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

"Alright, family."

Zhu Dijun sat bolt upright, slamming the photocopy of the "Imperial Jade Disc" he had been holding onto the table. His gaze sharpened like a blade, piercing straight through the lens.

"The previous revelations were just a warm-up. Next, we're going to delve into the darkest, bloodiest, and most mind-blowing depths of the entire Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Dijun tapped his fingers on the table, producing a rhythmic sound that was extremely imposing.

"What I'm about to tell you is the true cause and effect of Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao's death! This directly involves Wang Yangming, the 'perfect man of all time' whom countless people have elevated to a pedestal! If you don't like listening to this, or if you feel your faith will crumble, then scroll away now! If you want to slander me, then bring it on! I, Zhu Dijun, stand here today and will only speak with the most original, iron-blooded archives of the Ming Dynasty!"

In the modern live streaming room, the screen was instantly filled with comments.

"Jun-ge, go ahead and explode! I'll go buy some nitroglycerin pills tonight!"

"Come on! Let's tear this fig leaf from this makeshift historical organization completely!"

"Wang Yangming murdered his emperor? I'd like to see just how black-hearted these Jiangnan literati really are!"

Throughout countless worlds and dynasties, emperors from all eras stared intently at the glowing screen. They had heard the name Wang Yangming far too many times in these recent live streams. What role did this literary giant, who created the philosophy of mind, play in this meat grinder of imperial power?

On the big screen, Zhu Dijun turned around, grabbed a red marker, and wrote a glaring time point on the whiteboard with great force.

[The sixth day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Zhengde (February 14, 1518)]!

"But before we completely dismantle that deadly trap, we must first witness Zhu Houzhao's extreme arrogance upon returning to the capital after the great victory at Yingzhou, and his final, decisive break with the entire court!"

The image on the big screen suddenly changed.

Outside Deshengmen in Beijing, amidst a blizzard.

A massive, bloodthirsty army, its armor scarred and reeking of blood, arrived in force at the gates of the capital. Their warhorses puffed out white steam, their military might soaring to the heavens.

Having won the battle that determined the fate of the nation, Zhu Houzhao didn't sneak back to the palace. He wanted to give those civil officials from Jiangnan a good slap in the face! He wanted to declare the complete return of military power to the Ming Dynasty right here in the capital!

An extremely unrestrained and wildly unruly phantom image of an imperial edict suddenly slammed onto the public screen!

"Before the army even entered the city, Zhu Houzhao issued an imperial edict that sent shockwaves through the entire nation, leaving scholars feeling as if they had lost their parents!"

Judy burst into loud laughter.

"Zhu Houzhao decrees: All officials in the capital shall come out of the city to greet the Emperor, and none shall be allowed to wear the wide-sleeved crimson official robes that represent the privileges of civil officials! All Grand Secretaries, Ministers of the Six Ministries, Censors and Secretaries shall be dressed in the military uniforms of the 'Yesa' and 'Da Mao'!"

"Not only that, you are not greeting the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. When my imperial horse arrives, you will all have to kneel in the snow and shout 'Welcome, General Zhu Shou!'"

The Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, slapped his thigh and burst into wild laughter, even knocking over the wine cup in front of him.

"That's exhilarating! Absolutely exhilarating! This kid has won my heart! Stripping those pedantic scholars of their skin and dressing them in warrior's attire is telling them that scholars are useless, while those who wield swords are the true masters of this land!"

The large screen simulated the famous scene from that era.

A group of usually aloof and high-ranking civil officials, who were constantly spouting classical phrases, were stared at by the fierce and ruthless Imperial Guards. They were forced to remove their civil official robes and put on tight and efficient yisa warrior uniforms, with comical round hats on their heads.

"Family members, do you think these civil officials will obediently comply?"

Zhu Dijun's smile vanished instantly, replaced by an icy coldness.

"They changed their clothes, but they used an extremely disgusting and insidious method to subject the victorious emperor to a brutal and inhumane act of emotional abuse!"

In the scene, Zhu Houzhao rides a tall horse, inspecting his officials in the wind and snow.

There was no thunderous roar or tsunami.

There was no "Long live!" cheer.

A deathly silence fell outside Desheng Gate. Hundreds of civil officials knelt in the snow, their lips pressed tightly together, all rendered mute, not uttering a single word. They had turned what should have been a triumphant celebration of the Ming Empire's crushing of foreign invasion into a somber funeral procession!

"The next day! The seventh day of the first lunar month!" The timeline jumped on the screen.

"Zhu Houzhao is furious! Weren't you all pretending to be dead? Didn't you insist in your memorials these past few months that the subspace victory at Pengze, and that my killing of tens of thousands of Mongol soldiers on the front lines was a waste of manpower and resources?!"

"Bring up all the spoils of war for me!"

The image on the big screen suddenly switched to Fengtian Gate Square in the Forbidden City.

"Dozens of heavy wagons were pulled into the imperial city by the Ming border army! Zhu Houzhao immediately ordered the spoils of war to be brought in—blood-dripping Mongol scimitars, Tatar battle flags blown to pieces, captured warhorse saddles, and the heads of Mongols that hadn't been destroyed by the Divine Fire Crow!"

Zhu Dijun gripped the table tightly with both hands, gritting his teeth and roaring.

"They were all dumped onto the white marble steps outside Fengtian Gate! They piled up into a mountain of irrefutable evidence, emitting a foul stench!"

Zhu Houzhao pointed at this pile of stuff and smeared it across the faces of all the civil and military officials! He clearly told everyone: the proof of a great victory is here! I personally led the expedition and deserve credit! Immediately, according to the military law of the Ming Dynasty, bestow upon the Mighty General a title and reward!

but.

"Family members, you've seriously underestimated the shamelessness and unifying ability of the Jiangnan civil service group!"

Zhu Dijun loosened his tie, his eyes revealing an extremely cold killing intent.

Even with irrefutable evidence laid bare before them, even with the Mongol prince severely wounded and forced to retreat, these civil officials gritted their teeth and refused to utter a word!

On the big screen, three large, blood-red X's were directly overlaid on a draft document outlining the rewards.

Throughout the entire first month of the lunar calendar, Zhu Houzhao demanded that the cabinet draft an edict to bestow titles and rewards upon himself and the soldiers on campaign in the name of "Grand General Zhu Shou." The civil service's response was three words: "[No approval! No writing! No recognition!]"

"Led by Grand Secretary Liang Chu, the six censors collectively rejected the imperial edict! They all spoke with one voice, claiming that the battle resulted in too many casualties, that the Mongols retreated voluntarily, and that the gains were extremely limited, with absolutely no great victory!"

The live stream was instantly filled with a deluge of the character "草" (grass).

During the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang drew his imperial sword and slashed over the imperial desk in front of him.

"Calling a deer a horse! Turning black into white!"

This founding emperor had bloodshot eyes, like a raging tiger.

"They clearly won, but they insist they didn't! They're trying to completely erase the Ming Dynasty's border army's achievements, forcibly suppressing this extraordinary martial prowess from their mouths!"

"Now you understand, right?"

Zhu Dijun approached the camera with a cold smile.

"The disgusting phrase 'sixteen heads beheaded' in the Qing Dynasty's 'History of Ming' was not coined by Wild Boar Skin at all! It was a pre-arranged, co-conspired statement made by a group of Ming Dynasty civil officials in advance, starting from the first month of the thirteenth year of Zhengde's reign, to prevent the emperor from regaining military power! They would rather sell out the Ming Dynasty than let the military once again ride roughshod over them!"

The scene of the argument on the screen gradually dimmed.

Zhu Dijun rewrote an extremely glaring time point on the whiteboard and framed it.

[The thirteenth year of Zhengde, the second month, the day of Ji-Mao!]

"Many people might ask: Since Zhu Houzhao was doing so well in Xuanfu and had military power in his hands, why didn't he take advantage of the Mongol prince's serious injury after the spring and lead his troops directly into the desert to completely eliminate the external threat, just like the Yongle Emperor?"

Zhu Dijun's voice revealed an extremely suppressed sorrow.

"Family members, converted to the Gregorian calendar, that was March 1518, which is the tenth day of the second month in the lunar calendar. A death report delivered by express courier was like a bolt from the blue, dragging Zhu Houzhao from the front lines back into the terrifying political meat grinder of Beijing."

In the center of the large screen, an extremely heavy coffin made of Phoebe zhennan wood slowly emerged, accompanied by the piercing sound of funeral bells and mournful dirge.

"The most senior and highest-ranking matriarch in the harem—Empress Xiaozhenchun Wang, wife of Emperor Ming Xianzong, and also the Grand Empress Dowager of Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao—has passed away!"

All the emperors of the Han, Tang, and Qin dynasties gasped in shock upon seeing this.

Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, narrowed his eyes slightly, and his fingers gripping the sword slowly tightened.

"What a cruel fate, what a noose around the emperor's neck."

"In ancient times, the world was governed by filial piety; filial piety was paramount!" Zhu Dijun slammed his gavel, shattering all the mournful music.

"The Empress Dowager is dead! No matter how well you fight on the front lines, no matter what brilliant military strategies you have next! If the Emperor dares not return for the funeral, those civil officials can immediately use the charge of 'great filial impiety' to completely destroy any remaining legitimacy of imperial power on Zhu Houzhao!"

"Zhu Houzhao was forced back! Carrying the wind and snow of the northern frontier and the resentment of not being able to completely eradicate the threat, he stepped back into the Forbidden City, a place where the civil official group had laid an inescapable trap!"

The scene was covered by endless white veils and funeral banners, exuding a chilling and eerie atmosphere.

Zhu Dijun stared intently at the camera, a terrifying light flashing in his eyes.

"The death knell tolls for the Empress Dowager. Zhu Houzhao, stripped of the heavy protection of his frontline army, and a group of Jiangnan gentry who have completely broken ties, engage in a desperate struggle in the capital for the last year and a half of his life!"

On the whiteboard, a red pen boldly wrote the name that shook the world—Wang Yangming!

"When the civil officials saw that they could not control the emperor who held a great military power in the capital, they immediately activated the backup plan that they had been preparing for many years."

Meanwhile, in Jiangxi, far to the south, Wang Shouren, the great sage who had just returned from suppressing bandits, founded the School of Mind, and was famous throughout the world, suddenly received a secret letter from the core circle of the Jiangnan gentry.

"The greatest internal crisis of the Zhengde reign—the Rebellion of Prince Ning—is entering its final countdown!"

Judy Jun's voice was like that of a ghost from hell.

"Can you guess what kind of deadly plot was hidden within this incredible military achievement, hailed in history as Wang Yangming's miraculous 43-day suppression of the rebellion? A plot that could have overthrown the Ming dynasty and even taken Emperor Wuzong's life?!"