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

The night was as dark as ink.

The Forbidden City, the Southern Palace.

This is the royal palace, with high walls that isolate it from the outside world.

Zhu Qizhen, who was sent back by the Oirat Mongols, was placed under house arrest here, nominally as the "Retired Emperor," but in reality a prisoner.

However, tonight, Nangong welcomed an unexpected visitor.

Under the cover of night, a young eunuch carrying a food box silently entered this forgotten palace.

He didn't come to deliver food.

Hidden in the food box was a secret letter in the handwriting of the reigning emperor, Zhu Qiyu!

The contents of the letter were very simple.

There was no salutation, no signature, only a single line of words written in blood and tears:

"Brother, Ji'er is dead. I wish to die with the traitor. Help me!"

(Brother, Jianji is dead. I want to die with those traitors. Help me!)

Under the candlelight, Zhu Qizhen looked at the words, and for the first time, his face, which had long been numb from the wind and frost of the grasslands and endless humiliation, showed a hint of emotion.

He remembered his younger brother, who used to follow behind him timidly and call him "Royal Brother".

He hated that he had stolen his throne.

But he knew even more clearly that his brother, like him, was just a victim of that earth-shattering coup.

One is a "murdered" ruler.

One is a puppet who was "established".

Now, the puppet's only son has also been mercilessly wiped out by that group of people.

They are brothers, and also the only two people in the world to be driven to the brink of despair by the same alliance of tyrants!

Zhu Qizhen picked up his pen and wrote a single character on the back of the letter.

A word filled with killing and decisiveness.

"kill!"

……

Above the sky, Judy Jun slowly recounted this secret.

"Family members, the truth of history is far more fascinating than fiction."

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 10 ...

After the devastating loss of his beloved son, Zhu Qiyu finally realized the gravity of the situation and chose a high-stakes gamble with a slim chance of survival!

"He and his imprisoned brother formed a top-secret alliance!"

"And the weapon they chose was the famous unsolved case in history—the Golden Knife Case!"

In the video, the three large characters "Golden Knife Case" appear behind Zhu Dijun.

"According to historical records, the Golden Knife Case was a clumsy frame-up orchestrated by Emperor Jingtai, Zhu Qiyu, in order to completely eliminate his brother, Zhu Qizhen. It was said that someone had given the Southern Palace a golden knife, intending to incite the retired emperor to rebel."

"But today, I'm going to tell you the truth, which is quite the opposite!"

"The Golden Knife Case wasn't about the younger brother trying to harm the older brother; it was a deadly surprise attack launched by these desperate brothers against the civil service!"

Zhu Dijun's voice became passionate!

Their plan is simple!

"Zhu Qizhen deliberately 'exposed' a so-called 'golden knife' in the Southern Palace to create signs of rebellion."

"Then, Zhu Qiyu used this as a pretext to send Lu Zhong, the only Jinyiwei commander he could still barely trust, to bypass the cabinet and the Ministry of War, directly seal off the Southern Palace, and conduct a 'thorough investigation'!"

"And this 'thorough investigation' is like a knife piercing the enemy's heart!"

"Lu Zhong's real target wasn't the Emperor Emeritus at all, but those confidants of Chen Xun and Yu Qian who had 'connections' with Nangong! He wanted to use the charge of 'colluding with the Emperor Emeritus in treason' to wipe out the core members of this group in one fell swoop!"

"This is a risky move! If successful, Zhu Qiyu will regain some control of the imperial guards and tear down the iron curtain of the civil official group! And Zhu Qizhen will be able to escape his imprisonment!"

"Holy crap! Holy crap! You can do that?!"

"So that's what the Golden Knife Case was all about! History books have really fooled us!"

"Brothers joining forces to fight against the entire corrupt court! This plot is so exciting!"

"Go for it, Zhu Qiyu! Kill those corrupt officials!"

Audiences across all time and space were on the edge of their seats.

They desperately hoped that these two unfortunate brothers could succeed.

However, a hint of regret appeared on Zhu Dijun's face.

"Ideals are lofty."

"But they ultimately underestimated those cunning old foxes."

In the scene depicted on the screen, Lu Zhong, leading the Imperial Guards, aggressively surrounded Nangong.

The civil service group, led by Yu Qian and Chen Xun, immediately realized what was happening!

Their first reaction was not to worry about the emperor's safety, but to kneel down outside the Qianqing Palace and use the most drastic means to stop the emperor's actions!

"Your Majesty! The retired emperor represents the dignity of the nation; how can we allow the Embroidered Uniform Guard to humiliate him!"

"Your Majesty! This action violates ancestral rules and will inevitably cause turmoil in the court and among the people! We urge Your Majesty to reconsider!"

They shouted the ancestral laws and the moral principles of benevolence and righteousness.

They used the most high-sounding reasons to firmly block Zhu Qiyu's knife!

They knew very well that once the emperor's knife pierced their skin, they would be the next to die!

Ultimately, under pressure from the entire civil service group, Zhu Qiyu backed down.

The Golden Knife Case ended hastily and in a rather anticlimactic manner.

The brothers' first and last joint counterattack ended in utter failure.

"Sigh... I failed..."

"I knew it... those people are too powerful, their influence is too deep-rooted, how could they be brought down so easily?"

"Zhu Qiyu is still too weak. If he had even half the ruthlessness of his brother, he would have directly ordered the execution of those ringleaders, and perhaps things would have turned out well!"

"It's too late; he's already missed his only chance."

The consequences of failure are fatal.

Zhu Dijun's voice turned icy cold.

"This test allowed the Alliance of Emperor Killers to see Zhu Qiyu's true intentions completely."

"They discovered that this puppet had developed its own thoughts and was no longer obedient."

"And a disobedient puppet has no value in existing."

The scene changes again.

This time, it was Zhu Qiyu, who was bedridden.

His cheeks were sunken, his face was as pale as paper, he coughed incessantly, and his body grew weaker day by day.

"Shortly after the Golden Knife Case, Zhu Qiyu fell ill."

"A strange disease that no imperial physician could diagnose, yet it could lead to a rapid death."

Zhu Dijun's gaze swept over Empress Dowager Sun's calm face and over Yu Qian's seemingly worried expression.

"Family members, do I need to make myself clear?"

"When an emperor has blocked the way of too many people and has lost his usefulness, it is best to let him die of illness in a 'reasonable' way."

"A slow-acting poison is the gentlest yet most cruel executioner's knife in the deep palace."

"Once again, they raised their butcher's knives against the Zhu family's emperor!"

"Poisoning! Poisoning again! These beasts!"

"It's so tragic... Zhu Qiyu is truly tragic... He just wanted to reclaim his power, he just wanted to avenge his son..."

"I take back what I said about him being a coward. He's a hero, a failed hero!"

"Sun Ruowei! Yu Qian! Chen Xun! I curse your ancestors!!"

A boundless rage boiled over countless worlds and timelines.

Zhu Qiyu, during the Jingtai reign, remained calm upon hearing that he would be "poisoned."

He coughed up blood, and a bitter, relieved smile appeared on his face.

It's better that he's dead.

He had long since had enough of this hell on earth.

But he was unwilling to accept it!

He stared intently at the sky, his eyes burning with a final flame.

Brother... my dear brother...

You must come back!

Kill these beasts for me and for your nephew!

Absolutely! Blood must be paid for!

As if hearing his prayer, the sky above suddenly changed!

"Zhu Qiyu is nearing the end of his life!"

"The civil service is looking for its next puppet ruler!"

"And Zhu Qizhen in the Southern Palace also sensed the approach of death! He knew that once Zhu Qiyu died, he would be the next to be silenced!"

"On the brink of life and death, only a desperate counterattack will suffice!"

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly rose in pitch, like thunder!

"January of the eighth year of the Jingtai reign!"

"Taking advantage of the heavy snow in the capital, taking advantage of the widespread panic!"

"The retired emperor's former subordinates, including Marquis Shi Heng of Wuqing, Commander Zhang Zhe, Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Xu Youzhen, Vice Censor-in-Chief Yang Shan, and eunuch Cao Jixiang, launched that military coup that changed the fate of the Ming Dynasty!"

Boom!

In the scene depicted on the sky, the heavy gate of Nangong was smashed open amidst the wind and snow!

A figure clad in armor, with eyes as cold as the Siberian chill, emerged step by step from the darkness!

He was no longer the ignorant boy from Tumu Fort.

He was no longer the destitute prisoner in the Oirat camp.

He was tempered amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, honed by endless humiliation, and completely transformed by the grief and indignation of losing his brothers.

The King of Vengeance!

"The king has returned, the gods have abdicated!"

"The restoration, known in history as the 'Tumu Crisis,' has begun!"

Judy Jun's voice resounded throughout the universe!

"And our protagonist, the Great Ming Dynasty's War God, Emperor Zhu Qizhen, has finally returned to his loyal Forbidden City!"

"Family members, are you ready?"

"The bloodiest, most brutal, and most exhilarating moment of reckoning has arrived!"