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

The Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu era.

The Fengtian Hall was so quiet that one could hear the soft crackling of a lamp wick.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat upright on the dragon throne, his withered yet still robust hands gripping the carved dragon and gilded armrests tightly. His knuckles were alarmingly pale from the extreme force he exerted.

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

He muttered those six words to himself, and a monstrous surge of emotion welled up in his once unfathomable eyes.

As the founding emperor who started with nothing but a bowl and fought his way to establish the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang understood better than anyone what it meant to "have nothing to lose." He hated corrupt officials the most and understood this kind of resolute determination.

If even one's own life and the hilt of one's sword are held in the hands of those civil officials wielding pens, then this empire is better burned to the ground than left to these rats to squander!

Zhu Biao stood below the jade steps. This crown prince, who was always known for his kindness and benevolence, now had a tense jaw and his fists clenched tightly in his wide sleeves.

"Father, in times of peace and prosperity, no one wants the empire built by our ancestors to burn."

Zhu Biao's voice was slightly hoarse, but his eyes were extremely sharp.

"But that descendant, Zhu Dijun, was right. If the fifth year of Zhengde's reign was destined to be a major purge of the imperial faction by the civil officials, then if the sixteen-year-old Emperor Wuzong had backed down, it would have been utterly disastrous. If there was no way to back down, then he would not back down!"

Behind the curtain, Empress Ma watched silently as the young man with bloodshot eyes and hoarse shouts appeared on the screen. He was a descendant of the Zhu family, driven nearly mad by those scholars who spouted righteousness. Although she felt sorry for the Ming Dynasty, she understood even more the bloodshed and cruelty of political struggles.

However, the civil officials of the Hongwu Dynasty standing below felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

panic!

Extreme panic spread rapidly within the crimson-clad official ranks!

The words of that sorcerer from later generations on the celestial screen were incredibly venomous! It was practically a step-by-step tutorial for emperors of all dynasties on how to become a madman who overturns the table!

If future emperors, faced with a collective coup by civil officials, no longer choose compromise and balance, but instead overturn the chessboard and fight to the death, wouldn't the "checks and balances of public opinion" upon which their civil official group depends become a complete joke?

A censor in scarlet robe suddenly jumped out from the ranks of civil officials.

Plop!

He slammed his knees heavily onto the gold bricks, ignoring the excruciating pain in his kneecaps, and shouted with his head held high.

"Your Majesty! I have a memorial to present!"

The censor's face flushed red, the veins on his forehead throbbed, and his finger trembled as he pointed to the sky in mid-air.

"That madman in the sky, claiming to be a descendant of the King of Yan, is spouting pure nonsense! He's spreading heresy and misleading the public!"

"The idea that a lose-lose situation is better than a win, and the notion that the Ming Dynasty should be burned—these are clearly the sounds of national ruin! They are the malicious pronouncements of traitorous officials!"

The censor's eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was extremely stern as he tried to salvage the situation using his most adept method of moral blackmail.

"We, your subjects, have studied the classics and cultivated the principles of self-cultivation, family harmony, national governance, and world peace! We are all loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, working tirelessly for the country day and night. How could we, in the mouths of that sorcerer, become bloodsucking monsters who bring disaster to the country and usurp the throne?"

He turned to look at Zhu Yuanzhang, who was high above him, and slammed his forehead heavily against the floor tiles, making a dull thud.

"Your Majesty, please be wise! We are by no means treacherous subjects! That son of a later generation is sowing discord between the ruler and his subjects in this way, which is utterly rebellious. We implore Your Majesty not to be misled by him and to quell such wicked words!"

Before he could finish speaking...

A chilling, extremely violent laugh rang out at the very front of the military ranks.

"Loyal minister? You dare use that word?!"

Prince Zhu Di of Yan strode out of the ranks. His leather boots pounded heavily on the gold bricks, exuding a bloodthirsty aura forged in countless battles, as he approached the kneeling censor.

Zhu Di was so angry he laughed.

He was already thrilled by what he heard; although the later generations' criticisms were harsh, every word they uttered struck at the heart of imperial politics. And now these pedantic scholars dared to jump out and turn the tables on him?

He walked up to the censor and looked down at the trembling body.

"Did my descendants say anything wrong? Which of his words was nonsense?!"

Zhu Di suddenly bent down, grabbed the censor by the back of his collar, and lifted him off the ground like a radish.

"Old man, stop arguing with me! My descendant said something absolutely right today—'History always repeats itself at certain points in time'!"

Zhu Di exerted force with his arm and swung it violently, sending the censor flying.

He turned around abruptly, his gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping across every civil official present who had their head bowed.

"Do you all think you're blind to the evidence just displayed on the screen?! How similar are the 'Cao Qin Rebellion' during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Ming and the 'Ming Wuzong's Fifth Year Mutiny'?!"

"Aside from changing a few facades and the names of some so-called 'great scholars' and 'famous ministers,' has the underlying sordid dealings changed even a fraction?!"

Zhu Di's voice was like a series of bugle calls on a battlefield, making the entire Fengtian Hall resonate.

"You keep claiming to be loyal ministers!"

"But in reality, both of these mutinies were violent backlashes launched by you civil officials in collusion with traitorous generals against the Ming imperial power in order to protect your embezzled private property and avoid returning the ill-gotten gains!"

Zhu Di pointed to the dome of the main hall and directly presented the concept from Zhu Dijun's live stream.

"This is what you call—private power outweighing public power!"

"When the emperor wants to audit the accounts, you stage a mutiny! When the emperor wants to train the troops, you cut off their pay! When the emperor doesn't need people from your hometowns, you threaten to resign en masse to blackmail the emperor!"

Zhu Di strode to the front of the civil officials' line and reached out to tap the noses of several Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet.

"You, me, none of us are fools!"

"In this Fengtian Hall, who doesn't know whose background? Why bother putting on airs in front of me and Father Emperor, pretending to be some kind of noble sage!"

The main hall was deathly silent.

Those officials who were usually eloquent were left speechless and unable to utter a single word after Zhu Di's barrage of arguments infused with modern political logic.

"Fourth brother, step down."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable and ultimate pressure.

Zhu Di snorted coldly, glared fiercely at the group of civil officials, and retreated back to the ranks of military officers.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and walked to the edge of the jade steps. He looked down at the censor who was lying on the ground, trembling.

"Someone come here."

Two fierce-looking Imperial Guards rushed in from outside the palace in an instant.

"Strip him of his clothes and drag him out." Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were devoid of any warmth. "Since he thinks Tianmu's words are the sound of national ruin, then let him go to the underworld and ask our ancestors who is truly bringing disaster to the country!"

"Your Majesty, spare my life! Your Majesty..."

The desperate pleas for mercy were dragged out of the main hall and quickly ceased.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat back on the dragon throne, his gaze fixed intently on the sky above.

"We're starting to like this kid more and more."

"They've stripped the civil officials bare. Let's see how that sixteen-year-old brat, now that he's been woken up by the coup in the fourth year of Zhengde's reign, will overturn the chessboard of these old foxes!"

On the sky.

After his near-out-of-control roar, Judy Jun finally calmed down.

He picked up the ice water beside him and gulped it down in one go.

He then looked back at the camera, a chilling smile playing on his lips.

"Family, we've vented our emotions. It's time to get serious."

"We just hypothesized that if Zhu Houzhao hadn't tried to retain those senior cabinet ministers in the fourth year of the Zhengde reign, and had directly approved their resignations, would the Ming Dynasty have collapsed?"

On the big screen, the historical material about "the fourth year of Zhengde's reign - resignation and coup" was instantly shredded.

Instead, there was an extremely secretive and bloody top-secret file of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

"History has no 'what ifs,' but in the cracks of true history, I uncovered a shocking case that all historians have deliberately avoided!"

Zhu Dijun pressed the Enter key heavily with his finger.

"It turns out that the reason why Zhu Houzhao, at the age of sixteen, chose to back down was not because he was truly afraid of the resignations of these civil officials."

"It was because it happened late the night before the resignation was submitted."

The screen went completely black instantly, leaving only a red circle dripping with blood.

"The Directorate of Ceremonial and the Embroidered Uniform Guard intercepted a secret letter in the back garden of the Leopard Chamber, originating from Ningxia Town, thousands of miles away—a letter that should never have appeared in the capital!"

"And the recipient of this letter was none other than the Grand Secretary who led the officials in the coup—[Li Dongyang]!"