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

In the sky, Zhou's heavy coffin was buried under yellow earth.

Zhu Youcheng stood in the wind, his originally slender back now exuding a weight as heavy as a mountain.

Zhu Dijun's voice rang out in the live broadcast room, carrying a kind of suppressed wildness.

"Family members, even a monkey can turn over if a mountain has been pressing down on it for too long, let alone an emperor!"

"The first thing Zhu Youcheng did after the old hag died wasn't to mourn, but to draw his sword!"

On the screen, the scene suddenly shifted to Shaanxi.

Zhu Youcheng's first step in his counterattack was still the same tactic his father, Zhu Jianshen, had taught him—to regain military power.

"Liu Yun, the supervising eunuch who was stationed in Shaanxi, was arrested by the West Depot outside the Meridian Gate on the very day he returned to the capital to report for duty, without even entering the gate of the Qianqing Palace."

"Immediately afterwards, Qin Hong, the Minister of Revenue who was in charge of military affairs in the Northwest, was directly transferred back to the capital by imperial decree."

"Zhuang Jian, the General of Datong, was dragged out of bed by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and escorted to the capital overnight for questioning because he embezzled military funds."

Zhu Dijun's finger traced a sharp arc across the screen.

"Zhu Youcheng acted too quickly. Before the civil service group could recover from the grief of Zhou's death, half of the fence in the Northwest had been torn down."

"As Zhu Youcheng's investigation into the military affairs of the Northwest deepened, those corrupt officials who usually spouted benevolence and morality finally couldn't sit still any longer."

"They discovered that the hole in the Northwest was so large that it could not be patched up no matter what."

"And so, the classic tactic that the Ming Dynasty had used for a century was used once again."

In the video, flames soar into the sky over Shaanxi in the dead of night.

That was the largest granary in Shaanxi – the Juji Granary.

Thick black smoke shot straight into the sky, and mournful shouts echoed through the night.

"In the seventeenth year of the Hongzhi reign, a fire broke out at the Juji Granary in Shaanxi."

Official report: A fire dragon descended to earth, burning over 49,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain!

Zhu Dijun looked at the screen and let out an extremely sarcastic laugh.

"My family, forty-nine thousand shi! That's more than half a year's worth of rations for the garrison in the Northwest!"

"Just like that, it was swallowed up by a 'fire dragon'?"

Inside the [Modern Live Stream Room], the barrage of comments erupted like a volcano.

"Not again? Another firestorm?"

"Back in the time of Zhu Qizhen, the Great War God of the Ming Dynasty, investigating the accounts of Shanxi was like a fire dragon burning down the granary. Have these civil officials run out of new scripts?"

"Whose fire dragon only eats grain and not wood? Is this fire dragon probably surnamed Wen?"

"Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! This isn't just burning a granary, it's burning the very lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty!"

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was so black it looked like ink could drip from it.

He stared intently at the raging flames in the sky, his whip shattering the floor tiles.

"A fire dragon?"

"I've been emperor my whole life, and I've never seen a fire dragon that could burn 50,000 shi of grain!"

"These beasts, do they think Zhu Youcheng is easy to fool, or do they think all the descendants of the Zhu family are blind?"

Zhu Yuanzhang turned to look at Zhu Biao, his voice as cold as a knife.

"Biao'er, remember this: if the granary catches fire, every official in charge of the grain, from top to bottom, must be killed. There will be absolutely no wrongful convictions!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di laughed wildly in the main hall, his laughter filled with murderous intent.

"Great! Well done!"

"I want to see if Zhu Youcheng will be so frightened by this 'fire dragon' that he'll shrink back, or if he'll simply throw the arsonist into the fire!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice became more impassioned.

"If it were four years ago, Zhu Youcheng might have compromised, might have shed a couple of tears over that pile of ashes, and then issued an edict of self-reproach."

"But now, he won't."

"In these four years, he experienced the pain of losing his son, the despair of his children being poisoned, and the humiliation of being treated like dirt by his maternal relatives."

"He is no longer the gentle and refined 'benevolent ruler'; he is Zhu Jianshen's son, a descendant of Zhu Di!"

"When Zhu Youcheng saw the memorial about 'the fire dragon burning the granary,' he tore it up on the spot!"

"He doesn't believe in God; he only believes in the rusty but still sharp knife in his hand!"

In the scene, Zhu Youcheng is in the Qianqing Palace, facing a secret report from the Western Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, his eyes as cold as ice.

"check!"

"Investigate this thoroughly!"

"Anyone who dares to stop me will become that fire dragon!"

Judy Jun displayed a long list on the screen.

"As the investigation deepened, a corruption network covering the entire northwest of the Ming Dynasty came to light."

"Those involved include: Zhang An, General of Shaanxi; Liu Bao, the eunuch in charge of the garrison; Song Ying, the military commander; Ding Yi, the provincial judicial commissioner; Chen Shou, the governor and censor-in-chief; Shi Jian, the provincial administration commissioner..."

"From the 'Three Beasts of the Hongzhi Era' in the capital to the civil and military officials in the provinces, and even the supervising eunuchs sent by the emperor, they are all rotten to the core!"

"This is the report card these 'upright gentlemen' have handed in during the four years since Zhu Youcheng lost power!"

Just as the two sides were deadlocked, the northwestern border was once again in crisis.

The Tatar prince, seeing the internal turmoil in the Ming Dynasty, led his army to raid the border.

General Zheng Yu of Datong was killed in battle.

"The opportunity has arrived."

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the table.

"Using the pretext of 'critical border situation,' Zhu Youcheng demanded that 30,000 elite troops be selected from the capital, with generals personally appointed by him, to march into the Northwest!"

"Once these 30,000 men reach the Northwest, Zhu Youcheng will be able to regain control of the border defenses and settle all those unresolved accounts one by one!"

"As expected, those three old foxes, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, jumped out to strongly oppose it."

"They said things like 'the Beijing army should not be moved lightly' and 'the northwest has its own garrison.'"

"They knew better than anyone that if the mess in the Northwest were investigated, none of the four of them would keep their heads!"

The Hongzhi Era of the Ming Dynasty.

The obstruction from the civil service reached its peak.

Liu Jian knelt outside the Qianqing Palace, his forehead bleeding from kowtowing, repeatedly proclaiming that he was doing this for the "foundation of the nation."

Zhu Youcheng sat on the dragon throne, coldly looking at the prime minister he had once trusted most.

He suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but it felt like a heavy hammer blow to Liu Jian's heart.

"Grand Secretary Liu, are you afraid that my 30,000 troops will disturb that fire dragon?"

Liu Jian froze, his back instantly soaked with cold sweat.

"Family members, listen carefully!"

Zhu Dijun's voice became extremely excited.

"Zhu Youcheng's next move was a textbook example of a counterattack!"

"He no longer issues orders through the cabinet; he bypasses the three Grand Secretaries directly!"

He summoned back Li Sui, Vice Minister of Works, Wu Yiguan, Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and Cong Lan, Councilor of the Court of Transmission, who were on inspection tours outside the country, overnight.

"These three people were the last bit of 'conscience' he selected from the civil service."

"Zhu Youcheng summoned them to the Qianqing Palace late at night, and without any preamble, said only one sentence: 'Go to the Northwest and help me protect my home!'"

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Youcheng issued an appointment that suffocated the entire civil service.

"The Grand General of the Army will be Zhu Hui, the Duke of Baoguo!"

"His left and right deputies are Li Jun and Shen Ying!"

"These three men were all staunch members of the 'Emperor's Party' who were forced to step down during the coup in the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign!"

"They harbor a deep-seated hatred for the civil service and for their relatives by marriage!"

"Zhu Youcheng returned the knife to the hands of these avengers!"

Zhu Dijun took a deep breath, his tone resolute.

"What's even more remarkable is that Zhu Youcheng has completely lost trust in the Ministry of Revenue."

"He directly issued an edict that the Ministry of Revenue would no longer be responsible for supplying provisions to the 30,000 troops in the Northwest."

"Instead, it was directly taken over by Yan Zhongyu, the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and others!"

"This tactic is called 'cutting off the fuel supply from under the cauldron'!"

"Don't you like burning down warehouses with fire? Don't you like tampering with the ledgers?"

"Then I'll just cut off your arms and legs and replace them with my own eyes!"

In the scene, the three veteran generals, Zhu Hui, Li Jun, and Shen Ying, knelt down in front of Zhu Youcheng the moment they received the imperial decree.

They didn't speak, but their clenched fists were trembling incessantly.

That was the fear that had been suppressed for years.

"Family members, the winds of change have shifted in the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Dijun stared at the screen, his eyes gleaming with fervent light.

"Zhu Youcheng finally understood a principle: to talk about morality with these hooligans is to court death."

"Only by using a knife can we make them understand what an imperial edict is!"

"This round, Zhu Youcheng is going to flip the table!"