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

Judy Jun's profound question, like a pebble thrown into a lake, has stirred up ripples across time and space.

Cao Jixiang, the last "hero of the coup"?

This is almost an obvious answer.

[Modern Live Streaming Room]

The comments section had already started a frenzied prediction, but the direction took a surprising turn!

"No! It's definitely not Cao Jixiang! Cao Jixiang was just a eunuch, a knife! The real threat is someone else!"

"I get it! It's that vixen! Empress Dowager Sun! Sun Ruowei!"

"It's definitely her! From poisoning her own husband Zhu Zhanji at the beginning, to the Tumu Crisis and Jingtai's ascension to the throne, which time wasn't she behind the scenes pulling the strings? She even gave her approval to Zhu Qizhen's restoration! This woman is the one who's been hiding the deepest!"

"That's right! If Zhu Qizhen wants to truly seize power, he must overthrow this 'mother'! The fifth blow will inevitably be aimed at the Sun family, the powerful maternal relatives!"

"Don't forget, the God of War was written to have died of beriberi. If it were his son Zhu Jianshen who wrote the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong,' he would never have written his father that way! It must have been the Sun family group that later altered the history books after they came to power and joined the civil service group!"

The atmosphere in the live stream room was instantly brought to another climax.

Everyone pointed the finger at the woman who had served five emperors and seemed to have long since retired to the background—Empress Dowager Sun.

However, above the sky, Judy Jun simply picked up his water glass and took a sip.

The soft sound of him setting down his water glass carried clearly through the sky to all corners of the world.

"Family members, your thinking is half right."

Zhu Dijun's voice carried a hint of approval, but more of a correction.

"But I forgot to mention that Cao Jixiang was Wang Zhen's replacement. From beginning to end, he was one of Zhu Qizhen's own people, not Empress Dowager Sun."

"He is a knife, a knife that Zhu Qizhen used to cut Shi Heng. Now, this knife will also be used to cut a new enemy."

"Don't make wild guesses."

Zhu Dijun's eyes sharpened.

"You can believe the first half of the 'Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty' and the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong,' but the second half, starting from the Tianshun reign, is a carefully orchestrated affair—"

"【The Sequel to Tumu Fortress】!"

"Family members, have you forgotten the family of that vixen Sun Ruowei?"

"Where does Sun Ruowei's brother, Marquis of Huichang Sun Jizong, currently hold?"

Zhu Dijun's voice was like a heavy hammer, striking hard into everyone's heart!

"The Fifth Army Camp, the head of the Three Major Camps! It is jointly commanded by him and Shi Heng!"

"Shi Heng is down, so who will the Five Armies listen to now?"

"A single woman, even if she is the Empress Dowager, is not a threat. But a powerful group of relatives under the Empress Dowager's banner, commanding the most elite troops in the capital, is a different story!"

"If you don't even understand this, I don't recommend that you play time travel or AI simulations of real history. You'll get killed without even knowing why."

Zhu Dijun's words were like a bolt of lightning, cleaving through the fog of time and space!

The Hongwu Palace of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang's weathered face instantly turned ashen.

"A relative by marriage!"

Old Zhu squeezed out those two words through gritted teeth, each word carrying a chilling edge.

He slammed his hand on the dragon throne and abruptly stood up!

"We established these rules at the very beginning of our nation! The empress dowager is forbidden from interfering in politics! Relatives of the empress are forbidden from commanding troops!"

"That good-for-nothing! In order to deal with Shi Heng, he actually nurtured an even more deadly scourge!"

"Inviting wolves to drive away tigers! Inviting wolves to drive away tigers!"

Zhu Yuanzhang paced back and forth in the hall in anger, his chest heaving violently.

"No matter how arrogant Shi Heng is, he's still just a foreign subject! We have a million ways to deal with him!"

"But what are maternal relatives? They are imperial relatives! They are maggots that use the guise of 'kinship' to burrow into the very roots of our Zhu family! They are the root cause of the downfall of previous dynasties!"

"Foolish! Utterly foolish!"

At this moment, the eldest son stabbed his own father.

"Father, why will Sun Ruowei become Empress in the future? Isn't it because of your system? Choosing an Empress is based on commoner families, which gives the civil service group room to manipulate things. I'm afraid it's not just Gao Chi. If Xiong Ying hadn't died in the future, my second and third brothers' children would probably have faced the same situation."

"Oh, so you mean we laid the foundation for a chaotic harem era?"

"Hard to say"

Compared to Zhu Yuanzhang's fury, Zhu Di in the Yongle Hall appeared much calmer, but beneath that calmness lay an even more chilling aura.

"The art of checks and balances is a double-edged sword."

Zhu Di's voice was deep.

"Using relatives of the emperor to dilute the military power of the nobles was the fastest and most effective method at the time."

"But he didn't expect, or rather, he had to accept the consequence, that this newly fed wolf would be more greedy and more difficult to deal with than the previous hungry tiger."

Zhu Di's gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, landing on Zhu Qizhen, who had regained the throne.

"Because their surname is Sun."

"Because they are your maternal uncles, Zhu Qizhen."

"This relationship is both armor and shackles."

"I'd like to see how you're going to deliver that fifth blow. Don't forget, they betrayed you before!"

"The cut was too light; it didn't hurt at all."

"If you cut too hard, it's considered 'unfilial,' it's self-destruction, and public opinion will overwhelm you!"

Above the sky, Judy Jun seemed to hear everyone's thoughts, and he gave a cold laugh.

"Family members, do you now understand why historical records contain such absurd and laughable accounts as 'the eunuch Cao Jixiang plotted a rebellion and wanted to ascend the throne'?"

Then, two faces were posted in the live broadcast room: Cao Jixiang's effeminate face on the left and Sun Jizong, the Marquis of Huichang,'s seemingly honest face on the right.

The two faces, placed side by side, create an eerie contrast.

"Because the real enemy cannot be put on trial in the open!"

"You can't very well issue an imperial edict saying that your maternal uncle is plotting a rebellion, or that your mother's family is trying to seize the Zhu family's empire, can you?"

"That was not only a royal scandal, but a disaster that shook the very foundations of the nation!"

Zhu Dijun's voice became as cold and precise as a scalpel.

"Therefore, a reasonable reason and excuse are needed before taking action."

Then, the familiar routine started again.

"This led to the Cao Qin Rebellion in history. Just a reminder, Cao Qin was the son of Cao Jixiang."