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

That phrase, "Chenghua plows the court," carried no human emotion whatsoever. Like a chilling wind blowing from the depths of hell, it instantly froze the entire universe!

The moment the words were spoken, the chat in the entire [Modern Live Room] disappeared for a full three seconds.

Then, like a volcanic eruption, it boiled over completely!

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Sweeping away the enemy's stronghold! What the hell did I just hear?! Is this the 'sweeping away the enemy' I was thinking of?!"

[“Holy crap! Emperor Xianzong is too ruthless! Isn’t this just a variation of ‘Punish them no matter how far away they are’? No, this is much more ruthless than ‘Punish them no matter how far away they are’! This is wiping out the entire clan!”]

"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Tungusic boar hide, ravaging China for centuries, leaving behind so much blood and tears! Someone should have done this long ago! Emperor Xianzong, a true man!"

"Now I finally understand why the Qing dynasty wanted to smear him so vehemently when they were revising the History of Ming! It's like they dug up their ancestral graves! This is a huge grudge!"

"The Guarjia clan from the Spring Festival Gala wants to use a compound surname? Get the hell out of here! Look how Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty dealt with you scum! He slaughtered you all without leaving a single survivor!"

The excitement and fervor of modern audiences stem from national sentiments that have been suppressed for hundreds of years.

But what the emperors of ancient times felt was the chilling murderous intent behind those four words, an intent that made their souls tremble!

The Hongwu Era.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up from the dragon throne, his eyes wide open and gleaming with sharp light!

He stared intently at the back of his young great-grandson on the sky, his lips trembling, not from fear, but from extreme excitement!

"Well done...well done!"

"When we launched our northern expedition, we only drove the Mongol barbarians back to the grasslands. We never imagined that a descendant would dare to issue such an order of extermination against these barbarians!"

"This is the true bloodline of the Zhu family!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di stood with his hands behind his back, his murderous aura almost tangible.

He launched five northern expeditions throughout his life, and his strategy toward the grassland tribes was always to cripple, divide, and then re-incorporate them.

But the seemingly frail great-grandson on the sky chose the most extreme and thorough path!

"This boy... his murderous intent surpasses even mine!"

Zhu Di's voice was deep, yet carried a hint of barely perceptible approval.

The Chenghua Era.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, there was a deathly silence.

All the eunuchs and palace maids knelt on the ground, their breaths catching in their throats.

They could sense that the emperor on the dragon throne was no longer a person.

Instead, it is a peerless, deadly blade about to drink blood!

Wan Zhen'er held Zhu Jianshen's hand, only to find that his hand was so cold that it had no warmth at all.

She looked at his profile; his usually gentle face was now filled with an icy coldness.

She knew that the child who had been bullied in the cold palace for more than ten years had found an outlet for all the darkness, hatred, and murderous intent that had been building up in his heart at this moment!

Above the sky, Judy Jun's voice was like a war horn!

"Fellow family members, historical records show that the opposition from the civil service almost blew the roof off the Fengtian Hall!"

"They say this is against the natural order!"

"They said this move would waste public funds!"

"They say this is militarism and a waste of resources!"

But Zhu Jianshen silenced everyone with just one sentence!

In the scene, the young emperor coldly surveys the heartbroken ministers below.

"Are the lives of the people of my Great Ming Dynasty so worthless in your eyes?"

Or perhaps...

His voice suddenly turned stern!

"Is the leader of the Jianzhou bandits someone you gentlemen acquainted with?"

boom!

These are words that strike at the heart!

The entire court, both civil and military, fell silent, as if trembling with fear!

"The war was being propelled forward with unprecedented efficiency!"

"The 50,000-strong army, led by the renowned general Zhao Fu, marched down the mountain like tigers, heading straight for Jianzhou!"

"Upon receiving the imperial edict from the Ming Emperor ordering 'cooperation in battle,' King Yi Yu of Joseon dared not delay in the slightest, and mobilized the nation's elite troops to encircle the enemy from the east!"

The scene changes on the sky!

In the icy wilderness, amidst the white mountains and black waters, a fierce and massive encirclement and suppression operation has begun!

The Ming army's muskets spewed flames of death, while the Korean archers unleashed a rain of arrows!

This is not war!

This was a one-sided massacre!

Zhu Dijun's voice, devoid of any emotion, recounted that long-forgotten history.

According to Korean historical records, in this battle, the combined forces of the Ming Dynasty and Korea beheaded countless people and destroyed hundreds of Jurchen strongholds!

"Exterminate all tribes, regardless of age or gender!"

This is historically known as the Dinghai Campaign!

"After the war, the population of the entire Jianzhou Jurchen tribe decreased by seventy or eighty percent, and almost all able-bodied men were slaughtered! For the next hundred years, they were no longer able to pose any threat to the borders of our Great Ming!"

"This is the Chenghua Emperor's plowing of the court!"

"Use the cruelest knife to kill the fiercest dog! Break its spine, smash its teeth, and make it never learn to bark again, even after a hundred years!"

At this moment, the entire world erupted in chaos!

Everyone was completely shocked by Zhu Jianshen's almost insane and ruthless methods!

"Family members!"

Zhu Dijun's voice rang out again, "With this monumental achievement, the young emperor has finally firmly grasped military power back into his own hands!"

"Then, without hesitation, he turned the executioner's blade against the imperial court!"

Above the sky, golden characters, one after another, crashed down!

In the fifth year of the Chenghua reign, the emperor issued an edict to dismiss over 1,560 officials from both the central and local governments, citing excessive bureaucracy.

In the same year, the Emperor issued an edict, citing unfair taxation in the southeast, ordering the Ministry of Revenue to revise tax rates and impose heavy taxes on the gentry and powerful families of Jiangnan to supplement the national treasury!

[Starting in the sixth year of the Chenghua reign, the emperor repeatedly bypassed the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel, directly appointing trusted officials, a practice known in history as "appointing officials through succession"!]

"Did you see that, family?"

"Layoffs are severing the very foundation of the civil service!"

"Raising taxes is tantamount to confiscating the homes of civil servants!"

"Placing cronies in power is tantamount to seizing power from civil officials!"

"Every move is deadly, every strike draws blood!"

"Zhu Jianshen, using the prestige he gained on the battlefield, launched a war against the entire civil service!"

"And these scholars, cornered, finally revealed their most vicious and despicable side!"

Zhu Dijun's tone suddenly turned cold and sorrowful.

"Unable to defeat the emperor's army, they resorted to underhanded tactics, targeting the emperor's most vulnerable points!"

"The harem!"