Truong Luy Quang Ngai

A line of defense runs along the eastern slope of the Trường Sơn range, across eight former districts of Quảng Ngãi. It is not one straight wall across a plain. It is a varied system of ramparts, small forts and old roads, and it clings to the mountain and forest country just as this whole strip of central Vietnam does. This is Trường Lũy, a historic and cultural site of national rank, listed in March 2011.

A modern survey measures the whole line at 127.4 kilometers. Of that, 113 kilometers lie in Quảng Ngãi. The rampart crosses the areas of Trà Bồng and Sơn Tịnh. Next come Sơn Hà and Tư Nghĩa. After them come Minh Long and Nghĩa Hành. The last two are Ba Tơ and Đức Phổ. The Quảng Ngãi tourism portal calls it the longest architectural work in Southeast Asia. That is a tourism claim that has not been independently confirmed. Even so, the real figures are enough to show how much painstaking work the people of long ago put in.

What sets Trường Lũy apart from a simple wall is three parts that work together. The rampart itself blocked the way. The đồn and bảo were guard posts, where soldiers were stationed to keep watch. The old road was the route that controlled who came and went. Together they made more than a military fence. They formed a way of governing a frontier region, of controlling trade, and of managing contact between the lowlands and the mountains in the west of Quảng Ngãi.

The system grew over several centuries. From about the middle of the 16th century, Bùi Tá Hán had some forts built in the west of the province. In 1750, Nguyễn Cư Trinh, while serving as governor of Quảng Ngãi, built more. The continuous rampart that tied everything into one system went up in 1819. General Lê Văn Duyệt commanded the work, on the orders of Emperor Gia Long. Gia Long was the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty.

Researchers from the French School of the Far East also note this date. The school is a French institute that studies the classical civilizations of Asia.

The Nguyễn dynasty was Vietnam's last royal dynasty, and its court histories record Trường Lũy too. One is the Đại Nam thực lục. Another is the Đại Nam nhất thống chí, an official geography of the country compiled by court historians of the Nguyễn dynasty. They give the length as 117 dặm in the old measure, with 115 bảo, each guarded by about ten soldiers. These were histories compiled by the court, not folk accounts.

Where traces survive, the builders' skill is easy to see. The architecture is described as a blend of earth and stone, and many stone sections remain fairly intact. The rampart follows the mountainsides, over passes and through valleys. It does not run straight as the crow flies. It keeps to the eastern edge of the Trường Sơn range to make the most of the lay of the land.

Communities of the Co and the Hrê live along the line. The Hrê are one of Vietnam's ethnic groups, and most of them live in Quảng Ngãi. Both the Kinh and the Hrê are credited with the labor of building it. Trường Lũy is not the story of one side. It is a monument of a complicated period of governing, in which trade, cultural exchange and control of the frontier were woven together over many generations.

The clearest traces lie at Thiên Xuân and Khánh Giang. Both are in the commune of Hành Tín Đông. Two more sites are in the commune of Hành Dũng. One is Rùm Đồn, also called Rừng Đồn. The other is Đèo Chim Hút. Some further stretches lie in the commune of Ba Động, in Ba Tơ.

Standing at Đèo Chim Hút and looking down into the valley, you can see the place where, more than 200 years ago, about ten soldiers kept watch over a small bảo amid ridge after ridge of forest. The weight of that history rests under every stone still lying where it was set.