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

The screen went black.

However, the tremors in the myriad worlds and the barrage of comments in the modern live broadcast room completely erupted at this moment!

Countless viewers stared at the black screen, unable to recover for a long time.

"Jun-ge, go and rest. You've been working at such a high intensity for four hours straight. Even the strongest voice can't take it!"

"When I heard the last part, I really felt breathless. Sixteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao was facing a court full of evil people. His life was so difficult."

"I understand why Brother Jun was so angry that he cursed. Wu Zong's actions were a classic case of 'taking too big a step and tearing his own balls.' He thought he could overturn the table, but instead, his subordinates set the house on fire!"

Rational netizens are lamenting the situation.

But those haters who had already been thoroughly attacked by Zhu Dijun, as well as the "Manchu remnants" hiding behind their keyboards, were like hyenas that had smelled blood, frantically spamming the public screen to stir up trouble.

"What do you mean by taking too big a step? Zhu Houzhao was a tyrannical and incompetent ruler who indiscriminately killed innocent people!"

"He deserved to be mutinized! He offended all the scholars in the land; this tyrant should have been overthrown long ago! The Qing Dynasty's 'History of Ming' didn't even slander him!"

"This is what happens to tyrants and traitors! Just die already!"

The Ming Dynasty, Zhengde 3rd year.

Inside the leopard house, a cold wind swept through.

Fifteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao stared intently at the vicious barrage of insults directed at him on the screen. His eyes, devoid of their usual rage, held only a deep, unfathomable chill.

He reached up and touched his cheek, which was swollen from the slap he had just given himself.

The burning, stinging pain served as a constant reminder to the young emperor of the irreversible path to ruin that lay ahead.

"Trial card..."

Zhu Houzhao pondered the word mentioned by his descendants on the sky.

Does this mean that I was only clever for a short time, and then I became an unreasonable, arrogant madman?

"Osama."

Zhu Houzhao suddenly spoke, his voice terribly hoarse.

Liu Jin knelt on the cold gold bricks, not daring to breathe.

"This servant is here."

"The future emperor was wrong. Terribly wrong."

Zhu Houzhao looked up at the dark dome.

"I believe that with the swords of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Inner Depot, and with my imperial power, we can completely remove all the rotten flesh that has accumulated in the Ming Dynasty over the past hundred years within a year."

"I was too greedy and too impatient. In my haste, I pushed all those who could have been won over or temporarily compromised to the opposite side."

Zhu Houzhao closed his eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing violently.

"As my descendant Judi Jun said, things went too smoothly for me, which made me feel like I was floating on air, and in the end... I killed you, my loyal subjects who served me so devotedly."

Liu Jin trembled, slammed his head heavily to the ground, and tears streamed down his face.

Fifteen minutes later.

The screen in the live stream suddenly lit up.

Judy sat back down in front of the camera. He washed his face, cold water droplets still dripping from the stray hairs on his forehead.

The weariness in his eyes vanished, replaced by an even more chilling and extreme coldness.

"Family, I'm home."

Zhu Dijun slammed a brand-new map of the Ming Dynasty's military onto the table.

"As we just mentioned, Emperor Wuzong issued the final edict stripping 675 officials of all honors and positions."

"Do you think this list only includes civil officials from Jiangnan and retired old men?"

On the screen, a phantom figure dressed in the python robe of a Ming Dynasty general was highlighted in blood red.

"Among this list of those to be liquidated is an extremely high-ranking hereditary nobleman of the Ming Dynasty!"

"The Earl of Pingjiang—Chen Xiong!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers flew across the keyboard, and a resume of the Chen family unfolded on the sky.

"Fellow family members, in the Ming Dynasty, what kind of person could be granted the title of Earl, and have the title inherited through generations?"

"This Chen Xiong's ancestor was Chen Xuan, a renowned meritorious official who participated in the Jingnan Campaign during the early Ming Dynasty!"

Yongle Time and Space.

Zhu Di looked at Chen Xuan's name on the sky and his brows furrowed into a deep knot.

When he raised an army to quell the rebellion and reached the Yangtze River, if Chen Xuan hadn't led the Southern Navy to defect and escort the Yan army across the river, Zhu Di would never have been able to reach the walls of Nanjing!

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice was filled with extremely harsh mockery.

"Chen Xuan made an unparalleled contribution in supporting the emperor! From that time on, the extremely lucrative position of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner—the vital artery connecting the north and south of the Ming Dynasty—was firmly in the hands of the Chen family!"

"For over a hundred years!"

"The Chen family's influence in the capital is deeply entrenched. Chen Xiong commanded the Imperial Guards in his early years, and later entered the Rear Army Commandery, taking charge of the ten most elite battalions in the capital!"

"This is a top-tier military leader whose every move shakes the capital!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his gavel down.

boom!

"But how did Emperor Wuzong (Zhu Houzhao) treat this military bigwig during this Zhengde purge?!"

On the big screen, a horrific list of confiscated property appeared.

"Because the grain transport in Jiangnan had been in deficit for years, Emperor Wuzong investigated and, without any mercy, had Chen Xiong's cousin, Chen Jun, the commander of Shaoxing Guard, beheaded in the street!"

"Immediately afterwards, an imperial edict was delivered to the Pingjiang Marquis's residence!"

"Chen Xiong was stripped of all military posts! His entire family, young and old, were shackled and exiled to the most desolate and malarial lands of Hainan!"

"The Pingjiang Earl's mansion was thoroughly raided by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the confiscated property was sold off by Emperor Wuzong, amounting to over ten thousand taels of silver, which was deposited into the Imperial Treasury!"

The generals from all realms and timelines felt a chill run down their spines when they saw this thunderous method of raiding homes.

A noble family with over a century of history was wiped out simply because of unclear accounts in the grain transport system?!

In the live stream, viewers cheered with delight.

"Well done! These parasites who control the lifeline of the nation deserve to be executed along with their entire families!"

"A monopoly on the Grand Canal for over a hundred years! The Chen family must have embezzled far more than ten thousand taels of silver; they must have transferred it all long ago!"

"Emperor Wuzong's move to weaken the power of the princes was perfectly sound!"

"No problem?" Judy Jun looked at the comments and sneered repeatedly. "Family, if this were modern times, of course there would be no problem."

"But in the bureaucratic politics of the Ming Dynasty, this was called 'a lack of political wisdom'! This was called 'stirring up a hornet's nest'!"

Zhu Dijun pulled over a whiteboard, picked up a red marker, and drew an extremely large and terrifying network of marriage alliances among nobles on it!

"Indeed, civil service positions in the Ming Dynasty could not be inherited."

"But don't forget, whether they are civil officials or military generals, they all form an ultimate community of shared interests through marriage alliances, mentorship, and local cliques!"

The pen tip heavily drew the first line on the whiteboard.

"Chen Xiong's wife, surnamed Zhu, was the daughter of a high-ranking official!"

"Chen Xiong's brother-in-law was none other than Zhu Hui, the Duke of Baoguo, who was nominally the top military leader of the Ming Dynasty and deeply trusted by Emperor Xiaozong!"

The third year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Leopard Chamber, Zhu Houzhao suddenly gripped the armrests of the dragon throne tightly.

Duke Baoguo, Zhu Hui!

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice grew increasingly cold and piercing.

"Emperor Wuzong confiscated the Chen family's property and exiled Chen Xiong. He didn't even bother to consult Zhu Hui, this high-ranking military official, showing absolutely no respect for this veteran who had served two emperors!"

"A new emperor brings a new court. It's normal for Emperor Wuzong to want to reclaim military power."

"But in November of the third year of the Zhengde reign, Emperor Wuzong pulled a truly disgusting trick—using a veiled insult to criticize someone else!"

On the screen, that name that made the generals grit their teeth in hatred popped up again.

"Zhao Duo, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of War, submitted a memorial impeaching Zhu Hui, the Duke of Baoguo, saying that he was old and frail and unable to fulfill his duties as military commander!"

"Family members, think about it!"

"Zhu Hui was sixty years old at the time! He once stood up to the entire civil official group in court for military power, following in the footsteps of Emperor Wuzong's father, Zhu Youcheng! He was the pillar of the Ming army!"

"Now, a mere seventh-rank official dares to jump out and point his finger at the Duke, calling him a piece of trash?"

"Without the emperor's authorization, he wouldn't dare do this even if he had ten times the courage!"

Zhu Dijun snapped the marker in his hand in half, and the red lead fell to the ground.

"Zhu Hui was a smart man, and also an extremely proud veteran. Seeing this situation, he immediately became disheartened and submitted a memorial requesting to resign and retire!"

"According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, even if the emperor wanted him to leave, he would still have to feign sincerity and try to persuade him to stay three times to give the old minister face."

"But what did Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao do?!"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the table, his eyes filled with deep sorrow.

"He didn't even bother with a pretense! Not even a polite edict to persuade him to stay! He just wrote down, 'Granted!'"

"Zhu Hui was stripped of his actual military power, left with only a nominal title, and slunk back to his residence in disgrace!"

boom!

The veterans of the myriad worlds and timelines all felt a chill and anger seeping from their very bones.

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Da, Tang He, and other founding veterans exchanged glances, each seeing a hint of sorrow in the other's eyes, a sense of shared grief.

I risked my life to build this empire for your Zhu family, and now that I'm old, all I get is to be kicked out without even a word of farewell?!

"It's not over yet!"

Judy Jun gives no chance for any of the different timelines to catch their breath.

He drew an extremely thick red line on the whiteboard once again, leading straight to the pinnacle of military power in the Ming Dynasty!

"Although Zhu Hui has retired, behind him stands a true behemoth of the Ming Dynasty's military!"

Four large, blood-red characters crashed onto the center of the screen.

[British Duke Zhang Mao]!

"Who is Zhang Mao? He is Zhang Fu's grandson! He is the supreme commander of the Central Military Commission of the Five Armies of the Ming Dynasty! He is responsible for controlling the most core of the three major military camps of the capital, the Five Armies Camp!"

"Not only that, he is also the maternal uncle of that Duke Baoguo, Zhu Hui!"

Zhu Dijun's speech became faster and faster, like a rapid drumbeat, pounding on everyone's hearts.

"As we mentioned in previous chapters, in August of the second year of the Zhengde reign, Emperor Wuzong, in order to control the Beijing garrison, used extremely forceful methods to compel the Duke of Yingguo to resign from all actual military duties and hand over command of the Beijing army!"

The large net on the whiteboard was now covered with red crosses symbolizing death.

"Now, let's connect all these clues!"

Zhu Dijun took a deep breath, and his voice resounded throughout the universe.

"In order to establish the Leopard House Imperial Guard, Emperor Wuzong forcibly forced Zhang Mao, the Duke of Yingguo and commander of the capital's army, to withdraw!"

"In order to seize control of the entire military, Emperor Wuzong instructed his officials to force the Duke of Baoguo, Zhu Hui, to resign!"

"In order to investigate and confiscate the embezzlement of grain transport funds, Emperor Wuzong confiscated the property of Chen Xiong, the Earl of Pingjiang, and exiled him!"

"In order to break down class barriers, Emperor Wuzong ordered an examination of all hereditary military officer sons throughout the land, eliminating dozens of potential successors to high-ranking generals!"

"By the fifth year of Zhengde's reign."

"The eunuch Liu Jin even unleashed an extremely terrifying storm of investigation into the military grain and provisions along the nine border regions of the Northwest! This forced countless border generals to lose their fortunes and commit murder to claim credit!"

At this moment, the map of the Ming Dynasty on the big screen turned completely into a blinding blood red!

Zhu Dijun grabbed the gavel on the table and slammed it down on the table with all his might!

boom! ! !

This loud noise was like a death knell tolling for the Ming Dynasty!

"Family members!"

"Dig up the ancestral graves of the civil service!"

"Cut off the lifeline of the local tyrants!"

"Now, we've completely offended and driven to the brink of ruin all the hereditary military generals, noble dukes, and warlords who hold power in the military!"

"From the highest levels of the imperial court to the most remote corners of the country; from the Grand Secretary to the General of the Frontier!"

"The entire Ming Dynasty, from top to bottom, has been forcibly transformed by the sixteen-year-old Zhu Houzhao into a unified front against imperial interests!"

The blood on the screen began to boil and distort wildly!

"This pressure cooker is so terrifying; even a tiny spark could blast the entire Ming Dynasty to smithereens!"

"Where there is oppression, there is resistance! Where there is a power grab, there is a mutiny!"

Zhu Dijun stared intently at the camera, a chilling glint flashing in his eyes.

"April, the fifth year of the Zhengde reign!"

"Ningxia Town, the most crucial military stronghold on the northwestern defense line of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Mars is ignited!"

Accompanied by Zhu Dijun's stern shout, an extremely piercing and violent war horn resounded in the live broadcast room!

"The Prince of Anhua in Ningxia, under the banner of 'purging the court of corrupt officials and eliminating Liu Jin,' brazenly drew his sword, issued a nationwide telegram, and launched a rebellion!"

"The Great Coup of 1558, a coup aimed at wiping out all of the emperor's confidants and destroying all new policies, has officially begun!"