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

Emperor Jiajing's decree to "throw them out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple" was like a final judgment that transcended time and space, cold and ruthless.

It is not only the greatest humiliation for Zhu Gaochi's posthumous reputation, but also the most thorough denial of his life's work.

Yongle Time and Space.

Outside the Fengtian Hall, on the cold stone steps.

Zhu Gaochi, who had been stripped of his title and reduced to a commoner, was being dragged out of the palace by two fierce-looking Imperial Guards.

He did not completely lose consciousness.

"Demoted to commoner status and imprisoned for life..."

His father's heartless words still echoed in his ears.

He's finished.

His decades-long career as crown prince, all his forbearance and expectations, vanished in this moment.

But this wasn't the most despairing thing for him.

What drove him to despair the most was that, above the sky, the descendant of a man named Zhu Dijun still hadn't let him go.

The voice was like a death warrant from the deepest hell, each word piercing his heart with precision.

"Family members, do you understand now?"

"This so-called 'Emperor Renzong,' he wasn't just stupid, he was both stupid and wicked!"

"For the sake of his own empty reputation for 'benevolence,' he personally placed an inescapable shackle on his son, his grandson, and all the emperors after him of the Ming Dynasty!"

"【Cabinet draft】!"

"These four words were the death warrant for the Ming emperor! They were the dragon-slaying sword used by the civil service to usurp imperial power!"

"Starting with Zhu Gaochi, the emperor was no longer the absolute ruler of the land, but a mere approval machine that had to defer to the cabinet!"

"His son, Zhu Zhanji, was such a good emperor, but he wore himself out to death trying to wrest back the power that rightfully belonged to him from the jaws of these hungry wolves!"

"His grandson, Zhu Qizhen, became nothing more than a plaything in the hands of this group!"

"In the Tumu Crisis, thousands of elite troops were murdered, the powerful nobility who could have been allies of the royal family and kept the civil officials in check were destroyed, the emperor was captured, and it was a national disgrace! Tracing back to the source, which of these events did not have the shadow of these powerful ministers pushing and shoving behind the scenes?"

"And the source of all this, the one who personally handed the knife to outsiders, allowing them to slaughter his own descendants, was none other than him, Zhu Gaochi!"

"He's not benevolent!"

"He is the greatest sinner of the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty!"

"His memorial tablet was thrown away by Jiajing, which was already too good for him!"

"In my opinion, he should be dug out of his grave and made to kneel before Xiaoling and Changling, so he can see what kind of despicable things he's done!"

boom!

"The greatest sinner..."

"Dig it out..."

"Kneeling at Xiaoling Mausoleum..."

These words, like the most vicious curse, completely shattered Zhu Gaochi's last line of mental defense!

He thought of his father, Emperor Zhu Di, who fought on the battlefield and risked his life to build the empire.

He thought of his grandfather, Zhu Yuanzhang, who rose from a beggar and monk to drive out the Manchus and restore China to its former glory.

And he...

For the sake of a few words of "Your Highness is benevolent" from those civil officials, and for the sake of a nice-sounding word "benevolent" in the history books, he actually... actually pushed the ancestral country into the abyss of being usurped by his ministers!

He wasn't acting as emperor; he was acting as the gravedigger of the Zhu family!

"puff--"

Zhu Gaochi suddenly opened his eyes and spat out another mouthful of black blood. This time, his eyes were no longer filled with confusion and resentment, but with endless fear and regret!

He seemed to see it.

He witnessed the tragic scene of his son, Zhu Zhanji, dying young from exhaustion on the dragon throne.

He saw his grandson Zhu Qizhen being captured at Tumu Fortress, suffering humiliation and wailing.

He saw his descendants, generation after generation, engaged in endless infighting and tug-of-war with the civil service group he had personally cultivated!

Upon seeing the memorial tablet of Emperor Jiajing (Zhu Houcong), after winning the "Great Rites Controversy," he pointed at it with a contemptuous look as if it were trash and roared, "Throw it out!"

Do not!

No!

"I...I didn't..."

Zhu Gaochi let out a roar that was not human, and his whole body convulsed violently. His fat body struggled wildly in the hands of the Imperial Guards, as if he had gone mad!

"I am not a sinner... I am not..."

His voice grew weaker and weaker, and finally, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness completely.

This time, he truly fainted.

Like a lump of mud, he was dragged mercilessly by the Imperial Guards and disappeared into the shadows of the palace.

……

The Ming Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Hongxi.

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Hongxi, Zhu Gaochi, who had been on the throne for less than ten months, slumped on the dragon throne, his face ashen.

He saw things more clearly and felt the pain more intensely than his counterpart in the Yongle era.

Because he is doing everything that was said on the celestial screen!

After he ascended the throne, he immediately promoted the Three Yangs and gave them the power to "draft drafts," which he considered a perfect example of harmonious relations between the emperor and his ministers.

He issued an edict to halt the treasure ships' voyages to the Western Ocean and abolished all commercial taxes that competed with the people for profit, which he considered a benevolent policy that allowed the people to rest and recuperate.

He was discussing with his ministers the possibility of moving the capital back to Nanjing, believing it would save the country's resources and return to its ancestral roots.

Everything he did, he considered to be "benevolent" and "virtuous," a way to correct his father, the Yongle Emperor's, "militarism."

But now, the sky is telling him in the cruelest way.

His so-called "benevolent governance" is all utter bullshit!

They're all digging a pit for future generations! A massive pit that could bury the entire Ming Dynasty!

He looked at the courtiers below him, who were praising him and saying "Your Majesty is wise."

Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu...

These people are no longer his trusted advisors, but a pack of wolves about to devour his Zhu family's empire!

And he was the fool who opened the cage with his own hands and fed the wolves meat!

"Haha...hahaha..."

Zhu Gaochi suddenly let out a mournful and manic laugh, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face.

"No wonder...no wonder..."

"No wonder my descendant Zhu Houcong wanted to throw my memorial tablet out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple..."

He muttered to himself, his voice filled with endless self-loathing.

"Good throw!"

"That was the right thing to do!"

"What right do I, a sinner for all time, have to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and enjoy the incense offerings of my descendants?"

"How dare I face my imperial grandfather!"

"How dare you face your father, the Emperor!"

Zhu Gaochi suddenly stood up from the dragon throne, his obese body trembling violently with excitement.

He pointed to his own nose, and roared with all his might at the empty hall:

"I, Zhu Gaochi, am a sinner of the Ming Dynasty! An unfilial descendant of the Zhu family!"

"My memorial tablet should be thrown away!"

"I... deserve to die a thousand deaths!!!"

After shouting his last words, everything went black before his eyes, and his massive body crashed to the ground, landing heavily on the cold gold bricks. His dragon crown rolled to the side, making a crisp yet mournful sound.

Emperor Renzong, who had the shortest reign in the history of the Ming Dynasty, was completely consumed by endless regret and fear after he saw the truth of his so-called "benevolent rule".