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PL ArtisanHQ Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun.

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The Great Rites Controversy was a decade-long operation led by the Eight Tigers, a group of Templar eunuchs who controlled the court of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming. It was their aim to eradicate all those who opposed their rule, from court officials to Neo-Confucian philosophers. This included their hereditary enemies, the Chinese Assassins, resulting in the near-eradication of the Chinese Brotherhood.

History[]

Failed attack[]

In 1521, the Zhengde Emperor died without an heir.[1] Seizing the opportunity, the powerful Templar eunuchs known as the Eight Tigers—who had remained discrete after the execution of their leader Liu Jin in 1510[2]—began to plot again in order to use the situation to their advantage by placing a puppet on the throne and silencing any opposition. The Templars discovered that Wang Yangming, the governor of Jiangxi province and leading figure of the Neo-Confucian current, was also the leader of the Assassins and began to spy on him, identifying many of his allies.[3]

The Tigers prepared a massive operation to purge the Assassins from Beijing during the confusion caused by the absence of a declared emperor, but luckily the plot leaked to the imperial concubines, and one of them, Shao Jun, was able to warn Yangming in time.[3] In order to counter the Templars, Wang Yangming called his best Assassins to the Forbidden City in an attempt to kill the Tigers before they could strike, but they were defeated.[4]

After this debacle, those captured were tortured and executed by Ma Yongcheng, the Tiger known as "the Butcher", and all those suspected to have any ties or immediate relations to the Assassins were murdered. The man designated to investigate the palace attack, a Templar named Wei Bin, opportunely blamed officials who were innocent but were threats for the Templars' plans, accusing them as culprits and having them executed as well.[4]

Understanding that none of his allies would escape the Tigers' wrath, the Mentor ordered a full retreat of all the Assassins and their allies from the Forbidden City.[4] Having lost his influence in the palace, but still in Beijing, Wang Yangming hoped to find a weakness in the Tigers' organization and take them down before they could completely steal imperial power. Yangming used his new recruit, Shao Jun, to gather information critical to Assassins' operations.[5]

The Great Rites Controversy[]

The Return China (3)

The Maijishan Grottoes burning during the Great Rites Controversy

The same year, Zhu Houcong, the Zhengde Emperor's fourteen-year-old cousin, was coronated as the Jiajing Emperor with the support of the Tigers. However, the Tigers ruled in his stead as the young boy was not interested in imperial affairs. This allowed the Tiger Yu Dayong to enforce the slave trade, selling the Templars' opponents to the Portuguese and exiling their enemies out of China while also making himself huge profits.[6] Another Tiger, Gao Feng, was given command of the Templars' secret prison in the former Assassin headquarters of the Maijishan Grottoes, with Ma Yongcheng torturing the prisoners.[7]

In the following years, the Tigers' leader Zhang Yong set up the Great Rites Controversy in order to eradicate his rivals in court. The Controversy was a dispute between the Jiajing Emperor, who did not wish to be posthumously adopted by the Zhengde Emperor according to the tradition when a new emperor was not the son of the former emperor, and traditional officials who protested that he had no right to posthumously elevate his own father Zhu Youyuan to the rank of emperor instead.[8]

Using the Controversy, Zhang Yong's subordinates Wei Bin and Qiu Ju murdered or exiled many of their political opponents while chasing the remaining Assassins. This forced Wang Yangming, who was a famed and known opponent of the Tigers, to disappear. A new Mentor, Zhu Jiuyuan, was chosen by the Brotherhood and under his supervision, a renewed secret war began in Beijing and all over China between the Assassins and the Templars. Primarily using Shao Jun, who had become a fully-trained Assassin and a formidable warrior, the Assassins tracked the Templars' agents and attempted to stop their growing control over the Empire.[9]

Unfortunately, the Brotherhood's actions were not decisive enough, and soon the Tigers effectively controlled China, retreating in luxurious palaces to enjoy their new power and placing puppets in court such as Yan Song, the administration's new public face. In the shadows, the Tigers completed their hunt for the Assassins, raiding most of the Brotherhood's safe houses, destroying its information network, and finally killing all but three of the Chinese Assassins: Wang Yangming, Zhu Jiuyuan, and Shao Jun. They also began to search for ancient Isu artifacts, as well as consolidate their grip and financial power through diverse operations throughout the country.[10]

Tracking the Mentor[]

In 1524, with all their brothers dead and Yangming having gone into hiding, Shao Jun and Zhu Jiuyuan despaired and finally decided to leave China in order to seek the help of foreign Assassins. Zhu suggested meeting with the retired Italian Mentor Ezio Auditore, whose reputation and fame had spread over the world, to which the pair traveled to Macau in order to take a ship for Europe.[11] Shao Jun and Zhu Jiuyuan eventually reached Venice and thought they were safe from the Tigers, but they were in fact followed by Templar agents. The elite soldiers, armed with muskets, ambushed the two Assassins,[12] and Zhu Jiuyuan sacrificed himself so that Shao Jun could escape alive and find Ezio.[13]

Now truly alone, Shao Jun managed to reach Ezio Auditore's villa in Tuscany and persuaded the grizzled and reluctant Mentor to share his wisdom and teach her how to rebuild her Order. The Templar soldiers had followed the Chinese Assassin to Florence and attacked Ezio's villa, but Ezio and Jun successfully killed them.[13] After some training with Ezio[7][14] and a parting gift of a box he told never to open unless she lost her way, Shao Jun decided to return to China in order to rebuild the Chinese Brotherhood and exact revenge on the Templars, who were more powerful than ever, muzzling all opposition to their rule.[13]

Appearances[]

Non-canonical appearances[]

References[]

  1. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 4
  2. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Liu Jin
  3. 3.0 3.1 Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 6
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 7
  5. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 8
  6. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 9
  7. 7.0 7.1 Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaThe Escape
  8. Wikipedia-W-visual-balanced Great Rites Controversy on Wikipedia
  9. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 10
  10. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 12
  11. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 13
  12. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaDatabase: Scroll 14
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Assassin's Creed: Embers
  14. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaThe Return
    Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaThe Port
    Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaConsequences
    Assassin's Creed Chronicles: ChinaThe Search

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