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

The live stream was completely shrouded in a suffocating crimson.

Judy Jun stood in front of the screen, his eyes surging with extreme rage and sorrow. He slammed a tattered, phantom-like file onto the center of the screen.

"Family members, in this storm known as the 'Zhengde Capital Inspection,' what kind of horrific end did Zhang Cai, whom Emperor Wuzong used as his sharpest weapon, meet?"

"In the fifth year of the Zhengde reign, the Prince of Anhua rebelled, and Liu Jin was executed. Zhang Cai, as a core figure in the new policies, was directly imprisoned by the civil official group on charges of being a 'eunuch faction'!"

Judy Jun's voice became hoarse and raspy due to extreme anger.

"In that dark and dreary imperial prison, these civil officials, who usually spouted righteousness and morality, subjected this Minister of Personnel of the Ming Dynasty to the most heinous forms of torture!"

"Tortured to death! In history books, this is called 'dying in prison'!"

"That wasn't enough to quell the anger. After Zhang Cai's death, the civil service actually ordered his body to be dragged into the street and publicly shattered into ashes! This is called 'shattering the corpse in the marketplace'!"

"Even his family members were exiled to the malaria-ridden land of Hainan, never to rise again!"

boom!

All realms and spaces trembled.

The story takes place during the third year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Leopard Chamber, Zhang Cai, the recently promoted Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was kneeling at Zhu Houzhao's feet. He listened to the vision of his tragic future displayed on the screen, his body trembling violently, his face ashen white.

Crushed to ashes? Exiled to Hainan?

These colleagues who usually served in the same court were ten times more ruthless than bandits!

"But family members, go and look through the 'History of Ming' compiled by the Manchus, and see how those civil officials convicted Zhang Cai?"

Zhu Dijun pointed at the few lines of black text in "Biographies of the Eunuch Party" on the screen with a mocking expression.

According to the History of Ming, Zhang Cai was from Dingxi, Gansu. He curried favor with the powerful eunuch Liu Jin, was lecherous, and even forcibly seized the beloved concubine of Liu Jie, the prefect of Fuzhou!

"Absurd! Utterly ridiculous!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the table, tearing the illusory page of the History of Ming to shreds.

"A reformist core who was promoted several ranks within a year by Emperor Wuzong, directly reaching the position of Minister of Personnel and Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince; a high-ranking official who scrutinizes the performance evaluations of all officials in the country with a magnifying glass every day. Would he be so foolish as to forcibly seize someone else's wife in the street, handing over incriminating evidence to his political enemies?!"

"This is clearly what the civil service syndicate excels at—[fabricating charges, physically eliminating the victim, and then politically destroying the body!]"

"So, what exactly did Zhang Cai do to make the entire Ming Dynasty civil service group want to tear him apart?"

On the screen appeared a secret document from Zhang Cai to Liu Jin.

"The truth is right here!"

"When Zhang Cai was implementing the new policies, he was extremely astute in perceiving a particularly insidious tactic employed by the civil service: using someone else to do his dirty work!"

He directly revealed a bloody truth to Liu Jin: "Lower-level officials, using your name, are frantically exploiting the people and accepting bribes in their localities. They pocket nine-tenths of the ill-gotten gains, yet send the remaining penny to you in the capital!"

"[The final result was that the resentment of the people and scholars was all directed at you, Liu Jin! You took the blame for the entire corrupt bureaucracy!]"

Zhu Dijun stared directly at the camera, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

"Upon hearing Zhang Cai's words, Liu Jin immediately took action to investigate and punish these civil officials who had embezzled under his name! This greatly reduced the exorbitant taxes and levies imposed on local areas!"

"Family members, we've exposed the hypocrisy of these civil officials, shattering their double-dealing scheme of embezzling money while simultaneously tarnishing their reputations. How could they not utterly destroy Zhang Cai?!"

In the modern live streaming room, the barrage of comments has completely gone crazy.

"Holy crap! This is the real history!"

"He embezzled 90% and then shifted the blame to the eunuch? This civil official's double-crossing is too cunning!"

"Zhang Cai is a ruthless man. He saw through the hypocrites' true colors; no wonder he died such a tragic death!"

"History books are like little girls who can be dressed up however one pleases. Is this 'History of Ming' even readable? It's all about personal grudges!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun suddenly changed the subject.

His originally angry gaze suddenly shot across the screen, as if he were staring intently at Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao in the Zhengde era.

"but!"

"Zhang Cai's death, Liu Jin's execution by slow slicing—all these tragedies could have been avoided!"

On the large screen, the words "[Fourth Year of Zhengde's Capital Inspection]" flashed wildly in blood red.

"Because during the major assessment in the fourth year of the Zhengde reign, the civil service group felt genuine fear. They knew that once the mess of the Hongzhi reign was thoroughly investigated, no one could escape punishment!"

"Thus, an unprecedented coup, the likes of which had not occurred since the Xuande reign, erupted in the Ming Dynasty court!"

Zhu Dijun waved his hand.

The screen was filled with the densely packed names of high-ranking officials, crashing down like a mountain.

[Grand Secretary: Li Dongyang!]

[Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet: Jiao Fang, Wang Ao, Liang Chu, Yang Tinghe!]

[The Five Ministers: Liu Yu, Bai Yue, Cao Yuan, Hong Zhong, and Cai Kuan!]

[Left Censor-in-Chief: Slaughter the traitor!]

"The very core brains of the Ming Dynasty's power center have jointly submitted their resignations! They're going on strike and want to go home and farm!"

"They are threatening the imperial power! They are telling sixteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao: The Ming Dynasty will immediately come to a standstill without us old bones!"

As Zhu Dijun finished speaking, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the gavel in front of him, slamming it down on the table with all his might.

boom! ! !

The loud noise shattered the silence of the live broadcast room.

Zhu Dijun pointed at the camera, his eyes red-rimmed, and let out an extremely rare, even somewhat out-of-control roar.

"And you! Zhu Houzhao! What did you do in response to this resignation?!"

"You idiot!!!"

"You big idiot!!!"

boom!

In countless worlds and across billions of living beings, the sudden, remote insults left everyone's minds blank.

The Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Leopard Chamber, Zhu Houzhao heard the deafening insult and his face instantly turned bright red.

A surge of violent energy rushed to the top of his head. He suddenly drew the Emperor's Sword, pointed it at the sky, and let out a low growl like that of a wild beast.

"Insolence! How dare you insult me?! I am the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty! Believe me or not, I will exterminate your entire clan!"

But on the sky, Zhu Dijun couldn't hear his impotent rage at all; instead, the waves of insults became even more intense, like a sledgehammer slamming into Zhu Houzhao's heart.

"Why didn't you approve it back then?!"

"Why are you hypocritically trying to persuade me to stay now?!"

"Do you think that by not killing them and not approving their resignations, you are stabilizing the political situation?"

You're wrong! Utterly wrong!

Zhu Dijun's eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the screen.

"In the eyes of the civil service, your concessions are seen as weakness! Your attempts to retain them are seen as a lack of confidence!"

"You bear on your shoulders not only the weight of your Ming Dynasty, but also the unwavering loyalty of your imperial faction members like Liu Jin and Zhang Cai, who risked their entire families' execution!"

"You didn't kill the Empress Dowagers who betrayed you in the harem, and you didn't kill the cabinet members who forced your abdication."

"If you back down, they will dare to step over the corpses of your confidants and destroy your new policies in the fifth year of the Zhengde reign!"

In the live broadcast room, Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly dropped to freezing point, exuding a chilling political ironcladness.

"Zhu Houzhao, today I'll teach you right here and now what true imperial power politics really are!"

"During the Zhengde era, the person who feared the Ming Dynasty's wars and the return of the fragmented world to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was not you, the emperor!"

"It's that group of civil officials who have seized vast tracts of fertile land in Jiangnan and monopolized the nation's wealth!"

"Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose! If you can't control this situation, if you can't push through this new policy..."

Zhu Dijun spoke slowly and deliberately, each word carrying a chilling murderous intent.

"Then let the Ming Dynasty burn!!!"

"At worst, we'll fight to the death! We'll skin and stuff these entire court officials alive!"

"This is called—a lose-lose situation is better than a win-win situation!"

"Now that you've completely broken ties with the civil service regarding governance, military power, and finances, and now that you've started this conflict, there's no reason to back down halfway!"

"Win or die!"

Boom!

The thunderous reprimand echoed wildly across the Zhengde era.

"A lose-lose situation is better than a win-lose situation... and there's no such thing as giving up halfway through a team fight..."

Inside the Leopard Room.

Zhu Houzhao, who was originally so enraged that he wanted to shatter the sky, suddenly froze.

The Emperor's Sword, which had been held in mid-air, paused.

He stared blankly at the descendant with red-rimmed eyes on the sky, the screams of Liu Jin about to be slowly sliced ​​into more than three thousand pieces echoing in his ears, the humiliation of Zhang Cai being reduced to ashes.

Yes.

I abdicate. I thought that with Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe still around, the Ming Dynasty could still turn things around.

The results of it?

As a result, they took advantage of my unpreparedness, launched a coup, and slaughtered all my supporters!

Snapped!

A sharp, resounding slap suddenly rang out in the deathly silent Leopard House.

Liu Jin and Zhang Cai, who were kneeling below, looked up in shock.

The fifteen-year-old emperor suddenly sheathed his sword and slapped himself hard across the face!

Five clear, blood-red finger marks instantly appeared on her fair cheeks.

"Your Majesty!"

Liu Jin was so frightened that he scrambled over to her, crying, "What are you doing, Your Majesty!"

"Get out of here!"

Zhu Houzhao kicked Liu Jin away. He didn't get angry; he simply reached out and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with extreme calm.

When I looked up again.

The youthful exuberance and kindness that once belonged to Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty had completely vanished from his eyes.

Instead, there is an extreme coldness and brutality that sends chills down your spine.

"Well said."

Zhu Houzhao licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, a chilling smile spreading across his face.

"I was too stupid, I was too merciful."

He turned his head and looked at Zhang Cai, who was kneeling on the ground trembling. His voice was so gentle that it seemed like he was talking casually, but it was filled with a murderous intent as if it were a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

"Zhang Cai, since history has already told me that those old dogs will collectively resign and force the emperor to abdicate in the fourth year of Zhengde's reign."

"Then you shall draft an imperial edict for me and prepare it in advance."

Zhu Houzhao walked to the imperial desk and gently tapped the list of officials from the six ministries that had just been presented to him.

"Wait until the day they submit their resignations. Don't try to persuade them to stay; they won't leave the cabinet."

"Granted to me the entire package!"

"Whoever wants to be a leader, whoever wants to go back to farming, I'll grant their wish!"

"Not only will their resignations be approved, but they will also be stripped of their official hats and their property confiscated!"

Zhu Houzhao suddenly drew his imperial sword and cleaved the desk in front of him, which symbolized the compromise of imperial power, in two.

The sound of swords rang out, soaring straight into the sky.

"If anyone in the area dares to use this as an excuse to cause trouble."

"I will personally lead the army and conquer Jiangnan!"

"Just as the descendants on that screen said!"

Zhu Houzhao's eyes were like an abyss, and he uttered each word with clenched teeth.

"If this world no longer belongs to the Zhu family, then let it burn completely!"

"A lose-lose situation is better than a win-win situation!!!"