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

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The heavy, urgent knocking, like the beating of war drums, echoed in circles on the quiet street in front of the British Duke's mansion.

The tightly closed vermilion gate seemed to tremble slightly under the force of the impact.

After a long while, a sleepy, somewhat impatient voice came from inside the door.

"Who is it?!"

"What are you banging on in the middle of the night! Has someone died?"

Zhu Dijun and Zhu Qizhen exchanged a glance. Both of their faces were covered in soot and blood, and in the light of the distant fire, they looked like demons crawling out of hell.

Zhu Dijun stepped forward and spoke slowly through the crack in the door in a clear, steady, yet undeniably penetrating voice:

"Open the door."

"Emperor Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty".

He paused, then spoke each word with the force of a hammer, slamming it down on the door.

"I have come with the retired Emperor Zhu Qizhen of the Ming Dynasty to pay a visit to Zhang Ni, Right Commander-in-Chief of the Central Military Command, and Zhang Yi, Right Commander-in-Chief of the Vanguard Military Command, of the Duke of Ying's residence!"

boom!

Time seemed to freeze completely at that moment.

The servant's breathing inside the door vanished instantly.

The night breeze on the street seemed to have stopped.

Only the faint commotion coming from the direction of Nangong in the distance proved that this was not a dream.

"You...you...you...what did you say?!"

Inside the door, the servant's voice had completely changed.

It was a trembling voice mixed with extreme terror, absurdity and disbelief, as if one had seen the most incredible ghost in the world!

emperor?

The retired emperor?

Shouldn't they be in the palace?!

Wasn't Nangong on fire?!

How could they... how could they be here?!

"It's insane! A madman has arrived!"

The servant scrambled backward, letting out a pig-like scream.

Zhu Dijun did not speak again.

He simply stood quietly, side by side with Zhu Qizhen, like two silent statues, exerting immense pressure on those inside the gate.

The words have already been spoken.

The bait has been cast.

Next, we'll see how the fish takes the bait.

……

The inner courtyard of the British Duke's residence.

Zhang Ni, the eldest son of Duke Zhang Fu of Ying, struggled to keep the crumbling Wuxun First Family together with his younger brother Zhang Yi after his elder brother died in the Battle of Tumu Fortress.

Tonight, the fire in Nangong also kept him awake all night.

He and his brother were having a private conversation in the study, analyzing the earth-shattering changes that might be hidden behind the fire.

Just then—

"Young Master... Young Master! Second Young Master! No... Something terrible has happened!"

The study door was flung open in a panic by a butler, who was pale and breathless.

"You bastard!"

Zhang Ni frowned and shouted sternly, "What's all this panic! Is the sky falling down?!"

"More terrifying than...more terrifying than the sky falling down!"

The butler knelt on the ground, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"At the door...at the doorway, two...two people who claimed to be...are..."

He swallowed hard, as if those words carried the weight of a thousand pounds.

"He claims to be His Majesty the present, and... and the Retired Emperor!"

"What?!"

The brothers Zhang Ni and Zhang Yi suddenly stood up from their armchairs, their faces filled with absurdity and fury!

"Nonsense!"

Zhang Yi grabbed the butler by the collar, his face contorted in a ferocious expression.

"Are you out of your mind! His Majesty and the Emperor Emeritus reside deep within the palace, and a great fire has broken out in the Southern Palace. How could they possibly be at our gate! Someone must be impersonating them with malicious intent! Get them out of here!"

"No...no, Second Young Master!"

The housekeeper was on the verge of tears.

"They...they specifically asked for your presence! They want to...they want to visit you both!"

Name them by name!

Zhang Ni's heart sank suddenly.

A chill ran down his spine and spread throughout his body in an instant.

Something is wrong!

All of this has a strange feel to it!

If he were just an ordinary madman, there would be no way he would know his and his brother's names!

And then, thinking back to the strange fire in Nangong tonight…

A crazy, chilling thought popped into his head.

Is it...

Could it really be true?!

"Big brother..."

Zhang Yi also realized something. He released the steward, his face turning deathly pale, and looked at his brother.

The two brothers looked at each other.

They both saw the same shock and... helplessness in each other's eyes!

They understood instantly.

This is a trap!

A deadly trap tailor-made for the Zhang family and the entire Wu Xun Group!

catch?

Accepting the offer would be tantamount to openly harboring the emperor and the retired emperor who had "escaped" from the palace, which is equivalent to treason! It would mean a complete break with the entire civil service group represented by Yu Qian, Chen Xun, and Empress Dowager Sun!

Not answering?

Two emperors, seemingly resurrected from the dead, lie bloodied at your doorstep. You refuse to help them? Tomorrow morning, they'll be corpses, and the Zhang family will be branded with the eternal infamy of "failing to save them and conspiring with regicides!" The whole family will be buried alive with them!

This...this is a fucking dead end!

A dead end with absolutely no way out!

"How ruthless..."

Zhang Ni squeezed out two words through his teeth.

In an instant, the image of the "mad" Emperor Zhu Qiyu flashed through his mind.

The words, "My sword will teach them how to hold a pen," still resonate in my ears!

original……

So that's the real use of that knife!

It wasn't murder!

It's forcing people to take sides!

It was the emperor's blood that drew a chasm, forcing you to jump over it!

Beyond the backdrop, the live stream room erupted in excitement!

[“Here it comes! Here it comes! The iconic scene! The enhanced version of ‘Your Majesty, we are Sima Zhao!’”]

"Emperor Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty, accompanied by the retired Emperor Zhu Qizhen, has come to pay a visit!" Holy crap! The impact of that sentence is more powerful than an army of 100,000!

["Zhang Family: I was terrified! Opening the door meant death, not opening the door also meant death! How do I solve this problem? I need help urgently!"]

["It's unsolvable! This is the ultimate example of open conspiracy! Brother Jun puts a knife to Zhang's neck and asks him: Do you want to die, or do you want to fight alongside us for a way to survive?"]

"That's amazing! This is true political maneuvering! Strategic planning and decisive victory from afar! He was still in the alley, yet he already had the fate of the entire Wu Xun Group firmly in his grasp!"

Hongwu reign.

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his thigh, his eyes shining!

"pretty!"

"If we had used this method to deal with those civil officials like Hu Weiyong back then, we wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble!"

"Biao'er, watch this! This is called 'putting yourself in a do-or-die situation'! He's driven himself to the brink, which means he's driven everyone else to the brink! It's either live together or die together! Ruthless! We like it!"

Zhu Biao nodded with a wry smile, his awe for this descendant Zhu Dijun deepening even further.

At the same time, he glanced at the fourth prince, Zhu Di, standing next to him. Was this Zhu Dijun really a descendant of the fourth prince? Or was he some kind of imposter, like the fake Yang Shiqi?

This is absolutely not because I, Zhu Biao, am jealous!

Inside the study.

Cold sweat beaded on Zhang Ni's forehead.

He looked out the window at the reddened night sky, then at his brother's fearful and uneasy face.

He knew they had no other choice.

From the moment the knocking sounded, the Zhang family's fate was already intertwined with those two "ghosts" outside the door.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, all that remained in his eyes was a look of resolute determination.

"Open the door!"

"Prepare your armor!"

"All guards, follow me... to greet the emperor!"