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

The rebellion of Prince Ning was like a farce, coming and going quickly.

With a single manifesto, Zhu Dijun shattered the last armed resistance of the Jiangnan gentry.

This victory shook the entire Ming Dynasty.

It heralded the end of an old model of warfare and the beginning of a new "narrative warfare".

From then on, everyone in the world knew that having troops and money was far from enough to fight against this retired emperor.

You must be able to answer those three heart-wrenching questions:

Do you provide meals?

Do you want to divide the land?

Can you give the people a way to survive?

If you can't answer, then you are a traitor, an enemy of the world.

After completely clearing away the military obstacles, Zhu Dijun finally stepped into Nanjing.

Instead of residing in the magnificent imperial palace, he set up his headquarters at the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing.

A revolution far more profound and thorough than war will sweep across the entire Jiangnan region from here.

Zhu Dijun's first order was to gather all the account books, land deeds, and fish-scale registers confiscated from the Ning Prince's Mansion and the homes of various gentry into the Ministry of Revenue.

These piles of files record all the evils of land annexation and class oppression in Jiangnan over the past few centuries.

He summoned Peng Shi, Li Xian, and all the local officials and scholars from humble backgrounds in the south who were willing to submit, and began a massive purge.

"I don't care whose people you were before or what you did."

Standing before the mountain of files, Zhu Dijun spoke coldly to the hundreds of officials below.

"From today onward, you only have one path to take."

"Follow me, remeasure and redistribute the land south of the Yangtze River!"

"Return to its true owners what does not belong to the gentry—the people who have cultivated this land for generations!"

"Once this is accomplished, you will be heroes of the new order, and I will reward you handsomely."

"If anyone outwardly complies but inwardly defies, or secretly obstructs..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but his chilling gaze said it all.

Everyone knew that the fate of those people would be the same as the dried-up heads on the walls of Nanchang.

An unprecedented "land survey campaign" was launched in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

Numerous survey teams, protected by northern soldiers and composed of local scholars and officials, went deep into every village and town in Jiangnan.

They carried account books and went from house to house checking the land holdings.

All land acquired illegally, through usury or other means, shall be confiscated and turned over to the state.

Those who resist will be treated as traitors.

The entire Jiangnan region was in an uproar.

For the first time, tenant farmers and displaced people who had been oppressed for thousands of years saw hope of standing tall.

They eagerly stepped forward to identify the "Kurodas" who had been hidden by the gentry, exposing the crimes of the landlords.

Those gentry and landlords who used to be so domineering are now like stray dogs, living in constant fear.

Their power, their wealth, and their "family tradition of scholarship" were rendered utterly vulnerable under the combined strangulation of the state apparatus and the anger of the common people.

While this great purge was taking place, Zhu Dijun personally began writing a report that was enough to revolutionize the era.

He recorded everything he saw and heard in Jiangnan, including the shocking facts of exploitation, the suffering of the people, and the greed of the gentry.

He used the most straightforward data to analyze the harm of land annexation and the corrosive effect of the gentry class as a "rent-seeking class" on the national body.

This million-word "Rural Survey Report of Jiangnan during the Jingtai Era of the Ming Dynasty" became the theoretical basis for all his subsequent reforms.

Meanwhile, a brand new organization was quietly born amidst this storm.

Zhu Dijun named it the Hammer Party.

This organization doesn't care about background or past.

The only criterion for joining the party was to have a deep-seated hatred for the gentry class and to be willing to dedicate everything to the ideal of "land to the tiller".

Its first members were the poor people, scholars from humble backgrounds, and lower-ranking military officers who were the most active and steadfast in the land survey movement.

They will become Zhu Dijun's tentacles deepest in Jiangnan, and the most steadfast defenders of the new order.

……

The capital city, the Western Garden.

Zhu Qizhen kept abreast of everything happening in Jiangnan through the constant stream of reports sent from the riverbanks.

Looking at Zhu Dijun's ruthless methods, at the "Three Questions Manifesto," and at the people who had been completely mobilized, he was filled with mixed emotions.

There was shock, admiration, and a sense of enlightenment.

He began to actively cooperate with Zhu Dijun, using his imperial status in the capital to provide maximum support for the reforms in the south.

He dismissed all the officials in the capital who owned large tracts of land in Jiangnan, leaving them idle and without responsibility.

He withstood pressure from northern nobles and some civil officials, and continuously sent money and grain from the national treasury to the south to support land reform.

The two brothers, one in the south and one in the north, one in the open and one in the shadows, cooperated perfectly.

They are joining forces to drag the dilapidated ship of the Ming Dynasty onto a new, yet extremely dangerous, route.

Time flies by amidst such sweeping changes.

From the fifth year of the Jingtai reign to the twelfth year of the Jingtai reign.

Seven years is enough time for the whole world to change.

The old gentry and landlord class in Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian were completely swept into the dustbin of history.

Instead, tens of millions of self-sufficient farmers now own their own land.

Their "Hammer Party" has become the most powerful organization in the area, firmly controlling the grassroots government.

The taxes from the three provinces were no longer subject to intermediaries and were directly deposited into the national treasury with unprecedented efficiency, making the Ming Dynasty's finances more abundant than ever before.

The people of other provinces were also incredibly envious and wanted to be like the three provinces, but the current emperor, Zhu Qizhen, rejected their wishes for other reasons.

Zhu Dijun had already returned to Beijing from Nanjing.

He and his elder brother Zhu Qizhen jointly ruled the court.

One focuses on internal affairs, the other on external affairs.

One is responsible for deepening reforms, and the other is responsible for deterring troublemakers.

The Ming Dynasty presented a strange yet vibrant scene.

However, just when everyone thought that the brothers would usher in an unprecedented era of "dual rule by two emperors",

An accident occurred.

January of the twelfth year of the Jingtai reign.

Emperor Zhu Qizhen accidentally fell into the Taiye Pond in the Western Garden while admiring ice lanterns.

Although he was rescued in time, the freezing weather caused him to fall ill and never recover.

The news sent shockwaves through both the government and the public.

Everyone knew that the emperor's body had long been hollowed out in the Oirat Mongols and in the Southern Palace.

This fall into the water may have cost him his life.