The artillery of the Nguyễn lords, the family that ruled southern Vietnam from the late 16th to the late 18th centuries, and the precursor of the Nguyễn Dynasty, was an important component of their military success in repelling attacks from the rival Trịnh lords, their northern contemporaries. Between 1627 and 1672, seven campaigns were waged by the Trịnh in an attempt to break the Nguyễn, without success, along a frontline in the vicinity of what later became the 17th parallel that divided Vietnam some three centuries later. The Nguyễn were much weaker than the Trịnh in terms of having an established state and administration, with a vastly smaller army and population from which to draw resources, but their fortification system and their superior artillery allowed them to repel attacks fro