Brocade legend

Chapter 58 Wang Shouren

Wang Shouren, whose childhood name was Yun, courtesy name Bo'an, nickname Yangming, posthumous posthumous name Wencheng, was known as Wang Yangming.Han nationality, a native of Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Chengxuan Political Envoy Division.

The most famous thinker, educator, writer, calligrapher, philosopher, and military strategist in the Ming Dynasty. He was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing and Yushi Zuodu of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate. .

Wang Shouren is the master of Lu Wang Xinxue. He is not only proficient in the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, but also able to lead the army in battle. He is a rare all-round great Confucianist in history.

Wang Yangming was born in the Chenghua period. At this time, political corruption, social turmoil, and academic decay, Yang Mingzi tried to turn the tide and save people's hearts. He invented "the study of body and mind", advocated the teaching of conscience, and cultivated the benevolence of the unity of all things.

Wang Yangming is not only a master of mind theory in Song and Ming Dynasties, but also made great achievements in his life. Therefore, he borrowed "Zuo Zhuan·Xiang Gong 24 Years"-"The first is to establish virtue, the second is to make meritorious service, and the third is to establish words. Although it will not be abandoned for a long time, this is called Three Immortals." Called "True Three Immortals"

On September 57th of the eighth year of Chenghua, Mrs. Zheng's wife gave birth to Duke Wen Cheng in Yuyao in fourteen months of pregnancy, and died in Nan'an on November [-]th of the seventh year of Jiajing at the age of [-].

Wang Yangming was born in the eighth year of Ming Xianzong's Chenghua period, on the [-]th day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar, in a family of scholars and officials. His distant ancestor was Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

According to legend, on the eve of his birth, his grandmother dreamed that someone sent a son from the clouds, and Wang Yangming was just born when he woke up, so his grandfather named him Wang Yun, and the villagers also called the place where he was born Ruiyun Tower.

However, he could not speak until he was five years old. One day, an eminent monk passed by, stroked his head and said, "What a boy, it's a pity to tell the truth", which means that his name "Yun" revealed the secret of his birth.

His grandfather suddenly came to his senses, so he changed his name to Shouren, and since then he has spoken.

His father, Wang Hua, won the first prize in Xin Chou in the 17th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Shouren moved to Peiping with his father.

When he was ten years old, his father was the number one scholar in high school. Wang Yangming went to Beijing with his father. When he passed by Jinshan Temple, his father was gathering with friends. At the banquet, someone proposed to compose a poem chanting Jinshan Temple. Everyone was still thinking hard, and Wang Yangming had already completed it first:
"A little piece of Jinshan is as big as a fist,

Break the Weiyang underwater sky.

Drunk leaning on the wonderful high platform to go to the moon,

Yu Xiao blows through the cave and Longmian. "All four were amazed.

Wang Hua was very strict with his son's family education. Wang Shouren studied literature and martial arts very hard when he was young, but he liked to play chess very much, and often delayed his homework for this.Although his father repeatedly reprimanded him, he never changed his mind. In a fit of anger, he threw the chess pieces into the river.

Wang Shouren's heart was shaken, and he realized it immediately, and immediately wrote a poem to express his ambition:
Chess is fun all day long, but once lost by Yan Qin.

The soldiers who fell into the river could not be rescued, and the general drowned together.

A horse travels thousands of miles and follows the waves, like traveling in three rivers and chasing waves.

There was a sound of cannons and an earthquake, and suddenly Wolongchou was startled.

When he was studying in the capital at the age of 12, he asked the school teacher, "What is the first thing?"

The teacher said that "you can only get the rank in the imperial examination by studying", and he said at the time: "I am afraid that the first thing is not to get the rank by studying, but to learn to be a sage by studying."

Nevertheless, he never followed the rules from his youth, and all records say that he was "heroic and unruly" since he was a child.

For example, after losing his mother at the age of 13, his stepmother treated him badly, so he bought a witch to play tricks on his stepmother, so that she would treat him kindly from then on.

He didn't study very hard, and often led his companions to play military games.

When he was young, he traveled to the border, practiced horseback riding and archery, read various secrets of military tactics, and often used the method of arranging fruit cores as a game when he met guests.

Wang Shouren was smart and eager to learn since he was a child, but he was not limited to the Four Books and Five Classics, but also liked other books.

His thoughts are also quite eccentric, and many private school teachers have never been able to understand him.

There is a doggerel he wrote that well illustrates his thinking:

The mountain is near the moon and the moon is small, so the mountain is bigger than the moon.

If a person has eyes as big as the sky, he can also see that the mountain and the moon are even wider.

This means that when you look at things from different angles, the things you see are different.The philosophical thought contained in it surprised people at that time.

At that time, Wang Shouren was 12 years old. This poem was called "Mountain House Covering the Moon", which was the first poem handed down by Wang Shouren.

His father, Wang Hua, saw what he was thinking, so he took him outside the Great Wall to appreciate the vastness of the desert.

It was also at that time that he saw the Mongols, and also learned about the irreconcilable hatred between the Mongols and the Central Plains people, two peoples with different ways of living.

This time, Wang Shouren had his first idea of ​​serving the country.

One day not long after, Wang Shouren, uncharacteristically, walked up to Wang Hua solemnly, and said to his father solemnly: "I have already written a letter to the emperor. As long as you give me tens of thousands of horses, I am willing to go out to serve the country. Plagu the Tartars!"

Wang Hua was silent. After a long time, he woke up like a dream and finally reacted.Excitedly, he picked up the book at hand and slapped Wang Shouren in the face, saying, "Make you crazy! Make you crazy!"

After a while, Wang Shouren said calmly again: "My thoughts last time were unrealistic, thank you for your father's teaching."

Wang Hua was very relieved, and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, it is good to have ambitions, as long as you study hard in the future, it is not impossible."

"No need, I won't go to war. Now I have a new ambition."

"Oh, what do you want to do?"

"Be a sage!"

This time Wang Hua didn't stay silent anymore, he responded quickly - a resounding slap in the face.

He thought in his heart: "It's over, it's over, the fame of the whole life will be ruined by this kid."

This strange man, he referred to himself as Zhuge Liang, was determined to make a career.Since then, he studied hard and made great progress in his studies.Riding, archery, and art of war are becoming more and more proficient.

In the 12th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, he was admitted as a Jinshi and was awarded the head of the Ministry of War.At that time, everyone in the court knew that he was a learned man.

Wang Shouren served as the head of the Ministry of War for three years. Because he opposed the eunuch Liu Jin, in the first year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, he was sentenced to forty by the imperial staff and relegated to the post office in Longchang, Guizhou.On the way to Longchang, he went through twists and turns, and was chased and killed by Liu Jin on the way, and he saved himself from danger with wit.Finally enlightened in Longchang.

In the quiet and difficult environment of Longchang, Wang Yangming reflected day and night based on his experiences over the years.

In the middle of the night, he suddenly had an epiphany. Wang Shouren believed that the human heart naturally contains the rules of the world's operation-the mind is reason.

Recognize that "the way of a sage, my nature is self-sufficient, and it is a mistake to seek truth from things."

This is "Longchang Enlightenment", and he wrote "Training All Beings in Longchang" during this period.

Many of his disciples were puzzled by his theory of "there is no reason outside the heart, and there is nothing outside the heart". They asked him for advice: "The flowers and trees in Nanshan bloom and fall by themselves. What does it have to do with my heart?"

He replied: "When you didn't look at this flower, this flower and your heart died together. When you came to see this flower, the color of this flower became clear for a moment. You know that this flower is not outside your heart."

Seven years later, he himself narrated this slightly legendary enlightenment: Shou-jen's career in his early years, and his habit of writing poems and essays, since he knew a little about learning, he suffered from the turmoil and fatigue of many theories, and he was at a loss. I can enter, because I ask all the elders and monks, and I am happy to understand it, thinking that the learning of saints is here!However, in the teaching of Confucius, there are occasional in-and-outs, and the daily use of measures often lacks omissions and no return;Afterwards, he was relegated to the official Longchang, living in a barbarian place, and while he was tempted and forbearing, he seemed to have enlightenment, experienced and searched, and then went through the cold and heat, and proved the five classics and the four sons, as if he had broken the rivers and released the seas.Then sigh that the way of a sage is as smooth as a road.

After Liu Jin was imprisoned, Wang Shouren served as the governor of Luling County, and gradually became the Shaoqing of Nantaipu Temple.

At that time, Wang Qiong was Minister of the Ministry of War. He thought that Shouren had an immortal talent and recommended him to the imperial court.

In the 11th year of Zhengde, he was promoted to the censor of Youqian Capital, and succeeded as the governor of Nanjiang.

He mounted the horse to rule the army, dismounted the horse to rule the people, civilian officials held military talismans, combined civil and military strategies in one body, worked wisely, and used soldiers quickly.In order to suppress the peasant rebellion and put down the "Chenhao Rebellion", he paid homage to the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing and was named "Xinjian Bo".

In the 12th year of Zhengde, civil uprisings broke out in southern Jiangxi and the mountainous areas at the junction of Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong.

The mountain people rely on the mountain to build villages according to caves, and build their own army, with a radius of nearly a thousand miles.The local officials had no choice but to play to the Ming court.

The Ministry of War recommended Wang Shouren, who was the censor of Youqian capital at that time, to be the governor of Jiangxi to suppress the civil uprising.

In the first month of the 13th year of Zhengde, Wang Shouren pacified Chi Zhongrong's department and asked for the establishment of Heping County and the construction of county schools.

In March, Shouren arrived in Jiangxi to take up his post.He quickly mobilized troops from the three provinces to suppress uprisings in Xinfeng and other places.

In July, Wang Shouren read that the war had caused great damage, so he asked the imperial court for permission to recruit peace.The Ming court then entrusted local military and political power to allow them to act cheaply.

In October, Wang Shouren led his troops to break through the most powerful army camps of Lantianfeng and Xie Zhishan in Zuoxi, Chongyi County, Jiangxi Province, and joined forces in Zuoxi.Wang Shouren went to persuade him to surrender in person.

In November, Wang Shouren sent envoys to recruit security and broke through the Lantian Feng tribe.

It was during these two years of turmoil that he mastered the same mysterious idea - "the unity of knowledge and action".

Wang Shouren's greatest military achievement in his life was the suppression of the rebellion of King Ning Zhu Chenhao in Hongdu.

When Wang Shouren was about to go to Fujian to suppress the bandits, he brought only a small number of troops. As soon as the troops he led marched to Fengcheng, Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao suddenly raised his troops to rebel.

But Wang Shouren was actively preparing for the war, without rushing, allocating military rations, repairing equipment, and then issued a call for thieves, announcing the crimes of King Ning, and asking all places to send troops to serve the king.

At that time, the person Wang Shouren was most worried about was Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao who sent his troops eastward to occupy the old capital Nanjing.

If Nanjing falls, King Ning will have the capital to proclaim himself emperor, and at the same time occupy a geographical advantage, so it will not be easy to eliminate.

Wang Shouren bluffed and used false propaganda and false information to disturb King Ning's sight in the city, forcing him to make a wrong judgment, thinking that the armies from all walks of life had formed an encirclement situation.

At the same time, he used countermeasures and ordered people to sneak into Nanchang with wax pills, making King Ning suspicious of his subordinates' strategy of attacking Nanjing.

Sure enough, King Ning was fooled. For half a month he hesitated and waited and watched, at a loss, and did not dare to send troops to attack Nanjing.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Shouren made preparations to defend Nanjing, making it impossible for King Ning to attack Nanjing.

In July, King Ning led 6 people to capture Jiujiang and Nankang, and crossed the Yangtze River to attack Anqing.At this time, Wang Shouren had mobilized militiamen and peasants from all over the country, and assembled an army of 30, which was claimed to be [-].

Wang Shouren summoned his subordinates to ask how to retreat from the enemy.

Someone pointed out that Anqing should be rescued first. Wang Shouren said: "Now Jiujiang and Nankang have been occupied by the enemy. If we cross Nanchang and cross the river to rescue Anqing, we will be attacked by the enemy. Now Nanchang is empty, and our army is full of vigor. We can attack the enemy in one fell swoop. Hearing that Nanchang has fallen, he will definitely return to his division to rescue him, and we will meet him at Poyang Lake at this time, and we will definitely win."

Due to a lot of propaganda work before, it was falsely claimed that there was a large number of troops attacking the city, and Nanchang broke down without attacking. After two days of stopping, Wang Shouren sent generals to meet the Ning King's army that came back to Nanchang to help Nanchang.Divide troops from four directions to welcome them, and set up ambushes all the way.

After the battle, King Ning's army was quickly attacked by the enemy, was divided into several parts, and was ambushed again, was defeated miserably, and retreated to the Bazinao area.

Seeing that the situation was not good, King Ning hurriedly mobilized elite troops from Jiujiang and Nankang to attack. Wang Shouren sent several troops to fight and take Nankang.

This battle was fought quite fiercely, and it was a crucial battle.

The officers and troops retreated for a while, and Wang Shouren's general Wu Wending immediately beheaded those who retreated, and ordered all the troops to fight to the death.

Finally, the enemy was defeated. The enemy retreated to protect the woodhouse area and formed a square formation with the big ships. King Ning rewarded the soldiers with gold, silver and jewels.

But the phalanx of King Ning's army was the "square formation with even boats" used by Cao Cao. Wang Shouren saw the flaws, so he decided to follow the example of the Battle of Chibi and set fire to the boats.

The next day, King Ning's ministers gathered together and were holding an "early court" meeting on the boat. Wang Shouren's army arrived, loaded grass in a small boat, set fire to the wind, and burned King Ning's auxiliary ship, the palace people below Princess Lou, and civil and military officials. They all dived into the water.

King Ning's flagship ran aground and was unable to move. He hurriedly changed to a small boat to escape, but was caught up by Wang Yangming's subordinates. Other civil and military ministers of King Ning also became prisoners.

Soon, Nankang and Jiujiang were also captured by the government army.

The rebellion of King Ning was completely subsided, and it took only 35 days before and after.For this reason, Wang Shouren won the title of "Ming Army God".

Later, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty set out to fight under the pseudonym of "Governor General of Military Affairs Zhu Shou, Chief Military Officer Zhu Shou". Jiang Bin wanted to do something wrong, so he instigated Wuzong to fight with King Ning and captured him himself.

Wang Yangming expressed affection and reason to the eunuch Zhang Yongdong, explaining that doing so would lead to more deaths.

The final coordination result is: let Ming Wuzong arrive in Nanjing, and then release King Ning to be captured by the emperor. Please be happy.

At that time, the treacherous minister Jiang Bin ordered Wang Shouren to hand over Zhu Chenhao for the sake of suppressing the rebellion, but Wang Shouren refused for the sake of the people.

Jiang Bin was very angry and asked Zhang Zhong to bring the Beijing army into Jiangxi, which affected social stability and caused rebellion by the people several times, but they were all suppressed by Wang Shouren's personal charm.

However, Zhang Zhong, the eunuch who supervised military affairs, believed that Wang Shouren was appointed as the head of the military department by a scholar, so he despised Shouren.Once he forced Shou-ren to shoot arrows in public, hoping to make a fool of himself.

Shouren repeatedly declined, but Zhang Zhong refused.Shouren had no choice but to lift the bow and arrow, draw the bow, and shoot three arrows, all three hit hearts, and the whole army cheered, making Zhang Zhong very embarrassed.

After that, he resigned from office and returned to his hometown to give lectures because he was worried about being jealous of his achievements. He established academies in Shaoxing and Yuyao to preach "Wang Xue".

In the sixth year of Jiajing, he was sent to governor of the military affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi. Wang Shouren was the governor of the military affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi, and defeated the local armed forces of ethnic minorities such as Yao and Dong.Because of his meritorious service, he was named Doctor Guanglu, Zhu Guo, and Xinjian Bo, hereditary, with a yearly salary of 29 shi, but neither the iron coupon nor the yearly salary was issued.Later, due to aggravated lung disease, he went to beg to return home. After the battle in Guangdong and Guangxi, Yangming’s lung disease worsened and he went to beg to return. On November [-], the seventh year of Jiajing, Wang Shouren died of illness in a boat in Nan’an, Jiangxi Province on his way home.

When he was dying, the students around him asked him what his last words were, and he said: "This heart is bright, so what can I say!".

After his death, he was posthumously named Wencheng, and later posthumously named Xinjianhou.

Wang Shouren was a master of the study of mind in the Ming Dynasty.He developed Lu Jiuyuan's theory to fight against Cheng Zhu's school.

He said: "There is no kindness and no disgusting body. There is goodness and maliciousness. Knowing the good and knowing the evil is conscience, and doing good and eliminating evil is investigating things." He took this as the purpose of his lectures.

He asserted: "The reason for everything is not outside my heart", denying that there is reason, matter, and things outside the heart.It is believed that for learning, "the only way to learn is to gain one's heart", "the root of the mind is the root of the heart. Those who learn are also those who cultivate, those who irrigate, those who support and pruning are nothing more than the roots. That's all."

It is required to use this self-cultivation method of self-seeking to achieve the so-called "oneness of all things".

His theory of "integration of knowledge and action" and "advancement of knowledge and action" aims to oppose Song Confucians such as Cheng Yi and other "knowledge before action" and various sayings that separate the relationship between knowledge and action.

When discussing children's education, he opposed "whip and rope, if you are to be imprisoned", he advocated that "it must be encouraged and the center is happy" so as to achieve "nature grows day by day".

His theory appeared in an "anti-traditional" attitude. After the middle of Ming Dynasty, Yangming School was formed, which had a great influence.

He recruited many disciples and spread all over the world.

After his death, although "Wang Xue" was divided into several schools, they came out of the same school and each had its own strengths.

Wang Shouren is also a famous contemporary poet.He loves the mountains and rivers of his hometown very much. When he returned to his hometown, he often visited places of interest and left many well-known poems.As he wrote "Recalling Longquan Mountain":
I love Longquan Mountain, and the mountain monks are quite sparse.

Sitting on the well fence all day long, sometimes lying under the pine.

Farewell to Yunshan in one night, and travel in chariots and horses for three years.

I am ashamed to kill the spring under the rock, and I will clear it day and night.

Wang Shouren's tour also went to Xuedou Mountain in Fenghua. The poem "Xedou Mountain" he wrote was bright and beautiful.

The poor mountain road is difficult to come alone, and the stone altar can be seen after crossing the thousand streams.

The bell-ringing monk in the high pavilion wakes up, and the deep forest has no heat and Ge Yihan is cold.

The ravine thunder faintly connects the rock waterfall, and the mountains and rains reflect the bamboo poles.

Don't be surprised that all the peaks are familiar. They used to look at Huatu back then.

Wang Shouren wrote a lot in his life.

He condensed the learning of the mind into four sentences, namely the four formulas of learning of the mind:

There is no good and no disgusting body,
There are good and malicious actions.

Knowing good and evil is conscience,
To eliminate evil for good is to study things.

Wang Shouren is admired by the world, whether in the army, in the local area, or among the scholars, he has great influence. It has only been a few years since his death, and the influence has not dissipated, but has become more and more huge. The huge influence cannot do without the management of his students.

As Wang Shouren's student, Fang Xianfu is one of the important members of "Wang's Heart Study", he represents a part of the civil servants group, if he also participates in the horse market, even the emperor may find it difficult.

The more Lu Bing thought about it, the more headache he felt. More and more big shots were involved in a small underground horse market.

(End of this chapter)