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

Suddenly, an extremely exaggerated electronic cigarette effect appeared on the large screen in the live broadcast room.

"Family members, we previously discussed how Emperor Wuzong, Zhu Houzhao, forcefully overturned the table, establishing the East and West Offices in the Western Garden of the Imperial Palace, completely independent of the civil service system. This dagger has been pulled out!"

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the big screen, a smug smile on his face.

"But as soon as the knife was drawn, there was always a pair of sinister eyes watching, making one feel uneasy. However, Heaven is fair. Just four months after the establishment of the two offices, in March of the tenth year of Zhengde, Zhu Houzhao received a super victory report that was like rain after a long drought!"

Three huge black and white characters, accompanied by funeral music, crashed onto the center of the public screen!

[Zhang! Mao! Died!]

Zhu Dijun grabbed the gavel and slammed it hard on the table, making a deafening noise.

"This man, who controlled the Ming Dynasty's capital army for a full forty years! This ultimate old man, who, during the coup on August 11th of the fifth year of Zhengde's reign, joined forces with the civil official group to rebel and force the emperor to abdicate, and watched helplessly as the emperor's confidants were slaughtered, finally couldn't bear it any longer and passed away!"

The entire internet was instantly flooded with comments like "good riddance" and "pop the champagne."

"That old guy died just in time!"

Zhu Dijun pointed at Zhang Mao's withered portrait on the screen, his tone full of disdain.

"Don't forget, everyone, during that mutiny in the fifth year of the Zhengde reign, the Zhang family was practically mobilized! Zhang Mao was in charge of the Five Military Commands, and his son worked in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, using the convenience of the intelligence agency to frantically pass on imperial intelligence to the civil official group! This family was eating the highest salaries of the Ming imperial family, but all they did was backstab and act as lackeys for the civil officials in Jiangnan!"

The Yongle Era of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) snorted coldly and slammed the teacup he was holding onto the imperial desk.

"Good riddance! If this treacherous old villain had been in my hands, I would have executed his entire clan long ago!" Zhu Di stared at the sky, gritting his teeth.

"He lived to be seventy-five; that's too good for him!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice carried the ruthlessness of a power struggle over equity.

"With Zhang Mao dead, as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he still had to maintain appearances. Zhu Houzhao readily posthumously conferred upon the old man the title of 'Prince of Ningyang.' But after the formalities were done, the core issue arose—who should inherit the title of Duke of England, a title that was tied to the fate of the nation, a title held by the highest nobility of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Dijun drew the genealogical structure of the British Duke's Mansion on the whiteboard, and drew a red circle over the name of Zhang Mao's eldest son, Zhang Qin.

"According to the normal procedures of feudal etiquette, Zhang Mao's death should have meant that his eldest son, Zhang Qin, would have succeeded him. But family members, how many times has Zhu Houzhao been tricked by these treacherous officials in the past nine years? Can he swallow this insult? Can he allow Zhang Qin, who could continue to collude with the cabinet at any time, to take over the Duke of Ying's mansion and continue to cause him trouble?"

A huge red X was drawn over Zhang Qin's name!

"Zhu Houzhao bypassed the Ministry of Rites and issued an extremely ruthless imperial edict! He didn't choose Zhang Qin at all, but instead, with a stroke of his pen, directly designated Zhang Mao's grandson—[Zhang Lun]—to inherit the title of Duke of England!"

On the big screen, the name [Zhang Lun] was suddenly enlarged.

"This subtle maneuver is a textbook example of the art of imperial strategy!"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands on the table, his eyes flashing with a sharp, piercing light.

"What do you call this? This is called artificially creating a conflict in the law of succession! The eldest son is still alive, yet the emperor insists that his grandson inherit the title. As soon as this imperial edict was issued, the entire Duke of England's mansion was in an uproar!"

"The son and grandson, vying for the family's assets, connections, and influence, instantly broke off relations and plunged into an extremely fierce internal power struggle! The newly appointed Duke of Yingguo, Zhang Lun, was busy guarding against his own uncle in order to secure his position. What energy did he have left to collude with the civil service? What audacity did he have to obstruct the emperor's control over the two government offices?"

"Don't forget, Zhang Qin was a middle-aged man in his fifties at the time, while Zhang Lun was in his twenties. Although they were father and son, there is no such thing as father and son in the arena of power. Moreover, Zhang Qin favored his concubine over his wife and disliked his eldest son Zhang Lun very much. Zhang Lun also disliked this old man. When two tigers fight, one of them will surely be injured."

The tenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Leopard Chamber.

Zhu Houzhao looked up at the sky, a wild, arrogant laugh spreading across his lips.

Zhang Mao, that old dog, abused his seniority to seize imperial power while he was alive, and now he thinks he can pass on that network even after he's dead? Dream on! I'll make sure your Zhang family fights each other to the death, and then we'll see what you can use to stop my blade!

"Using the opportunity of holding Zhang Mao's funeral, Zhu Houzhao's murderous atrocities never stopped!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers flew across the keyboard, and a topographical map of Xiyuan appeared on the screen.

"Family members, pay attention to this location—the Elephant House! It's where the Ming Dynasty imperial family kept elephants. It's located in the Western Garden of the Imperial Palace, right next to the Leopard House, where Zhu Houzhao lived and worked; they were practically side-by-side!"

A red dagger phantom was embedded in the elephant house.

"Back then, in order to keep a close watch on Zhu Houzhao's every move, Zhang Mao used his power to forcefully place his third son, Zhang Ming, who was also the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, into the position of steward of the Elephant Chamber! Who the Emperor met that day, what he did in the Leopard Chamber, Zhang Ming could turn around and report to those old men in the cabinet!"

Zhu Dijun suddenly waved his hand and shouted:

"How can we allow these traitors to sleep soundly beside our bed! Taking advantage of the chaos in the Zhang family after Zhang Mao's death, Zhu Houzhao immediately issued an edict, forcing Zhang Ming to resign from all his positions as Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Steward of the Elephant Household under the pretext of 'mourning for his father's death'! He was ordered to pack his bags and get out of the Western Garden!"

"Through a combination of suppression and crackdown, the highest-level surveillance cameras planted by civil officials and nobles beside the emperor's bedside were completely removed!"

The chat in the live stream exploded with comments.

"Awesome!! This combo is so damn smooth!"

"The emperor has finally stood up for himself! These past nine years of pent-up frustration have made me want to smash my keyboard. He's finally starting his counterattack!"

"Strike while the iron is hot; that's the real political struggle. All talk of decorum is utter nonsense!"

Zhu Dijun picked up his water glass and took a big gulp, his eyes growing brighter and brighter, like a wolf about to tear its prey's throat.

"With Zhang Mao removed, the biggest thorn in his side, Zhu Houzhao finally felt a significant weight lifted from his shoulders. He could finally unleash his most lethal frontal assault on the cabinet ministers outside the Forbidden City!"

The timeline jumped dramatically on the screen.

[April, the tenth year of the Zhengde reign!]

"At this time, only one month had passed since Zhang Mao's death. Zhu Houzhao used his imperial power to forcibly issue a personnel reshuffle that shook the entire Ming Dynasty! He directly transferred Lu Wan, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince and Minister of War, to the position of Minister of Personnel!"

Four large, blood-red characters were slammed heavily onto the whiteboard!

The Great Tang Taiji Hall.

Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, was originally leaning back on the dragon throne watching the play, but when he saw the four words "Minister of Personnel", he immediately sat up straight, and his eyes shone with extreme admiration.

"Good lad, that's a ruthless move, cutting off the source of the problem! The Ministry of Personnel is the overall authority over the promotion and demotion of officials throughout the land. Seizing control of the Ministry of Personnel is like choking the throat of the civil service!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice had completely boiled over.

"Fellow family members, in the Six Ministries of the Ming Dynasty, the Minister of Personnel was called the 'Heavenly Official'! The evaluation, promotion, and demotion of all officials in the country were all in the hands of the Ministry of Personnel! Why were those civil officials in Jiangnan able to band together? Why were they able to control everything? It's because they firmly controlled the Ministry of Personnel. Those who obeyed them prospered, and those who opposed them perished!"

"And now! Zhu Houzhao has directly forced Lu Wan, whom he deeply trusts and who has no ties to the interests of Jiangnan, into the position of Minister of the Interior! This is tantamount to forcibly wedging a steel cone representing the emperor's will into the impenetrable ironclad formation of the civil official group!"

"Can the civil service tolerate this? Absolutely not!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the gavel and slammed it down again.

"With Lu Wan transferred, the position of Minister of War became vacant. Thus, a fierce, bloody struggle erupted between the imperial power and the civil service for this highest military and administrative post in the Ming Dynasty!"

The screen split in two instantly.

"The cabinet reacted extremely quickly, immediately jointly recommending Peng Ze, the Left Censor-in-Chief, to be appointed Minister of War! Who is Peng Ze? He is a core member of the civil service group, the perfect candidate for them to continue suppressing military generals and maintaining their tacit agreement with the Mongols on smuggling!"

But Zhu Houzhao didn't even glance at the memorial; he simply rejected it with four large characters: "[I disagree]!"

A portrait of a stern-faced civil official, accompanied by thunderous special effects, suddenly ousted Peng Ze from his position!

"Zhu Houzhao completely bypassed the cabinet recommendation process, directly using his privileges to forcibly promote a ruthless figure in Ming Dynasty history—a core member of the Emperor's faction, [Wang Qiong]!"

In the tenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, at the Ministry of War.

Wang Qiong, who had just received the imperial edict, straightened his bright red official robes. He looked at the sky, his eyes as cold as iron.

He knew that by taking this position, he had offended all the civil officials from Jiangnan. But he didn't care. His life was given to him by the emperor, and the borders of the Ming Dynasty could not be betrayed by those hypocritical beasts any longer.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun sneered repeatedly.

"As soon as Wang Qiong came to power, the civil service group went completely mad! The Ministry of Personnel was infiltrated, and the Ministry of War was seized by the Emperor's faction. The barriers they had painstakingly built over nine years were being smashed down bit by bit by Zhu Houzhao!"

"The enraged civil service has unleashed the most ferocious political mad dog they've ever kept!"

On the big screen, the name of an imperial censor was locked onto by a laser pointer—[Gao Gongshao]!

"This man named Gao Gongshao is practically the vanguard of the civil officials in suppressing the imperial faction! Not only does he lead a group of censors, submitting memorials every day like madmen to impeach the newly appointed Minister of War, Wang Qiong, accusing him of abusing his power and violating etiquette, but he has also frantically attacked another person whom the civil official group hates to the bone!"

Zhu Dijun wrote another name on the whiteboard—[Marquis of Wuding, Guo Xun]!

"Who is Guo Xun? The General-in-Chief of Guangdong and Guangxi! An absolutely powerful general in the south of the Ming Dynasty, and a staunch member of the Emperor's faction! Gao Gongshao's crazy attacks are extremely clear in their meaning—"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly on the table, staring directly at the camera, his eyes filled with a terrifying sense of impending doom.

"The civil service will use its remaining power over public opinion and the system of censors to launch an unprecedented purge and impeachment campaign against all civil and military officials who dare to pledge allegiance to the emperor!"

The screen went completely black, leaving only Gao Gongshao's impeachment memorials, which sounded like death warrants, emitting a blinding red light in the darkness.

"Faced with this incessantly barking dog, and with the counterattack of the civil official group that nearly overturned the court, Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, who had just stabilized his position, and Wang Qiong, who had been pushed to the forefront of the storm."

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly plummeted to freezing point.

"What horrifying and bloody methods will they use to brutally rip out the fangs of this mad dog?"