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

That heart-wrenching cry of "house slave" struck the hearts of everyone in countless worlds like an invisible hammer.

Tragic!

despair!

The greatest tragedy of an empire is that it is forced to rely on a group of physically disabled eunuchs to launch a desperate charge.

Zhu Dijun did not speak immediately, giving all the audience enough time to process this heavy message.

He looked down at the faces beneath the sky, faces filled with anger, regret, or disbelief.

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice carrying a hint of cold mockery.

"Family members, don't you all think that even if an Empress Dowager is biased towards her own family, she shouldn't have driven the Emperor to this point?"

"Don't you think I exaggerated the story of that vixen Sun Ruowei and her powerful maternal relatives?"

A sinister smile curled at the corners of Zhu Dijun's mouth.

"That's because you have no idea just how vast and suffocating that web woven from 'family ties' and 'favors' truly is!"

"You think that 'benevolent' maternal uncle of Emperor Yingzong, Marquis of Huichang, Sun Jizong, only controlled the Five Armies Camp?"

"wrong!"

"He also concurrently managed the Rear Army Commandery!"

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly rose in pitch!

"The Five Armies Camps were the core infantry force of the three major camps in the capital! The Rear Army Command was equivalent to the modern-day Command of the Capital Garrison!"

"In other words, the entire ground garrison of the capital, both theoretically and practically, is firmly in the hands of this imperial brother-in-law!"

"That's not enough!"

"After Emperor Yingzong's restoration, that wicked woman, Sun Ruowei, under the guise of 'the merit of seizing the throne,' began a frenzied power grab!"

Above the sky, a complex web of relationships between characters suddenly unfolds!

Centered on Sun Ruowei, lines spread like venomous snakes, entangling every vital department of the Ming Empire!

"Emperor Yingzong's second maternal uncle, Sun Xianzong! His third maternal uncle, Sun Shaozong! Both held the official rank of Assistant Commander-in-Chief, a second-rank official!"

"Fourth maternal uncle, Sun Xuzong! Fifth maternal uncle, Sun Chunzong! Both held the official rank of Vice Commander-in-Chief, a third-rank official!"

"This isn't over yet!"

"Sun Lian, the son of Zhu Qizhen's maternal uncle Sun Jizong, has been appointed Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

"My uncle's two nephews are Imperial Guards with salaries!"

"My maternal uncle's son-in-law, Wu Zhong, is a paid member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

One name after another, one official title after another, like cold shackles, were constantly piled on Zhu Qizhen's body!

"Family members, do you understand now?"

"From the military power of the Beijing Garrison to the emperor's private guard, and then to the Jinyiwei, a secret service agency that monitors all officials and strikes fear into the hearts of all!"

"The Sun family has already completed a silent power grab!"

"Emperor Zhu Qizhen's sword, his shield, his eyes, and his ears were all firmly held in the grasp of his nominal 'family'!"

boom!

The Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up, and the dragon throne was pushed backward by his enormous force, making a screeching sound!

"You bastard!"

Old Zhu's eyes were filled with unprecedented rage and murderous intent!

"Our established rule is that relatives of the empress are not allowed to command troops! This is an ironclad law written into our ancestral precepts!"

"That Lady Sun! That vixen! What is she trying to do? Is she trying to emulate Empress Lü?!"

Yongle Hall.

Zhu Di's face was so gloomy it could drip water, and his knuckles cracked as he clenched them.

He never imagined that his grandson's empire would be ruined to this extent by a woman!

Sure enough, choosing Zhang as Gao Chi's wife was like inviting a wolf into the house. Damn it, should we change the ancestral rules?

Meanwhile, in the Xuande era, inside the Fengtian Hall.

"puff--"

Zhu Zhanji could no longer hold back and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which splattered red on the imperial desk in front of him!

"It was my fault..."

"It's my fault!!!"

His eyes were bloodshot, like a mad tiger, filled with endless regret and self-blame!

It's him!

It was he who, for the sake of so-called love, under the influence of his mother, deposed Hu Shanxiang, whom his grandfather had chosen, and personally helped Sun Shi to become empress!

He gave this woman honor!

He brought wealth and prosperity to this family!

But he never expected that the cause he planted with his own hands would yield such a vicious result!

His son, the heir he had placed so much hope in, was forced into becoming a prisoner by the woman he had chosen and her family! A puppet, less than a servant!

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice continued, like a knife repeatedly cutting into Zhu Zhanji's remorseful heart.

"Family members, what's even more ridiculous is that even so, Sun Ruowei's greed is far from satisfied."

"In the second year of the Tianshun reign, she even instigated Grand Secretary Li Xian to continue seeking official positions for members of the Sun family!"

The scene shows a conversation between Zhu Qizhen and Li Xian inside the Qianqing Palace.

The young emperor's face bore suppressed anger and deep weariness.

"Except for the Marquis of Huichang, all members of the Empress Dowager's family have already been granted marquis titles, and more than twenty of them are serving as officials in the court. Would it be excessive to grant them further titles?"

This sentence was clearly recorded by the historian!

This is Zhu Qizhen's protest! It is also his lament!

"Holy crap! More than twenty! More than twenty people from one family hold official positions in the court, and they're all in key positions in the military and the Embroidered Uniform Guard! This isn't just a powerful maternal relative; it's a state within a state!"

["Zhu Qizhen had it so tough! He said it so humbly! It's like he's pleading with the cabinet, 'My mother's family has enough people, please stop giving them to me.' Damn, being an emperor is so frustrating!"]

"I finally understand why he's going to war with the civil service! Because the cabinet is all in cahoots with the Empress Dowager! He's been sidelined!"

"Family members, Zhu Qizhen did put up a fight." Zhu Dijun's voice carried a hint of sympathy.

"In the same year, in May of the second year of the Tianshun reign, he ordered a thorough investigation into the private eunuchs kept in the homes of noble families and relatives of the emperor!"

"As a result, his uncle-in-law, Sun Jizong, 'voluntarily' stepped forward and confessed that he was keeping eighteen men in his household!"

"Look, he doesn't even bother to hide it! This is blatant protest!"

"Shortly afterward, his second maternal uncle, Sun Xianzong, was impeached by the censor for extorting money on the streets of Beijing. This time, Zhu Qizhen seized the opportunity!"

The scene shifts to a splendidly dressed marquis who has been stripped of his official robes, shackled, and paraded through the streets of the capital!

"Zhu Qizhen ordered that he be paraded through the streets as a public spectacle, and then exiled to Guizhou!"

"In the third year of the Tianshun reign, my third maternal uncle, Sun Shaozong, was again reported by Lu Gao, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, for embezzling official land and misappropriating state assets!"

"Knocking it down again and again!"

"Warnings time and time again!"

Zhu Dijun's voice became impassioned!

"Zhu Qizhen was using his remaining power to declare to that woman and to that powerful group of relatives of the empress—"

"Don't go too far!"

"The Zhu family has given you more than enough!"

"But..." Judy Jun's tone shifted, his voice turning cold again.

"Warnings are of no use to a pack of insatiable jackals."

"Every time you give in, it only makes them think you're weak and easily bullied!"

"Every time you strike, you'll only provoke a more frenzied counterattack!"

Finally, the year 4 of the Tianshun reign arrived, in October.

Above the sky, the scene shifts to the Western Garden of the capital.

The autumn wind is bleak, and the banners flutter in the wind.

The emperor who once lost everything at Tumu Fortress now stands before the army, clad in military attire and holding the reins himself!

His gaze swept over the young and unfamiliar faces.

He's training troops!

He was using this most direct and primitive method to try to wrest back the power that belonged to the emperor from the Sun family!

"This move completely tore away the last veil of warmth between the two sides."

"Because military power is the foundation upon which the Sun family's livelihood rests!"

"Zhu Qizhen's move to reclaim military power is to eradicate their roots and take their lives!"

"A decisive battle to the death is now inevitable!"