Epilogue Epilogue 321 Epilogue

Epilogue Epilogue 321 Epilogue From the time he traveled over Meiling 梅嶺 Mountain by palanquin, passing from Nanxiong Prefecture in northern Guangdong to Nan’an, Jiangxi, where he had once led military campaigns, to the moment he passed away on January 9, 1529, Wang Yangming could not foresee what would happen to his reputation. Back in Beijing, a political faction at the Ming court, with the approval of a displeased emperor, would soon strip him of the hereditary title of nobility he had received for suppressing the rebellion by the Prince of Ning Zhu Chenhao. They would also refuse him any solatia—honors bestowed upon the occasion of the death of a high official. To be sure, part of the reason for this appalling treatment even in the wake of his successes in Guangxi must be attributed to the substantial following he had accrued over the years among literati. To the court, this was troubling because he espoused doctrines which diverged from and constituted an attack on orthodox Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. Yet there was another important matter at play here. Owing to the prominent reputation he had also earned over the years from his notable military campaigns and policy successes, he became, at least for a period of time, a political foot- ball in shifting power struggles at the Ming court. These had emerged at the very time he was finishing up his campaigns in Guangxi and preparing to depart. Assuming a letter dispatched to his son while en route home is the most reliable indicator, Wang Yangming departed Nanning (where he had remained during much of 1528 while carrying out his Rattan Gorge and Eight Stockades operations) on September 10 and arrived in Guangzhou City about ten days later.1 Furthermore, he indicated that he had already, sometime prior, sub- mitted a memorial requesting leave and soon expected a response from the Ming court. The significance of this, of course, is that Wang had indeed left of- fice without authorization. In fact, according to the Ming Veritable Records, it was only on August 8—several months after the fact—that his request to carry out those campaigns was first approved, and on September 8 that his request for leave was received, along with his record of the Eight Stockades campaigns.2 That request was rejected, and he was ordered to remain in Nanning and receive treatment there while yet overseeing what the court viewed as an 1 WYMQJ, vol. 2, 26:992. 2 MSLSZSL, Jiajing 1528/8/12 嘉靖七年八月辛亥 (August 26, 1528) and Jiajing 1528/9/5 嘉靖七年九月甲戌 (September 18, 1528) entries. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004280106_010 322 Epilogue insufficiently stabilized region. But by that time, Wang was already in Guang- zhou and would soon depart for his hometown. Undoubtedly, Wang Yangming foresaw that his unauthorized departure might cause controversy and even leave him liable for prosecution, which is why he made every effort in his petition to explain why affairs in Guangxi were in good enough order that the emperor could feel at ease. He also described how unbearably difficult it was for him, as a devoted and loyal official, to leave. If nothing else, he suggested, that demonstrates just how serious his condition had become, for should he not return home he would surely die and therefore be forever unable to requite the emperor for his gracious treatment.3 Wang requested that a grand coordinator be appointed to replace him, and assumed he would arrive fairly soon. Hence, sometime towards the end of 1528 he traveled to northern Guangdong, indicating in a letter to his colleague and one- time student Huang Wan, who was then stationed at the capital, that even should the new grand coordinator fail to arrive, he would still risk the conse- quences and continue his journey home.4 That is indeed what Wang did, but he passed away before his actions became fodder for Grand Secretary Gui E to curry favor with the Jiajing emperor and strengthen his position vis-à-vis a group of men who were students or admirers of Wang Yangming and had up to this time sought to bring him into the Ming court also as a grand secretary. What Wang did not understand was just how precarious his standing had become in the eyes of the Jiajing emperor. The background to this, as so well explained by Carney Fisher and Timothy Brook, has to be traced back to the early years of the emperor’s reign during what became known as the Great Rites controversy, and how the outcome of that struggle brought to power a number of mostly mid-level officials who happened to be followers of Wang Yangming.5 From the time he ascended the throne, the emperor had strug- gled with a large contingent of civil officials led by Chief Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe over the proper titles to be granted to his own mother and father. He refused to accept that he had to play the role of adopted son to his deceased cousin’s father, the Hongzhi emperor, as well as refer to his own parents as “imperial aunt and uncle.” In the end, though, the emperor’s will triumphed, and his father was recognized as “deceased imperial father” and mother as 3 WYMQJ, vol. 1, 15:522–23. 4 Ibid., 21:832–33. 5 See Timothy Brook, “What Happens when Wang Yangming Crosses the Border?,” in Chinese State at the Borders, ed. Diana Lary, 76–90 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), 76–78; and Carney Fisher, Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in the Court of Ming Shizong (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1990)..

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