During his short-lived reign, Duệ Tông had to witness the rising of Hồ Quý Ly in the imperial court and several consecutive attacks in Vietnam from Chế Bồng Nga, king of Champa.

[1] According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, although having an active part in the overthrown of Dương Nhật Lễ, Trần Duệ Tông was indeed an arrogant and hard-headed ruler.

[6] In December 1376, Duệ Tông personally commanded an army of 12.000 Vietnamese soldiers advanced towards Champa capital Vijaya while Hồ Quý Ly took charge of the campaign's logistics and Đỗ Tử Bình conducted the rearguard.

In a plot of luring the opponent to his trap in Đồ Bàn, Chế Bồng Nga had a small mandarin pretend to surrender who made Duệ Tông believe that Champa's army had fled from the empty capital.

As a result, Trần army was heavily defeated in this Battle of Đồ Bàn where the Emperor himself was killed[8]: 94  in action with many other high-ranking mandarins, generals and seventy percent of his troops.