Lê Lợi was born on September 10^th, 1385 (which is August 6^th in Ất Sửu year – the year of the Buffalo – according to the lunar calendar) at his mother homeland in Chủ Sơn Village, Lôi Dương Sub-prefecture (which was later renamed Thủy Chú). This area is now Xuân Thắng Commune, Thọ Xuân District, .

In the spring of 1418, Lê Lợi and such brave men who were animated by the same sense of purpose as Nguyễn Trãi, Trần Nguyên Hãn, Lê Văn An, Lê Sát, Lưu Nhân Chú etc. (including 19 people who took an oath at the vow ceremony in Lũng Nhai in 1416) raised the uprising flag (Lam Sơn revolt). He called himself Bình Định Vương and called for people to stand up unanimously to fight and expel the Ming invaders.

At the beginning, the Lam Sơn insurgent troop consisted only a few thousands of people in the context of food shortages and the operating area was mainly in the mountainous area of Thanh Hóa. According to the design of Nguyễn Chích’s stratagem, in 1424, Lê Lợi decided to send the troops to the plain of Nghệ An.

In June, 1425, Lê Lợi ordered Đinh Lễ to lead a troop to attack Diễn Châu. On one hand, this act aimed to tighten the stranglehold around the Nghệ An rampart and Tây Đô rampart. On the other hand, he ordered Trần Nguyên Hãn, Lê Ngân, Lê Nỗ and some others to bring more than 1,000 troops to free Tân Bình and Thuận Hóa by land and sea.

In September, 1426, Lê Lợi divided the troops into 3 part for moving northward. At the beginning of 1427, Lê Lợi commanded the insurgent troops to fight and free the area of the Red River Delta and surrounded Đông Quan rampart. In late 1427, the troops killed 150,000 reinforcements that the Ming Dynasty sent to Chi Lăng frontier passage in Lạng Sơn and the Lê Hoa border pass which is Hà Giang at present. This victory made the surrounded Ming forces in Đông Quan rampart and in other ramparts surrendered. The Lam Sơn revolt ended with a victory and the country was completely liberated.

On April 15^th, 1428, Lê Lợi officially took the throne and was declared Emperor at , Đông Kinh Citadel (Hà Nội today). He took the date as Thuận Thiên and the official name of the country as Đại Việt. After ascending the throne, Lê Thái Tổ divided the country into four divisions (đạo) and later added another one called Hải Tây including Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Tân Bình, and Thuận Hóa. New laws were passed, court music was composed, rituals were promoted, sessions of examinations were organized, imperial guards were set up, the system of mandarins was built, the structure of provinces and districts was established, books were collected, and schools were opened to seek for and select talents. In terms of economy, land distribution was rewarded to soldiers who contributed to the struggle against the Ming.

On August 22^nd in Quý Sửu year, the year of the (1433) according to the lunar calendar, Lê Thái Tổ deceased at the age of 49. On October 23^rd of the same year, his corpse was brought to and buried in Vĩnh Lăng under the temple name Lê Thái Tổ.

Reference::

- Ban nghiên cứu và biên soạn lịch sử Thanh Hóa: Lịch sử Thanh Hóa (The Thanh Hóa History Compilation and Research Department: The History of Thanh Hóa). Social Sciences Publishing House, Volume 3, 2002.

- Ban nghiên cứu và biên soạn lịch sử Thanh Hóa: Danh nhân Thanh Hóa (The Thanh Hóa History Compilation and Research Department: Well-known People in Thanh Hóa). Thanh Hóa Publishing House, Volume 1, 2005.

- Nguyễn Hữu Đức: Việt Nam những cuộc chiến chống xâm lăng trong lịch sử (Battles against Invaders in Việt Nam’s History), Bookcase of Hồ Chí Minh Room, People’s Army Publishing House, Hà Nội, 2001.