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

In modern live streaming rooms, Zhu Dijun doesn't need to do much to stir things up; the screen is already completely flooded with "I don't know" and "I don't believe it."

"He won't live long! He definitely won't live long!"

"Take Consort Wan from the Chenghua era as an example. How was Wan Zhen'er targeted so relentlessly by the Empress Dowager and the civil official group? Ma Shi was an outsider from the border, with no foundation in the palace. The civil official group would have devoured her alive even if they had to bite her!"

"Not only civil officials, but do you think the Empress Dowager and Empress would let some unsavory character climb over them? Ma's entry into the palace is tantamount to suicide!"

As Zhu Dijun watched the barrage of comments scrolling wildly across the screen, a cold, sharp smile curled at the corner of his lips.

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe during the tenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the military camp of Xuanfu border town.

Xuanfu Military Commander Ma Ang stared intently at the sky in mid-air, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets. He glanced at the exposé on the sky that claimed his sister was having an affair with the emperor, then abruptly turned to look at his younger sister, Madam Ma, who was standing to the side dressed in a smart riding outfit.

"Good heavens..." Ma Ang swallowed hard, his voice trembling. "When did you get involved with the current emperor? You've kept this from me for so long!"

After the initial shock, Ma Ang quickly calculated the implications. He knew he had a chance to rise to the top and become the emperor's brother-in-law, but the later-era anchor on the screen had also made it clear: the civil service viewed the emperor's offspring as mortal enemies. If his sister were to get involved, she would be dancing on a knife's edge, facing the constant risk of her entire family being wiped out.

"Sister, this harem is a den of iniquity that devours people without spitting out the bones." Ma Ang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his tone hesitant. "Those pedantic civil officials from Jiangnan, what despicable methods wouldn't they use to maintain their power? Our Ma family's foundation is weak, perhaps..."

"Brother, once the arrow is released, there's no turning back."

Ma, or the woman later referred to by novelists as Ma Lian'er, directly interrupted Ma Ang's retreat. She was toying with an exquisite Mongolian saber in her hand, casually sheathing it, her eyes revealing a ruthlessness and wildness unique to women from the frontier.

"Now that my affair has been exposed by the Heavenly Curtain and the whole world knows, I will never regret loving His Majesty." Madam Ma sneered, staring directly at the Heavenly Curtain.

"His Majesty and I are the same kind of people. We can ride horses together, shoot arrows together, and discuss military strategy and the war situation in the north. What do those women in the harem who only know how to embroider and chant scriptures know?"

She stepped forward, patted Ma Ang on the shoulder, her tone stiff but resolute.

"What we need to be wary of now is the assassination and persecution by that group of civil officials. As for what the Heavenly Screen says about me being ostracized and targeted if I become a concubine, brother, remember that."

Ma's eyes were icy cold.

"If those civil officials and the Empress Dowager insist on forcing me to my death, then those things mentioned on the future Heavenly Canopy—like burning down Kunning Palace and killing the Empress Dowager—I wouldn't hesitate to do them for the sake of my child with His Majesty! And His Majesty would absolutely support me in doing so!"

Modern live streaming room.

Zhu Dijun was completely unaware that in another timeline, this fiery woman from the borderlands had already devised a deadly plan to confront the Empress Dowager of the Ming Dynasty head-on. He typed on the keyboard, and two ancient portraits appeared side by side in the center of the large screen.

"Family members, the man on the left is Ma Ang, and the man on the right is Ma Shi. Here, I must give special mention to this brother-in-law of the emperor, Ma Ang."

Zhu Dijun drew a circle on Ma Ang's official robe with a laser pointer, his tone extremely mocking.

"In the second year of the Zhengde reign, Ma Ang was merely a commander of a border town, at most a mid-level military officer. But! After Ma was favored by Zhu Houzhao, by the eleventh year of the Zhengde reign, in just a few short years, Ma Ang's official rank skyrocketed!"

A line of blood-red resumes was displayed on the screen.

[First Rank! Right Commander-in-Chief of the Rear Army Commandery!]

"Ma Ang was respectfully called the Emperor's Brother-in-Law by the people of the time, and he held immense power and influence in the capital!"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the table.

"Family members, do you think Zhu Houzhao is simply prioritizing women over friends? He is using his status as a maternal relative to forcibly drive his most loyal spies into the Five Military Commands!"

"In order to date this hot girl from the border, Zhu Houzhao began the most insane period of absence from work in his life as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Dijun opened a photocopy of the Emperor's daily records.

"Zhu Houzhao used every excuse he could find—sacrifices, inspections, military training—to frantically leave the Forbidden City. He didn't return home at night, frequently visiting the Western Garden and Ma Ang's residence. At the same time, he consciously began to drastically reduce the number of times he attended court. At its peak, he only attended court two or three times a month!"

The live stream room erupted in laughter.

"The emperor is refusing to see them, and the memorials are being withheld. The civil service can't even find a target to target their efforts on. They're as anxious as ants on a hot pan." Zhu Dijun put away his smile and produced a piece of irrefutable evidence.

"Everyone, please look at this record from the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming.' This is a memorial submitted to the emperor by Cheng Qichong, the supervising censor of Zhejiang at the time, detailing an extremely absurd yet incredibly satisfying incident!"

The moment in time suddenly froze on the screen.

[The eleventh year of the Zhengde reign, the first month, New Year's Day!]

"This day was the first day of the Lunar New Year, one of the most important festivals in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Houzhao finally went to court. All the civil and military officials, dressed in bright red official robes, lined up according to their ranks to enter the palace to celebrate, and were prepared to give the emperor a grand moral lecture."

A scene unfolds on the screen: a court of officials standing in the cold wind, freezing.

"As it turned out, Zhu Houzhao pulled off a brilliant move!"

Judy Jun slammed the gavel down.

boom!

"He sat on the dragon throne, making these usually high-ranking court officials stand from the start of the morning court session until six o'clock in the afternoon! They stood for a full seven or eight hours!"

"These pampered old civil officials, having not eaten or drunk a drop of water, were so hungry their stomachs were practically sticking to their backs, and their legs were trembling. While the emperor drank tea and ate snacks up there, they were suffering in vain down below. When the court was finally adjourned, these civil officials, who were usually the most concerned with propriety and righteousness, rushed out like refugees fleeing famine!"

Zhu Dijun pointed to a line of original historical text with a cold smile.

"During this frantic escape from the palace gates, a severe stampede occurred due to the sheer number of people! A palace guard surnamed Zhao was trampled to death by this group of well-read civil officials!"

The entire internet was in an uproar.

A minister of the Ming Dynasty, starving after a long day, ran too fast on his way home and trampled a security guard to death. This kind of scene, which only exists in dark comedies, was actually a true reflection of the Ming Dynasty court.

"That's not all."

Zhu Dijun's speech suddenly slowed down, and the atmosphere in the live broadcast room instantly shifted from playful to extremely tense. The images on the big screen disappeared, leaving only three large characters.

Three months later

"In March of the eleventh year of Zhengde's reign, a devastating piece of news, like a thunderbolt from the blue, spread from the Western Garden to the civil service."

Zhu Dijun's eyes were like two drawn swords, staring directly at the camera.

"That Ma woman, who isn't yet married, is pregnant."

boom!

These few simple words were like a nuclear bomb exploding in countless worlds and timelines.

"It's Zhu Houzhao's child." Zhu Dijun's voice echoed in the hall, each word dripping with grief. "For a twenty-five-year-old emperor, cursed by civil officials to be childless, this is incredibly joyous news. But for the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, for those Jiangnan civil officials who hold the reins of the nation, this is the collapse of the sky!"

A complex power network diagram appeared on the whiteboard.

"As I have repeatedly emphasized before, the ultimate core means by which the civil service group controls imperial power is to control the emperor's harem and his offspring! As long as the heir is born from the womb of a woman they have arranged, they can continue to be the shadow emperors of the Ming Dynasty."

Judy Jun abruptly crossed out the circle representing the Empress.

"To ensure this, the Empress and Consorts, whom the civil officials carefully selected and sent to the palace, were never touched by Zhu Houzhao from the day of their marriage! Those poor women endured twelve years of living widowhood in the Forbidden City!"

"As long as Zhu Houzhao has no biological children, the civil official group can legitimately force him to adopt a puppet from the imperial clan."

Zhu Dijun ripped off his tie.

"But now, Madam Ma is pregnant. Once this woman with a background as a border military officer gives birth to the eldest son of the Ming Dynasty, the civil official group's twelve-year-long conspiracy will be completely shattered! All their previous efforts will be in vain!"

The background of the screen instantly turned blood red.

"Therefore, the civil service must take action. Even if it costs them the entire foundation of the court, they must kill Ma Shi and that unborn child!"

"Zhu Houzhao knew these people's nature all too well. The mutiny in the fifth year of Zhengde's reign and the fire in the ninth year of Zhengde's reign were repeated lessons that made him dare not be careless in the slightest. He immediately brought Ma Shi from the outer residence directly into the heavily guarded Western Garden of the Imperial Palace and settled her in the Leopard House, which was heavily guarded by his own elite troops. They began to live a life of strict secrecy for the two of them."

Zhu Dijun's tapping on the table quickened, becoming like a death knell.

"But as long as it was in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, there was no place where the civil officials couldn't get involved. They couldn't poison the food, and they couldn't send assassins to infiltrate. So, they came up with an extremely familiar, crude, and effective old recipe."

Four words with fiery special effects were displayed before the eyes of viewers across the internet.

[Fire Dragon Burns Down the Palace!]

"Anyway, they already burned down the Qianqing Palace once in the ninth year of the Zhengde reign. They know the ropes, so what's wrong with doing it again?"

Zhu Dijun sneered as he opened a yellowed ancient book.

"You will absolutely not find this event in the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming,' which was repeatedly edited by the Manchus and the Donglin Party. However, it is recorded in an extremely shocking account in the unofficial historical archives of the Ming Dynasty, the 'Wanli Yehuo Bian'!"

The time is accurate to the day.

"In March of the eleventh year of the Zhengde reign, a sudden fire broke out in the Leopard House, but it was quickly extinguished."

Zhu Dijun moved closer to the camera, his eyes revealing extreme coldness.

"Family members, how coincidental is this timing? The day this fire occurred was only three days after Ma was taken to the Leopard House for prenatal care!"

Across countless worlds and timelines, everyone gasped in shock.

Three days.

The civil service group had no patience to wait even a second longer and directly attacked the emperor and his pregnant concubine!

In the eleventh year of the Zhengde reign of a parallel universe in the Ming Dynasty, in March.

Inside the Leopard House in the West Garden.

Zhu Houzhao, who had just brought Madam Ma in, held her hand tightly. He could feel the young life growing inside her, a feeling of extreme joy and responsibility he had never experienced before as a father.

But when he looked up, he saw the record in the Wanli Yehuo Bian (万曆野获编) on the sky. He saw the fire about to erupt in his own palace.

The ecstasy in Zhu Houzhao's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a terrifying killing intent like that of a demon.

In the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, they burned down the Qianqing Palace, forcing him to seek refuge in the Leopard House.

Now it is the eleventh year of Zhengde's reign, and they are going to burn down his Leopard House again, to burn his women and unborn children to death!

"brute……"

Zhu Houzhao gritted his teeth, blood flowing down the corner of his mouth. He suddenly drew the Emperor's Sword from the imperial desk and cleaved the bronze pillar in front of him in two.

"Since you insist on ensuring my lineage ends, then don't blame me for exterminating your entire court and your entire families!"

Zhu Houzhao turned his head and looked at Jiang Bin and Xu Tai, who were guarding outside the door.

"Order the Western Commandery! All troops, don your armor! Draw your swords!"