La Van Quan

Lâ Vân Quân (1551-1559) was a Hoinomese politician. He was a major figure of the Hoinomese Civil War, during which he was killed. He was a member of the Nationalist Party of Hoinom until 1592. He was president of the so-called "Democratic Republic of Hôinôm" from 1592 to his death, in 1599.

Political career

He joined the illegal Nationalist Party in his early 20s. He was in a Hoinomese jail from 1576 to 1579. It is reported that he left to Singan where he lived for a few years.

Quân was sent to Tieguo in 1583 to make a report for the Nationalist Party about the political situation in Tieguo and party members living in the country.

He came back to Hôinôm in 1585, joining the Nationalist Party underground network, and he began to rise through the ranks of the party. He became the de facto leader of the party in Tay Lanh where the local leadership were arrested by Hoinomese police in late 1587.

Although he was not in Hôinôm when anti-government protests started, events which would lead to the Hoinomese Civil War, Quân had an active role as soon as he was able to came back. He joined the central committee of the Nationalist Party soon afterwards, and became chairman of the Committee of Public Salvation of Tay Lahn, a revolutionary council mostly formed by opposition parties but with a dominant role of the Nationalist Party.

His position in the Nationalist Party, despite his popularity in Tay Lahn, was weakened, as differences with the leadership of the Nationalist Party started to increase regarding the strategy to follow. However, he supported Liêu Hùu Dùng as candidate in the 1591 congress of the Nationalist Party of Hôinôm, the first in Hôinôm soil in fifty years, and denounced Quân Công Trai (who would become later Hoinomese Prime Minister) as a "liberal reformer" and "ideological liquidationist" in a controversial speech.

He was expelled from the Nationalist Party in 1592. However, the local leadership of the party in Tay Lanh would remain loyal to him. The local branch of the nationalists in Tay Lanh would be remaned as "Hoinomese Nationalist Party", and Lâ Vân Quân became their undisputed leader until his own death.

He would be proclaimed President of the Democratic Republic of Hôinôm in 1592, although only the United Republic of Tieguo recognized his government.

He would remain as President of the Democratic Republic of Hôinôm, which official capital was in Tay Lanh until 1599, when he was killed by rival revolutionary forces nearby the Tieguonese border.