a noteworthy signal as follows: When he was alive, Mr. Tran Cong Toan (1880 - 1950), who was a military leader and held the position of second in command in Thanh Thuy Chanh village, once said that after the mutiny in the capital in 1885, Mr. Phan Cong Hac and Mr. Phan Cong Va carefully “liberated” the “female flower” in the jar, put it in a bronze jar and brought it back to bury in Thanh Thuy Chanh village, near Doi Temple”.
Tran Viet Dien - Thanh Nien Newspaper
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