Nan'an

Nan'an
Political information
Sovereign state	China
Factions	Templars Assassins

Nan'an (南安) is a county-level city in the south of the Fujian province of China. As with other cities which simultaneously serve as counties in China, it is composed of a large array of towns, villages, and farmlands apart from its urban center. It is itself a constituent of the Quanzhou prefecture-level city.

Once a thriving cultural and economic center for the region, during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty, it hosted the stronghold of the Templar Wei Bin, one of the group of eunuchs called the Eight Tigers. It was there that, in 1529, Wei Bin fell to the blade of the Assassin Shao Jun.

History

In the early 16th century, Wei Bin, a member of the Chinese Rite of the Templar Order, resided in a heavily fortified stronghold in Nan'an. Known to the Assassins as "the Snake", he numbered among the Eight Tigers and distinguished himself as their spy and chief investigator, a master at rooting out Assassins in hiding. After the Eight Tigers nearly eradicated the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins in 1524 during the Great Rites Controversy, they became the target of one of the Assassin survivors, Shao Jun.

Shao Jun and Wang Yangming arriving in Nan'an

In January 1529, Shao Jun and her Mentor Wang Yangming arrived in Nan'an to assassinate Wei Bin and learn the whereabouts of the Tigers' leader Zhang Yong. Shortly after their arrival, Yangming went to meet with a local contact who might help the Assassins uncover the secrets of a Precursor box in their possession, leaving the mission up to Shao Jun.

While Shao Jun navigated through the city, taking care to remain incognito by blending in with the bustling crowds, she stopped at several altars to light candles for Assassins who had fallen because of Wei Bin. She hoped that by doing so, she would cultivate some peace and positivity to counter her obsession with vengeance.

During her mission, Shao Jun was unexpectedly reunited with Xiao Hu, a young boy she had rescued three years prior in Macau from the Templar Gu Dayong's men. Xiao Hu had used his late father's contacts to track down Shao Jun, as he wished to become an Assassin under her tutelage. Learning that Shao Jun blamed herself for the fire started by the Templars in retaliation for Dayong's assassination, Xiao Hu helped her realize that the civilians saw her as a heroine who had tried to rescue as many people as she could from the inferno.

Having regained her resolve, Shao Jun parted ways with Xiao Hu and, after crossing the Jin River, arrived at Wei Bin's stronghold, which she infiltrated by scaling its walls onto a terrace. After dispatching Wei Bin's three personal bodyguards, Shao Jun confronted the Templar and his wife in their chambers and engaged Wei Bin in a duel, resulting in his death. With his dying breath, the Templar revealed that Zhang Yong was also in Nan'an and that he had gone after Wang Yangming while Shao Jun was preoccupied with her own hunt.

Shao Jun escaping from Wei Bin's fortress

It did not take long for guards to discover Wei Bin's corpse, and Shao Jun narrowly escaped the premises while the alarm sounded throughout the stronghold. Wei Bin's soldiers secured the Jin River bridge that connected the castle to the city, but Shao Jun was able to divert some of their forces by destroying a tower with explosives. After managing to sneak across the bridge, she rushed to find her Mentor.

In the meantime, Wang Yangming was engaged in a vicious duel with Zhang Yong near a Buddhist temple, where the Templars had ambushed the Mentor while he was waiting for his contact's arrival. Although Yangming managed to fight off Zhang Yong and his minions, including Qiu Ju, for a time, he was eventually overwhelmed and mortally wounded by Zhang Yong. The Tiger leader then departed with the Precursor box he recovered from Yangming's body, leaving his men to deal with Shao Jun, who had arrived too late to save her Mentor.

The fight between Shao Jun and the Templars was quickly broken up by a Buddhist monk, who demanded that no violence be brought to the temple of Buddha. Qiu Ju reluctantly complied and left alongside his men while Shao Jun mourned Yangming's death and lamented the loss of both her Mentor and the box. The Buddhist monk offered to help Shao Jun organize Yangming's funeral and identified himself as the contact whom the Mentor was set to meet.

During their conversation, the monk also revealed his knowledge of the Assassins and the Isu, helping Shao Jun realize that she was descended from the Precursor race and that her special bloodline granted her the gift of Eagle Vision. After Yangming's funeral, Shao Jun thanked the monk for his hospitality and left Nan'an to resume her hunt of the Eight Tigers and recover the Precursor box.

A century later, after the death of Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong in 1662, he was entombed in Nan'an as a national hero for his resistance against the Qing conquest of China.

Behind the scenes

Nan'an features as a location for the middle portion of the 2015 video game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. It incorrectly depicts Wang Yangming as dying in the city of Nan'an in Fujian Province, perhaps confusing it with the location of his historical death in Nan'an Prefecture in Jiangxi Province. In the 2021 puzzle book Assassin's Creed: Where's the Assassin?, Nan'an is erroneously described to be "also known as the Forbidden City and home to the emperor".

Gallery

Nan'an's streets

Shao Jun overlooking a bridge over the Jin River

Shao Jun infiltrating Wei Bin's fortress

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
• Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun

Non-canonical appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm
• Assassin's Creed: Where's the Assassin?
• Assassin's Creed: Turbulence in the Ming Dynasty