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

The background music in the live stream became tense and urgent.

On the screen, amidst towering mountains, countless torches illuminated the night as bright as day.

The clanging of chisels, heavy breathing, and the cracking of the overseer's whip intertwined to create an extremely eerie scene.

Zhu Dijun's voice was chillingly cold, echoing through countless worlds and timelines.

"The time is still the beginning of the eighteenth year of the Hongzhi reign."

"The imperial inspectors and their trusted officials dispatched by Zhu Youcheng were frantically searching for the corrupt practices of the civil service in the local areas."

"At this very moment, Li Sui, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and Zhu Youcheng's most trusted confidant, sent back a secret report from Miyun County, northwest of the capital, which was extremely urgent."

On the screen, a tightly folded document, covered in dirt and sweat, was slowly unfolded.

"In Miyun County, there is a silver mine owned by the Ming Dynasty."

"According to the records of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty, this silver mine had long been depleted and was ordered to be sealed off for a hundred years, with no one allowed to mine it privately."

"But what did Li Sui see when he secretly led his men to Miyun County?"

Zhu Dijun's fingers pounded heavily on the screen showing the fiery scene.

"He saw that this silver mine, which should have been sealed off, was not only not shut down, but was brightly lit!"

"Hundreds of miners are working day and night at a frantic pace!"

"The gleaming silver was transported out of the mountains like flowing water, its whereabouts unknown!"

"What's even more frightening is that the local garrison soldiers responsible for guarding this area not only knew about this large-scale illegal mining but also failed to report it."

"They even took off their military uniforms, changed into civilian clothes, and personally participated, acting as supervisors and thugs for the illegal miners!"

boom!

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up straight, feeling a dizzying sensation and nearly falling to the ground.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao rushed forward to support his father.

"Father, please calm your anger!"

Zhu Yuanzhang shoved Zhu Biao aside, his finger pointing at the sky trembling violently.

"Embezzlement by the person in charge..."

"The garrison system we established was meant to ensure their defense of the country!"

"They actually dared to collude with outsiders to illegally mine the Ming Dynasty's silver mines!"

"These beasts! They're not digging up silver, they're digging up the very lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's eyes were sharp as knives, directly dissecting the chain of interests behind this silver mine case.

"Family members, hundreds of people are mining day and night, with the local garrison providing full support."

"Such a large-scale operation, with such a massive transfer of benefits, can a mere magistrate of Miyun County handle it?"

"How dare a mere garrison commander have such audacity?"

"Absolutely impossible!"

Zhu Dijun brought up the names of two people on the screen, enlarging them in bold, blood-red font.

"Judging from this incident, two high-ranking officials of the second rank in the imperial court are absolutely involved!"

"The first one is Liu Daxia, the Minister of War!"

"The garrison is corrupt, and officers are involved in smuggling and illegal mining. As the supreme commander of all the troops in the land, is he blind?"

"The second one is Qin Hong, the Minister of Revenue!"

"The archives of the state-owned silver mines, which were sealed up and suppressed in his Ministry of Revenue, have now been blatantly emptied. How dare he, the steward of the nation's purse strings, claim to know nothing about it?"

"Even if these two didn't directly take the money, they are definitely the protectors of this shocking mining robbery!"

Inside the modern live stream room, the viewers' anger was completely ignited.

"Incredible! The Ministry of War handles security, and the Ministry of Revenue handles accounting—this is a complete one-stop service!"

"That beast Liu Daxia, who burned the nautical charts, has never done a single human thing!"

"These people, who turned the nation's silver mines into the private property of their civil service clique, deserve to have their entire families executed!"

Zhu Dijun sneered and continued to push forward the course of history.

"Faced with this irrefutable secret report, Zhu Youcheng finally lost his temper."

"Under his rigorous investigation, the civil service's defenses began to collapse completely."

"Liu Daxia, the Minister of War, was stripped of his real power. Although he retained the title of Minister, he was strictly forbidden from attending court and participating in government affairs."

"Qin Hong, the Minister of Revenue, was directly impeached by the censors and was sent home in disgrace to farm."

"Zhu Youcheng's knife is finally at the neck of the entire civil service group."

The scene switches to the cabinet in the capital.

In the dimly lit duty room, several of the highest-ranking civil officials of the Ming Dynasty gathered together, their faces pale, as if they had lost their parents.

"Family members, faced with the emperor's decisive attack, will these civil officials simply surrender?"

"Of course not!"

"They once again resorted to their ancestral tactic, which they've used countless times but never failed—a mass resignation, using the principle of 'the law doesn't punish the masses' to force a resignation!"

On the screen, resignations flew towards the Qianqing Palace like snowflakes.

"Including Grand Secretary Li Dongyang!"

"Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng!"

"Wang Yan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue!"

"Zhang Da, Vice Minister of Works!"

"All the core officials of the six ministries and nine ministerial offices requested their resignation and dismissal on the grounds that they had been impeached by censors and that their reputations had been damaged!"

Zhu Dijun's voice echoed in the hall, carrying endless sarcasm.

"They're gambling!"

"I bet Zhu Youcheng wouldn't dare to completely empty the entire Ming Dynasty court!"

"I bet Zhu Youcheng, this 'benevolent ruler,' cannot bear the infamy of bringing chaos to the world!"

The emperors of all realms and timelines held their breath.

Zhu Di gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his eyes fixed on the screen.

"Approval is fine!"

"Zhu Youcheng, you have approved their resignations for me!"

"Get them all out of here! Three-legged toads are hard to find in the Ming Dynasty, but there are plenty of two-legged scholars who want to be officials!"

"As long as you approve it, drive them out of the capital, and have the Imperial Guards slaughter them all on the way, then the Ming Dynasty will be clean!"

However, the scene on the sky plunged all the emperors who had longed for ruthless and powerful rule into utter despair.

Zhu Youcheng sat before his desk, looking at the mountain of resignations.

He hesitated.

He sighed.

Finally, he picked up a vermilion pen and wrote the words "please retain" on those resignation letters.

Zhu Dijun's face turned ashen at that moment, and he cursed at the screen without any mercy.

"Here, I personally want to strongly condemn the utter folly of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youcheng!"

"He's too concerned about saving face!"

"He only considered the so-called 'face of the imperial court' and did not approve these bastards' resignation requests!"

"He actually thought that as long as Liu Daxia and Qin Hong were driven away, the remaining people would be grateful and obedient!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the table, the sound deafening.

"Utterly foolish!"

"He's already tasted the bitter fruit of the palace coup in the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign!"

"During those four years of losing power, he couldn't even protect his own children; he was reduced to a mere rubber stamp!"

"Any emperor with any sense of justice would have seized this opportunity to exterminate the Zhang family and their entire extended family, completely severing the ties between the cabinet and the harem!"

"He completely forgot that just a few months ago, when he had his subordinates impeach the Zhang brothers, he had already completely severed ties with the imperial harem!"

"Why did things turn sour? It's because Emperor Xiaozong wanted to take back the salt permit privileges given to his maternal relatives. You have to understand, whether in ancient or modern times, the salt business is highly profitable! Abolishing the salt permit privileges is no different from confiscating property."

"That's one of them. The second is that the Zhang brothers controlled the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It can be said that Emperor Xiaozong placed his life and death in the hands of others, once again repeating the foolishness of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign!"

"This is a fight to the death, and he's still thinking of leaving himself an escape route?"

Zhu Dijun pointed to Zhu Youcheng's tired face on the screen, his tone full of sorrow for his misfortune and anger at his lack of ambition.

One wrong step leads to another!

"Mercy misplaced is cruelty to oneself and to the empire!"

"Zhu Youcheng's concessions not only failed to earn the gratitude of the civil service group, but also allowed them to see through the emperor's weakness and bottom line."

"Shortly after he refused to resign."

"The bowl of poison, carefully prepared by the imperial physician Liu Wentai and personally served by Empress Zhang, was brought to his lips."

"He paid the price for his 'decency' with his own life."

"It's completely harmful to both yourself and others!"

"He kicked the bucket, leaving behind a mess for the fifteen-year-old Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao: a power grab by his maternal relatives, factionalism among civil officials, and a system riddled with problems!"