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

The blood-red data charts on the live stream screen gradually faded away, replaced by a portrait of Zhu Youcheng in his middle age.

At this moment, his eyes held less of that clear naiveté and more of that gloomy depth.

Zhu Dijun took a sip of water to moisten his throat, which was still hoarse from yelling, and his voice lowered.

"Family members, we just gave Zhu Youcheng a thorough dressing down."

"Many people think he was a complete tyrant, a fool who was sold out and still helped the seller count the money."

"But people grow, especially those in that position who face countless subtle attacks every day. Even a pig will grunt after being stabbed too many times."

"The fifth year of the Hongzhi reign was a watershed moment for the Ming Dynasty's finances, and also the beginning of Zhu Youcheng's mental breakdown."

"Because he received a special memorial."

A crumpled document stained with dried blood popped up on the screen.

"This memorial was not submitted through the Office of Transmission, because the cabinet would have withheld it."

"This was a border soldier who risked his life to sneak into the capital and slipped into the purchasing eunuch's basket before finally reaching Zhu Youcheng!"

The memorial contained only one sentence: "The border troops have no food and are resorting to cannibalism; Your Majesty's funds have not even reached one-tenth of the total!"

boom!

This statement was like a heavy hammer blow, shattering the carefully woven lie of a "prosperous age" by the civil service.

Zhu Youcheng of the Hongzhi era stared intently at the blood-stained memorial on the sky.

He remembers!

That night, he sat in the Qianqing Palace all night.

He looked at the report on "abundant national treasury" presented by Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue, and then at the blood-stained memorial.

He felt like a clown.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun let out a cold laugh.

"Zhu Youcheng has finally woken up."

He realized that the group of civil officials in the court, who were full of benevolence and righteousness, were eating his flesh and drinking the blood of the Ming Dynasty.

"But what can he do?"

"Turning against him outright? Military power is in Ma Wensheng's hands, and the secret police are in the hands of civil officials. He doesn't even have a weapon to kill!"

"Therefore, the emperor, who had been driven to the brink of despair, thought of his father, the Chenghua Emperor Zhu Jianshen."

He decided to copy the homework!

The scene shifts, and the gates of the Qianqing Palace are tightly closed.

Outside the door, Grand Secretaries Xu Pu and Liu Jian were pacing anxiously, but were blocked by several eunuchs.

"His Majesty has decreed that I must practice Taoism and pray for blessings within the palace, and will not see any officials from outside the capital!"

"Family members, listen to this excuse."

"Cultivation?"

"Is Zhu Youcheng practicing Taoism? He's just seeking peace and quiet!"

"He knew he couldn't win the debate against these seasoned veterans who had spent their lives in school, and he also knew that the proper procedures wouldn't work."

"So he simply followed his father's example and started the 'sending officials' system!"

"He bypassed the cabinet's review process, going directly to the outer court to discuss state affairs with the eunuchs around him!"

A certain parallel spacetime.

Zhu Jianshen looked at the sky, and his tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed.

He exhaled a long breath, and tears even welled up in his eyes.

"Good lad..."

"Finally, I get it!"

"When I refused to see my ministers, they criticized me for being incompetent and lazy."

"But little do they know, if I saw them every day, the Ming Dynasty would have been completely fooled by them long ago!"

"My son, you must remember that eunuchs are household slaves. Although they are greedy, they still rely on the imperial power to survive."

"Those civil officials are the outsiders; they're the ones who want to cage imperial power!"

"You made the right move!"

On the screen above, Zhu Dijun continued his commentary, his pace quickening, with a sense of triumphant retaliation.

"Zhu Youcheng went into hiding for a full four years."

"During these four years, he appeared to be engrossed in religious ceremonies, but in reality, he was secretly accumulating power and looking for an opportunity."

"In February of the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, the opportunity arrived!"

"The former Minister of Personnel, Geng Yu, that honest man who was ostracized by the civil service group, has passed away."

"The Minister of Personnel, that's a high-ranking official! He's in charge of the promotion of officials; the position is extremely important!"

"The cabinet had already prepared a list, ready to replace it with one of its own people."

"But this time, Zhu Youcheng simply threw the cabinet's draft proposal into the trash!"

"He issued an imperial edict, directly appointing his confidant, Tu Yong, as the new Minister of Personnel!"

In the scene, Tu Yong kneels before the palace, and Zhu Youcheng personally helps him up, his eyes full of expectation.

"Then, in April of the same year..."

"The culprit who devised the 'compensation system' and emptied the national treasury was Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue."

"Zhu Youcheng found an excuse and kicked him away!"

"Go back to your hometown!"

"His successor is Zhou Jing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue!"

"Family members, do you remember who Zhou Jing is?"

"That's the tough guy who supported Zhu Youcheng's decision to take a concubine, and ended up having the Ministry of Rites burned down by Ma Wensheng and others, and even being flogged!"

"Zhu Youcheng hasn't forgotten him!"

"It was September of the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign."

"With this series of combined moves, the situation in the court was instantly reversed."

"Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Works!"

"Of the six ministers, only Ma Wensheng, the 'unshakeable' one who holds military power, is too difficult to touch."

"The remaining five departments were all replaced by Zhu Youcheng's own people!"

"That once timid and subservient puppet emperor has finally shown his fangs!"

Inside the modern live stream room, the chat was filled with cheers.

"That feels great! That's more like it! I've been holding back for so long, and now I've finally exploded!"

"That old scoundrel Ye Qi is finally gone! It's a pity we didn't kill him!"

"Zhu Youcheng is quite capable; this move has a bit of his father's style."

"Zhou Jing's suffering has finally paid off; all those beatings weren't for nothing!"

Zhu Dijun looked at the screen full of "爽" (shuang, meaning awesome/satisfying), but there was no smile on his face.

Instead, it revealed a kind of cruel compassion.

"Was it good?"

"It was really awesome."

"But family members, you have forgotten an ironclad rule of the Ming Dynasty."

"An emperor who wants to seize power will have to pay a price."

"Especially when your opponents are a group of political creatures with no bottom line."

"Since they couldn't defeat you in the previous dynasty, they'll extend their reach into your backyard."

"Reach out to your softest, most vulnerable spot!"

The image on the screen suddenly went dark.

It was a suffocating black.

A line of pale white handwriting slowly emerged, carrying a chilling, bloody aura.

In the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Houwei, passed away.

"Family members."

Who is Zhu Houwei?

"He was Zhu Youcheng's eldest son and the rightful heir to the Ming throne. If Zhu Houwei were alive, the throne would have been his, compared to the future Ming Wuzong Emperor Zhu Houzhao."

"In the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, he was only three years old."

A picture of a beautifully sculpted little boy appeared on the screen, holding a small rattle drum and smiling innocently.

"It was in the same month that Zhu Youcheng had just seized control of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel after he had been ruling the previous dynasty with great force."

"This child has suddenly become 'sick'."

"There were no symptoms, no cold, and no food poisoning."

"One afternoon, he suddenly collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, and his whole body was convulsing."

"By the time the imperial physician arrived, the child was already cold."

Judy Jun's voice trembled, a suppressed rage.

"Does this script look familiar?"

"It looks so familiar!"

"Emperor Jingtai, Zhu Qiyu, was about to establish a crown prince when his son, Zhu Jianshen, died."

"Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen, was just about to assume personal rule when his eldest and second sons died suddenly one after another. Zhu Youcheng was hidden away by Lady Wang and his mother, Empress Dowager Zhou, and used as a puppet."

"Now, it's Zhu Youcheng's turn."

"As long as the emperor wants to hold power, as long as the emperor wants to break free from the control of the civil service."

"His son must die!"

boom!

In countless worlds and timelines, the lungs of countless emperors were about to explode with rage.

In the Hongwu era, Zhu Yuanzhang kicked the table in front of him, shattering it into pieces, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

"You beast! You beast!"

"That's a three-year-old child! That's a member of our Zhu family!"

"How could they do that? Don't they have any humanity?!"

"Investigate! Investigate! Find out who did it!"

"We'll tear him to pieces! We'll throw his entire family into a vat of boiling oil!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's eyes were as cold as ice.

"Who did this?"

"History records say it died young."

"But family members, let's take a look at the layout of the harem at that time."

"Zhu Youcheng favored Empress Zhang exclusively, making the harem a united front."

"Outsiders have no way of getting involved."

"The only person who could kill the eldest prince at this time without anyone noticing is someone who has free access to the inner palace and wields immense power."

Three portraits of women slowly appeared on the screen.

In the middle is Empress Zhang.

On the left is Empress Dowager Wang.

On the right is Empress Dowager Zhou.

"Empress Dowager Zhou was the champion of palace intrigue during the Chenghua era. Even Consort Wan had to give her some leeway back then."

"Empress Dowager Wang, although Zhu Youcheng's birth mother was Lady Ji, this stepmother always firmly controlled the power of discourse in the harem."

"And Empress Zhang..."

Zhu Dijun paused, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"This virtuous empress was said to be deeply in love with the emperor."

"Just when her husband had regained power in the previous dynasty and was preparing to make great strides."

"Her son is dead."

"Family members, there is a chilling logic behind this."

What does Zhu Youcheng's rise to power mean?

"This means that the Zhang family, relatives of the emperor, will have to restrain themselves, and it means that the civil service group will lose power."

"If Zhu Youcheng had a grown-up prince, his throne would be as secure as Mount Tai, and he could purge the court without any scruples."

"But what if...he doesn't have a son?"

"Or perhaps his son died under mysterious circumstances?"

"Then he will always have a weakness, always have a sore spot."

"He will fall into self-doubt, believing that he is 'morally deficient' and that God is punishing him for his 'dictatorial behavior'!"

"This is called—attacking the heart!"

"The ones who took action were the women's alliance in this harem!"

"They represent not only the imperial harem, but also the vast civil service interest group of the previous dynasty!"

"The death of his eldest son, Zhu Houwei, completely extinguished Zhu Youcheng's newly ignited fighting spirit!"

A certain Hongzhi era.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, there was a deathly silence.

Zhu Youcheng slumped to the ground, staring blankly at the dead child in the sky.

That's his Wei'er!

That day, he had just dismissed Ye Qi in the imperial court and returned to the inner palace excitedly, wanting to hug his son.

What they found was a cold, lifeless body.

Empress Zhang cried her heart out, while the Empress Dowager wept beside her.

Everyone told him that the child was unlucky and that it was a warning from heaven.

He believed it.

He actually believed it!

He thought he had been punished by heaven for his excessive killing.

From then on, he never dared to implement sweeping reforms again, nor did he dare to confront the civil service group head-on.

original……

It turns out that what killed his own son was not heaven, but man!

It's the person sleeping next to you on your pillow!

She is the one I respect as my mother!

"ah--!!!"

Zhu Youcheng let out a piercing scream, like a wounded wild beast.

He suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of Kunning Palace not far away.

The woman he loved and doted on his entire life.

Even though her descendants said that Zhang was a cuckold and that she was being cuckolded, she was still the most favored person.

At this moment, in his mind, it transformed into a blue-faced, fanged demon.

Why...?

"Why are you treating me like this!"

"I have bestowed upon your Zhang family immense wealth and unparalleled glory!"

"Why did you kill my son!"

"puff--!"

He spat out a mouthful of black blood and fell backward.

In modern live streaming rooms, the chat is completely flooded with anger.

"I threw up! I really threw up! Is this the virtuous empress described in history books?"

"She even killed her husband's only son; does she even care about the foundation of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Upstairs, this is clearly a political assassination! For the sake of the family's interests, and it's not even their own son. What is a son born to another palace maid?"

"Empress Dowager Zhou was a ruthless woman indeed. She caused trouble during the Tianshun reign, the Chenghua reign, and even the Hongzhi reign!"

"The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were so pitiful. They were betrayed by civil officials in the court and by their wives in the harem. Their very existence was a tragedy."

Zhu Dijun stared at the screen and coldly concluded:

"Zhu Houwei's death completely shattered Zhu Youcheng's newly straightened spine."