Sky Curtain: A Review of Historical Foes and the Secrets of Ministers

Although Zhu Biao's movements were small, the sharp-eyed Old Zhu still caught the eye of him rolling his eyes.

"Hey! What kind of look is that?!"

Old Zhu's peasant temper flared up instantly.

He bent down, ripped off his old cloth shoe, and used it as a weapon, pointing it at Zhu Biao's nose and starting to berate him.

"You're still not convinced, are you? Count the dynasties you just mentioned, how many of them are even worth mentioning?"

"The Great Jin? Those good-for-nothings who eat Five-Stone Powder and look like ghosts? Or those spineless convicts of the Great Song who are chased all over the place by barbarians?"

"Do they even deserve to be compared to our Great Ming? Do they possess the military prowess of driving out the Tartars? Do they have the achievements of recovering the Sixteen Prefectures?"

Seeing that Old Zhu was getting more and more agitated, and was about to slap himself in the face with the shoe sole in his hand, Zhu Biao was just about to say a few words of explanation.

"Shut up!"

Old Zhu pointed the shoe sole at Zhu Biao and issued an ultimatum: "Let's get this straight today. If you want to wait with us, you'd better stand here obediently."

"If you don't want to wait, then get back to the Wenhua Hall and go review the memorials right now. Stop nagging and spoiling our fun."

Faced with his furious father, Zhu Biao, the most powerful fire extinguisher in the Ming Dynasty, could only sigh helplessly and immediately back down.

"Very well, Your Majesty, I will wait here with you."

At a time when emperors in different eras had different thoughts.

"Buzz—"

Suddenly, a dazzling golden light was torn open once again in the vast sky.

"I expanded Qin's territory by a million miles; now that Qin is gone, you call me a traitor?"

"call--"

Almost simultaneously, Zhao Gao, kneeling in the ranks of civil officials, and Zhang Han, shrinking at the end of the ranks of military officers, both breathed a long sigh of relief.

Thank God.

Zhao Gao wiped the fine beads of cold sweat from his forehead. As long as there were no words like "dead eunuch" or anything like that, and as long as it didn't involve him, Zhao Gao, he didn't care who it was.

Zhang Han was so excited that he almost kowtowed on the cushion.

It wasn't me, it wasn't me at all!

I almost didn't see the sun today because of the blame I took yesterday.

Before I could even catch my breath, my name appeared on the screen.

[Zhao Tuo, Commandant of the Southern Sea Commandery of the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Nanyue]

"Zhao Tuo?"

Li Si frowned, his mind, which could be described as a vast database of Qin Dynasty information, working at lightning speed.

The names of the Qin generals flashed by one by one... I could even recite the names of the deputy generals and subordinate generals by heart.

But where did Zhao Tuo come from?

The Commandant of Nanhai Commandery? That's a minor official from the Baiyue region, isn't it?

How dare he call himself Emperor Wu in Heaven?

Li Si subconsciously turned his gaze to the high dragon throne.

At this moment, Ying Zheng sat upright on the dragon throne, his face as calm as still water.

No one knows what this great emperor of all time is thinking at this moment.

Expanding territory by millions of miles?

The Qin Dynasty is gone?

These two contradictory yet highly impactful pieces of information collided violently in Ying Zheng's mind.

How could a mere Commandant of the South China Sea Commandery, whose name I barely even remember, have expanded the territory by a million miles?

Given that we have such a valiant general with unparalleled achievements, why is it that my Great Qin still lacks one?

……

Outside the Fengtian Hall.

A deafening roar as the sky seemed to split open shattered the tranquility of the early morning.

"Here it comes!"

Zhu Yuanzhang roared excitedly, staring intently at the sky.

He eagerly anticipated seeing the phrase "Expel the Tartars and restore China."

When a headline appeared in the sky that read, "Your subject has expanded the territory by a million miles, and you're telling me the Qin Dynasty is gone?", Zhu Yuanzhang's face instantly fell.

"Damn it! Why is it still the Qin Dynasty?!"

Old Zhu was so angry that he jumped up and down, and threw the old cloth shoe in his hand to the ground.

"Just how much did Qin Shi Huang bribe Tianmu? Why does he keep praising Qin? What's wrong with our Ming Dynasty?!"

Despite his complaints, Zhu's years of military experience allowed him to keenly grasp the key information.

"Expanding territory by millions of miles?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and turned to look at Zhu Biao.

"Biao'er, who is this person? I don't seem to recognize him. Aren't Bai Qi and Wang Jian the most powerful warriors in Qin?"

Although Zhu Biao had been kept busy by his father all morning, he displayed the high level of cultural literacy expected of a crown prince.

He explained gently, "Father, as I have correctly predicted, this man must be Zhao Tuo. He is not a famous general from the Central Plains, but a general who led the Qin Dynasty in its southern campaign against the Baiyue. After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, he sent an army of 500,000 to the south to attack the Baiyue. The commanders-in-chief were Tu Sui and Ren Xiao. Zhao Tuo was initially just a deputy general."

"Later, when the Qin Dynasty was in chaos and the Central Plains were in turmoil, Zhao Tuo blocked the Five Ridges Pass, established his own regime in Lingnan, and declared himself King Wu of Nanyue. He even went on to become emperor. He lived a long time, until the reign of Emperor Wu of Han."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu sneered, his face full of disdain. "To establish a separatist regime? To declare himself king? To take advantage of his former employer's downfall and shut himself in to become a local tyrant? Isn't that just a traitor, a disloyal and ungrateful wretch? Does this kind of scum even deserve to be associated with Tianmu?"

Just as the father and son were talking, a series of noisy footsteps suddenly came from the square outside the Fengtian Hall.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! An extraordinary phenomenon has appeared in the heavens! An extraordinary phenomenon has appeared in the heavens!"

Then, Li Shanchang, the Left Chancellor of the current dynasty, rushed over, panting heavily.

Following behind him was a large group of civil and military officials, all looking equally flustered.

When the sky appeared yesterday, many people didn't see it all. Today, when they saw the sky had cracked again, they rushed to the Fengtian Hall.

"What's the panic?! Do you see us panicking?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at these ministers who didn't even care about their manners and cursed them in annoyance.

Among the ranks of military officers, the ever-unruly Duke of Liang, Lan Yu, stood imposingly at the front of the crowd.

He squinted at the old man whose figure had already appeared on the sky, curled his lip in disdain, and spat out a mouthful of saliva.

"Bah! What utter nonsense about the Martial Emperor of Nanyue!"

Lan Yu, shouting at the top of his lungs, completely disregarded the Emperor's presence, "Your Majesty, look at this old man! His beard is all white down to his crotch, and he's still acting like some big shot! Expanding the territory by a million miles? He's just taking advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains to bully those uncivilized savages in the south!"

"If it were me, leading 100,000 elite cavalry, I could have razed that so-called Southern Yue royal court to the ground in less than three months, making him seem so powerful!"

Old Zhu glanced at Lan Yu. Although he thought the guy was incredibly arrogant, the two of them were surprisingly in sync when it came to dealing with foreign enemies and despising local tyrants, so for the first time, he didn't scold him.

……

Outside Taiji Palace.

Li Er sat on a folding stool, holding a cup of freshly brewed hot tea. He looked at the person on the sky who called himself Zhao Tuo and frowned slightly.

"Zhao Tuo? That name sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it right now."

Li Er was familiar with every battle fought by top generals such as Bai Qi, Wang Jian, Han Xin, and Wei Qing, but he paid little attention to Zhao Tuo, who had been holed up in Lingnan and fighting guerrilla warfare.

He turned his head, his gaze naturally falling on Prince Wei, Li Tai.

"Qingque, you are known for your extensive reading and profound knowledge of geography and history. Tell me and the ministers, what is the background of this Zhao Tuo? How dare he so presumptuously claim to have conquered a million li of territory?"