WangYangming was a prominent idealist philosopher and a renowned strategist in theMing dynasty. The History of Ming holds his military achievements inhigh regard by commenting, “Throughout the Ming Dynasty, no otherscholar-official was as successful as [Wang] Shouren in using military tacticsto achieve victory.” Wang had been tremendously fascinated by military artssince childhood, as a result of which he self-educated himself to reach amaster level and laid a solid foundation for his military accomplishments insubsequent years. In the 12th year of the Zhengde reign (Emperor Wuzong), Wang was sent to suppress the banditsof Southern Jiangxi, which marked the commencement of his actual engagement inmilitary actions. Only within two days of his arrival in Sothern Jiangxi, Wangscored the first victory in his military career. In the year following thebandit eradication campaign, Zhu Chenhao, the Prince of Ning, launched hisrebellion in Jiangxi. Wang staged a counterattack “regardless of the danger ofnine familial exterminations”. By making use of intelligence to unsettle thePrince’s mind, Wang was able to confine him in Nanchang, Jiangxi for over tendays, which bought himself time to strive for reinforcements, and ultimatelysave the people of Jiangxi from untold miseries. In face of the megalomaniacaland capricious Emperor Wuzong, Wang took no credit but attributed all theachievements to the emperor, his only aim being to stop warfare from affectingthe populace of Nanjing and Jiangxi. It was only after the Prince of Ningrebellion that Wang began to propound his doctrine of “extending the innateknowledge of the good,” and his philosophy became more consummate throughseveral wars. Because of the suppression of this rebellion, Wang was conferredthe title of Earl of Xinjian, becoming the last of the only threescholar-officials awarded investitures for military accomplishments in the Mingdynasty. In the fifth month of the 6th year of the Jiajing reign, Wang wasappointed to pacify Guangxi. He straightforwardly suppressed the Yao bandits ofChopped Ratten Gorge (Duan Tengxia) and Eight Stockades (Bazhai) that caused so much harm to the localities. After thehostilities, Wang’s illness further aggravated. His petition for returning homewas rejected, and as a result, he eventually passed away in a place far fromhis hometown. The reason why Wang’s military accomplishments are worth theattention of the academia lies not simply in his repeated success in battles,but even more so in his painstaking efforts at administration and moralcultivation in those localities after hostilities ended. Compared to thosegenerals whose primary concern was victory, Wang’s concern dwelt more onwhether he could bring long-term peace to the localities [affected bybanditry], which can also more adequately reflect the facets of Wang as athinker and educator.