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

"Family members, we can figure out the whole story about Prince Ning presenting the lantern with just a snap of our toes!"

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the large screen, drawing a big X on the portrait of Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, with a tone full of extreme mockery.

"A prince confined to Nanchang, going to great lengths to send a lamp filled with gunpowder to the capital? What was he after? Did he intend to blow up the emperor and then conveniently launch a rebellion? Wouldn't that just be handing the court leverage to weaken the power of the princes? There's only one real answer—this is yet another frame-up orchestrated by the civil service, a clumsy attempt to warn the emperor while simultaneously pinning the blame on a local prince!"

On the whiteboard, the four characters "Prince Ning presents the lantern" were erased.

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the table, his eyes turning completely cold, like two poisoned knives staring directly at the camera.

"The attempt to burn down the palace with fire failed, and the emperor, instead of dying, used the opportunity to rage. The civil service, of course, wouldn't let it go. Besides the 'precise border raids' we mentioned earlier, using the Mongols to eliminate border generals, they immediately launched another extremely insidious, even monstrous, move—using the emperor's offspring as leverage!"

The timeline on the big screen suddenly jumped and froze at [February of the ninth year of Zhengde]!

"In this past month, a major personnel reshuffle has occurred in the imperial court. He Jian, the previously timid and subservient Minister of War, was kicked out of the court by Zhu Houzhao! In his place is Lu Wan, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief who made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi and was deeply trusted by the emperor!"

Zhu Dijun wrote the name "Lu Wan" on the whiteboard.

"Lu Wan regained control of the Ministry of War and once again intervened in the capital's military garrison. Seeing that the emperor was about to reclaim control of the military, the civil service was panicked, utterly desperate!"

A yellowed photocopy of a joint memorial landed with a thud in the center of the screen.

"The thirteen censors of Beiping and Nanjing, along with a large group of officials led by Wang Zheng, jointly submitted an extremely malicious memorial!"

Zhu Dijun read out the core meaning of the memorial with a cold smile.

"These officials pointed their fingers at Zhu Houzhao in their memorials, cursing: 'Your Majesty! You have been on the throne for nine years, and you haven't even produced a son! The foundation of the nation is unstable; this is unacceptable! You must immediately select a young and virtuous member of the imperial clan and bring him to the palace to be raised as your own son, in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances!'"

The live stream room fell eerily quiet instantly.

Zhu Dijun slammed his gavel down, the sound of which boomed throughout the hall!

"Family members! Can you believe this?! In the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, how old was Zhu Houzhao? He was only twenty-three! In modern terms, he'd be a fresh-faced college graduate!"

"A strong, 23-year-old young man who spends his days training in horseback riding and archery in the Leopard House. His employees actually petitioned him: 'Boss, you can't have children, you're childless! Hurry up and go to a relative's house to adopt a son to prepare to take over and handle your funeral arrangements!'"

Zhu Dijun pointed at the camera, a terrifying ferocity emanating from his eyes.

"This isn't encouraging childbirth! This is a blatant curse upon the reigning emperor! In ancient times, this would have been a blatant attempt to force the emperor to abdicate and commit suicide!"

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

In the main hall of the Leopard Room.

Hearing the furious roar from the sky, twenty-three-year-old Zhu Houzhao trembled with rage and kicked over the large rosewood table in front of him. "Wang Zheng...that Wang Zheng! These bastards actually cursed me to be childless!"

He knew all too well what these civil officials were thinking. They didn't care whether the Ming Dynasty had an heir; they only cared whether that heir was a puppet they could control.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly lowered, as if a vengeful ghost was whispering in his ear.

"Why did the civil service insist on forcing the 23-year-old emperor to adopt a son and establish a crown prince? My friends, this reveals an extremely terrifying aspect of Ming Dynasty history—the traditional skills of the civil service!"

The large screen instantly split into four, revealing black-and-white portraits of four Ming Dynasty emperors.

[Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, Zhu Zhanji], [Emperor Yingzong of Ming, Zhu Qizhen], [Emperor Xianzong of Ming, Zhu Jianshen], [Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youcheng]!

Four blood-red characters for "death" were nailed firmly to their heads!

"Anyone familiar with Ming Dynasty history understands. In this distorted court system, once an emperor had a legitimate and smoothly succeeding crown prince, it meant—that emperor could die!"

Zhu Dijun's slender fingers traced the faces of the four emperors one by one.

"Emperor Xuanzong (Zhu Zhanji) attempted to interfere with the division of power among civil officials, but died mysteriously at the age of thirty-eight!"

"Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was tricked by the civil official group and sent to Tumu Fortress. His later life was full of ups and downs, and he died at the age of thirty-seven!"

"Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen established the Western Depot to suppress the civil official group, and died at the age of forty-one!"

"Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youcheng had only one wife his entire life. He was the perfect emperor during the Hongzhi Restoration, but when he tried to relinquish some power, he died at the age of thirty-six!"

Zhu Dijun spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice like a heavy hammer striking everyone's hearts.

"Have you noticed the pattern, family members? As long as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has an irreconcilable conflict of interest with the civil service group, as long as the emperor has a clear successor to ensure that the country does not fall apart directly."

"Then this emperor will most likely not live past forty! They will, at some inexplicable time, because of a minor cold or a bowl of some strange imperial hospital medicine, alas, fall directly into their coffins!"

"This is the ultimate weapon of the Ming Dynasty's civil service! This is why they were so desperate to force Zhu Houzhao to adopt a young member of the imperial family! With a puppet ruler, they could legitimately kill this disobedient adult emperor!"

Across countless worlds and timelines, everyone gasped in shock.

The Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di stared at the portrait of his grandson, Zhu Zhanji, frozen at the age of thirty-eight, on the large screen, his eyes twitching violently. "What a group of audacious traitors... Killing the emperor, replacing him with a puppet—is this their so-called loyalty and service to the country?!"

"Faced with such a vicious curse and blatant death threat, did Zhu Houzhao back down?"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun suddenly straightened his back, his eyes extremely sharp.

"Of course not! In this fierce tug-of-war, this twenty-three-year-old young master displayed a political iron fist far beyond his years! He directly launched a bloody purge of the court!"

"The first to be targeted was Huang Tixing, the Ministry of Revenue official who was the most vocal in his memorials and even spread rumors that Zhu Houzhao himself set fire to the Qianqing Palace!"

"Zhu Houzhao didn't even bother to find a reason; he directly issued an edict: Huang Tixing is spreading heresies and is being dismissed from his post, never to be employed again! Get out of the capital!"

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Dijun drew a diagram of the Five Military Governors' Office on the whiteboard and crossed out the name at the very top with an X.

"It wasn't just the civil officials! Zhu Houzhao had clearly learned a painful lesson from the mutiny of August in the fifth year of the Zhengde reign. He knew that the military generals and nobles in the capital were also accomplices of these civil officials. Therefore, he directly targeted the ultimate traitor who held military power but betrayed him during the mutiny—the Duke of Ying, Zhang Mao!"

"Zhu Houzhao, with the help of Lu Wan, the Minister of War, and the eunuch clique in the inner court, put pressure on the old Duke of Yingguo, who had served three emperors and had deep roots in the government, and forced him to resign completely! Along with all the trusted generals that Zhang Mao had placed in the Beijing garrison, he was completely removed from office! This avoided the tragedy of the mutiny on August 11, 5th year of Zhengde's reign. If he could have done it, Zhu Houzhao really wanted to wipe out the entire Duke of Yingguo's family, but he did not have the power to do so, so he could only dismiss him and drive him away."

Zhu Dijun typed on the keyboard, and three brand-new portraits replaced the original portraits of the Beijing garrison generals.

"As soon as Zhang Mao left, Zhu Houzhao immediately carried out a complete separation of military power over the most core ten regiments of the Beijing Army! He divided the command of this elite force into three!"

[Earl of Xinning Tan You], [Minister of War Lu Wan], [Eunuch of the Imperial Horse Administration Gu Dayong]!

"The powerful nobles, the loyal civil officials, and the eunuchs—a three-way balance of power, mutually restraining each other, completely shattered the attempt of the civil official group and the hereditary nobles to control the capital's military. From this moment on, Zhu Houzhao finally truly held the reins of power in his own hands!"

Inside the live stream, the chat was buzzing with comments, with netizens praising Zhu Houzhao's swift and decisive move to seize power.

But Judy Jun didn't give the audience any time to breathe.

He suddenly stopped moving, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and a very strange smile appeared on his lips.

"Family members, you've enjoyed the power struggle drama, haven't you? But now, I'm going to highlight the important points. Everyone stand up and take notes!"

The image on the big screen instantly switched to a map of the Ming Dynasty's territory.

A red halo locked onto Nanchang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province—the fiefdom of Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao!

"Just now everyone was laughing at Prince Ning for presenting the lantern, calling him a scapegoat. In the memories of us later generations, whether it's the official historical records or those classic online novels you've all read, like 'Back to the Ming Dynasty to Be a Prince' or 'I Became a Tyrant in the Ming Dynasty'."

"In these literary works and historical records, Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, is portrayed as an ultimate villain who was ambitious from a young age, recruited soldiers, and plotted rebellion. In the end, he was completely overthrown by Wang Shouren and became a laughing stock of the past. Many people even trace the origin of Prince Ning's rebellion directly back to the Jingnan Campaign, to the little affair between the first Prince Ning, Zhu Quan, and Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di."

Zhu Dijun picked up his water glass, took a sip, and his eyes were like a sharp sword that could see through a thousand years.

"But! The truth is often a million times more fantastical than anything in novels!"

Four large, blood-red characters crashed down on the sky above the Prince Ning's mansion!

[Number! Times! Reinforcements! ]

Judy grabbed the gavel and slammed it down! Bang!

"The original archives of the Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming clearly state in black and white that this occurred during the early years of Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao's reign, a period when the powerful eunuch Liu Jin controlled the government and frantically implemented the new policy of land surveying!"

"Not only did Zhu Houzhao fail to guard against Prince Ning, but he also issued secret edicts [several times]—note, several times! He proactively and forcibly increased the number of private guards for Prince Ning's residence!"

The entire internet is in an uproar!

"Why send more troops? Because Jiangxi is the stronghold of the Ming Dynasty's civil official group! It's the place where smugglers and large landowners from Jiangnan are most concentrated! Zhu Houzhao's decision to send more troops to Prince Ning was not because he was deceived; he wanted to use Prince Ning, this imperial sword, to keep a close eye on the throat of the Jiangxi civil official group and to monitor those lawless local tyrants!"

Zhu Dijun's voice echoed in the hall, tearing apart the fabricated historical records that had been shrouded in falsehoods for hundreds of years.

"But what was the result? In the fifth year of the Zhengde reign, Liu Jin was killed, and Zhu Houzhao was sidelined. The first thing the civil official group did after seizing power was to immediately order a complete reduction of the Prince of Ning's guards!"

"Family members, do you understand this terrifying closed loop of logic?"

In the modern live-streaming room, countless netizens felt their scalp tingle.

"Holy crap!! This plot twist is absolutely mind-blowing! It turns out that increasing the number of guards for Prince Ning was the Emperor's idea!"

"Using vassal kings to restrain the civil officials' stronghold? Zhu Houzhao's move was brilliant! It's a pity Liu Jin is dead!"

"So, the 'History of Ming' compiled by the Manchus and the Donglin Party in later generations completely changed the emperor's methods of checking and controlling civil officials into Prince Ning's premeditated rebellion? These dog of a scholar have distorted history beyond recognition!"

"So, the Prince of Ning's rebellion... was actually forced upon him by the civil service?!"

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Fengtian Hall, there was a deathly silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat upright on the dragon throne, his gaze slowly moving downwards.

In the imperial court, Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who had been called out by name, and Zhu Quan, the Prince of Ning, who was only thirteen years old and still looked very young, looked at each other in dismay, their backs soaked with cold sweat.

All the officials and even the Crown Prince Zhu Biao had their eyes fixed on the two princes.

A century later, the emperor used Prince Ning to attack the civil officials in Jiangnan? And then the civil officials turned the tables and killed Prince Ning?

Who exactly set the trap for whom in this later situation?