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

In the live broadcast room, Zhu Dijun's voice broke the brief silence.

He held up one finger and looked directly at the camera.

"So, family members, faced with an empty national treasury and the theft of the imperial treasury, how did Zhu Houzhao regain control of the economy?"

The images on the large screen switched rapidly, and tax ledgers bearing the imperial seal were laid out one after another.

"As a first step, Emperor Wuzong directly turned his sword against the tax exemption policy established during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers slammed heavily on the ledger, bringing up an extremely glaring number.

"Historical records speak highly of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, praising him for his kindness and benevolence, and for repeatedly reducing taxes throughout the country."

Let's look at the specific data.

"During Emperor Xiaozong's eighteen-year reign, he exempted the entire empire from taxes totaling over 150 million shi (a unit of dry measure)!"

"On average, this saved as much as 8.6 million shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain tax each year!"

The moment this number was released, the entire universe was in an uproar.

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up straight.

He stared intently at the string of numbers on the screen, his eyes twitching violently.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the total annual summer and autumn taxes for the whole country amounted to only a little over 27 million shi (a unit of dry measure).

Zhu Youcheng, that spendthrift son, actually exempted nearly one-third of the national treasury's revenue every year!

"Eight.6 million stones..."

Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth, his voice squeezed out from between them.

"He's using the entire Ming Dynasty's territory to curry favor with those corrupt officials!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's cold laughter confirmed Zhu Yuanzhang's judgment.

"Family members, do you really think that the tax exemption of 8.6 million shi (a unit of dry measure) has fallen into the hands of ordinary people?"

"Completely wrong!"

"Just look at how those Western capitalists operate, and you'll understand."

"The tax exemptions and reductions of the Ming Dynasty only benefited the large capitalists and landowners who held official titles and did not have to pay taxes!"

"That is, the civil service and local gentry who spout empty rhetoric about benevolence and morality!"

Zhu Dijun pulled up a diagram showing the transfer of benefits through grassroots taxation in the Ming Dynasty.

"The imperial court exempted taxes, but local government offices still need to operate, the imperial palace needs to be paid, and the nine border regions need military pay."

"Where will this money come from?"

"It was all redistributed by local officials under various pretexts to the ordinary people at the bottom of society who have no privileges!"

"This is not benevolent governance at all!"

"This is a classic case of robbing the poor to enrich the rich; it's legal robbery that squeezes the marrow from the bones!"

Inside the modern live streaming room, the barrage of comments was scrolling wildly.

"Holy crap! I know this trick all too well, it's just a transfer payment!"

"They exempt the rich from taxes, then squeeze even more money out of the poor. Those civil servants deserve to die!"

"Zhu Youcheng was such a scoundrel! He was sold out and still helped the seller count the money, yet the history books actually praise him for his benevolence!"

"The very foundation of the Ming Dynasty was hollowed out by this privileged class who enjoyed tax exemptions!"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the table, his eyes sharp.

"Zhu Houzhao would absolutely not tolerate these parasites."

"After he ascended the throne, he immediately issued an edict, drastically reducing the annual tax exemption quota of 8.6 million shi (a unit of dry measure) to 900,000 shi (another unit of dry measure)!"

"This strike has cut right at the lifeline of the civil service!"

"Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents."

"The cabinet and the empress's relatives were instantly furious. How could they tolerate a fifteen-year-old boy threatening their prize?"

But Zhu Houzhao's actions did not stop.

He drew a long line on the screen indicating personnel changes.

"In addition to reducing the tax-free allowance, Zhu Houzhao began to make personnel arrangements."

"He reinstated Zhou Jing, the former Minister of Revenue, and appointed him as the Minister of Revenue in Nanjing, thus firmly controlling the vital financial and grain resources in Jiangnan."

"Then, the time came to November of the eighteenth year of the Hongzhi reign."

"Under pressure from the entire court, Zhu Houzhao once again dispatched supervisory eunuchs to the local areas."

"He directly appointed his trusted eunuch Wei Xing as the incense master of Taiyue Taihe Mountain and forcibly intervened to supervise the commander of the Huguang region!"

"When Hubei and Hunan are prosperous, the whole country is well-fed."

"Zhu Houzhao is trying to wrest the Ming Dynasty's largest granary back from the hands of the civil officials!"

The era of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Leopard House.

Zhu Houzhao held the dripping embroidered spring knife, looking at his reflection in the sky.

His young face was full of arrogant sneers.

That's exactly what he did back then.

No money?

If you don't have money, go rob someone!

If the civil official wouldn't give it to him, he would send someone to get it himself!

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's speech became faster and faster, pushing the tense atmosphere in the court to its peak.

"Zhu Houzhao's series of combined moves completely pushed the civil service group to the brink."

"The new ruler they thought they could easily control turned out to be a treacherous wolf!"

"Therefore, the bastards left over from the Hongzhi reign began a frenzied counterattack."

On the screen, a flurry of memorials flew toward the Qianqing Palace.

"Liu Daxia, the Minister of War, stepped forward to denounce the eunuchs' interference in politics."

"Censor Liu Yu, along with six supervising secretaries and thirteen circuit censors, submitted a series of memorials."

"They used extremely harsh language to demand that Zhu Houzhao immediately recall the eunuchs he had dispatched and restore the ancestral laws."

"The entire Ming Dynasty court was immediately plunged into an extremely fierce tug-of-war."

"The spittle of the civil service almost completely drowned this fifteen-year-old young emperor."

Zhu Dijun picked up his water glass and took a big gulp.

He looked at the camera, his eyes gleaming with extreme excitement.

"Family members, we are facing collective pressure from the entire civil service."

"Facing these old foxes who are deeply entrenched in the court and wield immense power."

Will Zhu Houzhao back down?

"Will he, like his father, bow down to these beasts again for the sake of so-called dignity?"

The emperors of all realms and time clenched their fists.

The Chongzhen era.

Zhu Youjian stared intently at the sky.

His breathing was rapid, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He faced the same situation back then.

He wanted to collect commercial taxes and send eunuchs to local areas to supervise the army.

In the end, however, he was deterred by the memorials submitted by the civil officials, and he chose to compromise, killing Wei Zhongxian and withdrawing the garrison eunuch.

The result was that the Ming Dynasty perished.

He now wanted to see how his ancestor had managed to break free from this seemingly hopeless situation!

The background music in the live stream suddenly became stirring and tragic.

On the big screen appeared three old, venerable faces, yet exuding an extremely sinister and cunning aura.

"Family members, faced with Zhu Houzhao's tough stance, the civil service group has unleashed their ultimate weapon."

"The three scoundrels in the cabinet—Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian—have personally intervened!"

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

"These three old fellows are the pillars of the Ming Dynasty and the leaders of scholars across the land."

"When they realized that impeaching the officials was useless, they resorted to the secret weapon passed down through generations of the civil service."

"A mass resignation—the law doesn't punish the masses; it's a forced resignation!"

On the screen, three resignation letters, each earnest in word but harboring deadly intent, were slammed heavily onto the emperor's desk.

"They requested to retire and return to their hometowns on the grounds that they were too old and frail to assist the wise ruler."

"This isn't a resignation, it's a blatant threat!"

"They are telling Zhu Houzhao that if he doesn't retract his order and withdraw the eunuchs, the Ming Dynasty will immediately come to a standstill!"

"The world's scholars will use their pens to condemn you as a tyrannical ruler like Jie and Zhou!"

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were terrifyingly cold.

That's a really vicious move.

For a young emperor who has just ascended the throne and whose power is not yet secure, a cabinet strike is tantamount to directly undermining imperial authority.

Zhu Youcheng knelt down before this move back then.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the table.

"but!"

"They've picked the wrong opponent this time!"

"Zhu Houzhao wasn't buying it at all!"

The image on the screen is frozen inside the Qianqing Palace.

Fifteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao sat on the dragon throne, looking down at the three regents kneeling below.

He did not panic.

He didn't offer any kind words of advice.

He didn't even glance at those resignation letters.

"Zhu Houzhao's reaction was extremely simple and crude."

"Keep it in the middle, don't send it!"

"Do whatever you want!"

"I won't listen, you're just spouting nonsense!"

Zhu Dijun's use of modern internet slang instantly ignited a flurry of comments in the live stream.

"Hahahaha! What the hell is this, chanting scriptures like a tortoise!"

"Brother Zhao is awesome! To deal with these old foxes, you have to use magic to defeat magic!"

"You guys wanted to resign? Fine, I'll take your resignations, but I'm not approving them. You can stay home then!"

"This is like a game-changer; the civil officials were completely dumbfounded!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di laughed loudly, looking up at the sky.

The laughter shook the roof tiles of the main hall.

"good!"

"happy!"

"This is truly my good grandson!"

Zhu Di slammed his hand on the imperial desk.

"These pedantic scholars deserve to be taught a lesson."

"The more you care about them, the more they take advantage of you."

"Let's just leave them hanging and see what kind of trouble they can cause!"

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

"Zhu Houzhao not only completely ignored the cabinet's attempt to force him to abdicate."

"He even took advantage of the chaos within the civil service to do another extremely fatal thing!"

The images on the big screen changed rapidly.

From the magnificent Forbidden City, we arrived at the vast military camp on the outskirts of Beijing.

"Investigate the troops in the capital!"

"Family members, as I mentioned before, Zhu Houzhao encountered the extremely bizarre defeat at Yutailing shortly after ascending the throne."

"The civil service group used the lives of three thousand border soldiers to intimidate him."

"This made Zhu Houzhao extremely doubtful about the true fighting strength of the Ming army."

"He needs to know exactly how many cards he still has up his sleeve."

"You won't believe what you find until you investigate!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers were frantically typing on the keyboard.

A series of shocking data points, enlarged in blood-red font, crashed onto the screen.

"The Ming Dynasty's capital garrison, when Zhu Di established the three major garrisons, possessed hundreds of thousands of battle-hardened elite troops who swept across the northern deserts."

"But what about now?"

"The official troop strength is 200,000."

"What's the reality?"

"When Zhu Houzhao sent people to investigate, the military camp was completely empty; they couldn't even muster half the men!"

"The remaining half are all elderly, weak, sick, and disabled!"

The generals from all realms and timelines all gasped in shock.

The Xuande era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Zhanji's face turned deathly pale.

The Beijing Garrison was the last shield for the Ming Dynasty's imperial power.

The fact that the Beijing garrison was in such a state meant that the emperor had absolutely no protection around his neck!

Judy Jun's voice was filled with extreme anger.

"Where did those missing soldiers go?"

"They were all used as free labor by generals and military officials at all levels!"

"They're building gardens for high-ranking officials and planting crops for wealthy landowners!"

"The mighty elite troops of the Ming Dynasty have been reduced to slaves, at the mercy of others!"

On the screen appeared several emaciated soldiers wearing tattered, mismatched battle coats.

They held rusty spears in their hands, their eyes numb and desperate.

"The military equipment has deteriorated to an appalling degree."

"The firearms were damp, and the warhorses were so thin that they couldn't even carry people."

"The soldiers' pay was cut at every level, and they couldn't even get enough to eat. They also suffered cruel beatings from their generals."

"This is the report card that the civil service group has handed in after decades of controlling the Ministry of War!"

The era of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao gripped the hilt of the knife tightly.

His eyes burned with a fierce fire.

When he saw that investigation report back then, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

He finally understood why his 20,000-strong army had been completely wiped out at Yutailing.

Because the Ming Dynasty's army had long been emptied out by these civil officials and corrupt generals!

If he continues to stay in the Forbidden City, he will hand over military power to the Ministry of War.

Sooner or later, he will be devoured whole by this group of people!

In the modern live-streaming room, netizens' anger was completely ignited.

"This isn't an army, it's a bunch of refugees!"

"With these officials and military officers drawing salaries without working to this extent, aren't they afraid the Tatars will invade the capital?"

"What are they afraid of! If the Tatars come, they can just surrender and continue being officials; it's the common people and the emperor who will die!"

"No wonder Zhu Houzhao later wanted to build the Leopard House and retrain his troops. The Beijing Garrison was simply unusable!"