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

"He has no military power whatsoever!"

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's last six words, like an iceberg, crashed into the heart of the Ming Dynasty.

In the fourth year of the Tianshun reign, at the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Qizhen, who had just been gloating over his series of swift and decisive actions, suddenly lost all color in his face.

No military power?

How is that possible!

He dealt with Yu Qian, exterminated Shi Heng's clan, promoted Cao Jixiang, and replaced the supervisors of the three major camps with his own trusted eunuchs! Shouldn't the entire capital be under his control?

This thought lingered in his mind for less than a moment.

Immediately, a bone-chilling cold surged up from my tailbone and shot straight to the top of my head!

He remembered.

The Marquis of Huichang, Sun Jizong, whom he had always deliberately ignored and even treated as "one of his own"!

That man who controlled the Five Armies Camp, his nominal maternal uncle!

And then there's Sun Tang! The commander of the Three Thousand Battalion who had always wanted to be transferred away from the capital but could never find a suitable excuse!

When he dealt with Yu Qian, the Sun family remained silent.

When his clan destroyed Shi Heng, the Sun family even helped to stir things up.

This gave him the illusion that the Sun family relatives were on his side, that they were allies who shared the spoils of victory with him!

He became arrogant.

He genuinely believed that he had cleared all obstacles.

Only now, when his descendants pointed it out to him, did he realize with horror that he had merely jumped from one tiger's mouth into another wolf's den!

Moreover, this wolf, disguised as "family," is more insidious and deadly than the previous tiger!

Cold sweat instantly soaked through his dragon robe.

Zhu Qizhen slumped on the dragon throne, feeling his limbs grow cold. An unprecedented sense of weakness and fear gripped his heart.

He wasn't without a knife.

Instead, his hand holding the knife had long been tightly bound by invisible threads used by the enemy!

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun seemed to sense the fear and bewilderment of this "God of War" emperor.

His voice carried a hint of historical desolation.

"Family members, I know you will ask, in such a vast Ming Dynasty, is it possible that apart from Shi Heng and those civil officials, there are no other military generals who can serve the emperor loyally?"

"have!"

Zhu Dijun's voice was resolute.

"And there used to be many!"

"Here, we must mention some names, some pillars of the state who truly supported Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen in maintaining his military power before the Tumu Crisis!"

The scene on the screen changed, and five powerful, murderous names appeared!

Marquis of Ningyang, Chen Mao

[Zhang Fu, Duke of England]

Duke Zhu Yong of Cheng

Marquis of Dingxi, Jiang Gui

Marquis Jingyuan, Wang Ji

"These five men were renowned generals who followed Emperors Chengzu, Renzong, and Xuanzong through countless battles, emerging from mountains of corpses and seas of blood! They were Emperor Yingzong's five sharpest blades in the early years of the Zhengtong reign!"

"However, the Tumu Crisis, and the subsequent series of political purges, broke these five sharp knives one by one!"

Zhu Dijun pointed to the first name.

"The Duke of Yingguo, Zhang Fu, and the Duke of Chengguo, Zhu Yong, are two people that you should be very familiar with."

"They died at Tumu Fortress."

"He didn't die from the Oirat's scimitars, but from the betrayal of his own people! He died in the despicable regicide massacre perpetrated by Yang Hong and his son!"

The scene of Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong's blood staining the yellow sand flashed by, and that tragic scene still makes countless people in all worlds sigh with regret.

"Their deaths mark the first and most devastating break in the imperial party's military clique!"

Zhu Dijun's finger slowly moved to the next name.

"Marquis of Ningyang, Chen Mao".

"This old general, due to his advanced age, was left in Nanjing, the secondary capital, to guard the city during the Tumu Crisis, and thus narrowly escaped the disaster."

"However, he escaped the executioner's blade, but not the purge by his political enemies!"

"After the Tumu Crisis, Yu Qian, Chen Xun, Wang Wen, and others seized control of the Beijing court. Their first act was to suppress Chen Mao, the only surviving core military general of the imperial faction, and kill him in Nanjing!"

"They used the excuse that 'the defense of Nanjing is of paramount importance' to refuse his return to the capital! They completely marginalized him!"

"This old general longed to return to the center of power in Nanjing, but he was never able to do so. Finally, in the first year of the Tianshun reign, which was the year Zhu Qizhen was restored to the throne, he participated in welcoming the emperor, but died of illness in the fourth year of the Tianshun reign."

"Unfortunately, Chen Mao's descendants did not inherit even half of his strength. Otherwise, how could Zhu Qizhen have allowed people like Sun Jizong to so easily control the Five Armies Camp?"

Every word was like a heavy hammer blow to Zhu Qizhen's heart.

Yes, Chen Mao... He came back, but he's old now, and his spirit has faded.

Zhu Dijun's voice continued without pause, pointing to the next name.

Marquis of Dingxi, Jiang Gui.

"This man is a true veteran of countless battles. He rose from a lowly soldier in Yanshan Guard to fight alongside Emperor Taizong (Zhu Di) through countless campaigns, including the conquest of Annam and the invasion of the Mongolian steppes, accumulating numerous military achievements!"

"Unfortunately, fate played a cruel trick on him. On the eve of the Tumu Crisis in the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong reign, this old general passed away from illness."

"His death meant that Zhu Qizhen lost another trusted and reliable veteran general before he could personally lead the expedition."

Finally, Judy Jun's gaze fell on the last name.

"Jingyuan Earl Wang Ji was also a veteran official of three reigns and had been on several expeditions, but he fought more in the southwestern border regions, far from the power vortex of the capital. During the Tumu Crisis, he was too far away to take action."

"But when he returned to the court, everything had changed."

Five names, five tragic stories.

At this moment, Zhu Dijun's voice became incredibly heavy.

"Family members, do you understand now?"

"Those who died in battle, those who succumbed to illness, those who were purged, those who were marginalized..."

"In the fourth year of the Tianshun reign, when Zhu Qizhen finally made up his mind to deal with his last enemy, he suddenly turned around and found..."

"Those veterans who were truly loyal to him and capable of fighting for him are all gone!"

"The entire imperial court, the entire Beijing garrison—the rest are either members of the Sun family, the imperial relatives, or pawns of the civil service!"

"So, that so-called 'Cao Qin Rebellion'..."

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly rose, filled with the tragic grandeur of a desperate gamble!

"Only Cao Jixiang, the eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial, and his nominal 'son' Cao Qin, stepped forward!"

"Because, looking at the entire Forbidden City, the entire capital of the Ming Dynasty!"

"The only people the emperor can trust and utilize are these people despised by the literati..."

"House slave!"