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

"Family members."

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the big screen, his eyes piercing through the lens like awls.

"As we said before, the rebellion of the Prince of Anhua in Ningxia was a farce in which a border general held a knife to his neck."

"But here's the problem."

He drew heavy lines connecting the civil service and the imperial family on the whiteboard.

Why did that group of cunning and calculating civil officials in the capital so confidently believe that they could bring down Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao simply by throwing out any prince?

"Aren't they afraid that all the feudal lords in the land won't cooperate?"

The chat in the live stream went silent instantly.

Zhu Dijun's lips curled into an extremely sarcastic sneer.

"They are not afraid! Because they are certain that as long as someone raises the call, even if the entire Ming Dynasty's imperial family doesn't dare to openly rebel, they will definitely applaud wildly behind the scenes!"

"Even in the eyes of those civil officials, if any random descendant of Zhu Biao were to step forward, the entire court would collectively defect!"

"Why?!"

Four blood-stained characters crashed onto the center of the screen!

[Radical reduction of feudal power]!

"Because in the early years of the Zhengde reign, Zhu Houzhao implemented a policy of weakening the power of the princes that was so drastic that even his own grandfather, Emperor Xianzong of Ming, dared not touch it!"

"He single-handedly forced the entire Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty to his opposite side!"

On the large screen, a bright yellow imperial edict, several meters long, slowly unfolded.

"First! Forcibly reduce the number of staff in each princely residence! Limit the size of the residences!"

"Secondly! Significantly reduce the welfare benefits and annual stipends of princes and dukes below the rank of imperial family!"

"Article Three! Any member of the imperial clan who violates the laws of the Ming Dynasty will have their title revoked immediately, and this will never be reinstated for generations to come!"

"Article Four! After the death of a principal wife of the imperial clan, the newly married concubine and her children will no longer be granted official titles by the court! Children born from affairs with palace maids will also not be recognized!"

As Zhu Dijun read out the policy, each policy transformed into a sharp knife, piercing deeply into the princely residences across the Ming Dynasty's territory!

Viewers in the modern live stream gasped in shock.

"Holy crap! This is tantamount to cutting off the royal family's official positions and social security benefits!"

"Stripped of imperial status for breaking the law? This is a bolt from the blue for those arrogant and domineering princes!"

"They're even disowning the concubine and their illegitimate child; they're trying to wipe out their family line!"

"It's not over yet!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the table.

boom!

"The most fatal blow, and the one that truly ignited the fury of the Ming imperial family, was the fifth point!"

"Except for princes, all members of the imperial clan below the rank of duke and general who are in charge of maintaining the state do not have direct descendants."

"Upon their death, their titles will be revoked! Collateral descendants are absolutely forbidden from inheriting them!"

The myriad realms and timelines were utterly silent.

The Great Han Dynasty, Weiyang Palace.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, let out a cold laugh and slammed the wine cup in his hand heavily on the table.

"This isn't called weakening the power of the feudal lords! This is called forcing them to rebel!"

This emperor, a figure of unparalleled power, had nothing but disdain in his eyes.

"Back then, I used the Edict of Grace to distribute the titles to their illegitimate sons, letting them fight amongst themselves and dismantle the feudal lords without bloodshed."

"That young emperor of the Ming Dynasty is something else entirely! He's cutting off people's lineage and their wealth. If he doesn't die, who will?"

On the screen above, Zhu Dijun immediately presented a bloody case.

"In modern terms, this means the law stipulates that illegitimate children cannot inherit the property of the legal wife, and nephews cannot inherit the estate of their uncles; all of it is confiscated by the state!"

"In the fourth year of Zhengde's reign, the Prince of Yingshan in Liaodong passed away without a legitimate son."

"His nephew, following custom, submitted a memorial to the court requesting to inherit the title of Prince of Yingshan."

"As a result, Zhu Houzhao simply wrote down the rejection! The title of Prince of Yingshan was abolished!"

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at the sky, his withered fingers forcefully breaking off a piece of lacquer from the dragon head of the throne.

"Nonsense! Absolutely nonsense!"

The founding emperor was so angry that he trembled all over.

"We have clearly stipulated this in the 'Imperial Ancestral Instructions of the Ming Dynasty'! If a member of the imperial clan has no legitimate son, a son born of a concubine or a nephew can apply to the court for inheritance!"

"We're just leaving them a sliver of hope, in case they're desperate and do something rash!"

Zhu Yuanzhang coughed violently, and Crown Prince Zhu Biao quickly stepped forward to pat his back.

"This kid's swift and decisive action is tantamount to cutting off the livelihoods of most of the princes in the land!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's tone softened somewhat.

"Family members, in all fairness, was Zhu Houzhao wrong to do this?"

"From the nation's perspective, that's absolutely right! You could even say it's a contribution that will benefit future generations!"

"Those civil officials during the Hongzhi reign praised the 'Hongzhi Restoration' every day, but in reality, they had already emptied the national treasury. These pigs of the Ming imperial family who only eat and don't excrete have become a mountain that is crushing the national finances."

"By doing this, Zhu Houzhao was limiting the rampant reproduction of the imperial family, extending the life of the Ming Dynasty, and saving expenses!"

Zhu Dijun's eyes turned cold.

"but!"

"He forgot a crucial premise!"

On the large screen, the flames of Ningxia Town intertwined with the phantom image of the imperial court in the capital.

"By the fourth and fifth years of the Zhengde reign, Zhu Houzhao, due to his heavy reliance on the eunuch Liu Jin and his extensive investigations into embezzlement, had everyone around him except ordinary people who were now his enemies!"

"The civil officials wanted to kill him, and the military generals wanted to rebel against him. Now, he has personally pushed the imperial clan, which could have served as a buffer, completely into the abyss!"

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

On the walls of Ningxia, the sounds of battle shook the heavens.

As the twenty-year-old Zhu Houzhao listened to the analysis on the sky, he gave a bitter laugh and threw away the longsword with its dull blade.

He leaned against the cold city bricks, looking up at the sky, a tear mixed with blood sliding down his cheek.

"So... I've been all alone all along."

"I fully expected that all the vassal kings in the world would consider our kinship, but who knew that they would be happy for me to die immediately in the rebellion in Ningxia."

Inside the live stream room.

Zhu Dijun pulled up a timetable from April of the fifth year of the Zhengde reign.

"Family members, let's take a look at Emperor Wuzong's perspective at that time."

"When the urgent military report of the rebellion of the Prince of Anhua in Ningxia reached the Forbidden City."

"Zhu Houzhao, far away in the capital, had no idea that the truth was that several military officers had killed people to cover up the smuggling."

"What he saw was a regional prince raising an army! And he was raising the banner of killing Liu Jin!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hands on the table and leaned forward.

"Emperor Wuzong was a 20-year-old young man."

"He has a fatal flaw common to all young people—he's hot-blooded and impulsive, always wanting to do things quickly rather than slowly!"

"He panicked when faced with this seemingly earth-shattering sudden crisis."

"He was afraid that such a rebellion would trigger a chain reaction among all the royal families in the world."

"So, before he even understood what was happening in Ningxia, he played an extremely foolish and disastrous card—a panic-driven compromise!"

A frantically flashing phantom image of an imperial edict suddenly materialized on the screen.

"Within just a few days after the Ningxia mutiny broke out."

"To appease the imperial clan, Zhu Houzhao bestowed the title of Prince of the First Rank and a total of nine Princes of the Second Rank in one fell swoop!"

"He wants to use this reward to silence the feudal lords across the land!"

Across countless worlds and timelines, everyone shook their heads.

This is a classic case of showing weakness! In political games, if you take the initiative to show weakness and back down before you have a clear understanding of the situation, the enemy will instantly smell blood and tear you to pieces!

"After appeasing the imperial clan, what was Zhu Houzhao's next move?"

Zhu Dijun's slender fingers swiped heavily across the screen.

"He's going to appease the local military in Ningxia! He needs to find out exactly who's causing trouble!"

"However, when he wanted to take this step forward in the court..."

"A master chess player lurking in the shadows has bared his deadly fangs at him!"

A portrait of an old man with white hair, exuding endless cunning and malice, suddenly filled the entire screen!

The three blood-red characters pierced everyone's eyes!

【Li! Dong! Yang!】

The Hongzhi Era of the Ming Dynasty.

When Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youcheng, saw that familiar face on the sky, he was so frightened that he fell off his dragon throne.

"Lord Li...the Grand Secretary..."

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice was like a death knell, tolling in every inch of time and space.

As the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, Li Dongyang knew all too well what had happened in Ningxia, and he was even more aware of how many powerful figures in the capital were involved in the smuggling network!

"When he saw the emperor frantically compromising out of panic."

"This veteran of three reigns, in league with the entire court, set up a terrifying and irreversible trap for the twenty-year-old Zhu Houzhao!"

"Li Dongyang, accompanied by his officials and carrying memorials from Ningxia, went to force the emperor to abdicate!"

They told Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, the Northwest is in chaos, and the morale of the army is low. We absolutely cannot pressure the border towns any further!"

"What investigation into land reclamation? Stop!"

"What do you mean by recovering embezzled funds from the national treasury? Stop!"

Zhu Dijun crushed the plastic water cup in his hand!

"The most absurd thing is!"

"Under the cabinet's manipulation, the border generals who were actually responsible for murdering the imperial envoy and covering up smuggling in Ningxia were not only not thoroughly investigated, but were instead promoted and ennobled by the court under the guise of 'appeasement'!"

boom!

The entire online chat room fell silent instantly!

The era of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao, who was besieged by the rebels, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which directly stained the armor on his chest.

"Li Dongyang...you old scoundrel!!!"

His fierce roar echoed for a long time above the blazing Ningxia city walls.

Inside the live stream room.

The lights went completely off.

Only Judy Jun's eyes, as deep as an abyss, stared intently at the camera in the darkness.

"When Zhu Houzhao signed the imperial edict to stop the pursuit of stolen goods and to appease the border generals."

He believed that he had secured peace for the Ming Dynasty through compromise.

"But he had no idea."

Zhu Dijun's voice was so soft it sent chills down your spine.

"Since even the emperor's heinous crime of rebellion and killing the imperial envoy could be wiped out by the civil official group with a single memorial."

"Then Li Dongyang and all the officials in the court will know that the emperor's bottom line has been completely breached."

on the big screen.

A blood-stained scalpel hung silently over the neck of the Grand Eunuch Liu Jin!

"The prey has entered the game."

"Two days later, at the same time."

"I will reveal to you this event that took place in August of the fifth year of the Zhengde reign, targeting Liu Jin, but even more so, the imperial power itself—"

"Ultimate! Decisive! Strike!"