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

The atmosphere in the live stream was extremely tense.

Zhu Dijun's voice was no longer passionate; instead, it carried a suffocating coldness.

"Family members, do you remember what I just said? The civil service is waiting for an opportunity to hunt us down."

"Zhu Youcheng thought that having a gun in his hand would allow him to sleep soundly."

"But he forgot that the entire palace had long been sifted through like a sieve by those women."

On the screen, time is frozen in October of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign.

The once magnificent Forbidden City was suddenly engulfed by towering flames.

The fire didn't start from somewhere else.

One of them is the Qingning Palace, where the Empress Dowager Zhou resided.

Another place is the Qianqing Palace, where the emperor lived!

"This fire was set off by such perfect timing and such ruthlessness."

Judy Jun pointed at the burning palace on the screen, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"History records say this was a natural disaster, a flood."

"But I tell you, this is a coup!"

"At the very moment the fire broke out, Li Guang, the eunuch of the Directorate of Palace Attendants whom Zhu Youcheng trusted most and who was also his core confidant in contacting foreign officials, died."

In the scene, Li Guang's body is hanging from the roof beam, his eyes wide open and his tongue sticking out, clearly indicating that he died with his eyes open in disbelief.

According to the "Ming Shilu", on the night of the fire, the Empress Dowager was furious, and Li Guang committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

"fart!"

Zhu Dijun slammed the documents in his hand onto the table.

"Li Guang was Zhu Youcheng's money bag and his mouthpiece against the civil officials."

"The Empress Dowager is angry? What is she angry about?"

"It was clearly the Zhou family, in collusion with Empress Dowager Wang and Empress Zhang, who took advantage of the chaos of the fire to have Li Guang strangled!"

"Killing someone isn't the end of it."

"The worst is yet to come."

On the screen, a blood-stained account book is held high by Grand Secretary Liu Jian.

Liu Jian's old face was etched with the ferocity of "sacrificing family for the greater good."

Standing next to him was Luo Ji, a compiler at the Hanlin Academy.

The two worked together to present this so-called "evidence" to Zhu Youcheng's desk.

"Family members, this is the famous 'List of Bribes Accepted by Li Guang'."

"The cabinet said that this was found in Li Guang's house, and it contained evidence of officials in and outside the capital bribing this dead eunuch."

"This is hardly a bribery record!"

"This is clearly a death list!"

Zhu Dijun pulled up the list of names, and the rows of red names were shocking.

"Duke Zhu Hui, the Protector of the State!"

"Marquis Gongshun, Wu Jian!"

"Marquis Li Xi of Fengcheng!"

"These eight are all meritorious military officers whom Zhu Youcheng has just promoted and is preparing to use to control the army!"

"Now let's look at the civil officials."

"Minister of Personnel Tu Yong, Minister of Revenue Zhou Jing..."

"Five ministers, plus more than fifty vice ministers and senior officials."

"These people have one thing in common—they are all 'Emperor's Party' members! They are all trusted confidants that Zhu Youcheng has painstakingly cultivated over the past few years!"

Liu Jian pointed his finger at the emperor and forced him to abdicate: "Your Majesty, these people are colluding with eunuchs, wreaking havoc on the court. According to the law, they should be executed; according to ancestral rules, they should be dismissed!"

Hongzhi Era.

Zhu Youcheng stared at the sky, trembling all over, his teeth grinding together.

He remembered that day.

The Qianqing Palace was still steaming, and before he could even drink a sip of water, Liu Jian and his men blocked him at the entrance.

They held the forged ledger in their hands, forcing him to sign it and to kill someone.

"So...it was fake..."

"It's all fake!"

Zhu Youcheng suddenly drew his long sword from his waist and slashed wildly at the table in front of him.

"My general! My minister!"

"Just because of this tattered ledger, you've all been wiped out!"

In that battle, Zhu Youcheng lost so badly he was left with nothing.

On the military side, Zhu Hui and others were stripped of their titles and dismissed from their posts.

In the imperial court, Tu Yong, Zhou Jing, and others were forced to resign.

The Hongzhi Restoration, which had just begun to show signs of improvement, was reduced to ashes overnight by this fire and this account.

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he paced back and forth in the Fengtian Hall, cracking his whip loudly.

"A wicked woman! A treacherous minister!"

"This isn't purging the court of corrupt officials; it's turning the emperor into a powerless commander!"

"More than fifty ministers, eight marquises and dukes, just like that, they're all dismissed?"

"Zhu Youcheng, is that sword in your hand just for show? Where's your Wang Zhi? Let him kill him!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun seemed to hear Zhu Yuanzhang's roar.

He shook his head, his tone sorrowful.

"kill?"

"Empress Dowager Zhou threatened to kill herself, and Empress Zhang tried to kill herself as well."

"If Zhu Youcheng dares to touch Liu Jian, these civil officials can pin the label of 'unfilial' on him."

"Although Wang Zhi was ruthless, he was still a servant. Faced with the Empress Dowager, he could only stare helplessly."

"In this round, the civilian government group has won a complete victory."

"And the mastermind behind all of this was none other than Empress Dowager Zhou, who served three emperors and controlled the harem for decades!"

The scene in the live stream suddenly turned eerie.

A portrait of an old woman was enlarged in the center of the screen.

With a kind and gentle face, he held prayer beads in his hands.

But according to Zhu Dijun's explanation, this face was even more terrifying than a vengeful ghost.

"Family members, let's delve into the story of this Empress Dowager Zhou once again."

Many people thought she was just an old lady who practiced vegetarianism and chanted Buddhist prayers.

"wrong!"

"She is the most venomous beautiful snake in the entire Ming Dynasty imperial harem!"

Zhu Dijun tapped his fingers on the keyboard, listing Zhou's "great achievements".

"First charge: Murdering her husband!"

"How did Emperor Zhu Qizhen, the legitimate emperor and also known as the God of War of the Ming Dynasty, die?"

"Historical records are vague and ambiguous."

"But considering all the signs, Zhu Qizhen wanted to depose Lady Zhou before his death, but she struck first! We've already mentioned this before."

"Second charge: Murder of one's son!"

"Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen, that was her own son!"

Why did Zhu Jianshen favor Consort Wan so much? Because he was afraid! He could only find a sense of security with Consort Wan. He wanted to make the first empress a puppet, and he did the same with the second one.

"Even so, when Wang Zhi first left the capital for Nanjing, he disappeared. Two different records emerged in later generations. One is the one I mentioned before, 'Jingliang died,' and the other is that he hid in Nanjing and then returned during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong."

"After Wan Zhen'er was murdered by her and Wang Shi, she had the imperial physician Liu Wentai prepare poison to kill Zhu Jianshen."

"Third charge: Murdering his grandson!"

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

"In order to preserve the wealth and status of the Zhou, Wang, and Zhang families, and to cooperate with the civil official group in controlling imperial power."

"She didn't hesitate to set fire to the palace, strangle her grandson's confidant, or drive her own grandson insane!"

Even tigers don't eat their cubs, this old woman is practically a black widow!

A certain parallel celestial timeline.

Zhu Qizhen, who was playing with a jade thumb ring, froze upon hearing this.

He slowly turned his head and looked towards the direction of the harem.

His hated Consort Zhou lived there.

"Kill me..."

"Kill Shen'er..."

"And they even want to harm my grandson..."

Zhu Qizhen's face changed from red to white, and then from white to green.

He smashed the jade thumb ring to pieces and let out a hysterical roar.

"Someone come here!"

"Drag that poisonous woman out here!"

"I'm not dead yet! How dare she plot against my empire?"

"Death! No... slow slicing!"

"Chop her entire Zhou family into pieces and feed them to the dogs!"

At this moment, what does it matter whether he is called the Gatekeeper Emperor or the Great Ming War God? None of that matters anymore.

Zhu Qizhen felt a chill run down his spine.

It turns out that after Xiao Qian (Empress Qian) died, he slept next to a serial killer who wanted to kill him every night!

Was Xiao Qian really killed by this vicious woman? Did he truly die in an accident?

On the screen above, Zhu Dijun's revelations continued.

"This old woman committed many evils while she was alive, and she still hasn't stopped after she's dead."

"Family members, do you know what disgusting thing she did?"

"Zhu Qizhen's first wife was Empress Qian, a virtuous empress. She cried until she went blind in one eye and even had her leg broken and crippled because of Zhu Qizhen."

"Logically speaking, after Zhu Qizhen's death, he should only be buried with Empress Qian."

"But this concubine, Lady Zhou, relying on the fact that her son and grandson were emperors, managed to relegate Empress Qian's coffin to a corner after Zhu Jianshen's death and after her death during Zhu Youcheng's reign!"

"She even had a wall removed from the tomb chamber and placed her own coffin to the left of Zhu Qizhen, in a position of honor!"

"And Empress Qian was isolated outside a cold stone wall, with the passageway leading to Zhu Qizhen's tomb blocked!"

"Emperor Zhu Qizhen loved Empress Qian the most and hated Lady Zhou the most during his lifetime."

"As a result, even centuries after his death, he was still haunted by this wicked woman every day, making it difficult for him to even see his first wife!"

The [Modern Live Stream Room] has completely exploded.

The barrage of comments flooded the screen like a torrential downpour.

"Holy crap! I'm so angry! This is shameless!"

"Empress Qian is so pitiful. She suffered while alive, and even in death she was bullied by a mistress!"

"This Zhou woman is absolutely despicable! She killed her husband, her son, and her grandson, and then she even tried to steal his grave!"

"The God of War may have a lot of questionable tactics, but when it comes to matters of the heart, he's unwavering in his affections towards Empress Qian. This time, he's been completely outmaneuvered by the Zhou family."

"Hey upstairs, this isn't just riding on someone's face, it's like dancing on a grave!"

"If the historical records are true, then the entire Ming Dynasty imperial family over these past few generations was ruined by this old woman."

A certain parallel spacetime.

Zhu Jianshen knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

He always thought his mother was strict because she wanted what was best for him.

It turns out that his fears and anxieties were real.

"Mother..."

Why are you so heartless?

"I am your own flesh and blood!"

Zhu Jianshen suddenly stood up, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"Wang Zhi!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Go to Qingning Palace."

"Burn everything that the Zhou family offered as tribute."

"From that day forward, the Empress Dowager... no, she set it ablaze, just as she would set her own palace on fire in the future."

Like Zhu Jianshen in other parallel universes, the Zhu Jianshen of this timeline chooses to kill ruthlessly, either by burning or drowning. The dead Empress Dowager Zhou is the good Empress Dowager Zhou.

But in the Hongzhi era.

Zhu Youcheng looked at the sky, feeling as if his soul had been ripped out.

He remembered when he was a child, Empress Dowager Zhou would kindly pat his head and give him candy.

He remembered the night of the fire, when the old lady cried and said, "What a misfortune for our family."

"It was all an act..."

"It's all fake..."

Zhu Youcheng gave a bitter laugh and spat a mouthful of blood onto the gold brick.

"My grandmother wants to kill me."

"My wife wants to end my lineage."

"My subjects are trying to seize my power."

"Being the emperor of the Ming Dynasty... is fucking boring!"

Zhu Dijun looked at Zhu Youcheng, who was utterly despondent on the screen, and a trace of pity flashed in his eyes.

"Family members, this is the truth about the Hongzhi era."

"A lie of a 'prosperous era' woven together by civil officials and the imperial harem."

"Zhu Youcheng's life was one in which he was completely exploited by this group of people."

"However, the heinous crimes of the civil official group colluding with the Empress Dowager Qian have not ended; this is only the beginning!"