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

Outside Nanjing, after hearing the secret report that Prince Ning, Zhu Dianpei, had declared himself emperor in Nanchang, Zhu Dijun showed no anger on his face, but instead revealed an almost pleased smile.

That smile was filled with a chilling coldness.

"Great, that's wonderful."

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying the composure of a chess player making a move.

"I'm still worried that they're not united enough, or that they're not fanatical enough."

"Now that they've jumped out themselves and set the target so high and so straight, it's saved me a lot of trouble."

Peng Shi, Li Xian, and the others beside him were terrified.

A feudal lord declares himself emperor!

In the Ming Dynasty, this was equivalent to the most serious crime of treason!

This means that a civil war sweeping across Jiangnan and even the entire Ming Dynasty is now inevitable.

"Your Majesty! Prince Ning harbors wolfish ambitions and his crimes are unforgivable! I request that troops be dispatched immediately to attack Nanchang!" Xu Youzhen was the first to stand up and shouted indignantly.

"Yes! This scoundrel must be wiped out immediately to set things right!"

"We must never allow this unhealthy trend to shake the foundations of our nation!"

The military officers were all eager to fight. They longed for war, military merit, and even more so, the gold and silver treasures of the Prince Ning's mansion in Nanchang.

Zhu Dijun waved his hand, stopping the commotion.

He turned around, walked back to his command tent, and retrieved a writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

"Send troops? Why send troops?"

His voice carried a hint of mockery.

"Killing Zhu Dianpei is easy."

"Those who supported his claim to the throne were the gentry and landlords of the entire Jiangnan region, and the millions of clansmen and servants who were deceived by them."

"My soldiers are for conquering new territories, not for shedding blood on our own land with our own people."

As he spoke, he picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote with vigorous strokes on the snow-white Xuan paper.

The group looked at each other, puzzled.

How can we quell the rebellion without sending troops?

Are we just going to let Prince Ning grow powerful in Nanchang?

Soon, a short but scathing manifesto was completed in one stroke.

Zhu Dijun handed the still-wet paper to Peng Shi.

"Minister Peng, you are from Jiangxi. You are to send this article to Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian and post it widely so that every refugee, every tenant farmer, and every person who cannot survive can hear my voice."

Peng Shi respectfully accepted it and looked down at it.

His pupils contracted sharply after just one glance!

The paper read:

[By the grace of Heaven, the Supreme Emperor decrees:]

[It is said that Zhu Dianpei, the self-proclaimed emperor of Nanchang, has seized the Prince's Palace and is arrogant and presumptuous; this is a path to his own demise.]

However, I pity the people of the land and cannot bear to let the south suffer from war again because of the rebellion of one person.

[I have only three questions for all those who follow this false emperor.]

When Peng Shi saw this, his breath caught in his throat.

He continued reading.

[Firstly: Does the pseudo-emperor provide meals?]

[Secondly: Did the false emperor distribute land?]

Thirdly: Can this false emperor truly liberate your descendants from generations of enslavement?

If none of these are possible, why are you risking your lives for them?

[While I was in Yangzhou, I distributed land. All those who followed me will receive twenty mu of permanent land.]

[Wherever I went in Jiangnan, my aim was to ensure that farmers had land and the hungry had food!]

The false emperor protects only the wealth and status of the gentry. What I grant is the livelihood of all people.

The choice of which path to take is yours!

If they remain obstinate, when the heavenly army arrives, everything will be destroyed!

……

There were no impassioned speeches, no quotations or historical allusions.

There are only three sentences, questions so blunt they're almost vulgar.

But like three of the sharpest knives, they pierced the very core of this rebellion with unparalleled precision!

Peng Shi held the paper, his hands trembling like leaves in the wind.

He looked up and stared at Judy Jun in horror.

This...this is hardly a manifesto.

This is a scathing remark!

This is a radical solution!

This is telling all the common people who have been coerced by the gentry: your enemy is not the imperial court, but the masters around you who send you to your death but don't give you a single bite to eat!

[Modern Live Streaming Room]

When this unconventional "manifesto" appeared on the screen, the entire live stream exploded!

"Holy crap! Those three questions are like a knife to the heart! This is a fucking dimensional attack!"

["I hereby declare that during the Jingtai era of the Ming Dynasty, the most powerful PUA master and the most powerful live-streaming sales host was Zhu Qiyu! The product he sold was called 'Hope'!"]

["Prince Ning, Zhu Dianpei, is probably dumbfounded. He's still playing the traditional game of 'purging the court of corrupt officials and overthrowing the tyrant,' but Jun Ge has flipped the table and started talking to him about people's livelihood, meals, and land distribution!"]

"How can we fight like this? If Prince Ning dares to say 'food and land', his gentry will be the first to rebel! If he doesn't dare to say it, why would the displaced people and cannon fodder under his command risk their lives for you? It's a dead end! An unsolvable dead end!"

"Killing without shedding blood! A single proclamation is worth more than a million soldiers! Before Prince Ning even left Nanchang, his foundation had already been destroyed by Brother Jun!"

[Hongwu Reign]

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the dragon throne excitedly and burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! Good! What a fine example of a 'pseudo-emperor who controls the food'!"

"This is what we should be saying to the common people! If we had done it this way back then, we would have accomplished so much!"

He pointed at Zhu Biao, his voice booming.

"Biao'er, watch this carefully! This is the true art of rulership! Understanding people's hearts and attacking where they are weak! All that fancy talk is empty! The only things that can make the people follow you are land and food!"

[Yongle Reign]

Zhu Di's eyes held a complex expression.

He considered himself a man of great talent and ambition, and his life of battles was built on iron and blood.

But this younger generation on the sky easily dismantled a rebellion that could have shaken the very foundations of the nation with just a pen and a piece of paper.

"This kid... is a prodigy," he muttered to himself.

……

Nanchang, Prince Ning's Mansion.

Zhu Dianpei had just been crowned emperor and was drinking and making merry with the gentry who had supported him in the palace, discussing how to conquer cities and territories and divide up future profits.

Outside the mansion, the gate was bustling with activity.

Countless displaced people and servants, incited and coerced, are gathering, ready to become cannon fodder for his "pacification of the rebellion".

Everything seemed so thriving.

However, when Zhu Dijun's "Three Questions Manifesto" spread like snowflakes throughout the entire city of Nanchang.

Everything has changed.

The refugees gathered outside the Prince's Mansion, looking at the words on the proclamation and listening to the literate people reciting it, gradually changed their fanaticism into confusion, then hesitation, and finally a profound awakening.

Yup!

Why should we risk our lives for Prince Ning?

Just for his slogan "Down with the tyrant"?

The tyrant has distributed land in Yangzhou!

What will we gain by following Prince Ning? A full meal? A piece of land to pass down to our descendants?

No!

There's nothing there!

Even if we die, our wives, children, and elderly parents will only continue to serve these gentry like slaves!

"Why should I?!"

In the crowd, a ragged man suddenly slammed the wooden stick in his hand to the ground and roared angrily with red eyes.

"People from Yangzhou get land! Are we Jiangxi people just supposed to be cannon fodder for these bloodsuckers?"

"I quit!"

"I...we're going to Yangzhou! To find the Emperor Emeritus! To divide the land!"

One sentence ignited the powder keg.

"Yes! Let's go to Yangzhou!"

"Whoever wants to serve Prince Ning can go!"

"Distribute the land! Eat!"

The crowd began to flow backward.

The Prince Ning's mansion, which was bustling with visitors yesterday, suddenly became deserted.

Those refugees and commoners who had been coerced into coming scattered like birds and beasts. Countless people even began to spontaneously surge towards Jinling, seeking refuge with the "tyrant" who could provide them with food and land.

Inside the hall, Zhu Dianpei and the gentry listened to the news outside, and the smiles on their faces froze completely.

"How could this be... how could this happen?"

The wine glass in Zhu Dianpei's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter" and shattered into pieces.

His pride in being a "benevolent and righteous army" and his claim to "represent the will of the people" crumbled in the face of these three simple sentences, becoming a colossal joke.

He lost.

They lost badly, utterly and completely.

They didn't even have the chance to confront the enemy head-on.

After 7 days.

Shi Heng led three thousand light cavalry and arrived at the city of Nanchang without bloodshed.

He was greeted by the wide-open city gates and local officials who had bound Prince Zhu Dianpei of Ning hand and foot and made him kneel down to surrender.

The "false emperor" who had only been on the throne for seven days, along with his core group of gentry, were all wiped out and beheaded.

Jiangnan, Ping.