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Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm. This article has been identified as being out of date. Please update the article to reflect recent releases and then remove this template once done. |
Wang Yangming (王陽明; 1472 – 1529), born Wang Shouren (王守仁), courtesy name Bo'an (伯安), was a Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educator, and general of the Ming dynasty of China. He was also the Mentor of the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins.
Biography[]
Life as an Assassin[]
Secretly a Master Assassin, Wang Yangming rose to become an important minister of the Empire and always worked for the benefit of the Assassin cause.[1] In 1506, he clashed with Liu Jin, an influential eunuch who served as the leader of the Eight Tigers. After being insulted by Yangming, Liu had him expelled from court and shunned from Beijing.[2]
In 1510, Yangming briefly returned to the Imperial capital in disguise and witnessed Liu Jin's execution via lingchi,[3] after the eunuch had been betrayed by his own lieutenant Zhang Yong and implicated on charges of treason.[2] During this event, Yangming made the acquaintance of a five-year-old Imperial concubine named Shao Jun, who was made to witness the execution alongside her fellow concubines.[3]
Following Liu Jin's death, Yangming became governor of Jiangxi and was renowned for his military exploits. He eventually returned to court after the death of the Zhengde Emperor in 1521, only to witness its takeover by the Eight Tigers, all of whom were members of the Chinese Rite of the Templar Order.[1]
During this time, Yangming was contacted by Shao Jun, now a teenager, who had discovered his secret identity and warned him of the Tigers' plot to destroy the Brotherhood.[4] The Mentor called his best Assassins into the Forbidden City in an attempt to eliminate the Tigers before they could strike, but they were defeated.[5]
Decline of the Brotherhood[]
Following their failed attempt to stop the Tigers, many of the captured Assassins were tortured and killed via lingchi, accompanied by anyone suspected of aiding the Brotherhood and even some innocents in order to spread fear and paranoia. This led Yangming to order a full retreat of all his agents and possible allies from the Forbidden City, including Shao Jun.[5]
For a while, Yangming led the Brotherhood in Beijing, hoping to find a weakness in the Tigers' organization and take them down before they could completely steal Imperial power. During this time, he trained Shao Jun in the arts and philosophy of the Assassins, until she reached the level of Initiate, calling her "little sister". The Mentor often used her talents in gathering information critical to his operations.[6]
Eventually, in 1524, the Tigers launched the Great Rites Controversy to eliminate all those who opposed their reign, including any remaining Assassins in China. This forced Yangming, who was one of the Tigers' most well-known opponents, to disappear in order to escape the purge. A new Mentor, Zhu Jiuyuan, was appointed in his place,[7] though he would die only a few months later, while traveling to Italy alongside Shao Jun to seek the aid of Ezio Auditore, the Italian Assassins' famed Mentor.[8]
Shao Jun's return[]
Yangming aiding Shao Jun in her endeavors
Shao Jun's time in Italy proved fruitful, as Ezio gifted her a small box, which he instructed her to open only if she lost her way.[9] Following her return to China in 1526, Shao Jun sought out Yangming and showed him the box, which was empty. Recognizing the box as bearing Isu origins, Yangming understood that Ezio had chosen to hide the artifact's true nature from Shao Jun and decided to do the same, telling her that the empty box was a metaphor for her journey; the only way to "fill" it was by fulfilling her destiny.[10]
Following this, Yangming and Shao Jun, as the only Assassins left in China worthy of the name, embarked on a quest to rebuild their Brotherhood by eliminating the Eight Tigers. The Mentor advised his student to use the Precursor box as bait to lure out the Tigers, which she did.[10] While Shao Jun was captured by the Templar Gao Feng and killed him after escaping her imprisonment,[11] Yangming tracked down and assassinated Ma Yongcheng.[12]
Following Shao Jun's escape from the Maijishan Grottoes, a former Assassin stronghold which the Templars had converted into a prison, Yangming picked up his student in a carriage. Although Shao Jun had failed to retrieve the Precursor box from the Templars, the Mentor told her not to worry as they would find an opportunity to recover it in time.[12] The two Assassins then decided to help Hong Liwei, an eunuch and Assassin informant whom Shao Jun had rescued from the Maijishan Grottoes. They traveled to a small village that housed a few of the Brotherhood's scant surviving members, who looked after Liwei.[3]
Yangming and Shao Jun sailing into Macau
After some time passed, one of Yangming's agents contacted him[13] and said that Gu Dayong, a Tiger and slaver based in Macau, now held the box. Yangming sailed Shao Jun into Macau,[14] allowing her to infiltrate Dayong's stronghold, assassinate the Templar, and recover the box.[15] However, in retaliation for his fellow Tiger's murder and the theft of the box, Qiu Ju ordered that Macau's port be set ablaze, resulting in many civilian casualties. Although Shao Jun managed to escape the fire and regrouped with Yangming,[16] this major loss of innocent lives deeply traumatized her.[17]
Death[]
For the next three years, Yangming continued his hunt of the Eight Tigers alone, leaving Shao Jun at their hideout in the countryside to meditate on the events in Macau and recover from her trauma. However, he had little success in his search and eventually returned to the village in January 1529, where he was surprised to find Shao Jun in the same place he had left her.[18]
After heading to a barn to talk in private, Shao Jun expressed how the deaths caused by what she perceived as her own negligence still weighed heavy on her mind. Yangming tried to reason with her, reminding her of Ezio Auditore's words that Assassins do not fight for revenge, but instead for humanity's freedom. When Shao Jun asked if her actions in Macau reflected that goal, Yangming reminded her of the day he had rescued her from the Imperial Palace and claimed that her old friend Zhang Qijie may require her help.[18]
Zhang Yong stabbing Yangming
Following this, Yangming revealed that one of his contacts in Nan'an had offered to help them uncover the secrets of the Precursor box, and that Wei Bin, one of the Tigers, was also in the city.[19] While Shao Jun assassinated the Templar,[20] Yangming went to meet with his contact, only to be ambushed by Zhang Yong and Qiu Ju, who had caught wind of the Mentor's intentions.[21] Although Yangming managed to fend off the Templars' soldiers for a time,[22] he was eventually bested by Zhang Yong, who impaled him with his sword.[23]
As Zhang Yong took the Precursor box from the dying Yangming, Shao Jun, alerted to the Templars' ambush, tried to rescue her Mentor, but arrived too late.[23] After telling his student to keep fighting for peace and stability, Yangming died in her arms and Shao Jun apologized for her failure to save him.[24]
Behind the scenes[]
Wang Yangming is a historical character introduced in 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.[25][26]
In Chinese, Wáng Yángmíng's name is written as 王陽明. Wáng (王) is a common Chinese surname that means "king". The personal name is composed of two characters. Yáng (陽) is the positive, active principle of the duality yin and yang in Chinese philosophy, and it can also refer to the sun. Míng (明) means "bright and clear". Together, his personal name can be interpreted as "the sun's brightness".
Yangming's death in Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, the 2019 manga adaptation of Chronicles: China, is different from its depiction in the game. Rather than taking place in a marketplace, the Templars' ambush occurs near a Buddhist temple, as the manga reveals Yangming's contact to have been a Buddhist monk. Additionally, Zhang Yong leaves the ambush early on and it is Qiu Ju—who was not present at this part in the game—and his soldiers who deliver the final blow to Yangming. Although Shao Jun arrives in time to help her Mentor defeat some of the soldiers in this version, Yangming still ends up succumbing to his injuries not long after.
Gallery[]
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Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun
- Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm (non-canon)
- Assassin's Creed: Turbulence in the Ming Dynasty (non-canon)
References[]
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