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

The Hongwu Era.

The air pressure inside the Fengtian Hall was extremely low.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the statement "The cabinet does things without the emperor's instruction," he was so angry that he laughed instead.

The laughter echoed in the empty hall, like a death knell from the deepest hell.

The entire court of civil and military officials knelt on the ground, trembling so much that they dared not even lift their heads.

Zhu Yuanzhang descended the imperial steps one by one.

He held in his hand the Emperor's Sword, stained with the blood of countless corrupt officials.

"Good, very good."

"The emperor cannot command his subordinates; he must act according to the wishes of the cabinet."

"We abolished the prime minister because we were afraid that power would fall into the wrong hands."

"Who would have thought that, centuries later, these pedantic scholars in the cabinet would actually dare to lecture the emperor to his face!"

Zhu Yuanzhang turned around abruptly and stared intently at the outside of the main hall.

"Mao Xiang!"

"Your subject is here!"

"Keep a close watch on the sky!"

"What if that descendant, Judy Jun, points out the hometowns and origins of these cabinet ministers later?"

"Take the Imperial Guards and investigate immediately!"

"Find out who their ancestors from the Hongwu reign were!"

"We're going to personally confront them, knife in hand, and ask them if this kind of treacherous and disrespectful behavior is a family tradition!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di smashed the teacup in his hand.

Scalding hot tea splashed onto the gold bricks, sending up plumes of white steam.

His eyes, so ruthless and decisive, were filled with icy killing intent.

"A bunch of weak scholars who don't even have military power dare to dictate the fate of the country and lecture the emperor?"

"Do you really think the swords of the Ming Dynasty can't cut through your lowly bones?!"

"Issue an order to the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to act according to the regulations of the Hongwu era."

"As soon as their names appear on the sky, immediately go and dig up their Yongle Dynasty's ancestral graves!"

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

The background of the large screen transformed into a long scroll of ancient Chinese text.

"Family members, the Cabinet did more than just reject the Emperor's red book."

"The civil official group, led by the three 'beasts' of the Hongzhi era, used this draft to directly list ten major crimes against Emperor Wuzong!"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the table, a cold, extremely mocking smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

"Come, let's hear one by one what heinous crimes this Emperor Wuzong of Ming, who has been vilified in history books, actually committed!"

"After you hear this, you'll realize that this isn't a crime at all."

"This is clearly a list of vested interests protected by corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty!"

On the big screen, the first charge was enlarged and lit up with a glaring red light.

[One: Protecting unscrupulous merchants, violating salt laws, and embezzling public funds.]

Zhu Dijun pointed to this line of text.

"The cabinet said that the merchant Tan Jingqing relied on the imperial relatives to demand leftover salt, and the emperor protected him, which led to the depletion of the national treasury."

Is that really the case?

"wrong!"

"At that time, the majority of the salt tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty was completely monopolized by Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants. And who stood behind these major salt merchants?"

"They're all high-ranking officials and dignitaries from the imperial court!"

"Emperor Wuzong's protection of other merchants entering the market was a way of breaking the absolute monopoly of the civil official group over the exorbitant profits of the salt industry."

"They took money from their pockets; that's what they call the 'bad salt law'!"

The screen scrolls, revealing the second and third lines.

Second: Indiscriminately promoting military merits and treating official ranks and titles as worthless.

[Third: The appointment of eunuchs and the excessive bestowal of rewards.]

Zhu Dijun's voice was filled with undisguised contempt.

"The border soldiers of Datong charged into battle and fought desperately to kill the enemy. In order to win over the hearts of the soldiers, Emperor Wuzong promoted hundreds of people to higher ranks."

"The cabinet said this was an abuse of military merit."

"Emperor Wuzong dispatched eunuchs to take over military power and monitor local areas, and rewarded these loyal eunuchs handsomely."

"The cabinet said this was an excessive and indiscriminate reward."

"Did you understand, family members?"

"This is not about cherishing official rank or title at all!"

"This is the civilian bureaucracy desperately clinging to military power!"

"They would never allow the emperor to win over military generals, much less allow him to use eunuchs to take away their power!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers tapped frantically on the screen, and one charge after another appeared.

[Four: Reinstating dismissed personnel, paving the way for wrongdoing and undermining new policies.]

[Five: The emperor repeatedly sent eunuchs to survey imperial estates, harassing local residents.]

[Six: Blindly trusting imperial relatives and recklessly advocating for the liberation of commoners, leading to their ruin.]

[Seven: Tolerating the notorious villains Wei Xing and Qi Xuan, and violating the law and discipline.]

Zhu Dijun burst into laughter, a laugh filled with both sorrow and wild abandon.

"Absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing!"

"Emperor Wuzong sent eunuchs to investigate the imperial estates and lands, intending to nationalize the lands that had been concealed. The cabinet then criticized him for harassing the local people."

"Emperor Wuzong heavily relied on the eunuch Wei Xing to investigate the accounts in Huguang. As a result, local officials set fire to hundreds of government offices. The cabinet then forced the emperor to kill Wei Xing, saying that Wei Xing was a great traitor who had bewitched the previous dynasty."

"This is forcing Emperor Wuzong to cut off his own arms!"

"As long as there are capable and courageous people around the emperor, the cabinet must label them as treacherous villains and execute them without exception!"

Finally, the screen freezes on the ninth charge.

[Nine: The imperial treasury's expenditures were excessive, and the finances and grain were unclear.]

As Judy Jun pointed to the charge, his eyes became extremely sharp, piercing straight to the heart.

"This is the most shameless one!"

"The cabinet accused the emperor of spending millions of taels of silver from the private treasury, which was under his control, and of having unclear accounts."

"But what is the truth?"

"The truth is, those millions of taels of silver had already been embezzled by eunuchs and officials in the outer court!"

"When the eunuchs who were loyal to Emperor Wuzong took the initiative to propose a comprehensive audit of the imperial treasury accounts."

"Who jumped in to stop it?"

"It's these civil officials!"

"They resolutely suppressed the case, refusing any investigation, and then turned around and pinned the blame for the unclear accounts on the emperor!"

"What's this called?"

"That's what you call a thief crying 'Stop thief!'"

The entire live stream was instantly flooded with a barrage of comments.

The viewers' values ​​were completely shattered by the shamelessness of the Ming Dynasty civil officials.

"Holy crap! Is this a list of crimes? This is like giving the emperor a list: all these benefits belong to us, and if you touch any of them, we'll scold you!"

"This civil service group is amazing! Not only can they be corrupt, but they can also legitimately disguise their corruption as serving the country and its people!"

"Emperor Wuzong was so pitiful. He had no soldiers, no money, and had to watch these hypocrites spewing nonsense in court every day."

"This isn't a proper court audience; it's clearly a capitalist pointing his finger at the chairman and yelling insults!"

Zhu Dijun took a deep breath to calm his agitated emotions.

He leaned back in his chair, quietly watching the screen.

"Family members, let's examine these ten charges one by one."

"Not a single word in it expresses concern for the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty, nor a single word expresses worry about the safety of the soldiers on the border."

"Every word and phrase is designed to protect the vested interests of their civil service group!"

"Essentially, this is the ultimate struggle for interests between imperial power and the power of the prime minister, and between the imperial power and the privileged class!"

The era of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Qianqing Palace.

Fifteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao leaned back on the dragon throne.

At his feet lay the draft bill listing the ten major crimes.

He did not roar angrily.

He did not, like his father, weep and issue a self-reproach edict.

He simply gazed quietly at the enormous sky in mid-air.

Looking at the sky, there was a descendant named Zhu Dijun who was still arguing for himself hundreds of years later.

Zhu Houzhao suddenly laughed.

The smile was extremely bright, yet it carried a chilling arrogance.

"So, there are indeed some wise descendants. Are they descendants of my third great-uncle? Did the descendants of the King of Zhao during this period possess the abilities of Zhu Dijun, a descendant of a later generation?"

He bent down and picked up the draft.

It was neither torn up nor approved.

He casually tossed the document, which embodied the will of the entire civil service, into the charcoal brazier in the corner.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice carried a lonely courage that seemed to break through the darkness.

"Faced with these ten heinous crimes, enough to crush any adult emperor."

"This fifteen-year-old troublemaker gave his response."

"Very simple."

"It still boils down to those four words—keep it in the middle, don't issue anything!"

"Zhu Houzhao simply doesn't play by their rules."

"You want to teach me a lesson?"

"You want to list my crimes?"

"Sorry, I won't look, I won't reply, I won't pay attention."

"I'm not listening! You're just spouting nonsense!"

"His utter disregard for them infuriated these three old fogies, who had served three dynasties and considered themselves the leaders of all the literati in the land, to the point that they vomited blood on the spot and nearly went mad!"