Additional Information from References, Appendixes, and Side Stories.

"... At present, the military supply is extremely urgent. I think that the tax rates, land taxes, and other taxes in the Northern Citadel towns, should temporarily follow the old tax rates of the year Tan Suu [1801]. This winter, the tax will be collected as in the summer. Whoever has paid to Wei Tay Son, if they still have the receipt, will be allowed to deduct accordingly. If anyone has not paid yet, along with the amount of tax owed, they must all be paid at once, so that they can be used for urgent public work. As for the communes that are allowed to pay taxes separately, only white fabrics, unusual fabrics, raw silk, raw silk, flowered salt, white paper, etc., and handicraft taxes will be paid as before. As for raw silk, cast iron, sails, mats, saltpeter, varnish, raw paint, etc., according to the number of quotas and quantities, one-fourth will be paid into the traditional craft tax as before, and three-fourths will be paid into the market tax. All kinds of rush mats are paid One-eighth is paid as the craft tax, and the remaining seven-tenths are paid as the market rent tax" [Quoted from the Introduction published at the beginning of the book QSDB by Nguyen Thi Oanh].

There are things that cannot be said according to Confucian rules, such as matters of husband and wife, matters of men and women..., but with an objective attitude, the author has added details showing the negative side of officials who, on the outside, are Confucian, but have actions that should not be done in front of everyone. For example, the case of Chu Linh, the son of Nguyen Dang So. QSDB (page 33a, volume Trung) records: "[Nguyen Dang So's] son is Chu, an An Khoa Huong Cong, who has now asked to go to the capital to visit his father, and the king has agreed. Chu later held the position of District Chief of Thanh Ha [Hai Duong], Yen Son [Quoc Oai], resigned from the position of Chief, Chu was transferred by heaven to become the Instructor of Nam Chan district, and then became a Professor in Thien Truong. The third son passed the Sinh Do, An Khoa, and became a Cong Sinh of the district; resigned from the position of Hanh Tau in the Ministry of Rites, was appointed to the position of Huyen Thua of Nam Chan district, transferred by heaven to become the Dong Tri Phu of Khoai Chau, acting as regent.

Thanh Tri (Later, he took a Gia Dinh girl as a concubine and had a daughter. Every time he went to work in the district, he ordered his concubine to stand at the door, hold his hand, touch his breasts, and then leave. He often said: "A person's life has thirty-six thousand days, I add thirty-six thousand nights."

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Natural phenomena, thunder, storms, clouds in the sky, the sun and the moon are also phenomena that the book DNTL omitted to record. For example, events that occurred in 1811: “ On the 6th of the 7th month, autumn, flood waters rose in Bac Thanh. Before that, storms arose, and for several months, it rained heavily, and the water rose in all the towns of Bac Thanh”. Or like “In the autumn, heavy rains rotted the rice, and then the weather changed again, and the rice and cheeks were all dried up and burned”. In 1824, there was an event where the dike in Yen Lac broke, and the district official was dismissed from his position. Before that, Cai Tong Thu Pha, because of the drought that year, asked the district official to let the dike be removed to let water flow into the fields. On the 9th of July, there was heavy rain and storm, the dike broke, and water flooded into five districts. Cai Tong was executed, the district official was dismissed from his position, and the Son Tay district official had to hire laborers to rebuild that dike. Or the event on the 24th day of the 2nd year of Thieu Tri [1842], "thunder shook the gate of Bac Ninh citadel" (page 24b, volume Ha), and the corresponding time is not recorded in the DNTL .

The events of looting and harassment of civilians were fully recorded by the QSDB such as: “At that time, in the North City, there was a curfew. Suddenly, in the streets, everyone was terrified and ran away. At that time, the villains took advantage of the opportunity to capture people and take their belongings; or dug up people's graves, took their remains and demanded ransom. During the day, they scattered to different places, and at night they gathered together, and the district and provincial officials could not capture or control them.”

2.2. Other recorded events DNTL .

According to statistics, there are 94 events in the Gia Long period, 166 events in the Minh Mang period and 31 events in the Thieu Tri period recorded differently from the DNTL .

These were events directly related to the people's lives, but were not recorded by the ĐNTL , or were omitted. For example, the military recruitment, the ĐNTL recorded this event, but the events behind that incident had many scandals, but were not mentioned by the ĐNTL such as: "At that time, the official in charge of the Northern City hired many people on the streets. They followed the cause for food and clothing. When they joined the army for training, many people fled, or falsely declared their hometowns, some even targeted the population register to illegally collect taxes from the people. Many people complained and resented". Or the event in August 1803, both the ĐNTL and the QSDB recorded the drought, while the QSDB wrote: "Hai Duong and Son Nam provinces in the Northern City suffered a great drought. Districts like Tan Minh were the most severely affected. The wells were all dry, people fought each other to get water from the ponds, and some fought to the point of having to go to court". Meanwhile, the DNTL only recorded a few sentences: "Bac Thanh suffered from drought, released more than 20 prisoners". The detailed recording of the QSDB "people fought to get water from the pond, fought to the point of death, had to go to court" helps readers see how serious the drought was at that time.

Or the event of March 1834, the DNTL only recorded: "From now on, all the officials who are assigned to do any work and are granted royal decrees and certificates, when finished, must return them and destroy them. If they disobey the order, they will be impeached and punished. Anyone who still has any copies from before must return them, if they hide them, they will be punished...", while the QSDB fully recorded the reason why there was that royal decree, which was due to the harassment and exploitation of those decrees to do illegal things among the mandarins at that time: "On the 20th, the royal decree sent subordinates. Before the 14th year of Minh Mang [1833], there was a royal decree approving the royal decree [approved by the king] along with the ministerial certificates, it was necessary to choose to return them to prevent

evils. Because at that time there were corrupt officials, not descendants of royal officials, who took advantage of [the king's approved documents or ministerial degrees] to become evils, so the king issued such an edict". Clearly, we see that the events recorded in the QSDB were not beneficial to the court and the ruling class at that time. That makes this history book have a particularly important value.

Because the ĐNTL was written in the style of official history under the strict supervision of the court, it tended to glorify and praise the court. On the contrary, the QSDB, as a personal history, was not influenced by political forces. Moreover, the documents he relied on to compile all happened immediately, so it was "updated", very simple and close to the people's lives. We can take the example of the "Tich dien" ceremony. The QSDB recorded: "The emperor wore a raincoat, a conical hat, held a red-painted plow, hung two golden buffalo horns, wore a gold necklace, two high-ranking officials held whips, (three old farmers) protected on the right and left, the ceremonial guards and military musicians followed. The emperor plowed three lanes, the prince plowed six lanes, and the town officials plowed nine lanes. After a while, he rested and ordered everyone to eat. After plowing, he sowed the rice, and ordered officials and soldiers to take turns watering" (the event was recorded in 1828). Meanwhile, in the ĐNTL , this event is described in great detail with a solemn style, full of praise for the royal court: In addition to the preparation of choosing land, laying out fields, building the Tien Nong altar, setting up the Than Thuong warehouse and preparing items for the Tich Dien ceremony, the costumes and rituals of the Tich Dien ceremony in the ĐNTL are also different: “Every year, the ministry reports the date of the Tich Dien plowing, the Governors, the Provincial Governors or the Town Officials bring the civil and military officers of the district, wearing court uniforms, to the Tien Nong altar to perform the ceremony. When the ceremony is over, they change into court uniforms, put on a civil and military hat, wear a colored robe, narrow sleeves, tie a belt, wear short pants, shoes and socks, go to the Tich Dien place to personally hold the plow, 2 elders lead the buffalo, 2 farmers help plow; the judge, experienced, carries the box, one person sows the rice. Plow 9 rows again; when finished,

He changed into his royal robes and bowed five times at the altar. After the ceremony, the farmer plowed the entire field.

Or like the celebration of the longevity festival and the grand ceremony on the occasion of the king's "forty year", QSDB simply recorded it, and used the detail "sons and daughters jostling each other on the side of the road to watch, all saying that the Emperor bestowed blessings at an uncountable expense" to show readers the lavishness and waste of the royal court, but in the DNTL with its tendency to praise the royal court, this was an extremely solemn event, recorded meticulously with a solemn tone: "On Tan Mui day (that day was the day the celebration began), the princes and civil and military officials all wore regular court hats and robes to attend the Can Chinh palace. The king himself wrote three large words Phuc, Tho, Trung as rewards. That day, the palaces and buildings hung lanterns and flowers, displaying them brilliantly. On the flagpole hung five-colored happy flags, at night the gates of the citadel lit lamps, looking like stars in the sky, bright as day... the gates of the Citadel, during the day hung flags, at night hung lamps, in addition, every morning and afternoon, the people were allowed to watch the performance in front of the tower, or watch the lantern release, lantern dance in the south of the citadel or watch the performance on the water, at the right time the flags were also hung, when the work was done, that was it..." (see more about ĐNTL volume 3 from pages 34-41).

2.3. Supplementing historical data collected from fieldwork

The scope of QSDB is also quite wide and rich, in addition to the documents that would not have been available if not in an important position, there are also many documents collected by the author from outside through trips to search for books in the localities, therefore, this is a source of "wild history" that deserves attention. These are valuable documents, reflecting the extremely vivid and colorful life of the people in society. Many of the stories mentioned by QSDB are directly related to the lives of the people such as marriage, funerals, but

The most numerous are still stories about officials who, for one reason or another, were demoted, dismissed, imprisoned, etc. Because the QSDB is a private history book, its author was not under the same pressure as the compilers of the official records, so the tendency to glorify the court was also quite faint, especially in events related to royal relatives and officials with great power in the court. Regarding these events, it seems that he recorded them with an objective and straightforward attitude, not avoiding the truth.

For example, the story of the Emperor's younger brother, Quang Uy Cong (the younger brother of the king born by the third concubine Le Ngoc Binh). Under his pen, Quang Uy Cong was a man with an erratic temperament. He was generous, when he loved someone, he happily showed kindness, if something went wrong, he would use an iron whip to beat him, or cut off an ear, or chop off a finger. He was also a strong man, liked martial arts, could fight a fierce tiger with his bare hands, often raised a type of buffalo as he wished, and gave him jewelry like an elephant. Sometimes he used a white buffalo, painted red and blue on it, and let it fight with an elephant for fun. Or he used a servant boy as a support, used it as a pillow to fish, and forced him to stand still and not move. He went hunting dogs, fighting cocks, and if any of them died, he was given brocade or silk to bury them. His annual salary was 4,000 strings of money, if he could not use it all, it was sent to the national treasury. Many times the king reminded him of his extravagant arrogance, but he sadly said: "Both parents are dead, there is nothing to make him happy, so he has to do it like this." The king did not reply.

Or like the story of Duke Le Van Duyet, under the pen of Phan Thuc Truc, appeared as a man of many personalities, with both good and bad sides, upright but also no less luxurious with expensive hobbies. "Duke Le Van Duyet at the Royal Court was upright, practiced simple rituals, did not establish hierarchy, often beat to death any dog that ran to the king. The Duke beheaded the Governor of Quang Binh and Trieu Tu Long, but the king still treated the Duke with tolerance. The Duke

He often kept 30 people in the mountains, depending on the work, and went fishing in ponds, lakes, and ponds for fun. When he had nothing to do, the Duke often used his army to set up troops in the sandbank to surround the forest, following the tiger's footprints. He also raised chickens and dogs, hundreds of each type, and had 3 people from the Cai Doi take care of them. He often returned to visit his old hometown, Yen Lang village [in Quang Ngai]. Each time he returned, he brought a tiger and 50 dogs, and people came to see him as crowded as a herd. With an objective view, the image of Duke Le Van Duyet appeared in the eyes of the reader very clearly and completely, not only praising the talent or personality of a famous person with a great position in the royal court at that time.

Or like the story about the Thuan An district chief Nguyen Huy: “ Since becoming an official, the official has been acting as a governor in various places 5 times. When he was in Tien Du, he built many temples for the people in the district. His family members often stole fat pigs from the people. The official scolded them and ordered them to catch sows to pay compensation to the people, but the people did not dare to accept. The official was the 5th son, and he liked to play the zither, so he often held his son and sat in the hall. The elders who came to pay their respects did not avoid him, saying: "Being an official is just about going out to pay respects to guests". He also enjoyed using whips to beat prisoners. The image of Nguyen Huy Quan appeared with two good and bad sides in Phan Thuc Truc's records, he was both a person who had the merit of "building many temples for the people in the district", a person who did not tolerate his family members forcing their family members to pay compensation to the people, but he was also a person with a cruel habit of "enjoying using whips to beat prisoners".

Even the story of the king hating straightforward words, Phan Thuc Truc did not hesitate to record in his history, something that state history books, under the strict control of the court, with meticulous editors and approval, never dared to record, such as the story of Nguyen The Luong from Duy Xuyen, Thai Binh, submitting a memorial of 20 articles, which roughly said:

Learning from the Tang and Yu dynasties, imitating the Shang and Zhou dynasties, they abandoned construction and repair, favored thrift, emphasized obedience to orders and neglected taxes, promoted talented people, demoted incompetent people, focused on the roots of the country [i.e. agriculture], suppressed the cutting edge [crafts, trade], sought straightforward speech, and followed the orders of heaven. The words were very poignant and also said: "In the space of seven or eight years, there were solar eclipses, insects, landslides, dry rivers, storms, epidemics, continuous heavy rains, comets shining, bandits raging, crop failures and famines, and there were up to 10 times of bad luck. The king was like a boat, the people were like water, water can capsize the boat, there has never been a boat capsize the water. The great ministers did not dare to speak, the humble ministers did not dare to speak. Therefore, this humble person had to abuse his position and ask to speak like this." The king hated straightforward speech, wanted to entrust it to the court to decide the crime, but Nguyen Dang Tuan, the Left Assistant Minister of Rites, advised him to stop.

2.4. Additional materials from the sections References, Notes, and Side Stories.

As we presented in Chapter II, the sections Tham bo, Phu thu, Ngoai truyen... are truly valuable supplementary historical materials that Phan Thuc Truc did not have time to edit and include in the main text of the history while he was still alive. However, it was later edited and included in the history by Phan's descendants. Thanks to this valuable source of unofficial history, we can understand more about many issues related to institutions, military regimes, and the lives of mandarins and people.... For example, in the Main text section, which talks about the positions of District Chief, District Governor..., the Tham Bo section has added the number of troops that the positions of Town Chief, District Governor, or District Inspector are granted: "Each Town Chief, District Inspector, or District Inspector is granted 1,000 soldiers (ie 10 bases); Any prefecture with a District Chief or District Inspector is granted 500 soldiers; A district with a District Chief, or a district near a prefecture where the District Chief is also in charge, that district is not granted the above number of soldiers" (page 13b).

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