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

In the live stream, Zhu Dijun watched the barrage of criticism against Gao Gongshao and gave a cold laugh. He clicked on an ancient portrait of Gao Gongshao on the big screen and used a laser pointer to poke twice into that righteous face.

"Family members, there is one thing we must understand here."

Zhu Dijun's tone was undisguised mockery: "Ming Dynasty officials, except for a very small minority, can't withstand scrutiny at all! They spout benevolence and morality, but their hearts are full of wickedness and debauchery. When that mad dog Gao Gongshao was jumping around and frantically impeaching the Emperor's faction, did you think Zhu Houzhao was just sitting in the Leopard Chamber sulking?"

On the whiteboard, three scarlet charges were written heavily!

"Zhu Houzhao had already dispatched his most elite imperial guards to conduct a thorough and secret investigation of Gao Gongshao! The investigation uncovered three major, fatal crimes committed by this man!"

"First, colluding with barbarians! Second, secretly leaking secrets to regional military governors and barbarians! Third, framing ministers! Specifically fabricating lies to suppress dissent!"

Judy Jun slammed the gavel down with a loud bang.

"Once the trump card was revealed, this mad dog instantly turned into a dead dog! Zhu Houzhao didn't waste any words and directly issued an imperial edict, stripping this once powerful and influential censor of his position and demoting him to the remote southwestern border region of Yunnan, where he was relegated to the lowest rank of clerk!"

This explanation, delivered through the sky like thunder, struck various parallel universes of the Ming Dynasty.

The first month of the tenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

The scene of the grand court assembly at Fengtian Hall.

All the officials in the court looked up, staring intently at the sky. The moment Gao Gongshao's three major crimes and his portrait were made public, an extremely bizarre and comical scene unfolded in the court.

The officials and civil servants who were standing next to Gao Gongshao, exchanging glances with him just a moment ago and ready to step forward to support the impeachment, all retreated as if they had seen a deadly poisonous plague god.

Whoosh!

Centered on Gao Gongshao, the area within three zhang was instantly deserted, becoming a conspicuous isolated island.

Those colleagues who were even more greedy than Gao Gongshao and who had secretly smuggled countless Ming Dynasty weapons were now all keeping their eyes down, backs straight, and maintaining their facade of loyalty with an indifferent attitude as if they wanted to sever ties with him on the spot.

As long as they are not exposed by the Heavenly Canopy, they will still be the pillars of the Ming Dynasty, the golden beams that span the sea!

On the dragon throne, the twenty-four-year-old Zhu Houzhao sat imposingly, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the imperial desk. He looked at Gao Gongshao, who stood in the hall, pale-faced and trembling, and a chilling, maniacal laugh curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Minister Gao."

Zhu Houzhao drawled out the last syllable, his voice echoing throughout the hall.

"I've underestimated you. I never imagined that beneath your crimson robes lay so many earth-shattering crimes!"

He suddenly stood up, drew the embroidered spring knife from the waist of the guard beside him, pointed the tip of the knife directly at Gao Gongshao, and his eyes were extremely violent.

"I have no idea what your skin is made of. Is it the corner of a city wall? Since the heavens have exposed your true colors, I think you shouldn't go to Yunnan as a clerk, lest you pollute the land!"

"Send him out of office immediately, arrest him, throw him into the imperial prison, and give him a thorough dressing-down!"

Zhu Houzhao brandished his sword, surveying the silent group of Jiangnan civil officials below, and roared:

"My esteemed ministers! Who agrees with my decision? Who disagrees?!"

All the officials, whether they were members of the Emperor's faction or the bigwigs of the civil official group who had just tried to protect Gao Gongshao, immediately knelt down and shouted "Long live the Emperor!"

At this point, who would dare to offend the emperor? Better to die than lose a friend. Since this scoundrel has already been exposed, he deserves to be used as a pawn to quell the emperor's power.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Gao Gongshao panicked completely.

In the parallel universe mentioned on the celestial screen, he could at least save his life and become a low-ranking official in Yunnan. But now, being directly imprisoned means he faces a death sentence of being skinned alive and stuffed with straw!

"Your Majesty, you've been wronged! Your Majesty, have mercy!"

Gao Gongshao scrambled forward, then abruptly turned to look at the figures at the very front of the civil official ranks. "Your Excellency, save me! Yang Yiqing! Lord Li Dongyang! I'm doing this for..."

He wanted to expose all the masterminds behind this.

At this critical moment!

From the ranks of civil officials, a crimson figure suddenly darted out like a cheetah. A righteous and awe-inspiring censor took a running start, leaped into the air, and delivered a perfectly executed flying kick, slamming it hard into Gao Gongshao's face!

boom!

Before Gao Gongshao could even scream, he was kicked so hard that he rolled three or four times on the ground, his teeth and blood splattering everywhere.

"Shut up! You heartless and treacherous traitor!"

The censor who had kicked the man pointed at Gao Gongshao, whose face was covered in blood, and began to curse him, spitting as he spoke.

"Have you lost your mind! You're about to die and you still dare to spout nonsense and attack the pillars of the court! Guards, quickly gag this mad dog!"

After finishing his tirade, he glared fiercely at Gao Gongshao. His gaze was a chilling warning: Shut your mouth and take the blame. Even if you die, your whole family will live. But if you dare implicate a cabinet high-ranking official, your entire clan will be implicated!

After being kicked, Gao Gongshao saw the murderous look in his colleague's eyes and his last shred of spirit collapsed. He slumped to the ground, utterly dejected, and was dragged out of the main hall like a dead dog by two ruthless Imperial Guards.

Meanwhile, inside a modern live-streaming studio.

Zhu Dijun was completely unaware of the court infighting he had triggered in a parallel universe. He took a sip of water and continued to manipulate the large screen.

"After the bloody mutiny on August 11th of the fifth year of Zhengde's reign, Zhu Houzhao matured, and he matured in a terrifying way. His methods became more sophisticated and his moves were deadly."

After dealing with Gao Gongshao, the scapegoat, Zhu Houzhao realized that the imperial clan members were, in some ways, a powerful tool to restrain the civil service and serve as a second layer of local surveillance network besides the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

The timeline on the big screen switched to [September of the tenth year of Zhengde]!

"This month, Zhu Houzhao launched an unprecedented campaign to win over members of the imperial clan!"

Judy Jun opened a long royal genealogy file.

"He personally issued an imperial edict, bestowing the titles of heir apparent upon Zhu Houxun, the eldest son of Prince Ying, and Zhu Rongsui, the legitimate son of Prince Han, in an extremely grand manner!"

"Immediately afterwards, with a flourish of his pen, he successively conferred titles upon seven princes, including the Prince of Funing and the Prince of Changzhou!"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the whiteboard, lowered his voice, and his eyes gleamed with an all-knowing light.

"Family members, merely giving them a title to win over the imperial clan isn't enough to satisfy Zhu Houzhao's sense of security. To completely bind the capital's security forces and the imperial clan to his cause, he devised an extremely ingenious cross-class marriage scheme!"

Three illusory imperial edicts with red backgrounds and gold lettering, bestowing marriage upon the emperor, appeared side by side in the center of the screen.

Zhu Dijun pointed to the woman's name on the list, speaking very quickly.

"Zhu Houzhao personally acted as matchmaker, directly betrothing Lady Yan, the daughter of the Deputy Commander of the Eastern City Garrison, to the Prince of Min's heir as his principal wife!"

"The daughter of the Deputy Commander of the Northern City Garrison, Lady Wu, shall be made Princess Consort of Nanli!"

"And appoint Shi, the daughter of the deputy commander of the Eastern City Garrison, as the Princess Consort of Zouping!"

The live stream was quiet for a few seconds, then the chat started flooding with comments, everyone was baffled by this strange match.

Deputy Commander of the Military Command? In modern terms, that's at most the deputy director of a local police station or the deputy captain of an urban management brigade! How could the daughter of such a lowly official rise to such heights, overcoming the extremely rigid class barriers to become a princess of the Ming Dynasty?!

"It seems absurd, doesn't it?"

Zhu Dijun let out a cold laugh.

"This is where Zhu Houzhao's brilliance lies! Although the Military Command is of low rank, what do they hold in their hands? They hold the control over the entrances and exits of all the gates of the capital, and they hold the armed patrols in the streets!"

"These low-ranking officers are nothing but trash in the eyes of civil officials. But the emperor gives them face and allows them to marry into the royal family! These military officers, who have benefited from the emperor's connections, will follow him wholeheartedly even if the cabinet holds a knife to their throats!"

Suddenly, Zhu Dijun loosened his tie, pointed at the camera, and dropped a chilling truth that sent chills down everyone's spine.

"Some people will surely ask, why did Zhu Houzhao go through all this trouble? If he really wanted to consolidate his imperial power, wouldn't it have been enough for him to have a son as the crown prince?"

Four blood-red characters suddenly appeared before the eyes of the entire online audience!

[Birth! Child! Immediately! Death!]

"Family members! Zhu Houzhao has no children, not because he is incapable of having them! But because he simply dares not have them, absolutely cannot have them!"

Judy Jun's roar was filled with extreme sorrow and cruelty.

"Because the Ming Dynasty's imperial harem was crammed with women, whether empresses or concubines, all of whom were handpicked by the civil officials and sent in to spy on him!"

"We've already discussed the traditional skills of Ming Dynasty civil officials! As long as Zhu Houzhao has a legitimate heir, as long as the Ming Dynasty has a crown prince who can be manipulated like a puppet by civil officials, Zhu Houzhao will immediately die in the Leopard Chamber from a cold and a bowl of tonic!"

"His extinction of his lineage was precisely a desperate attempt to survive and preserve the flame of the Ming Dynasty's new policies! He could only indirectly strengthen his control over the capital through marriage alliances between members of the imperial family and mid-level military officers in the capital!"

Throughout the myriad realms and timelines, countless emperors felt a chill run down their spines upon hearing this analysis. To sacrifice one's own offspring for a chance to breathe during reforms—what immense willpower and what a desperate situation that required!

The image on the big screen gradually dimmed, finally settling on two names.

"In the tenth year of Zhengde's reign, Zhu Houzhao consolidated his power in the capital through bestowed marriages and the establishment of two government offices."

Zhu Dijun's voice turned icy cold again, "Next, he issued a ruthless military order that shook the entire Ming Dynasty!"

"He ordered Wang Qiong, the Minister of War, to join forces with Xiao Jing, the newly appointed eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. The three eunuchs, one civil and one military, joined forces to launch an unprecedented purge of the hundreds of thousands of troops in the Ming Dynasty's capital garrison!"

Zhu Dijun picked up his water glass and tapped on the two names.

"Thirty years of unresolved issues, a black hole of vested interests amassed through the blood and sweat of soldiers. My family, do you really think those old-guard powerful figures and traitors within the Ministry of War who have been sucking the blood from the Beijing Garrison will simply wash their necks and wait for Wang Qiong to behead them?"

The screen went completely off, and in the darkness, it was as if countless bloodstained knives were being slowly pulled from their sheaths.

"Who will step forward?"