TRẠNG TRÌNH · TRÌNH QUỐC CÔNG
The stone horse prophecy
Nguyen Binh Khiem (1491-1585), also known as Bach Van am cu si and honored by his students as Tuyet Giang phu tu, was one of the most influential figures in 16th-century Vietnamese history and culture. After earning the highest rank in the imperial examination in 1535, he served the Mac dynasty and became renowned for his integrity, literary talent, and wisdom as an educator. He was granted the titles Trinh Tuyen hau and later Trinh Quoc cong, while the people respectfully remembered him as Trang Trinh.
According to a folk tale, villagers from Vinh Lai sought Nguyen Binh Khiem's guidance in the hope of improving their fortunes in the imperial examinations. He had a stone horse erected beside the river with a prophecy: when the horse crossed the river, the village would produce high-ranking nobles. Years later, erosion shifted the riverbank, leaving the stone horse on the opposite side. When the fugitive king Le Chieu Thong arrived in Vinh Lai, the villagers believed the prophecy had come true, welcomed him, and asked to be granted titles. Yet when the Tay Son army arrived, those titles could not save them from disaster - a tragic ending shaped by ambition and the upheavals of history.
PALADI CHARACTER DESIGN
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