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

The Hongwu Era.

Fengtian Temple.

Zhu Yuanzhang slumped onto the dragon throne, having not uttered a single word for a long time.

On that weathered face, anger, shock, bewilderment... a variety of emotions flickered and intertwined, ultimately settling into a bottomless complexity.

He looked at the sky above, at the descendant who would manipulate the hearts of the people.

He glanced again at His Highness, and then at Zhu Di and Zhu Biao, who were also in a daze.

"we……"

He finally spoke, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded.

"What did we rely on to conquer this world back then?"

He seemed to be asking his sons, but also seemed to be asking himself.

Zhu Biao stepped forward and answered respectfully:

"Father, we relied on the righteous cause of 'expelling the barbarians and restoring China,' and on the promise made with the people that we would 'share the land and the food.'"

"right!"

Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his hand on the armrest of the dragon throne, exclaiming, "It's the people's hearts!"

"We know what those peasants want! We give them what they want, and they follow us, driving those Mongol barbarians back to the grasslands!"

A hint of reminiscence and pride flashed in his eyes.

But soon, this sense of pride was replaced by a deeper sense of bewilderment.

"But what happens after we rule the world?"

He looked around the magnificent palace, a hint of weariness in his voice.

"We granted land to meritorious officials and official positions to scholars... Gradually, the land in this world returned to the hands of those who did not farm."

"We've killed so many corrupt officials and powerful figures... but as soon as we kill one batch, another pops up, like weeds in a field, we can't harvest them all!"

"We want our Zhu family's empire to be passed down for generations... but this descendant says that our empire will become the biggest burden in the future?"

This question struck Zhu Yuanzhang like a heavy hammer.

His proudest achievement was laying the foundation for an impregnable empire for his descendants.

But now, a descendant who shares his bloodline is telling him this.

you are wrong.

That's completely wrong.

What you left behind is not a lasting legacy, but a powder keg about to explode.

And now I'm going to personally dismantle this powder keg! Even if the price is blowing up the Zhu family's ancestral archway!

This feeling made Zhu Yuanzhang feel an unprecedented sense of defeat.

They were even more powerless than when they faced Chen Youliang's 600,000-strong army at Poyang Lake.

Because Chen Youliang was an enemy.

And Judy Jun is his descendant! He is denying his entire life in a way that Judy Jun cannot refute, and even vaguely feels is "right"!

"Fourth brother,"

Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze fell on Zhu Di, his eyes becoming exceptionally sharp.

"This young man is like you."

Zhu Di shuddered and immediately knelt down:

"Father! Your son would never dare..."

"We're not saying you're plotting a rebellion in the future."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, interrupting him.

"What I mean is, you two both have a ruthless streak deep down! A ruthless streak that will stop at nothing to achieve your goals!"

"For the throne, you're willing to turn against your own family in the future."

"He'd actually lay a hand on our Zhu family's empire for that damned 'continuation of civilization'!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at Zhu Di and asked, word by word.

"Let me ask you this: if you were in his position, facing the crisis a hundred years from now, which future generations would describe as the Little Ice Age leading to the extinction of their nation and their race..."

"What would you choose?"

"Is it to protect our Zhu family's rule, watch the Han people be slaughtered by foreign tribes, and repeat the events of the Mongol Yuan dynasty?"

"Should we follow his example, become a sinner for all time, and offer up this land as a sacrifice to give Han civilization a chance to survive?"

This problem, like a mountain, crashed down on Zhu Di.

He opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't utter a single word.

To preserve the Zhu family's rule?

What difference is there between Zhu Di and Zhao Gou, whom he despised? How could they face their ancestors after death?

But if we're talking about learning from that young man, Zhu Dijun...

So what if he seizes the throne from his nephew after his elder brothers die? A joke?

His future "Jingnan Campaign" is as insignificant as a farce in the face of the grand theme of "the survival of civilization"!

Fine beads of cold sweat appeared on Zhu Di's forehead.

He realized he was in a dead end.

One is a dead end in one's mind.

For the first time, he began to waver about the path he was about to take.

Seeing him like this, the sharpness in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes gradually turned into a long sigh.

He waved his hand, signaling Zhu Di and Zhu Biao to step back.

In the vast Fengtian Hall, he was the only one left.

He slowly stepped down from the dragon throne and came to the huge map of the world.

His hands caressed every inch of the Ming Dynasty's territory, from Yingtian Prefecture to Beiping, and then to distant Liaodong and Yunnan.

This empire was built by him, one sword and one spear!

"The Ming Dynasty may perish..."

"The civilization of the Han people must not be interrupted..."

He kept repeating those words to himself, his eyes vacant.

After a long while, he murmured softly, as if asking the gods and Buddhas in the sky, and also as if asking his own heart, which had been weathered by many vicissitudes, a final question.

"Did we... really make a mistake?"

……

Yongle Time and Space.

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

The atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

Zhu Di's face was darker than the bottom of a pot.

In the Hongwu era, the emperor asked that heart-piercing question in front of everyone.

This made him feel like he had been stripped naked and thrown in front of the whole world for public execution!

His "righteousness" in the Jingnan Campaign appears so pale and so selfish in the face of Zhu Qiyu's heroic act of "dying for civilization"!

"His Majesty."

The black-robed monk Yao Guangxiao appeared behind him at some point.

"You are wavering."

Yao Guangxiao's voice was calm and even, yet it was like a needle that pierced through Zhu Di's carefully constructed facade.

Zhu Di turned around abruptly, his eyes revealing murderous intent:

"Dao Yan! How dare you!"

"This humble monk is merely stating a fact."

Yao Guangxiao clasped his hands in a gesture of respect and met Zhu Di's gaze without fear.

"You have seen a higher 'Tao,' a 'Tao' that transcends 'the world belonging to the family.'"

"Therefore, you have begun to doubt the 'path' you are following."

Zhu Di's chest heaved violently, but he did not refute.

Because what Yao Guangxiao said was completely accurate!

"Your Majesty, do you still remember why this humble monk helped you quell the rebellion?"

Yao Guangxiao asked.

"You said I have the countenance of an emperor and should rule the world!" Zhu Di said coldly.

"Yes, and not entirely."

Yao Guangxiao shook his head.

"This humble monk presents you with a white hat to help you become 'Emperor,' because this humble monk sees in you a more powerful and influential ruler than the Jianwen Emperor, capable of expanding territories and dominating the world!"

"In my humble opinion, a powerful, unified, and ever-expanding dynasty is the best protector of Chinese civilization!"

"But now it seems..."

A flicker of fervor and self-mockery flashed in Yao Guangxiao's eyes.

"This humble monk is mistaken."

We were all wrong.

"We are still stuck in that cycle of 'rise and fall, suffering for the people'!"

"And what the later descendant, Zhu Dijun, who played the Jingtai Emperor, wanted to do was to escape this cycle of reincarnation! To sever this cycle of reincarnation!"

Yao Guangxiao's gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, landing on Zhu Di with a bewitching power.

"Your Majesty, would you like to accomplish something truly extraordinary, something that would make even the First Emperor and Emperor Wu of Han take notice?"

Zhu Di's pupils suddenly contracted.

"you mean……"

"That descendant pointed us in the right direction and even provided us with the sharpest weapon!" Yao Guangxiao's voice was full of allure.

"The gentry are the parasites of the nation, a chronic disease of the world! You know this better than anyone!"

"Since he was able to use such ruthless methods in his time to sever the rotten flesh..."

"Your Majesty, why...can't you?"

"You are the most charismatic and ruthless ruler since Emperor Taizu Gao!"

"If you use this method, you will surely do it more thoroughly and perfectly than him!"

"At that time, you will not only be the Yongle Emperor who successfully quelled the rebellion, but also the one who eradicated the millennia-old ills of China and ushered in an era of lasting peace..."

"The greatest sage ruler of all time!"

Boom!

Every word Yao Guangxiao uttered struck Zhu Di's heart like a heavy drumbeat.

The confusion and wavering in his eyes quickly faded.

Instead, a burning ambition, a hundred times more intense than during the Jingnan Rebellion, was ignited!

Yup!

If that young man can do it, why can't I, Zhu Di, do it?!

He was just an emperor who had been ousted from the throne, yet he still possessed such courage!

I, Zhu Di, am about to rule the world, with a million soldiers at my command. Why should I be timid and hesitant?

He has to bear the infamy because he lost and history was written by the victors!

What if I succeed?

If I were to truly sweep away all the gentry and return the land to the people, gather the strength of the entire nation, drive out the Mongols in the north, sail south to the Western Ocean, and create an unprecedented golden age…

How should history books record my story?

How then should the people of the world praise me?

At this moment, Yao Guangxiao completely led Zhu Di's imperial heart to a completely new dimension, one that even he himself found terrifying yet incredibly exciting!

He looked at the sky, at the descendants who were cursed by countless gentry, and a cold smile slowly crept onto his lips.

"What a brilliant move by Judy Jun..."

"On the day I rule the world..."

"I'll show you who's the real... between us."

"Demon King!"