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

The Hongwu Era.

The Fengtian Hall was deathly silent.

All the civil and military officials knelt on the ground, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat upright on the dragon throne.

He didn't roar or smash anything.

He simply gazed quietly at the sky above.

Looking at that glaring number of casualties.

Looking at his future great-grandson, who was only fifteen years old and had been threatened by the civil service with the blood of three thousand soldiers.

The air pressure inside the main hall was terrifyingly low.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao stood to one side, his back soaked with cold sweat.

He knew his father too well.

Even when Zhu Yuanzhang was enraged, he still retained some rationality.

This eerie calm often foreshadows a bloody storm capable of upending the entire Ming Dynasty court.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly stood up.

He walked down the steps one by one.

The heavy dragon boots pounded on the gold bricks, producing a dull echo.

He walked up to the few high-ranking officials in scarlet robes kneeling at the front.

These pillars of the court, who usually spout benevolence, righteousness, and classical allusions, were now trembling like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.

"OK."

Zhu Yuanzhang finally spoke.

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling, eerie quality.

"What a fitting description of the uncertainty surrounding the safety of the world!"

"What a strange story of dying mysteriously in the emperor's bed."

He suddenly drew the sword from his waist.

The blade gleamed with a cold, sharp light in the candlelight.

"You're all as obedient as dogs in front of us."

"We told you to go east, but you dared not go west."

"We told you to strip them bare, and you didn't dare utter a single word."

The tip of the knife lifted up the chin of a civil official.

The civil official was deathly pale, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"But when it came to the descendants of the fourth grandson, you bunch of bastards, you became more and more arrogant with each generation!"

"The Jiangxi gang, right?"

"The civil service, right?"

"They dared to use even the border troops as bargaining chips, and they even dared to poison the emperor!"

Zhu Yuanzhang kicked the civil official to the ground.

He turned around and shouted.

"Mao Xiang!"

Mao Xiang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, emerged from the shadows like a ghost and knelt heavily on the ground.

"Your subject is here!"

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to the dark night sky outside the palace.

"Relay our decree!"

"Investigate for us!"

"Dig up the ancestors of every official from Jiangxi in the imperial court, and those self-proclaimed aristocratic dogs, go back eighteen generations!"

"Don't they enjoy bullying our descendants in later generations?"

"We can't kill them hundreds of years from now."

"Can't we even kill their ancestors now?!"

A chillingly cruel murderous intent flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

"Didn't those later scholars condemn us as a tyrant?"

"Today we'll show them what a tyrant is like!"

"Anyone found to have formed cliques for personal gain, engaged in corruption, or abused their power will have their entire family (up to nine generations) executed!"

"We must ensure that these so-called powerful families are wiped out of line during the Hongwu reign!"

Mao Xiang kowtowed repeatedly.

"I obey your decree!"

The entire Fengtian Hall was plunged into endless panic.

The civil officials closed their eyes in despair.

They knew that after tonight, the Qinhuai River would once again be stained red with blood.

Northern Song Dynasty, during the Kaibao era.

Zhao Kuangyin stood alone on the high platform of the Funing Palace.

The night breeze ruffled his yellow robe.

He gazed at the chaotic scene depicting the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty on the sky, remaining silent for a long time.

The phrase "Ironclad families, ever-changing dynasties" pierced his heart like a sharp knife.

He recalled the national policies of the Song Dynasty.

To govern the country together with the scholar-officials.

This was an ancestral law he established to prevent military generals from becoming arrogant.

He always believed that scholars were powerless and that as long as they were given high-ranking positions and generous salaries, the Song Dynasty could be preserved forever.

But today.

The sky gave him a bloody lesson.

The civil service in the Ming Dynasty, though lacking military power, was able to drive the emperor to his doom by controlling the government, colluding with the imperial harem, and even secretly communicating with enemy states.

"The imperial harem colluded with a group of civil officials to murder the emperor..."

Zhao Kuangyin muttered to himself.

He thought of the concubines in his harem.

I thought of those learned prime ministers in the imperial court.

Once he passes away, will the successor of the Song Dynasty suffer the same fate as Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youcheng?

Could he also be sent to his death by a cup of poisoned wine, and then have history books record his "sudden death"?

Zhao Kuangyin clenched his fists.

He must not allow the Song Dynasty to repeat the same mistakes.

He must, in his lifetime, put real shackles on these civil officials.

The Qin Dynasty

The Xianyang Palace was brightly lit.

Ying Zheng sat upright on the large throne.

His fingers tapped rhythmically on the bronze table.

From the recap before the curtain fell, he had already learned the cruel truth behind the Qin Dynasty's demise after only two generations.

That was a pain that would forever remain in his heart.

But what he is seeing now is a cycle of reincarnation that is even more despairing than the collapse of a dynasty.

Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties.

Every dynasty, at its inception, is as powerful and ambitious as a tiger.

However, as time went on, the influence of maternal relatives, civil officials, and powerful clans emerged.

These three mountains will take turns appearing.

They gnawed at the empire's lifeblood like parasites.

They usurped imperial power, seized land, and fooled the people.

"An unsolvable cycle of reincarnation."

Ying Zheng coldly uttered five words.

The Qin Dynasty governed the country using Legalism, with strict laws and severe punishments, precisely to break the monopoly of powerful clans and aristocratic families.

But the Qin Dynasty collapsed too quickly.

If the Qin Dynasty had not perished.

Centuries later, will a large community of interests, similar to the Ming Dynasty's civil official group, emerge in the Qin Dynasty's court?

Could there be anyone who would dare to point their finger at the Qin emperor and threaten the imperial power with the lives of the border soldiers?

Ying Zheng's gaze became extremely profound.

What he wanted was not a foundation for two or three generations, but a foundation for ten thousand generations.

This means that he must find a way to completely break this historical cycle.

"Li Si".

Ying Zheng called out.

Prime Minister Li Si immediately stepped forward.

"Your subject is here."

"Record all the methods mentioned on the screen regarding civil officials forming cliques and relatives of the empress interfering in politics."

Ying Zheng's voice exuded an irresistible majesty.

"The laws of the Qin Dynasty need to be revised again."

"I will nip these malignant tumors in the bud!"

Western Han Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu.

Inside Chang Le Palace.

Liu Bang lay sprawled out on the couch.

He held a bowl of wine in his hand, but his eyes were extremely clear.

He glanced sideways at his wife, Lü Zhi, who was sitting opposite him.

Lü Zhi was slowly and methodically combing her hair.

"Old woman."

Liu Bang took a swig of wine and grinned.

"Look at those empresses and empress dowagers of the Ming Dynasty."

"They're all as stupid as pigs."

"She's being used as a pawn without even realizing it, willing to risk her own man's life for a pittance."

"If you ever come to power, you won't do the same thing, will you?"

Liu Bang's words carried a hint of probing, as well as a touch of teasing.

Lü Zhi stopped what she was doing.

She turned her head and gave Liu Bang a cold glance.

The fierceness and domineering aura in his eyes made Liu Bang involuntarily shrink back.

"snort."

Lü Zhi gave a cold laugh.

"Your Majesty, I am not as foolish as those stupid empresses and empress dowagers of the Ming Dynasty."

She stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the night outside.

"They became lackeys of the civil service for the benefit of their maternal families."

"If I, Lü Zhi, were to seize power..."

"All the civil and military officials in the land must serve as my dogs!"

Empress Lü Zhi suddenly turned around and looked directly at Liu Bang.

"What I want is the Han dynasty's empire, and I want the Lü and Liu families to share the world."

"Who dares to use me as a pawn?"

"I will exterminate his entire family!"

Liu Bang looked at the formidable woman before him.

He wasn't angry; instead, he burst into laughter.

"good!"

"Truly worthy of being my woman, Liu Bang's woman!"

"With your words, even if I kick the bucket one day, the Han dynasty won't fall into chaos!"

The emperors of countless worlds and timelines are all responding to that humiliating history displayed on the celestial screen in their own ways.

Meanwhile, in the live stream room...

Zhu Dijun's story was just beginning to reach its true climax.

Inside the live stream room.

Zhu Dijun looked at the screen filled with scrolling, indignant comments.

He picked up the folding fan on the table, snapped it shut with a sharp "snap".

The sound traveled through the microphone across the entire world, drawing everyone's attention back to the screen.