in 1438. Nguyễn Trãi was killed in 1442 (it was claimed he was involved in or responsible for the death of Lê Thái Tông). Only Trịnh Khả survived to an old age and even he was executed in 1451. Myths and legends Many legends and stories were told about Lê Lợi (magical sword, escaped death thanks to fox,...). In story help from fox, Lê Lợi was fighting Ming dynasty for Vietnam's independence. When he was defeated and ran, he saw a corpse of a woman on the way. Lê Lợi then dug a hole and gave her a proper burial, saying that if she protected him from getting captured, he would repay her. When the Ming soldiers were close, he hid in the bushes. The Chinese soldiers then sent dogs to sniff him out, but spotted within the bushes was a fox with a human face. The fox ran away and the dog followed, but those Ming soldiers killed the dogs for not doing their proper jobs. The soldiers then left, and Lê Lợi escaped capture. After he became emperor, he would return to that area and set up a shrine, conferring the woman the title of Hộ Quốc Phu Nhân, or Lady Protector of the Nation. The fox spirit eventually became a local god of the area. The most famous story concerns his magical sword. Much like King Arthur and his sword Excalibur, Lê Lợi was said to have a magic sword of wondrous power. One story tells that he obtained the sword, inscribed with the words 'The Will of Heaven' (Thuận Thiên) from the Dragon King (Vietnamese: Long Vương), a demi-god to the local people, who decided to lend his sword to Lê Lợi. But there was a catch: the sword did not come straight to him in one piece. It was split into two parts: a blade and a sword hilt. First, in Thanh Hóa province, there was a fisherman named Lê Thận, who was not related to Lê Lợi in any way. One night, his fishing net caught something heavy. Thinking of how much money he would get for this big fish, he became very excited. However, his excitement soon turned into disappointment when he saw that his catch was a long, thin piece of metal which had somehow become entangled to the net. He threw it back into the water, and recast the net at