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

Inside the live stream, the large, blood-red characters danced against the dark background, like bloodshot eyes opening from the abyss.

[October of the first year of the Zhengde reign, night. A great fire raged throughout Beijing!]

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

The lights inside the Fengtian Hall seemed to be suppressed by the chill emanating from the sky for a moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang's hand, which was originally holding the dragon throne, suddenly tightened, and his knuckles made a chilling cracking sound due to extreme force.

He stared intently at the word "fire," his chest heaving violently, and a low growl like that of a wounded old beast emanated from his throat.

"Good...good, you're really capable!"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly swept his sleeve, knocking all the jade seals and cinnabar pens off the table.

"These scholars, who usually spout Confucian classics and poems, have somehow learned how to burn down the imperial palace when it really matters?"

His eyes were bloodshot as he scanned the kneeling civil officials of the Hongwu Dynasty below.

"You're all the ancestors of those beasts behind us. What, are you going to follow their example one day and set our Forbidden City ablaze? Burn us alive in our palaces so you can install a compliant son on the throne?"

The ministers below were struck dumb, especially the Hanlin scholars responsible for drafting the edicts. Their foreheads were pressed against the cold gold bricks, and they didn't even dare to breathe.

And Yongle Time and Space.

As Zhu Di gazed at the familiar image of the great fire, the memory of the embers outside Jinchuan Gate during the Jingnan Campaign was instantly awakened.

He laughed in anger, and the Emperor's Sword in his hand trembled violently in its scabbard.

"Great job! You guys are really good!"

Zhu Di stood up and walked heavily down the imperial steps.

"Before I moved the capital to Beiping, the palace caught fire. You bunch of purists said it was a fire dragon descending to earth, that I had angered Heaven by acting perversely and violating ancestral rules."

"Now, hundreds of years later, the fire dragon has descended to earth again?"

He suddenly drew his sword, and a flash of cold light slashed the screen beside him diagonally in half.

"I truly had no idea that my descendants had all become Fire Gods! Was this fire sent down from heaven, or did you bunch of filthy pens start it yourselves?!"

Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, even the emperors of past dynasties had lost all interest in watching the show.

They looked at their advisors and scholars with suspicion in their eyes.

This method of "setting the mountain on fire" was originally the ultimate trick used by civil officials to deal with disobedient emperors.

In the live stream, Zhu Dijun's somber voice rang out again, carrying a cruel tone that seemed to tear away the illusion.

"Family members, everyone is guessing who started the fire."

"Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, these two ancestors, instinctively felt that the civil officials had gone mad and wanted to murder the emperor like they did with the burning of the palace."

"But in reality, this fire was a match that Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao himself struck in that dark and hopeless political situation."

The screen image changed.

The Forbidden City, which was originally dimly lit, was brightly lit that night, and the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

"In October of the first year of Zhengde's reign, a life-or-death battle that would determine the fate of the Ming Dynasty took place outside the Qianqing Palace."

"The three key ministers who were assisting the government, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang, had now completely lost their minds."

"Their joint petition demanded nothing more than—the execution of the eight tigers!"

Zhu Dijun listed the eight names on the screen: Liu Jin, Wei Bin, Ma Yongcheng, Qiu Ju, Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong, Luo Xiang, and Gao Feng.

"These eight people were Zhu Houzhao's absolute confidants, whom he had been cultivating since he was the crown prince. They were his eyes and ears and henchmen."

"The cabinet's logic is simple: as long as these eight nails are removed, Zhu Houzhao will be a toothless tiger, forced to obediently serve as a stamping machine in the Golden Palace!"

"Faced with a cabinet that was already on the verge of collapse, sixteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao did something very interesting."

"He chose to remain in China and not issue a statement."

"He didn't reply at all, but secretly sent someone to tell Liu Jin to pack their bags and prepare to leave the capital for Nanjing to avoid trouble."

In the modern live stream room, a sigh rippled through the chat.

"Ah, you're still so young. Trying to settle things peacefully now? How could the civil officials possibly let you off the hook?"

"Once you leave, you may never come back!"

Zhu Dijun gave a cold laugh, his voice suddenly turning cold.

"However, Zhu Houzhao was still too naive."

"He never imagined that a traitor, capable of driving him to despair, would appear beside his pillow, within his chain of command!"

Two solemn yet aged portraits appeared on the screen: Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Dowager Wang.

"One is his biological mother, and the other is his grandmother."

"These two top women of the Ming Dynasty royal family chose to stand on the side of the civil officials at that moment!"

"They not only revealed Zhu Houzhao's evacuation plan in detail, but also personally rebuked him for 'disrespecting ancestral rules'!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his hand on the imperial desk in anger.

"Foolish woman! A foolish woman who brings disaster to the country and its people!"

He strictly forbade the empress's interference in politics precisely because he feared this kind of thing would happen. For a mother to betray her own son—that's practically handing over the lifeblood of the Zhu family to those civil officials!

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's finger pointed to the third portrait.

"And there was another, most deadly traitor—Wang Yue, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial and concurrently the Director of the Eastern Depot!"

"Who is Wang Yue? He is the highest-ranking military officer appointed by the emperor in the inner court, a man who wields a sharp knife."

"But he actually sold all of Zhu Houzhao's trump cards to Han Wen, the Minister of Revenue, the very next morning!"

The atmosphere suddenly reverses in the scene.

"Because of a traitor, Zhu Houzhao was still asleep when he found the palace gates blocked!"

"Han Wen, the Minister of Revenue, led the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, along with hundreds of officials, kneeling densely at the palace gate."

"They didn't come to court; they came to force the emperor to abdicate!"

"We will not rise again until Liu Jin and his eight associates are killed!"

"At that moment, the young Zhu Houzhao looked at the crimson official robes scattered on the ground, and he finally understood a fact."

"His Eastern Depot was run by civil officials, his Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs was run by civil officials, and even his mother was a civil official!"

Viewers in the live stream were on the edge of their seats.

"This is a dead end! How can a sixteen-year-old emperor possibly turn the tide?"

"Despair! If it were me, I probably would have collapsed and surrendered on the spot."

At this moment, Zhu Dijun's voice became high-pitched and fervent.

"No! Zhu Houzhao did not surrender!"

"On that night of raging fire, in that desolate and hopeless city, he displayed the decisiveness of a true 'god of war' on the spot!"

"On the very night that Han Wen led his men to force the emperor to abdicate, Zhu Houzhao secretly summoned Liu Jin to the Leopard Chamber."

Without saying a word, he pulled a gold token directly from his pocket.

"He skipped all procedures, bypassing the cabinet and the Directorate of Ceremonial, and directly ordered: [Wang Yue, Xu Zhi, and Fan Heng, the three of them are traitors and plotting rebellion, arrest them immediately!]"

In the scene, Liu Jin, accompanied by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department, stormed into the eunuchs' duty room under the cover of night, exuding murderous intent.

"That was the first drop of blood since Emperor Wuzong ascended the throne!"

"He didn't conduct any interrogation or issue any official documents; he simply ordered Liu Jin to lead men to arrest these three high-ranking officials of the inner court, ostensibly to send them to Nanjing. But what was the real purpose?"

Zhu Dijun made a throat-slitting gesture.

Zhu Houzhao whispered something in Liu Jin's ear: "I do not wish to see them in Nanjing."

"This is real fire!"

"That was the fire of revenge burning in Zhu Houzhao's heart!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di suddenly shouted, "Excellent!"

His eyes were full of admiration: "This is the true Zhu family line! Since you want to force me to abdicate, I'll first eliminate the spies you planted around me! Kill Wang Yue first, then seize the Eastern Depot—this move of cutting off the enemy's supply lines is brilliant!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun continued to advance.

"Without Wang Yue as their inside man and without the support of the Empress Dowager, the old ministers in the cabinet were horrified to discover that the young emperor had changed."

"He was no longer the child who listened to their lectures, but a butcher with a knife and cold eyes."

"When Liu Jian and Xie Qian saw that the situation was getting out of control, they actually resorted to their old trick of 'retreating to advance'."

"They resigned jointly."

"They felt that the current cabinet couldn't do without them, and that Zhu Houzhao would be so frightened that he would kneel down and beg them to stay and take charge of the situation."

On the screen appeared Liu Jian's smug face, waiting for the emperor to apologize.

Zhu Dijun sneered, his tone full of satisfaction.

"But how did Zhu Houzhao reply?"

He only said one sentence: "I grant it!"

The live stream chat exploded!

"Holy crap!!! It went through?! I love this unconventional style of play!"

[Liu Jian: Wait, I was just being polite, why did you take it so seriously?]

["This is how a top-tier HR professional handles things: You want to leave? Fine, turn right at the door, and don't bother coming back!"]

Judy Jun slammed the gavel.

"Not only did he approve it, Zhu Houzhao also did something that completely nailed these civil officials to the pillar of shame."

"In the Ming Dynasty, when high-ranking officials retired, they would usually receive a reward and retain their 'official hat and belt,' which meant returning to their hometown in their official robes, representing a lifetime of honor and favor."

But Zhu Houzhao said: "Get out!"

"He gave no rewards, no titles, not even the most basic 'retirement with official hat and robes'!"

"What is this? This is—quitting without a backup plan!"

"This is also—being ordered to pack up and leave!"

"He didn't even hold a farewell banquet for Liu Jian and Xie Qian, letting them slink out of the capital like two stray dogs under the watchful eyes of all their colleagues!"

"The remaining Li Dongyang was so frightened that he could only kneel on the ground and tremble. He became the only survivor of the cabinet and the 'mole' who helped Zhu Houzhao keep an eye on the civil officials."

Judy Jun rested his chin on his hand, his eyes filled with wildness.

"The fire in October of the first year of Zhengde's reign did not kill Zhu Houzhao."

"Instead, it burned away all the shackles that bound him!"

"Family members, this is Zhu Houzhao at the age of sixteen. In the first year of his reign, he overthrew the veteran officials of three reigns in an extremely violent and unreasonable manner, recovered the Eastern Depot, and established his own authoritarian rule!"

"But, as the movie 'Let the Bullets Fly' says, this is just the beginning."

"The civil service's retaliation will only be more insidious than this."