The videos I watched became popular in ancient times

Wang Yangming was born on September 30, the eighth year of the Chenghua reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, into a prominent family in Yuyao, Zhejiang. He was a descendant of Wang Lan, a Guanglu official of the Jin Dynasty, and a descendant of Wang Xizhi, the calligrapher.

The sixth generation ancestor, Wang Gang, was famous for his literary talent and military strategy;
His grandfather, Wang Lun, was also a famous local figure.

As for his father, Wang Hua, he was appointed as a scholar and junior secretary during the Hongzhi period;

In the early years of the Zhengde reign, he was promoted to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites;

Later, due to the anger of eunuch Liu Jin, Wang Hua was transferred to Nanjing as the Minister of Personnel and Right Vice Minister;

After Liu Jin was exposed, Wang Hua was reinstated.

As the eldest son in the family, Wang Yangming was placed with high hopes since he was young and changed his name to Shouren when he was 5 years old.

"In the 17th year of Emperor Xianzong of Ming Dynasty, Wang Hua took the imperial examination and won first place in the imperial examination;"

"The following year, Wang Yangming, then 11 years old, moved to the capital with his father."

"In the 19th year of Chenghua, Wang Yangming formally enrolled in a private school;"

"When Wang Yangming was 13 years old, his mother, Zheng, passed away. The loss of a mother at an early age was a great blow to him, and for a time he had the idea of ​​practicing Taoism and studying Buddhism."

"In the 15nd year of Chenghua, Wang Yangming, then years old, witnessed the internal and external troubles of the Ming Dynasty and decided to serve his country."

"He traveled to Juyongguan and Shanhaiguan successively, observed the geography of mountains and rivers, studied the strategies of building forts for defense, learned horse riding and archery from the Hu people, and left behind the poem "Dreaming of Visiting Ma Fubo Temple"."

"After returning home, Wang Yangming, who was worried, wanted to submit a memorial many times, presenting "Eight Issues on Border Affairs" to criticize the current situation, but was not able to do so due to the dissuasion of his grandfather Wang Lun."

"In July of the first year of the Hongzhi reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming, then 17 years old, was ordered by his parents to go to Nanchang to marry the daughter of his maternal uncle, Zhu Yanghe, a councillor of the Jiangxi Provincial Government."

"For some time after his marriage, Wang Yangming lived in Nanchang, studying calligraphy every day, and his calligraphy improved a lot."

"The following year, Wang Yangming and his wife, Zhu, returned to Yuyao. When they passed Guangxin by boat, they went to visit the great scholar Lou Liang and learned the Song Confucian doctrine of "investigating things". This was the beginning of their motivation to study philosophy."

"Afterwards, Wang Yangming studied under the great military strategist Xu Zhang, and learned a lot about astronomy, geography, and the strategies of Sun and Wu."

"In the autumn of the fifth year of Hongzhi, Wang Yangming participated in the Zhejiang provincial examination."

"Afterwards, Wang Yangming, who was eager to seek talents, read through Zhu Xi's works and believed that Zhu Xi's "investigating things to acquire knowledge" was the key to self-cultivation and becoming a saint, so he invited his good friend Qian to go "investigating bamboo" together."

"However, he worked for seven days and seven nights without any results. He became seriously ill due to overwork."

"The failure of Gezhu made Wang Yangming gradually question Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and changed his views."

"In the sixth year of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming entered the Imperial Academy to study;"

"In the spring of the same year, Wang Yangming, who had passed the provincial examination, went to the capital to take the metropolitan examination but failed;"

"Li Dongyang, the then chief examiner of the imperial examination and junior minister of the Imperial Academy, who had always held Wang Yangming in high regard, invited him to improvise the 'Ode to the Number One Scholar in the Coming Year'. This poem won Wang Yangming a lot of praise, but also aroused a lot of jealousy."

"In the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, Wang Yangming went to the capital again to take the imperial examination, but failed again due to jealousy from officials. He then started to form a poetry society and study military science."

"In the spring of the 28th year of Hongzhi, Wang Yangming, then years old, passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. Affected by the struggle in the officialdom, he retreated to the second place in Nangong and was awarded the title of the second-class Jinshi. He was ordered to observe the Ministry of Political Affairs."

"In the autumn of the 12th year of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming was ordered to leave the capital to attend the funeral of Wang Yue, the Earl of Weining. When he returned to the capital to report, the northern border affairs were urgent. Wang Yangming then presented the "Eight Matters on Border Affairs" written in his early years. Although his advice was ultimately not adopted, his reputation grew day by day."

"Soon after, Wang Yangming was promoted to the rank of Jinshi (a high-ranking scholar) and appointed as the Director of the Yunnan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Justice. He was ordered to go to Zhili, Huai'an Prefecture and other places to work with the various inspectors to try serious prisoners."

"For a period of time afterwards, Wang Yangming led a very leisurely life, often writing poems and essays with literary leaders such as Li Mengyang, and for a time he was immersed in poetry, immortals and Buddhas."

"In the 31th year of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming, , suddenly came to his senses. He immediately wrote a letter saying he was ill and returned to his hometown. He built a house in Yangming Cave on Kuaiji Mountain in Shaoxing and devoted himself to meditation."

"During this period, he often studied Taoism with his teacher Xu Zhang, and called himself Yangming Shanren. The name Wang Yangming has since entered history."

Su Shi: Wang Yangming's years of quiet meditation in Yangming Cave enabled him to achieve great enlightenment. He eventually abandoned Buddhism and Taoism and converted to orthodox Confucianism, and then began to actively participate in worldly affairs.

In the summer of the 17th year of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, when Wang Yangming returned to Beijing to report, it happened that the Shandong provincial examination was about to be held, so he was hired as the president of the provincial examination. All the "Examination Records" during the period were written by him, and he became famous overnight. Wang Yangming then began to recruit disciples and teach.

In September of the same year, Wang Yangming was transferred to be the Director of the Military Selection and Clean Personnel Department of the Ministry of War, and his official rank remained unchanged.

In the 18th year of the Hongzhi reign, Wang Yangming and Hanlin Academy scholar Zhan Ruoshui hit it off when they met in the capital. They immediately agreed to work together to promote the sacred learning.

In the winter of the first year of the Zhengde reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch Liu Jin was in power and many civil officials submitted memorials to impeach him. Liu Jian, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, was demoted for his advice, and Dai Xian, the Censor of Nanjing, and others were arrested.

In November of the same year, Wang Yangming wrote a memorial to the emperor, advising the emperor to rescue Dai Xian and others, which angered Liu Jin.
The following month, Wang Yangming was punished with forty strokes of the cane in court and imprisoned.

In the spring of the second year of the Zhengde reign, Wang Yangming was exiled to Longchang Posthouse in Guizhou.
On his way to take up his post, he was chased by the Imperial Guards and nearly died in Zhoushan. Fortunately, his neighbor Shen Yuyin helped him escape.

Afterwards, Wang Yangming traveled from Fujian to Nanjing to visit his father Wang Hua, who was demoted due to his involvement in the case.

In the summer of the third year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, when Wang Yangming went to Longchang, it was still a desolate place and malaria was rampant. He first took shelter among thorns and brambles, and then found a stone cave and built a thatched hut to live in. This is how the name Yangming Little Cave came about.

After settling down, Wang Yangming led people to cut wood and build houses, and successively built Helou Pavilion and Junzi Pavilion. During this period, he also wrote a poem titled "Junzi Pavilion".

Wang Yangming, who had been living a life of luxury since childhood, suddenly had an epiphany in Longchang, Guizhou after experiencing a series of life changes. He creatively proposed the theories of "conscience", "heart is reason" and "unity of knowledge and action", which are known in history as the Enlightenment in Longchang.

As Wang Yangming's doctrine gradually spread, Xi Yuanshan, the deputy envoy of Guiyang Education, was the first to pay a visit to Wang Yangming upon hearing the news. He twice asked for advice on the mysteries of Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan's doctrines. This was also the first time that Wang Yangming taught the idea of ​​the unity of knowledge and action.

In the same year, Wang Yangming was invited to teach at Guiyang Academy, where he put forward his famous educational doctrine to the students of Longchang, namely: set goals, study hard, correct mistakes, and encourage good deeds.

This year, Wang Yangming was 38 years old.

In the winter of the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming's term of exile expired and he was promoted from the post of postmaster of Longchang, Guizhou to the magistrate of Luling, Jiangxi. In April of the following year, Yang Yiqing, the chief censor, and Zhang Yong, the eunuch, jointly exposed Liu Jin's conspiracy to usurp the throne, and Liu Jin was executed the next day.

In October, Wang Yangming was ordered to return to the court and took up the post of Director of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice's Qingli Division. He then went to the capital to pay homage.

In December of the seventh year of Zhengde, he was promoted to Shaoqing of the Nanjing Imperial Household Department.

In April of the ninth year of Zhengde, he was promoted to the Minister of the Honglu Temple in Nanjing.

During the more than two years that followed, while Wang Yangming lived in Nanjing, his number of disciples increased greatly. In addition to handling government affairs and discussing and teaching, Wang Yangming devoted most of his energy to selecting and compiling "Zhu Xi's Finalization in His Late Years".

In August of the 11th year of the Zhengde reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming was recommended by the Minister of War Wang Qiong and promoted to the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and was appointed governor of Nan, Gan, Ting, Zhang and other places.

"Before Wang Yangming took office, banditry and chaos had already broken out in the southern part of the country, and the governors of southern Jiangxi, Ting and Zhang had changed several times but none of them could stop the fighting."

"The bandits gathered to defend the dangerous places, robbed merchants, and fought against the government. The scale of the riots became larger and larger. Nan'an Prefecture was repeatedly breached, officials were killed, and civilians were harmed. The situation was often out of control."

"When Wang Yangming took office, his military strategy and superb martial arts skills, which he had learned as a teenager, began to show their talents. On the basis of investigating and studying the enemy's situation, he quickly took the initiative in suppressing the rebellion in southern Jiangxi through a series of means such as night trials of old officials, intercepting intelligence, eliminating traitors, practicing the Ten-Family Card Method, organizing militias, and training the army."

"Afterwards, Wang Yangming either used heavy troops to encircle and suppress the rebellion or used strategies and tactics to capture the rebellion. He successively pacified Zhan Shifu and Wen Huoshao in Zhangzhou, recruited Lu Ke in Longchuan, and eliminated many bandits, including Xie Zhishan in Hengshui, Lan Tianfeng in Tonggang, and Chi Zhongrong in Yantou."

"In just one year and three months, Wang Yangming led the scholars and subordinates to eradicate the banditry that had plagued the country for decades and won a great victory in Nangan. He was immediately promoted to the right deputy governor, and was granted the privilege of being a centurion of the Jinyiwei and a deputy centurion."

"In the first month of the fourteenth year of the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming applied for retirement due to his grandmother's serious illness, but his application was not approved."

"In June of the same year, he was ordered to go to Fujian to suppress the rebels;"

"On the 15th, when passing through Fengcheng, Wang Yangming learned that Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao was plotting a rebellion in Nanchang. He immediately returned to Ji'an and submitted urgent memorials on the 19th and 21st, respectively, reporting Ning Wang's rebellion and the second rebellion."

"At the same time, Wang Yangming, who had no military power, led the Ji'an prefect Wu Wendi and others to invite the incumbent and retired officials of Jiangxi to prepare for war, gather troops from various regions in Yuanzhou, and speed up the collection of food and grass, and the manufacture of weapons and warships;"

"At the same time, he pretended to send an edict to all places to go to Jiangxi to defend the king, and used a divisive strategy to send a letter to the left and right false ministers of Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao, so that they would not dare to act rashly."

"On July 1, the soldiers who came to support the king had not yet arrived. Zhu Chenhao, who had discovered that he had fallen into a trap, immediately led his troops to capture Jiujiang and Nankang. During the fierce battle in Anqing, Wang Yangming took advantage of the situation and led more than 10,000 troops out of Ji'an and quickly captured the Nanchang camp of the Ning King."

"While Zhu Chenhao returned to rescue, the two sides fought for more than ten days in Poyang Lake until Zhu Chenhao was captured alive on the 26th. The Ning Wang rebellion lasted only one month before it was declared defeated."

"In August of the fourteenth year of the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, by the time Wang Yangming presented his victory report in Nanchang, Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao had already called himself the mighty general and led his army south."

"While Wang Yangming was submitting his petition to dissuade the emperor, he was framed by Zhang Zhong, Xu Tai and other close officials who colluded with Ning Wang in the rebellion. They falsely accused Wang Yangming of colluding with Ning Wang in the rebellion and then raising an army to suppress the rebellion. They also demanded that Wang Yangming release Ning Wang back into the lake so that the emperor could capture him personally."

"After that, Wang Yangming, who was once in a passive position, was instructed by the eunuch Zhang Yong and had no choice but to re-write a letter to explain the achievements of the emperor and his favorite ministers. Only then did he escape the disaster."

"After three attempts to surrender captives, Wang Yangming, who was returning south along the Yangtze River, arrived at Tongling. He could not help but write down the "Song of Watching the Iron Ship in Tongling" in anger, expressing his feelings for the iron ship and lamenting the difficult road ahead."

"In June of the following year, Wang Yangming, despite the risk of being wrongly accused again, once again came to Nangan, reviewed the soldiers, preached the tactics of war, and maintained the stability of the Ming Dynasty."

"Two years after the Nanchang Rebellion was quelled, Emperor Shizong Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne and called Wang Yangming and others to Beijing to discuss meritorious service and reward them. However, due to fierce internal struggles in the court, Wang Yangming was promoted to the position of Nanjing Minister of War and Counselor of the Ministry of War, but his post was hastily ended. Most of the officers and soldiers he had recommended for meritorious service were demoted in name only, and eventually all of them were deposed."

Li Bai: Wang Yangming, indignant, refused to take up the post and instead requested to return home to visit his relatives.

In December of the same year, Wang Yangming was granted the titles of Special Advancement Guanglu Dafu, Zhuguo, and Xinjian Earl, which were hereditary and had an annual salary of 1,000 dan. However, he was not given an iron certificate and his annual salary was not paid.

In the first month of the first year of the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming submitted a petition to resign the title of Xinjian Earl, but it was not approved.

In February of the same year, his father Wang Hua passed away, and Wang Yangming returned to his hometown to mourn.
In July of the same year, Wang Yangming again submitted a petition to resign his title, but it was still not approved.

In the following years, Wang Yangming lived in Zhejiang for a long time and did not care about political affairs.

In the sixth year of Emperor Jiajing's reign during the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Su and Wang Shou, ethnic leaders of Si'en and Tianzhou in Guangdong and Guangxi, rebelled. Wang Yangming was reinstated by imperial decree and appointed as the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and governor-general of military affairs in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Huguang.

On the way to the expedition, Wang Yangming proposed a strategy to suppress the rebellion with appeasement as the best policy and suppression as the auxiliary policy.

In December of the same year, Wang Yangming led his army to Si'en, where Lu Su and Wang Shou surrendered without a fight.

In February of the seventh year of Jiajing, Wang Yangming led his troops to Nanning, and the Sitian rebellion was quickly quelled.
In July of the seventh year of Jiajing, the bandits in Bazhai and Duantengxia were almost completely suppressed, and Sitian won a complete victory in suppressing the rebellion.

Wang Yangming's tuberculosis condition was further aggravated by the war.

He submitted petitions to the imperial court several times, begging to retire and return home to recuperate, but his request was never approved.

After suppressing the Sitian Rebellion, Wang Yangming set out for his hometown in August of that year without waiting for a reply from the court.

On November 29, Wang Yangming died on a boat at Qinglongpu, Dayu County, Nan'an Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, on his way home. He left behind this last word: My heart is bright, what else is there to say?

After Wang Yangming's death, his coffin was returned to his hometown of Shaoxing the following year and buried in Hongxi, Shanyin.

However, the imperial court believed that Wang Yangming had left his post without permission since he had set out for his hometown without orders, so they stopped his hereditary title, did not confer him a posthumous title, and banned Yangming School.

Despite this, Yangming's followers still built Yangming temples everywhere and spread Yangming's philosophy.

It was not until the first year of the Longqing reign that the newly enthroned Emperor Muzong Zhu Zaigui agreed to posthumously confer the title of Xinjian Marquis on Wang Yangming, with the posthumous title of Wencheng.
The following year, the descendants of the Wang family were allowed to inherit the newly created earldom. In the 12th year of the Wanli reign, Wang Yangming was enshrined in the Confucius Temple, becoming one of the four people in the Ming Dynasty who were qualified to be enshrined in the Confucius Temple.

Wang Yangming inherited the Confucian idea of ​​people-centeredness and proposed that governing a country requires loving the people first.

When he was in charge of Luling, Jiangxi Province, he publicly argued for reducing excessive taxes and levies for the people as soon as he took office.

When Wang Yangming was the governor of Nangan, he raised funds for the army. He submitted a memorial to the court titled "Salt Law Reform", advising the court to reform the taxation and circulation management system of official salt in Nangan. He then achieved a good governance without increasing the tax burden and without disturbing the people.
When Nangan went from chaos to order, Wang Yangming, based on the idea of ​​people-centeredness, once again submitted a memorial entitled "On the Commercial Tax in Nangan", advising that the salt tax collected in Nangan be used for the benefit of the people, to restore economic construction and reduce the burden on the people, which effectively promoted the social and economic recovery of Nangan. (End of this chapter)