 Duyệt was typically described as a stern , hot @-@ tempered but fair man , which made him both feared and respected by people . Many lower @-@ level bureaucrats and military officers were loath to speak to him directly , as were some higher officials . Some later accounts have portrayed his strict ways in a more negative light . According to the later imperial official Phan Thuc Truc , Duyệt sometimes fatally beat dogs and beheaded senior local officials for no reason . Duyệt was also regarded as an eccentric ; he raised 30 members of the Montagnard hill tribes to act as servants , and kept exactly 100 chickens and 100 dogs at his home . Whenever he returned to his official residence after an assignment , he ordered a tiger and 50 dogs to march after him . In 1825 , Michel @-@ Duc Chaigneau , the nephew of Gia Long 's French military mandarin Jean @-@ Baptiste Chaigneau , visited Gia Định on a government mission and said that Duyệt " has great talent both in battle and administration . People fear him , but he is heartily loved by people here because he is fair . " 
