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

Qing army!

When these two words appeared in the sky, all civil officials across time and space, especially those whose families owned land and were entangled with military garrisons, felt a jolt in their hearts!

The military officers and nobles were greatly encouraged!

Zhu Dijun's voice, with an almost anatomical coldness, began to explain to all realms the bloody truth behind those two words.

"Family members, what is meant by 'Qing army'?"

"Purge the army? Rectify military discipline? No, that's just the surface."

"Its true core boils down to just two words—seizing power!"

"From whom to seize power?"

"We must wrest back the military control that rightfully belongs to the state from those civil officials, gentry, and landlords who have already reached into the army's granaries, treated military households as their own slaves, and turned military settlements into their own estates!"

Above the sky, a historical record from later generations is clearly displayed.

The Miscellaneous Records of Shuangxi states: "In the early years of the Zhengtong reign, the Three Yangs were in the Grand Secretariat... Wang Ji, the Minister of War, initially suggested sending an imperial censor to tour the country and investigate and conscript soldiers, but this was repeatedly opposed. Later, Ji strongly urged the emperor to stop, and the plan was finally approved."

Zhu Dijun's finger pressed heavily on the three characters "屡止之".

"Family members, did you see that?"

"When Wang Ji, the Minister of War representing the Emperor's will, proposed a thorough investigation of the army and military farms throughout the country, what was the reaction of the cabinet officials, headed by Yang Shiqi?"

"Repeatedly tried to stop it!"

"Why are you stopping me?"

"You have a guilty conscience!"

"Because they knew that this so-called 'Qing army' was a guillotine hanging over their heads! Once investigated, their crimes of seizing military land and enslaving military households would no longer be able to be concealed!"

"It wasn't until Wang Ji 'persistently pleaded'—meaning he was willing to risk offending the entire civil service to forcefully push it through—that it was barely allowed to be piloted!"

"This is no longer a simple political disagreement!"

"This is war!"

"It was a life-or-death struggle between the imperial faction, led by Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen, attempting to wrest the nation's military lifeline from the hands of the civil service!"

boom!

Everyone understood!

It has just been connected to a new orthodox timeline by SkyTV Live.

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

Young Zhu Qizhen stared at the sky, completely stunned.

So that's how it is...?

He had always believed that the "Qing army" was merely a means to reorganize the military and make the Ming army more combat-ready. He didn't understand why the Three Yangs, and so many other highly respected officials in the court, would vehemently oppose it.

He once thought that he had been too eager for quick success.

But now, future generations are telling him that he was not wrong!

He is... seizing power!

It was about wresting back the power that rightfully belonged to him, the emperor, and to the Ming Dynasty from those parasites!

His chest heaved violently as an unprecedented fear and anger rose from the depths of his heart!

"However,"

Judy Jun's voice was full of sarcasm: "Ideals are lofty, but reality is harsh."

"Given that the civil service had already systematically encroached upon and riddled the military garrisons with holes, this 'Qing army' action not only failed to reverse the decline but also stirred up a hornet's nest!"

"Those Qing military censors who were sent down were tasked with pursuing deserted military households and investigating the hidden military farmland. This was tantamount to digging up the ancestral graves of the civil official and gentry class!"

"The conflict has been completely escalated!"

"The civil service's counterattack followed!"

Another piece of historical material appeared on the sky.

The Cháshāng Lāoshé records: "According to ancestral regulations, outsiders were not allowed to participate in the affairs of the Five Military Prefectures, except for the Commander-in-Chief in charge of the seal and the register. Former Minister of War Kuang Ye asked Marquis Gongshun Wu for a list of names to check. Wu reported it to the emperor according to the rules, and Kuang Ye was terrified and wrote a letter of thanks."

"Family members, did you understand?"

Zhu Dijun explained,

"According to ancestral rules, outsiders are not allowed to interfere with the military's roster and archives; only the Five Military Commissions can access them."

"But during the Zhengtong era, Kuang Ye, the Minister of War, a civil official, actually dared to directly ask the Marquis Xungui for the army's roster for 'inspection'!"

What does this mean?

"This shows that the civil officials' influence has gone too far! They are no longer satisfied with encroaching on your land; they want to completely control your people! The Five Military Commissions, the highest administrative body of the Ming army, is being gradually hollowed out by the civil official system!"

"Zhu Qizhen's 'Qing army' was meant to sever this sinister hand!"

"So, this group of people is panicking!"

Hongwu Hall.

"Bang!"

Zhu Yuanzhang smashed a dragon-patterned table again, pointed at the sky, and roared at Zhu Biao and his sons:

"Look! Let us see them all!"

"This is exactly what we were worried about!"

"We established the Five Military Commissions to check and balance the Ministry of War, precisely to prevent civil officials from becoming too powerful and interfering in military affairs!"

"But those bastards still managed to get their hands in!"

"Our descendants, well done! That's how it should be done! Cleanse! Cleanse to the death! Anyone who dares to stop us, kill them!"

During the Yongle reign.

Zhu Di's face was so gloomy it could drip water.

What he valued most in his life was military power, and what he was most wary of were civil officials.

He never expected that not long after his death, these civil officials would dare to be so arrogant!

He looked at Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Zhanji, and said coldly:

"Did you see that? We must never let our guard down with these scholars! They spout platitudes about morality and ethics, but all they care about is their own business!"

Zhu Zhanji lowered his head in shame.

He always held the three Yangs in high esteem, regarding them as the pillars of the nation.

But now it seems that it was precisely this trust that gave the civil service group the opportunity to grow powerful, leaving his son Zhu Qizhen with a mess!

"The Ming Dynasty physicist Yang Jinshui is right!"

"Some things, if you don't weigh them, they're nothing. But once you do, they're as heavy as a thousand pounds!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice rang out softly.

"When Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen truly placed the 'Qing army' as the yardstick before the civil official group, they discovered that the accounts could no longer be balanced."

"The military households have fled, the military farmland is gone, and the deficit is so large that it could cost countless lives!"

"So, here's the question."

"What would corrupt officials in ancient times do when the deficit in their granaries could no longer be concealed?"

An answer that resonates across all times and spaces emerges in everyone's mind.

"That's right!" A cruel smile spread across Judy Jun's lips.

"A fire dragon burns down the warehouse!"

"A single fire, burning it all to the ground, leaving no evidence!"

"But the land can't be burned; those occupied military settlements are still there, they can't escape!"

"What should we do in the face of the Qing army's increasingly aggressive censors?"

"The civil service has devised a method even more vicious and inhumane than 'burning the granary with a fire dragon'!"

"That is..."

"Start a riot!"

"A war!"

"Let the army be defeated, the people be displaced, and the world be thrown into chaos!"

"Only in the chaos of mountains of corpses and seas of blood can they fish in troubled waters and deceive everyone!"

"Therefore, wherever Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen's Qing censors investigated, riots would break out!"