Citadel of Saigon - Impact On The Tay Son and The Nguyen

Impact On The Tay Son and The Nguyen

Following the construction of the citadel, the Tay Son never against attempted to recapture the city—the building gave Nguyen Anh a further psychological advantage over his opponents. The citadel helped to secure the southern region, which allowed Nguyen Anh to implement domestic programs to strengthen himself economically in preparation to fight the Tay Son. He used the newfound security to undertake agrarian reforms. Due to Tay Son naval raids on the rice crop, the area had been suffering long term rice shortages. Although the land was extremely fertile, the region was agriculturally underexploited because it had been occupied by Vietnamese people only relatively recently. Nguyen Anh's programs resulted in large amounts of previously idle land being cultivated. Large surpluses of grain, taxable by the state, were generated.

By 1800, the increased agricultural productivity allowed Nguyen Anh to support an army of more than 30,000 soldiers and a navy of more than 1,200 vessels. The surplus from the state granary was to used to facilitate the importing of supplies for military purposes. Eventually, Nguyen Anh moved northwards and in 1802, he conquered all of Vietnam and became emperor, ruling under the name of Gia Long.