Gu Dayong

Gu Dayong: "Zhang Yong will come for the box. He will avenge our deaths."

Shao Jun: "I am counting on it..."

—Gu Dayong's last words to Shao Jun, 1526.

Gu Dayong (谷大用; died 1526), also known as the Slaver, was one of the Eight Tigers, a group of powerful Templar eunuchs that controlled the Chinese imperial court during the reign of the Zhengde and Jiajing Emperors of the Ming dynasty.

Biography

After the Zhengde Emperor's death in 1521, the Templars ensured that his cousin Zhu Houcong would succeed him as Emperor. They then appointed eunuchs, one of them being Gu Dayong, to control the new Emperor, allowing the Eight Tigers to rule in his stead.

Possessing an interest in trade and foreign languages, Gu Dayong would subsequently enforce the slave trade, selling opponents to the Portuguese and earning huge profits while also humiliating and exiling the Templars' enemies. He later played a role in initiating the Great Rites Controversy, which resulted in the near-eradication of the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins.

In 1526, the Tiger Gao Feng entrusted Dayong with the Precursor box, an Isu artifact he had stolen from the Assassin Shao Jun. Shortly thereafter, both Gao Feng and Ma Yongcheng were found murdered. Suspecting that he was Shao Jun's next target due to his possession of the box, Dayong doubled the patrols at his fortress in Macau.

Despite the increased security, Shao Jun managed to infiltrate Dayong's stronghold and freed many of his slaves. However, one of them, who was an Assassin spy, had been tortured by the Templar's men and succumbed to his injuries shortly after. Vowing revenge on Dayong, Shao Jun infiltrated his personal quarters and killed him, reclaiming the Precursor box in the process.

Dayong's body was discovered not long after by the Tiger Qiu Ju, who, in retaliation, ordered his men to arrest innocents and set the port of Macau ablaze.

Behind the scenes

Gu Dayong (谷大用) is a historical figure who features as an antagonist and assassination target in the 2015 video game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China.

His surname Gǔ (谷) is erroneously read Yù in the game, even by the Mandarin-speaking guards. This surname means 'valley' or 'gorge' while his personal name Dàyòng (大用) literally translates to 'great use'. The error was rectified in Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, the 2019 manga adaptation of Chronicles: China.

Additionally, the manga portrays Dayong's death differently from the game, as rather than assassinating him on the spot, Shao Jun stabs him in the liver to make him feel a "fraction of the pain" he inflicted onto others. As a result, Dayong's death is slower, and he survives long enough to inform Qiu Ju that the Assassin is in Macau. Another difference between the game and the manga is the fact that, in the latter, Dayong sends the Precursor box away in anticipation of Shao Jun's arrival. As a result, the Assassin does not retrieve the box in Macau, nor at any other point in the storyline.

Gallery

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  Concept Sketches
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  Development concept
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  Database image of Gu Dayong
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  Gu Dayong overlooking Macau's port
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  Shao Jun standing over Gu Dayong's body
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  Gu Dayong in Blade of Shao Jun

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)