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

A deathly silence, like that of a tomb.

When the word "revenge" fell from the sky, emperors and generals of all times and dynasties felt a chill that penetrated to the bone.

In conflicts of interest, there is still a possibility of compromise.

But only blood can wash away the hatred of annihilation!

If Yang Shiqi really is a remnant of the Pu family, then everything he did has a fundamental and insane motive!

He wasn't fighting the Zhu family for power; he was trying to take their lives!

He wasn't just sucking the blood of the Ming Dynasty; he was taking away the fate of the Ming Dynasty, to be buried with the destruction of his Pu clan!

This is a vengeful demon that has crawled back from the depths of hell!

Hongwu reign.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne, his body taut like a fully drawn bow.

In his hawk-like eyes, all emotions had faded, leaving only an ultimate calm that came from a profound understanding of everything.

It was the most terrifying calm before the storm.

"Pu Shougeng..."

He slowly uttered the name, as if chewing on a poisoned bone.

"I understand."

He got it.

Why is the Hu Weiyong case so far-reaching, and why, in the end, there always seems to be a hidden force from overseas?

Why did the Japanese pirate raids persist despite repeated crackdowns? It was always because wealthy merchants from the mainland were secretly funding them.

Why is it that when he implemented the maritime ban, there was always a force in the court that outwardly complied but inwardly defied it, secretly plotting against him?

So, the root of the problem lies here!

His purge order back then did not completely eradicate the cancer. Instead, it forced these venomous insects to evolve stronger camouflage and infiltrate the empire's body again in a more covert and deadly way!

"Mao Xiang".

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was calm and undisturbed.

"Your subject is here!" Mao Xiang suddenly knelt down, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

"deliver an imperial order."

"Investigate all coastal garrisons! Investigate thoroughly!"

"Any family or business that has ever had any connection with the character 'Pu,' with Quanzhou, or with Semu merchants, regardless of their current surname, given name, official position, or wealth..."

Zhu Yuanzhang paused, each word seeming to have been squeezed out from the deepest hell.

"Uproot it completely!"

"Not a single one left!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!!!"

Mao Xiang's voice trembled. He knew that a bloody storm, far more brutal than the Hu Weiyong case and the Lan Yu case combined, was about to be completely ignited on the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty!

This time, Zhu Yuanzhang was not going to kill a particular official or nobleman.

He wanted to completely erase the Avengers, who had been lurking for a century and were trying to overthrow his entire dynasty, from their physical bodies to their very existence!

However, just when everyone thought this was the final, darkest truth.

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun let out a soft sigh.

"The hypothesis that the descendants of the Pu family is logically sound and has sufficient motivation can almost be considered the standard answer."

"But family members, have you ever thought about this?"

"Would a family burdened with the blood feud of their annihilation really place all their hopes on a child they've raised from childhood?"

"What if this offspring isn't smart enough? What if he dies young? What if he grows up and doesn't agree with the family's obsession with revenge?"

Zhu Dijun's series of rhetorical questions plunged the group, who had just thought they had grasped the truth, back into confusion.

Yes.

The risk is too great.

For an underground organization that is plotting revenge, this method is fraught with uncertainty.

"Therefore, a third hypothesis has emerged."

Zhu Dijun's voice became increasingly ethereal and eerie, as if he were telling a horror story.

"This hypothesis is known within our archaeological community as the 'ghost hypothesis'."

"This hypothesis is more insane and more chilling than the previous two."

"Because it points to a possibility—"

"The 'Yang Shiqi' we know was never himself from the very beginning!"

The scene on the sky changed again.

This time, what appeared was a yellowed, incomplete local history archive.

[Taihe County Gazetteer (Fragment)]: Yang's son, named Yu, lost his father at the age of seven. His mother remarried to a woman surnamed Luo, and Yu took his stepfather's surname. Later, he reverted to the surname Yang. At the age of sixteen, he entered the county school…

"Family members, this is one of the most original records we could find about Yang Shiqi's early years."

"It's very simple, isn't it? I lost my father when I was seven, my mother remarried, and I took my stepfather's surname for a while before changing it back."

"A very ordinary, even somewhat pitiful, background."

"However, the 'ghost hypothesis' offers a completely different explanation."

Zhu Dijun's finger touched the words "lost her father at the age of seven, and her mother remarried into the Luo family".

Is there any possibility...?

His voice, at this moment, was as soft as a whisper in one's ear, yet it resounded throughout the entire universe.

"The real Yang Yu, that seven-year-old child, died after his father died, during the chaotic period when his mother remarried."

"Because of an illness, an accident, or... being deliberately disposed of."

"And that huge 'Pu Clan' Avengers Alliance, which survived the purge by the founding emperor, bribed Yang Shiqi's mother and stepfather with money or threats."

"Then, they selected a boy from within the organization who was about the same age, but had undergone the most rigorous training and been instilled with the most extreme ideas of revenge, and replaced the real Yang Yu!"

"This fake 'Yang Shiqi,' his life, starting from the age of eight, has been a complete and utter deception!"

"His background is fake."

"His name is fake."

"All the gentleness, humility, frugality, talent, loyalty, and patriotism he displayed were all an act!"

"He's like the perfect spy, a Trojan horse program implanted in the heart of the empire! His sole mission is to climb to the top, to the very pinnacle of power, and then, at the most crucial moment, activate that program that destroys everything!"

"This is the 'ghost hypothesis'!"

"A life that has been replaced!"

Boom!!!

If the first two speculations were like thunderclaps, then this third hypothesis is a nuclear bomb capable of destroying cognition and overturning worldviews!

At this moment, people from all times and spaces felt an indescribable sense of dread and fear!

terrible!

This is no longer a conspiracy!

This is the devil's script!

A person's identity can be replaced without their knowledge by a huge underground organization as early as childhood!

Then, this "ghost," under someone else's identity, right under everyone's noses, gradually ascended to the pinnacle of power and became a "wise prime minister"!

What does this mean?

This means that anyone you trust—your classmate, your colleague, or even your spouse—could be a "ghost" who is an enemy from head to toe!

This kind of all-pervasive infiltration, this betrayal that is rotten to the core, is a thousand times more terrifying than any open sword or spear!

The universe follows the natural order.

When Zhu Qizhen, who had experienced the Tumu Crisis and had long seen through the fickleness of human nature, heard this hypothesis, his hand holding the wine cup trembled violently.

He thought of the people around him.

Those who betrayed him when he was in trouble, and those who flattered him after his restoration.

How many of these people are truly themselves?

How many of them are "Yang Shiqi" wearing masks?

At this moment, the restored emperor's gaze upon the entire civil service was no longer one of simple hatred and murderous intent.

Rather, it's a kind of... absolute coldness when looking at inhuman things.

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun looked at the deathly silence of the myriad worlds and slowly exhaled.

"Family members, that concludes my three speculations."

"The Thousand-Year Chess Game of the Yang Family of Hongnong".

"The deep-seated blood feud of the Pu family descendants."

"The Ghost Hypothesis: Life Replacement."

Which one is the truth?

"Perhaps we will never find conclusive evidence."

A chilling smile curved at the corners of Zhu Dijun's lips.

"But does it matter?"

"No, it doesn't matter at all."

"Because no matter which truth it is, they all point to the same, and only, conclusion—"

"Yang Shiqi, and the vast civil service interest group he represented, were fundamentally the mortal enemies of the Ming Dynasty and the entire Chinese civilization!"

"They must be eliminated!"

"From their bodies to their minds, and even the soil upon which they depend for survival!"

"Completely, thoroughly, and completely clean!"

The words fell.

Inside the Yongle Palace, Zhu Di suddenly stood up and drew the Emperor's Sword from his waist.

"Issue my decree!"

"Summon Saihaji to the palace!"

"I want this empire to be free of the Yang family!"

In the Hongwu Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly stroked the armrest of the dragon throne, his eyes eerily calm.

Later generations have proposed three hypotheses about Yang Shiqi, but the question is, was there only one "Yang Shiqi" in the Ming Dynasty?

No, there are many, but they are not recorded.