He first served as the generalissimo commanding a ten-thousand man army of the Đại Việt court under the reign of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh.

[1] In late 979 Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and his son Dinh Lien were slain by an official named Do Thich while sleeping in the courtyard.

The emperor Taizong ordered Hou Renbao advance into Dai Viet territories, although Le Hoan had sent a message to the Song court which was declined.

[4] In early 981 the Chinese navy under Liu Cheng defeated Le Hoan's military on the Bạch Đằng River, killing 1,000 Viet sailors and seizing 200 junks.

Hou Renbao urged his troops to march forward, but they didn't until Liu Cheng finally arrived and the Song land forces and navy regrouped at Da La village, then returned to Hoa Bo (Chi Lăng).

In summer, Le Hoan's local officials from To Mau (modern-day Quang Ninh) led a village force of 5,000 men and sailors who invaded China, plundered Luzhou near Yongzhou, but were defeated by Chinese general Yang Wenjie.

[13] In 987, five years after a drought in 982, Le Hoan held a Royal Ploughing Ceremony on two rice fields and put a pot of gold in each.

[14] In 995 he built the Mahayana Nhat Tru church and temple in Hoa Lu and left inscriptions on it, cited verses from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.