Sky Curtain: The opening scene explains the four major cases of the Ming Dynasty plus the early Ming

Above the sky, Judy Jun's trial continues without pause!

"If halting the voyages to the Western Ocean was a sign of Zhu Gaochi's strategic shortsightedness and folly!"

"Then his second crime is that he personally planted a malignant tumor for the Ming Dynasty, one that could overthrow the empire!"

"Second crime: Cultivating cronies and undermining imperial power!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the scene on the screen changed.

Portraits of the "Three Yangs"—Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu—appeared.

Zhu Dijun's voice, like the sharpest knife, dissected the conspiracy behind it all.

"Family members, do you still remember how my ancestor, the Yongle Emperor, behaved during his reign?"

"He established a cabinet, but used it to check and balance the Six Ministries!"

"He heavily relied on eunuchs, but used the Eastern Depot to monitor all officials!"

"He made five expeditions to the northern deserts and six voyages to the Western Ocean, firmly grasping military, financial, and supervisory power in his own hands!"

"He has always maintained the highest level of vigilance and suppression towards the civil service! Because he knows the terrible consequences that would result if this group got out of control!"

"But his son, Emperor Renzong of Ming, Zhu Gaochi, was different!"

Judy Jun's voice was full of sarcasm.

"His position as crown prince is not secure; he was only able to avoid being ousted by his two capable younger brothers thanks to the support and protection of the civil service group led by the 'Three Yangs'!"

"So, as soon as he took the stage, he couldn't wait to start 'repaying the favor'!"

"He promoted a large number of his former officials from the Crown Prince's palace, namely the 'Three Yangs,' placing them in the cabinet and giving them control of the Six Ministries!"

"A deeply entrenched political faction, bound together by relationships between teachers and students, fellow townsmen, and classmates of the same age, instantly formed, becoming an uncontrollable power!"

"From then on, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty were no longer subjects serving the emperor, but became a super-interest group with independent thought, independent interests, and even the ability to check and balance the emperor!"

"This was the prototype of the Ming Dynasty civil official group that would later usurp imperial power, control the court, and ultimately cause the Tumu Crisis!"

"Zhu Gaochi! In order to secure your position, you have personally cultivated the most terrifying and invincible enemy for your descendants!"

Boom!

These words made all the iron-blooded emperors across time and space unable to sit still!

The Qin Dynasty, Xianyang Palace.

Ying Zheng's eyes were icy cold as he uttered two words: "Useless!"

Power should not be shared with others.

Handing over the reins of government to his ministers, creating a situation where the ministers become too powerful to control, what else is this but incompetence?

The Great Han Dynasty, Weiyang Palace.

Liu Che gave a cold laugh.

He recalled that he had established an "inner court" to use his inner circle of people to fight against the "outer court" officials headed by the prime minister.

What he did his whole life was centralize power! Centralize power! And centralize power again!

This Zhu Gaochi actually did the opposite?

He's an absolute idiot when it comes to governing!

The Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he trembled all over and pointed at Zhu Gaochi in the sky, cursing loudly!

"What was the purpose of killing Hu Weiyong and his ilk, and abolishing the thousand-year-old system of prime ministers?!"

"It's precisely to prevent these scholars from forming factions, and to prevent them from usurping the power of our Zhu family's emperor!"

"We painstakingly paved the way for you, and you, your unworthy descendant Zhu Gaochi, have personally handed power back to them?!"

"You're not our child! You fat pig! You idiot!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's angry rebuke represented Zhu Di's true feelings.

He looked at the sky and thought about how he had fought with those civil officials all his life, how they had outwardly complied but inwardly defied him, and how they had hindered his Northern Expedition plan.

He finally managed to put the tiger in its cage.

But his good son actually opened the cage door himself and even handed the tiger a knife and fork!

"Raising a tiger will only bring trouble...raising a tiger will only bring trouble!"

Zhu Di muttered to himself, a tremendous sense of powerlessness welling up inside him.

He discovered for the first time that a "benevolent" son could be far more harmful to the empire than a tyrannical one!

Inside the Fengtian Hall, the atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed to freeze.

Zhu Di's eyes had shifted from initial rage to a deep, unfathomable sorrow.

He looked at his son, who was lying paralyzed on the ground, and the last bit of fatherly affection in his heart was being crushed bit by bit by the truth revealed on the sky.

He spent his life on the battlefield, conquering this land. What was his purpose?

Isn't it all so that future generations can pass on the Ming Dynasty for ten thousand generations?

But this successor he chose is severing the dragon vein of the Ming Dynasty with his own hands!

"besides……"

"What else is there that we don't know...?"

Zhu Di spoke in a hoarse voice, as if asking the heavens, or perhaps asking himself.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun didn't keep him waiting for long.

The cold voice continued to read out the third charge, which was also the charge that made all the military officers and nobles turn pale!

"Third crime: Denying the Northern Expedition, destroying our own Great Wall!"

The scene shifts, and two strikingly contrasting images appear in the sky.

On one side is the magnificent picture of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang leading fierce generals such as Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to drive out the Mongol Yuan dynasty and restore the lost territories!

On the other side is the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, clad in golden armor, who led five expeditions to the northern deserts, sweeping away the Mongol tribes and making them flee in terror!

Zhu Dijun's voice was filled with reverence and longing for that glorious era.

"Our founding emperor, Emperor Gaozu, rose from humble beginnings in Haozhou, launched a northern expedition to the Central Plains, drove out the barbarians, and restored China! He established his capital in Nanjing and named his dynasty the Great Ming!"

"What an achievement!"

"Emperor Yongle ascended the throne after the Jingnan Campaign and moved the capital to Beijing! He personally led five expeditions to the northern deserts, defeating the Tatars and Oirats until they submitted and trembled in fear!"

"What domineering power!"

"From the founding emperor to the Yongle Emperor, the national policy of our Great Ming Dynasty has always been the same!"

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly became strong and powerful!

"The emperor guards the nation's gates; the monarch dies for the state!"

"The only way to achieve true peace on the frontier is to take the initiative and completely break the claws of the hungry wolves of the grasslands!"

Throughout countless worlds and timelines, countless emperors and generals, upon seeing this, couldn't help but nod in approval.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, in particular, had eyes full of admiration.

This is the spirit that a unified dynasty should have!

Stop war with war!

However, Judy Xun's tone suddenly shifted, becoming extremely disdainful.

"But what about our 'benevolent ruler' Zhu Gaochi?"

"He advocated for peace talks with the Mongols!"

He believed that the Northern Expedition was "military exhaustion" and "a waste of resources and manpower!"

"Upon taking office, he immediately ordered a significant reduction in the border troops' food and military expenditures! He also halted all military operations in the north!"

He told the border general not to provoke them, but to influence them with "benevolence and virtue"!

"Reform through persuasion?!"

Judy Jun seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, his voice full of sarcasm!

"Are you going to preach morality to a pack of hungry wolves? Are you going to tell a group of robbers to know manners?"

"Are you trying to reform them? No! You're telling them: I'm sick, I'm weak, I can't hit you anymore, come and take me away!"

"This utterly foolish appeasement mentality has completely emasculated the most precious qualities of our Ming army: ambition and aggression!"

"It also sowed the most fatal seed for the tragedy that would eventually lead to the Tumu Crisis decades later!"

"Zhu Gaochi! What you gained with your laughable 'benevolence' was the boundless growth of the enemy's courage and the increasing laxity of the border defenses!"

"You're destroying your own foundation!"

"Who have you done right?!"

"How can you face the blood your father shed in the icy wilderness of the north?!"

"How can you face the countless Ming soldiers who died on the frontier, sacrificing their lives for their country?!"