The Rebellion Burns Bright

Journal entry of First Lieutenant Andrew Jackson (future 5th President of the United States), June 19th, 1790
Displayed at the American National Museums of History and Culture, Columbia.

"Our arrival in to "Dai Vet" was met with curiosity more than celebration. That was only to be expected, since America's presence was only known in the Americas and Europe. Even so, it felt... odd to be standing in a nation that very few "foreigners" like myself have visited before. As per usual, General Kim was able to find a local pirate (or a sailor, I was unsure what was the appropriate word for the man was) that was able to speak some passable English to work as a translator. Apparently, the general's Vietnamese was terrible, which surprised me to an extent. But then again, he was from Korea, not Vietnam. The beginning of our journey to pay respects to the emperor of Dai Viet was rocky, but at least the blasted Brits decided to stay behind in order to prepare for the more important journey to China.

It took several days for us to arrive in Phú Xuân (I sincerely hope I wrote the accents down correctly), the temporary capital of Dai Viet, in order to meet with the Emperor of Dai Vet. The man's name was Quang Trung and from what information I could gather from our "guide," he was a reform-minded individual with the backing of most of the peasantry. He implemented sweeping reforms during his reign (which started several years before). Like General Kim, he took a nationwide census, provided identification for most of the citizenry, preached religious tolerance, and structured critical tax reforms that benefited the peasantry.

We prepared suitable gifts for each of the nation that we were visiting. General Kim was the one that appropriated and arranged most of the gifts, as he was the leader of the expedition. Surprisingly, many of the things that the general brought as gifts to the Dai Vet Emperor were military weaponry and technology (instead of the heaps of silver he had brought for the Chinese). He had brought nearly a thousand of rifled muskets, along with ammunition and other military gear. A group of one hundred marines (including myself) led the way while he paid a few locals to help us transport our "gifts" to the city of Phú Xuân.

The capital city was a bit... underwhelming to say. It was certainly big, but the city felt out of place for some odd reason. No signs of industry were seen anywhere and the people (especially those in the outskirts) looked much more impoverished than the people back in the United States. I was told that Dai Vet was an absolute monarchy (or something along those lines) and that "liberty" was a foreign concept in this part of the world. But even so, the people looked downtrodden and poor. Needless to say, it left a significant impression on me. Perhaps I was reminded of the slaves still under the boots of slave owners back in the United States, but I felt a certain empathy for these people. It felt restrictive that I was unable to help them and watched them from the sideline.

Of course, not areas were like this. It seemed as we went towards the more central parts of the capital, there was plenty of wealth and grand things displayed for the world to see. We were escorted into a palace by an army group known to the locals as the hậu-quân (Army of the Rear). Apparently, General Kim managed to send a message to the emperor through several officials and the emperor was expecting our arrival.

I was not one of the ones selected to enter the palace with General Kim. That honor belonged to the highest ranking Marine officers (Colonel White and Major Williams). I and the other marines that were not selected waited outside patiently while staring down our Vietnamese counterparts. I struck up a conversation with a few of them (they were surprisingly friendly, but cautious) using the limited amounts of Vietnamese vocabulary that I knew. It was difficult to communicate with them due to the language barrier (the accents were very confusing and our languages were leagues apart), but hand gestures and pointing saved the day. By the time General Kim returned, the Marines and the Vietnamese soldiers were able to understand the very basics of our backgrounds and our countries (though, as General Kim requested, we avoided any mentions of our republican form of government to avoid upsetting the Vietnamese locals).

General Kim briefed us once we arrived at a lodging place near the palace. The Emperor of Dai Vet, Quang Trung, took the introductions warmly and accepted the gifts we provided for him with enthusiasm. The translator turned out to be more than useful, as he allowed the general and the emperor to engage in a long and productive conversation. Apparently, our ships were now cleared to cross the "South China Sea" without any harassment and he had given us a letter of introduction to the Chinese Emperor (which would help our standings, as the Dai Vet emperor was "well-liked" by the Chinese Emperor). After seeing the "sufficient amount of tribute," we were granted to take a few of the locals with us back to the United States (apparently, this was a crude effort for the Dai Vet Emperor to have some presence in our "far away and foreign" country, the man was ambitious) and also a few scholars for education. Tomorrow, General Kim was to negotiate with the emperor in order to open an American trade outpost in Dai Vet. He did briefly mention that he and the emperor discussed "very private matters" regarding the emperor himself and a few other important subjects, but he refused to mention exactly what he discussed (though I did catch a few mutterings of the emperor's health and "invasion).

All in all, it was more than we could have hoped for and the Marines celebrated accordingly (without alcohol, of course). Our expedition looked very promising so far, but I was still cautious. After all, Dai Vet was a vassal of China and China was (if General Kim's words were correct) a very difficult nation to handle."