Biography

Trịnh Khả, like most of Lê Lợi's chief aids and generals, was from Thanh Hóa Province which is where Lê Lợi was born. During the decade-long Lam Sơn uprising against the Ming dynasty, Trịnh Khả served as an advisor to Lê Lợi. With victory, Trịnh Khả was elevated to a high position in the new court of Emperor Lê Lợi. Trịnh Khả (and the other councilors) were given the privilege of wearing red silk and were called Hành-khiển. Other members of this new elite were: Nguyễn Trãi, Tran Nguyen Han, Lê Sát, Phạm Văn Xảo, Dinh Liêt, and Lê Ngan.

When Lê Lợi died in 1433, Lê Sát was appointed regent for the young emperor, Lê Lợi's second son, Lê Thái Tông. Lê Sát made use of his new power to remove rivals from the government, some were killed (like Phạm Văn Xảo), while others, like Trịnh Khả, were sent away to govern distant provinces of Vietnam.

Lê Thái Tông officially came of age in 1438 but found Lê Sát was unwilling to give up his power as regent. Lê Thái Tông looked for political allies and found Trịnh Khả. The new emperor appointed Trịnh Khả to command the Palace Guard. A few months later, Lê Sát was accused of ruling in place of the emperor and with the aid of Khả's guards, Lê Sát was arrested and then condemned to death. Not long after this, Lê Ngan was also removed from power, leaving Trịnh Khả as the main power behind Lê Thái Tông.

Officially, Trịnh Khả was the head of the Administrative Bureau (Chinh-su-vien) but the next four years were filled with intrigue as the various noble families in the court plotted to expand their power at the expense of their rivals. Trịnh Khả came out on top of this fight, being promoted to the position of Imperial Councilor shortly before Lê Thái Tông became sick and died in 1442.

With the death of the young emperor, the new heir to the throne was an infant Lê Nhân Tông. The government was nominally controlled by the boy's mother, Nguyễn Thị Anh (as Dowager Queen and Regent), but she was very young herself. Real power seems to have been wielded by Trịnh Khả along with Nguyễn Xí, Le Thu and two generals: Dinh Liêt and Pham Boi.

The government of the oligarchy was not very active but they sent six missions to the Ming Court. Some of the missions were complaints about raids by the Champa kingdom into Vietnam. In 1446, the government launched an attack on the Champa. The campaign was reasonably successful as the Vietnamese army captured the capital city of Vijaya but they lost the city to a counter-attack a year later. This was the forerunner of the 1470 campaign which would destroy the Champa.

As the years passed, Queen Nguyễn Thị Anh came into greater conflict with the Trịnh Khả and the other oligarchs who ruled the country. The Queen gained some support from the Confucian scholars who had passed the Imperial examinations and tried to rule much like their Chinese colleges to the north ruled in the Ming imperial system. The nobles in turn tried to limit the power of the scholars and maintain their own control over the government.

For reasons lost to history, the Queen ordered Trịnh Khả and his eldest son executed in August 1451. Two years later, upon the official enthronement of Lê Nhân Tông (at the age of 12), Trịnh Khả was pardoned and new lands were given to the Trịnh family.

The Trịnh family continued to be a major noble family in Việt Nam. In 1545, a great-grandson named Trịnh Kiểm, took control of a large part of Vietnam. His descendants ruled the north for the next 240 years (see the Trịnh Lords for details).

Three hundred years later, the Vietnamese officer, Lê Quý Đôn, said of Trịnh Khả he "served the public good, exhausted his virtue (on it), and considered the correction of evil and the presentation of instruction to be his own duty".

生平

郑可，永宁县金杯人，容貌英俊。郑可父亲郑倦是当地农民。郑可十八岁时，在田地里耕种放牧，某日在寺门小憩，镇守西都城的明将来到金杯，遇到了郑可，十分喜欢郑可的容貌，将其收养为奴隶。过了不久，明朝官员认为郑可相貌不凡，担心将来驱逐明朝，于是想要加害郑可。郑可逃走，明军将其父投入河中。郑可埋葬其父后，投奔黎利。

蓝山起义

永乐十四年（1416），郑可参与了陇崖会誓，成为黎利起义军的核心将领之一。永乐十六年（1418），皇陵之变，郑可与裴备从明军的守中夺回了灵车。黎利起义期间，郑可通晓老挝语，遂为黎利出使老挝，说服老挝国王暗中支持黎利。在与明军的战斗中，郑可冲锋陷阵，拜为太监。宣德元年（1426），郑可与黎篆率兵二千出天关，征服广威、嘉兴、三带、临洮、宣光五路，进逼东关城。先于宁桥击败明军，又于车辘桥击败成山侯王通的援军。黎利从清化来攻东关城，命郑可攻打三江城，拜为少尉。宣德二年（1427），郑可镇守梨花关，成功阻击了来自云南的明军。

黎朝建立

顺天元年（1428），黎利建立后黎朝，郑可官至紫金荣禄大夫左麟虎卫上将军，赐金鱼带银符，上轻车都尉。

顺天二年（1429），定开国功臣九十三人，郑可封县侯。

擅权

1433年黎利逝世后，黎察奉命辅佐年幼的嗣君黎太宗。黎察执政后不断铲除政敌，不少昔日的功臣被杀（如范文巧），其他一些功臣则外放到地方担任官员。郑可也被驱逐，贬为地方官。

1438年，黎太宗成年，但他却发现黎察丝毫没有交还大权的意图。于是黎太宗与郑可结为同盟，召郑可入京，任命郑可统领禁军。在郑可的帮助下，黎太宗宣布黎察谋反，将黎察逮捕并赐死。不久以后，黎银也遭免职，郑可独揽大权。

郑可官拜太监参知政事兼少尉，成为政事院的首脑。在接下来的四年里，郑可阴谋铲除异己，以扩大自己的政治势力。然而郑可却失败了，在1442年黎太宗逝世后，郑可从权力顶峰跌落了下来。

失势

黎太宗死后，年幼的黎仁宗继位。皇太后阮氏英把持朝政。虽然阮氏英很年轻，但却野心勃勃。阮氏英试图通过联合阮炽、丁列等人铲除权臣郑可。

在此期间越南政治并不活跃，但曾先后向明朝派遣了六个外交使团，其中一些使团提到了占城曾多次骚扰边境。1446年，郑可遣军袭击了占城。这次战争越南获得了胜利，次年攻占了占城首都，俘虏了占城国王摩诃贲该。

随著时光的流逝，阮氏英太后同郑可的矛盾越来越尖锐。太后在一些太学生的支持下，试图像明朝一样让太学生执掌政权。但执政的郑可为了巩固自己的地位，阻挠太后的改革。最终太后在1451年处死了郑可，同时被杀的还有郑可的长子。

后世的权臣郑检自称是郑可的后裔。