[4][5] Nanyue's geographical expanse covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong,[6] Guangxi,[6] Hainan,[7] Hong Kong,[7] Macau,[7] southern Fujian[8] and central to northern Vietnam.

Nanyue rulers promoted a policy of "Harmonizing and Gathering the Hundred Yue tribes" (Chinese: 和集百越), and encouraged ethnic Han to immigrate from the Yellow River region to the south.

[10] In traditional Vietnamese historiography, important works such as the Đại Việt sử ký considered Nanyue to be a legitimate state of Vietnam and the official starting point of their history.

[13] After Qin Shi Huang conquered the six other Chinese kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi, he turned his attention to the Xiongnu tribes of the north and west and the Hundred Yue peoples of what is now southern China.

Around 218 BC, the First Emperor dispatched General Tu Sui with an army of 500,000 Qin soldiers to divide into five companies and attack the Hundred Yue tribes of the Lingnan region.

Insurrections spread throughout much of China (including those led by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, who would later face off over the founding of the next dynasty) and the entire Yellow River region devolved into chaos.

The fighting had left many areas of China depopulated and impoverished, and feudal lords continued to rebel while the Xiongnu made frequent incursions into northern Chinese territory.

However, in the hot and humid climate of the south, an epidemic broke out quickly amongst the soldiers, and the weakened army was unable to cross the mountains, forcing them to withdraw which ended in Nanyue victory, but the military conflict did not stop until the Empress died.

Lu arrived once more in Panyu and delivered a letter from the Emperor emphasizing that Empress Lü's policies were what had caused the hostility between Nanyue and the Han court and brought suffering to the border citizens.

Because Zhao Mo hadn't yet consolidated his rule, he was forced to implore Emperor Wu of Han to send troops to Nanyue's aid against what he called "the rebels of Minyue".

Before the king could ever leave for Chang'an himself, one of his ministers strenuously advised against going for fear that Emperor Wu would find some pretext to prevent him from returning, thus leading to the destruction of Nanyue.

Immediately following Minyue's surrender to the Han army, Wang Hui had dispatched a man named Tang Meng, local governor of Panyang County, to deliver the news to Zhao Mo.

Tang Meng thereupon drafted a memorial to Emperor Wu suggesting a gathering of 100,000 elite soldiers at Yelang who would navigate the Zangke River and launch a surprise attack on Nanyue.

Emperor Wu agreed with Tang's plan and promoted him to General of Langzhong and had him lead a thousand soldiers with a multitude of provisions and supply carts from Bafu Pass (near modern Hejiang County) into Yelang.

At the time, Zhao Xing was still young and the Queen Dowager was a recent immigrant to Nanyue, so final authority in matters of state rested in the hands of Prime Minister Lü Jia.

Lü Jia instructed his brother's armed men to surround his compound and stand guard and feigned illness, refusing to meet with King Zhao or any Han emissaries.

[28] When news of the situation reached Emperor Wu, he dispatched a man named Han Qianqiu with 2,000 officials to Nanyue to wrest control from Lü Jia.

With the people's support, Lü Jia and his younger brother led a large group of men into the king's palace, killing Zhao Xing, Queen Dowager Jiu, and all the Han emissaries in the capital.

The 2,000 men led by Han Qianqiu began attacking towns along the Han-Nanyue border, and the Yue residents ceased resisting them, instead giving them supplies and safe passage.

At the same time, Yu Shan, a king of Dong'ou, declared his intention to participate in the Han dynasty's attack on Nanyue and sent 8,000 men to support Yang Pu's company.

By winter of that year, Yang Pu's company had attacked Xunxia and moved on to destroy the northern gates of Panyu (modern Guangzhou), capturing Nanyue's naval fleet and provisions.

Based on many temples of Lü Jia (Lữ Gia), his wives and soldiers scattering in Red River Delta of northern Vietnam, the war might last until 98 BC.

After the Western Han dynasty defeated Nanyue, its territory was divided into the seven commanderies of Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, and Rinan.

[35] Nanhai comprised most of modern Guangdong, and was divided by the Qin into Panyu, Longchuan, Boluo, and Jieyang Counties, to which Zhao Tuo added Zhenyang and Hankuang.

[37] Although Nanyue continued the Commandery-County system of the Qin dynasty, its leaders later enfeoffed their own feudal princes and lords – a mark of its sovereignty – in a manner similar to that of the Western Han.

The third stage began in 135 BC when King Wang Ying attacked a weakened Nanyue, forcing Zhao Mo to seek aid from Han China.

The oldest text compiled by a Vietnamese court, the 13th century Đại Việt sử ký, considered Nanyue to be the official starting point of their history.

"[54] However, John Phan (2010), citing Maspero 1912, Wang 1948, & Miyake 2003, points out the existence of an "Early Sino-Vietnamese" layer of loanwords traceable back to Later Han Chinese (25 AD–220 AD), which he claims was spoken in the 2nd century BCE.

[60] There is evidence that Vietnamese elites of the Red River Delta, during the medieval ages, tried to invent an origin of their own (the legendary Hồng Bàng dynasty) based on ancient Chinese texts, which recorded the movements of Tai-speaking peoples across the region of South China.

[61] There was a fusion of Han and Nanyue cultures in significant ways, as shown by the artifacts unearthed by archaeologists from the tomb of King Zhao Mo in Guangzhou.