Armed with hand cannons, the Vietnamese force under Lê Lợi, the Prince of Pacification, was able to stage a successful ambush on the attacking a Ming army, under General Wang Tong.

Wang Tong was forced to retreat back to Dong Kinh, where four days later he and the city were besieged by Le Loi's army.

In early December, Wang Tong led his armies out of the citadel of Dong Quan to attack the Lam Son rebels.

Lý Triện's forces skirmished with one and feigned a retreat past the Tam La bridge, an area filled with mud and rice paddies.

The request was received by formations under the command of Nguyen Xi, Truong Chien, and Dinh Le, who dispatched 3000 men as reinforcements and 2 war elephants.

Several Ming spies were caught, and the generals discovered that Wang Tong was stationed in Ninh Kiều, planning to secretly position troops behind the small Lam Son force while crossing the river with the main body.

Thousands were killed in the melee, and many more reportedly drowned, with Vietnamese sources claiming that 50000 Ming soldiers died along with 10000 being captured as prisoners of war.

The battle contributed significantly to the eventual victory of the Lam Son Uprising, and was commemorated in the Binh Ngo Dai Cao[18]