According to the book "Dai Viet Complete History", in 1237, Tran Canh (Tran Thai Tong) ascended the throne for a long time but still had no children.
Worried that the Tran dynasty would become extinct, Grand Master Tran Thu Do forced Tran Canh to depose Queen Ly Chieu Hoang to marry his sister-in-law, Princess Thuan Thien - the wife of Tran Lieu, Tran Quoc Tuan's father.
Seeing his wife being robbed by his younger brother, Tran Lieu angrily brought soldiers to take revenge but failed. Finally, he surrendered and was demoted to the position of An Sinh Vuong, and was allowed to live in Yen Sinh.
At that time, Tran Canh's older sister, Thuy Ba, loved Princess Tran Quoc Tuan, who was only 7 years old and had to leave the capital to follow her father, so she begged the king to let Quoc Tuan be adopted. During this time, he was taught martial arts by Princess Thuy Ba and grew up with the royal family's descendants in the palace.
During 8 years in the forbidden palace, Tran Quoc Tuan grew up and developed feelings for Thien Thanh - the eldest princess of the Tran Dynasty.
It was thought that the childhood love affair would have a happy ending, but when Thien Thanh reached marriageable age, King Tran Thai Tong ordered her to marry Trung Thanh Vuong - son of Nhan Dao Vuong.
"Dai Viet Complete History" briefly wrote about the bride robbery that shocked the history of the Tran Dynasty: "Tan Hoi - 20th year, married the eldest princess Thien Thanh to Trung Thanh Vuong, Yen Sinh Vuong's son was Tran Quoc Tuan robbed, the princess has returned to Tran Quoc Tuan."
Accordingly, on February 15, 1251, the king held a festival for 7 days and nights, displaying many paintings of the hair-wedding ceremony and games for people in the court besides his family to see, wishing for Princess Thien Thanh and Trung Thanh Vuong to get married. . Before that, the king had sent Thien Thanh back to the palace of Trung Thanh Vuong's father, waiting for the engagement ceremony.
However, when the whole capital jubilantly participated in the festival, Tran Quoc Tuan was heartbroken that the girl he loved had to be someone else's wife, so he made an extremely bold decision - to steal the bride.
In the dark of night, while everyone was having fun with the festival, Tran Quoc Tuan sneaked into Nhan Dao Vuong's palace. He tried to climb the wall, past the patrolling soldiers, and found the exact princess's room. The lovebirds meet again in difficult circumstances.
In ancient Asian culture, adultery was a very serious crime. In 1042, King Ly Thanh Tong issued a decree that anyone who entered a house at night and committed adultery with another person's first wife or concubine would be immediately beaten to death by the owner without being punished. Therefore, if the incident broke out, both Tran Quoc Tuan and Princess Thien Thanh would face great trouble before the anger of Nhan Dao Vuong and his son.
To avoid this, Tran Quoc Tuan thought of a way to force the king into the situation already.
Immediately after breaking into the princess's room, Tran Quoc Tuan immediately ordered the princess's maid to inform his adoptive mother, Princess Thuy Ba. Upon receiving the news, she hastily entered the palace and cried to the king: "Unexpectedly, Quoc Tuan sneaked into Thien Thanh's place at night. Nhan Dao Vuong has arrested him, I'm afraid he will kill him. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." hurt, send someone to save you".
At that time, the king was angry but did not accidentally kill his beloved daughter and son of Tran Lieu - his brother. Therefore, he sent people to surround Nhan Dao Vuong's palace and rushed into Princess Thien Thanh's room to escort her, essentially escorting Tran Quoc Tuan out safely.
At that time, the whole Nhan Dao Vuong palace was surprised to realize that Tran Quoc Tuan had entered the palace "in private communication" with the princess.
The next day, Princess Thuy Ba brought into the palace 10 trays of raw gold as a bride price, asking Princess Thien Thanh to marry her adopted son. Faced with the past, Tran Thai Tong decided to marry Princess Thien Thanh to Tran Quoc Tuan. To compensate, the king also sadly cut 2,000 good fields in Ung Thien district and gave them to Nhan Dao Vuong.
In the end, thanks to a clever plan, Tran Quoc Tuan successfully stole the bride and married the person he loved. Both lived happily, giving birth to 4 sons and 1 daughter. The story of Hung Dao Vuong's bride robbery also became a "one-of-a-kind" anecdote in Vietnamese history, passed down until later.
