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

A crisp sound of a folding fan being tapped came from the loudspeaker in the live broadcast room.

Zhu Dijun turned his gaze away from the barrage of comments, and the mockery on his face gradually faded.

The satirical poem that had angered the Jiajing Emperor to death was quickly removed from the screen.

The background screen switched back to the map of the Ming Dynasty in the second year of the Zhengde reign.

Zhu Dijun picked up his water glass and moistened his throat.

"Alright, everyone, the usual routine."

"We'll discuss those ridiculous stories about Emperor Zhu Houcong's cultivation of immortality in detail when we get to the Jiajing era."

"Today, our home turf is still occupied by the number one strategist of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao."

The camera zooms in.

The image shows a heavily guarded complex of buildings.

That was the Leopard House, which had just been completed and was home to 6,600 heavily armored imperial guards.

Fifteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao sat in the central command tent, holding secret reports sent back by eunuchs from various garrisons, full of vigor and ambition.

Seeing this, all the emperors throughout the myriad worlds and timelines thought that Zhu Dijun was about to begin praising the Martial Emperor's ruthless methods.

At this moment, Zhu Dijun's face darkened.

He tapped the table, his tone revealing an extremely strong anger at their lack of ambition and sorrow for their misfortune.

"I know that many people see Emperor Wuzong breaking out of the Forbidden City and starting anew, and they think he has broken the deadlock and won."

"Even Zhu Houzhao himself probably felt safe."

Zhu Dijun's voice echoed in the empty live broadcast room, carrying a chilling aura.

"but!"

"Here, I personally must offer extremely harsh criticism of Emperor Wuzong of Ming!"

He's completely wrong!

When those four words landed, the entire Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty instantly fell silent.

Inside the Leopard Chamber Hall, Zhu Houzhao, who was still ecstatic about his successful power grab, suddenly gripped the armrests of his chair tightly.

He stared at the sky in mid-air, his brows furrowed, his eyes filled with deep doubt.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun ruthlessly analyzed the situation.

What did Emperor Wuzong do immediately after moving out of the Forbidden City?

"He dispatched eunuchs to various parts of the country to settle scores with local officials and to seize their money."

"Is this the right thing to do?"

"Yes, but the order is completely reversed!"

Zhu Dijun suddenly stood up, stared directly at the camera, and pointed heavily at the Forbidden City shrouded in shadow on the screen.

"If I were Zhu Houzhao."

"The first thing I did after establishing the Eight Tigers, setting up the Inner Court Factory, and seizing control of all military power in the capital."

"It's definitely not about investigating local grievances!"

"Instead, they turned their guns on that rotten harem and thoroughly cleansed it!"

The screen spun wildly, then froze on the Cining Palace and Qingning Palace deep within the inner palace.

The two most honored women of the Ming Dynasty lived there.

Empress Dowager Zhang was Emperor Wuzong's nominal mother, and Empress Dowager Wang was his nominal grandmother.

The emperors of countless worlds and timelines were all stunned.

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned deeply.

Although he vehemently abhorred the interference of the harem in politics, raising a knife against his own elders was a path that would bring eternal infamy under feudal ethics.

"These descendants have such a strong murderous aura."

"But those are his Empress Dowager and Grand Empress Dowager. If we kill them directly, wouldn't that drive all the scholars in the world crazy?"

"Although we know these women murdered their husbands and our descendants, this era is not the future!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun saw through everyone's concerns.

He delivered an extremely explosive conclusion with a cold smile.

"I offer this to Zhu Houzhao, and also to all the emperors of all dynasties."

A line of large, blood-red characters appeared on the screen.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun!

"Family members, do you really think those old hags are just simple women in the imperial harem?"

"Do you really think they're just after that small amount of salt permit profit?"

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

"Don't be fooled by their prestigious titles!"

"I'll say it again! They are not the empress dowagers of the Ming Dynasty at all."

"They are the ultimate weapons that the civil service group has planted within the Ming Dynasty's inner court!"

"They are core members of the Ming Dynasty's [Emperor Killer Alliance]!"

These words were like a heavy hammer blow, shattering the last bit of romanticized notion everyone had of the imperial harem.

The chat in the modern live stream room fell into a brief pause, followed by a tsunami of shock.

"Holy crap! A League of Kings Killers?"

"Jun-ge's choice of words is terrifying! Is the Empress Dowager in the harem also a tyrant?"

"Upstairs, have you forgotten from Emperor Renzong of Ming to Emperor Xiaozong of Ming? When the civil service group and the emperor were fighting against the civil service group, the harem would assassinate the emperor, and then the situation would return to the civil service group's side."

Zhu Dijun began calling roll.

Portraits depicting women in phoenix coronet and embroidered robes were pinned to the screen.

"Let's start with the Empress Dowager Zhou and Empress Dowager Wang."

"During the Chenghua era, Zhu Jianshen wanted to rectify the court and wanted to depose the crown prince Zhu Youcheng, who had been spoiled by the civil officials."

"Who in the inner palace conspired to exert pressure, forcing Zhu Jianshen to back down step by step?"

"It was Empress Dowager Zhou and Empress Wang at the time!"

"In the end, Consort Wan suddenly died, and Zhu Jianshen, after consuming that inexplicable elixir, died in grief and indignation. Could these powerful figures in the harem dare to say they were completely innocent?"

Zhu Dijun moved his finger again and pointed to the portrait of Empress Zhang.

"And then there's Empress Zhang, who's been hailed as a virtuous empress throughout the ages by Emperor Xiaozong of Ming!"

"Who served Zhu Youcheng that deadly bowl of medicine two years ago?"

"It was brewed by the imperial physician Liu Wentai, but in the end, only Zhang Shi was able to successfully deliver it to the emperor's bedchamber!"

"That's not all."

"Go check the history books!"

"How many children did Zhu Youcheng have back then? Was it the same as what I said before?"

"The eldest son, Zhu Houwei, and Princess Kangde both died young due to palace intrigues!"

Zhu Dijun's voice grew louder and louder, his anger burning fiercely in his chest.

"These bloody murders are all intertwined with the shadow of these so-called empress dowagers!"

"They had illicit relations with the cabinet ministers of the previous dynasty, and when the emperor disobeyed, they would poison him in the inner palace!"

"And Emperor Wuzong, Zhu Houzhao, did you think that by moving into the Leopard Chamber, you could escape their schemes?"

The image on the screen suddenly transformed into a turbulent expanse of water.

A middle-aged emperor struggled desperately in the water, while the guards around him remained slow to react and watched coldly.

"I'm going to spoil the ending for Emperor Wuzong right here today!"

"In the fifteenth year of the Zhengde reign, a meticulously planned drowning accident occurred!"

"A few herbal remedies that won't kill you, but can completely ruin your health!"

"A 31-year-old emperor, in the prime of his life, capable of single-handedly taking on Mongol cavalry on the battlefield, died a gruesome death!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his fist heavily on the table.

"And at that time, standing before the emperor's sickbed, cooperating with the cabinet ministers to suppress information, establish a new emperor, and tamper with the imperial edict, was still this Empress Dowager Zhang!"

The entire universe was in complete chaos at this moment.

Zhengde Era.

Zhu Houzhao stared intently at the image of himself struggling in the water on the sky.

That's him in the future.

He died at the age of thirty-one, in an extremely frustrating and tragic way.

He turned his head and looked in the direction of the Forbidden City.

In the darkness, the palace resembled a colossal beast with its jaws wide open, silently waiting for him to fall into its trap.

"They...want to kill me?"

Zhu Houzhao's voice was terribly hoarse.

He originally thought that if he didn't provoke them and let each go their own way, he could have peace.

It turns out those old hags had been waiting for him to die.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun let out a deafening shout.

"madness!"

"Zhu Houzhao, your father died from hypocritical benevolence, and only two years have passed since that lesson was learned!"

"Is your brain made of mush?"

"They don't even understand the principle that if you don't kill the snake, it will harm you instead!"

"With those two old hags in the palace, ready to kill you at any moment with their titles and medicines, what kind of accounts are you going to investigate!"

"You're leaving a backdoor for others!"