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

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice carried a chilling undertone.

In the scene, the once peaceful Hongzhi court now resembles a volcano about to erupt.

"Family members, Zhu Youcheng has regained military power in the Northwest, but this is only the first step."

"He knew all too well that having soldiers meant you could fight, but without food, those soldiers belonged to someone else."

Zhu Dijun tapped the screen and brought up a list of officials dismissed in the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign.

"In the latter half of that year, Zhu Youcheng went completely insane."

"He bypassed the Ministry of Personnel and issued several imperial edicts in succession."

"Grand Secretary Xu Pu, get out!"

"Qin Hong, the Minister of War in Nanjing, is going home to farm!"

"And then there's Liu Daxia, the Vice Minister of Revenue who burned Zheng He's voyage plans during the Chenghua era and was hailed as a 'great loyal minister' and one of the 'Three Gentlemen of the Hongzhi Era' by the civil service group—"

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"Zhu Youcheng didn't kill him; instead, he demoted him to the most remote and isolated place!"

"Zhu Youcheng's series of moves left the civil service group dizzy and disoriented."

"But his next step really stepped on the very tail of these people."

Screen switch.

Three eunuchs dressed in python robes—Mo Ying, Song Yu, and Liu Jing—led elite members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to the gates of the granaries in the capital and Tongzhou.

Zhu Dijun sneered, "The civil officials said that eunuchs were ruining the country, so when Zhu Youcheng first ascended the throne, he removed the eunuchs who were in charge of supervising the granaries."

"They said that honest civil officials could manage the food supply of the Ming Dynasty well."

"And the result?"

AI-simulated screen activated.

The heavy granary doors were slowly pushed open.

When the torch in Mo Ying's hand illuminated the interior of the warehouse, the audience throughout the entire universe held their breath.

Where is the grain?

That was a mountain of sand!

It's old, moldy rice that's turned black, smells bad, and has even grown green mold!

"Ten years ago, this place was full of grain."

"Ten years later, the accounts were still full, but the actual goods had all turned into silver in the pockets of civil officials!"

"The Tongzhou granary is the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty, the throat of the capital!"

"Zhu Youcheng looked at the secret report that Mo Ying sent back, and he sat on the dragon throne for three whole hours without saying a word."

The Hongwu Era.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face had turned bluish-purple.

He stared intently at the piles of sand, letting out a low, beast-like growl.

"Our food..."

"All the savings we worked so hard to build up, were just sold off by these beasts?"

"The removal of eunuchs ten years ago was so that they could steal grain with impunity for the next ten years!"

"What a 'righteous gentleman'! What a 'Hongzhi Restoration'!"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly turned around and looked at Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

"Biao'er, look at yourself carefully!"

"These are the civil officials you trust! This is the 'rule of ease' you desired!"

"They're not governing the country; they're ripping the Ming Dynasty dry!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di twisted the wine cup in his hand into a pretzel shape.

He's all too familiar with this tactic.

While soldiers bleed at the front, civil officials at the rear are selling off grain and fodder.

"Zhu Youcheng, kill them!"

"Strip all those in charge of the granaries, from top to bottom, of their skin and stuff them with straw!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice became low and sorrowful.

"Zhu Youcheng really wanted to kill."

"Mo Ying has already traced the corruption to several vice ministers in the Ministry of Revenue. If we follow the trail, the entire Jiangnan gentry will be dragged into this."

"But at this moment, the civilian government group unleashed their trump card."

"They discovered that intimidating the emperor was no longer effective."

"So they chose again—sacrifice."

In the picture, a four-year-old girl is chasing butterflies in the Imperial Garden.

That was Zhu Youcheng's only daughter, Princess Taikang.

She was Zhu Youcheng's darling, the only solace in this cold palace.

"On the first day of the tenth month of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign, Princess Taikang, aged four, died suddenly."

"There were no warning signs; I just drank a bowl of ordinary bird's nest porridge."

"When the child died, his small body was curled up, his lips were black, and his eyes were wide open, as if asking his father why it hurt so much."

Zhu Dijun's voice was choked with emotion.

"Zhu Youcheng held his daughter's body and sat in Kunning Palace for a day and a night."

"Empress Zhang was crying, the Empress Dowager was trying to persuade her, and the civil officials knelt on the ground outside, saying, 'The calamities that have befallen us are all because Your Majesty has shaken the foundation of the nation and disturbed the gods by investigating the accounts.'"

"Family members, listen to this! Is this even human language?"

"A four-year-old child was poisoned to death, and they say it's divine punishment!"

The [Modern Live Streaming Room] has completely exploded.

"You beast! You're a real beast! You didn't even spare a four-year-old girl!"

"The civil service bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty was simply the darkest political mafia in human history!"

"First kill the eldest son, then kill the only youngest daughter—this is driving Zhu Youcheng insane!"

"Zhu Youcheng, if you can tolerate this, you don't deserve the surname Zhu!"

The Chenghua Era.

Zhu Jianshen stared at his dead granddaughter, the murderous intent in his eyes solidifying into a tangible form.

"Wang Zhi!"

"Yes, sir!"

"I don't want to see those civil officials who audited the accounts alive anymore, nor do I want to see that steward in charge of the imperial kitchen alive."

"I will make them wish they were dead!"

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun wiped the corner of his eye, his gaze turning fierce.

"The civil officials thought that if they killed Princess Taikang, Zhu Youcheng would compromise as he did last time."

But they were wrong.

"This time, Zhu Youcheng neither cried nor got angry."

"He only came to the deepest part of the Qianqing Palace late at night after burying his daughter."

"There is a secret room there that has been sealed off for ten years."

He pushed open the door, looked at a shadow in the darkness, and said something.

"Is my sword rusted?"

"In the darkness, a deep, hoarse voice, yet one filled with boundless majesty, rang out."

"Your Majesty, this servant's knife has been sharpened daily with the blood of my enemies for the past ten years."

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the table.

"Family members, the Ming Dynasty's fastest swordsman, that war god eunuch described in history as 'Jingliang died'—"

"Wang Zhi is back!"

boom!

These two words were like a nuclear bomb dropped on a calm lake.

Throughout the myriad realms and timelines, all eyes were focused on that dark, secret room.

In the video, a middle-aged man slowly walks out.

He was dressed in a faded eunuch's robe, but his eyes were sharper and more unfathomable than they had been ten years ago.

Wang Zhi, 40 years old.

He had lost the arrogance of his youth, replaced by a deep, abyss-like tranquility.

"Wang Zhi...isn't dead?"

Zhu Di was stunned.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also stunned.

In everyone's mind, Wang Zhi was demoted to Nanjing in the late Chenghua period and then disappeared without a trace, much like Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty. Everyone thought he was dead. Zhu Dijun also mentioned earlier that Wang Zhi was dead.

"Family members, this is why I suspect that history books have been extensively revised."

According to the "Veritable Records of Emperor Xiaozong," eunuchs such as Wang Zhi and Liang Fang disrupted state affairs and were not given important positions.

"Most of the historical records we see, even the biography of Wang Zhi, say that Wang Zhi died in Nanjing during the Chenghua era."

"Then let's assume, based on the records in the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Xiaozong,' that eunuchs Wang Zhi and Liang Fang disrupted state affairs and were not given important positions, that Wang Zhi did not die, but was hidden away by Emperor Xianzong."

Zhu Dijun took out two portraits in the live broadcast room, one of Wang Zhi during the Chenghua period and the other of Wang Zhi in middle age as simulated by AI.

"We continue with our assumptions and inferences."

"How could someone as intelligent as Zhu Jianshen allow his sharpest weapon to break like that?"

"He hid Wang Zhi away, hidden him in the deepest recesses, as a final lifeline for his son!"

"Zhu Youcheng has known of Wang Zhi's existence for the past ten years."

"But he hasn't used it."

"Because he was initially a puppet, just like his father Zhu Jianshen, he didn't have much power and didn't dare to overturn the table. It wasn't until his eldest daughter and eldest son died in his arms that Zhu Youcheng felt it wasn't worth talking about benevolence and morality with this group of heartless civil officials; taking direct action was the best course of action."

The image generated by AI mapping.

In the scene, Zhu Youcheng stands in front of Wang Zhi. His face is as pale as paper, but his eyes reveal a resolute determination that could destroy the world.

"Wang Zhi, I want to inspect the granaries."

"Wang Zhi, I want to investigate the princess's death."

"Wang Zhi, I want all the civil and military officials in the court to never dare to speak loudly in front of me again!"

Wang Zhi knelt on one knee, his voice flat and devoid of any emotion.

"This servant obeys the decree."

"The Western Depot is to be restarted immediately."

That night, the wind in the capital seemed to carry the smell of blood.

Zhu Dijun's voice became impassioned.

"The reopened Western Depot is no longer the institution that only arrested a few minor officials."

"Wang Zhi's first strike was aimed directly at the Ministry of Revenue."

"He doesn't need evidence, because he himself is the evidence!"

"He led the Western Depot's elite guards and stormed into the residences of the civil officials who were involved in the resale of grain."

"There was no interrogation, no drafting of documents, only the sound of a embroidered spring knife piercing flesh!"

That night, the official road from Tongzhou to the capital was teeming with people!

"The civil service is panicked; they've completely gone mad."

"They discovered that the docile Zhu Youcheng was gone, replaced by a tyrant more ruthless than Zhu Jianshen and more cruel than Zhu Di!"

In the AI-generated simulation, Grand Secretary Liu Jian is seen pacing frantically in his study.

"They've gone mad! They've all gone mad!"

"Zhu Youcheng actually appointed Wang Zhi! Does he want to kill us all?"

"Since he is ruthless, don't blame us for being unjust!"

Judy Jun's voice became extremely sarcastic.

"Family members, watch carefully."

"At the last moment, the civil service group demonstrated their most powerful strength—marriage alliances and harems."

"They approached Empress Dowager Zhou, Empress Dowager Wang, and even Empress Zhang's family."

They told these women: "Wang Zhi is back, and all your shameful deeds from back then will be exposed!"

"Wang Zhi knows everything about your killing of the prince and poisoning of the princess!"

"If you don't want to die, kill the emperor first!"