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

"I know many of my family members here don't believe that Wang Yangming was the one who instigated Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, to rebel prematurely!"

In front of the live stream screen, Zhu Dijun slammed his hands on the table, his aggressive gaze seemingly piercing through the lens and nailing into the faces of the haters who were frantically typing on their keyboards.

"There are even many so-called fans of the philosophy of mind and fanatical followers of Grandmaster Wang Yangming who are currently spamming the live stream with insults against me!"

A chilling, extremely arrogant smile curled at the corner of Zhu Dijun's mouth.

"But let them curse! I, Zhu Dijun, am sitting here today to peel away this sanctimonious facade! I'm here purely to dissect this rotten history of the Ming Dynasty using conspiracy theories and the most nakedly realistic view of human self-interest!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the handle next to the podium and dragged a black movable blackboard directly to the center of the big screen.

He picked up a red marker and wrote the three characters "Wang Yangming" at the top of the blackboard with great force. Then, he wrote two more names below: "Li Shishi" and "Liu Yangzheng".

"Family members, before we uncover how Wang Yangming used insidious methods to force Prince Ning to rebel, we must first examine who Prince Ning's core advisors were. Were they truly, as depicted in the Qing Dynasty's 'History of Ming,' a group of brainless fools blinded by the lust for power among princes?"

Zhu Dijun's finger slammed heavily on the three characters "Li Shishi," producing a dull thud.

"Li Shishi! A local tyrant in Nanchang, Jiangxi, a former Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice during the Ming Dynasty, a retired high-ranking official of the second rank! Not only that, he was also related by marriage to Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao! This man was arrogant and self-important, comparing himself to Jiang Ziya and Zhuge Liang. After Prince Ning raised an army in rebellion, he was directly appointed Left Chancellor and Grand Tutor, becoming the undisputed second-in-command in Prince Ning's rebel army! As everyone knows, after the rebellion was quelled by Wang Yangming, he was captured and executed!"

With a single stroke of red pen, the second name was tightly circled.

"Liu Yangzheng! A native of Anfu, Jiangxi, a genuine Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations) of the Ming Dynasty! After failing the metropolitan-level examination in his early years, he went into seclusion. At that time, he was revered as a 'prodigy' in the literary circles of Jiangnan! He was bought off by Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, with a huge sum of money and became an absolute confidant, as well as a key figure who strongly encouraged Prince Ning to rebel! After the rebellion, he was appointed Right Chancellor. In the end, he was captured and executed!"

Zhu Dijun stared directly at the camera, his voice carrying a suffocating sense of oppression.

"Everyone, use your brains! One is a former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, a second-rank official, and the other is a child prodigy from Jiangnan. These two cunning old foxes in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom, don't they know that in the more than 100 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a successful precedent for a prince's rebellion? Zhu Di was an extremely special case! Why would they dare to bet the lives of their entire clan on Prince Ning?"

"Because they believe they have an inside man in the imperial court! They believe the core power of the entire Jiangnan gentry has long been on the same boat as them!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the blackboard, making a deafening noise.

"The core force in Jiangnan that gave them the unwavering confidence to rebel was none other than our great sage, Wang Shouren!"

In the modern live streaming room, after a brief silence, the barrage of comments exploded instantly.

"Holy crap? Wang Yangming was the reason Prince Ning rebelled? How is that possible?!"

"History clearly states that Wang Yangming single-handedly turned the tide; how could he possibly be involved with those two rebel prime ministers?"

"Jun-ge, aren't you taking this conspiracy theory a bit too far?"

Faced with a barrage of questions, Zhu Dijun's mockery intensified. He tossed aside his red pen and began furiously typing on the computer keyboard, pulling up a yellowed copy of a county gazetteer.

"Think I've gone off-topic? Okay, then today we'll use the local chronicles of the Ming Dynasty to uncover the true relationship between them!"

"Let's look at Liu Yangzheng first!"

Zhu Dijun pointed at the screen,

"Wang Yangming and this rebel Right Chancellor were not some mortal enemies who only met on the battlefield! They had extremely close interactions in their early years at gatherings of literati in Jiangnan. Liu Yangzheng, courtesy name Ziji, was quite talented and ambitious. The two of them not only discussed the philosophy of mind together, but were also close friends who had drunk wine and discussed the Dao together!"

"The even more crucial evidence is here!"

Zhu Dijun drew a line of extremely glaring record on the county gazetteer with a red line.

"Wang Shouren personally wrote the epitaph for Liu Yangzheng's mother!"

"Family members! In ancient times, clan etiquette was paramount! Writing an epitaph for your best friend's mother was absolutely not something you could just hire any random scribe on the street to do! It represented an equal partnership, a deep friendship, comparable reputations, and unwavering personal trust! To be entrusted with writing an epitaph basically meant you were a top-tier, life-or-death friend, a bond so strong it was like cutting off a chicken's head and burning yellow paper money!"

"That's not all!"

Zhu Dijun's voice rose higher and higher, like heavy hammer blows striking everyone's hearts.

"Family members, do you know who Liu Yangzheng's teacher was? The great Confucian scholar—Lou Liang! Liu Yangzheng was Lou Liang's disciple! But after Liu Yangzheng was defeated and killed, this great Confucian scholar Lou Liang and our sage of the School of Mind, Wang Shouren, vehemently denied any teacher-student relationship or connection to the outside world, pretending to be as clean as a blank sheet of paper!"

"Why are they afraid? Why are they so eager to distance themselves?"

Judy Jun drew an extremely horrifying triangle of relationships on the blackboard.

"Because Lou Liang's biological daughter was the principal wife of Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao! And Wang Shouren had visited and studied under the great Confucian scholar Lou Liang many times in his early years, and they even shared the same academic lineage!"

"According to the hierarchy of Neo-Confucianism, the heinous Princess Consort of Ning was Wang Shouren's junior sister! And the Prince of Ning, Zhu Chenhao, who plotted to usurp the throne, was Wang Shouren's brother-in-law!"

boom!!!

The entire live stream room was instantly flooded with exclamation marks. Countless netizens sat in front of their screens, their scalps tingling, feeling as if their worldviews had been shattered.

Zhu Dijun slammed several heavy physical books onto the podium.

"The Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming! The Remonstrance of Zhu Chenhao! The book 'Defeating the Bandits: Wang Yangming and the Rebellion of Zhu Chenhao' co-authored by Li Na and Xu Wenji! And the 'Stele for Pacifying Zhu Chenhao' written by Wang Yangming himself! And the 'Record of Yangming's Pacification of Zhu Chenhao'!" Zhu Dijun pointed at the pile of books, his anger turning into a mocking laugh.

"Family members! Go and look through these authoritative historical books and monographs that are considered the gold standard. Which one, on which page, dares to write about the kinship between Wang Yangming and Prince Zhu Chenhao of Ning, who were fellow students and related by marriage?!"

"There wasn't one at all! It was all completely erased by the pens of the civil service!"

"Does Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, not know this connection? He knows it all too well!"

Zhu Dijun directly presented a confidential cabinet document that sent chills down the spines of the entire court.

"Not only did Prince Ning know about Wang Yangming, he even regarded him as the core backbone of his rebellion group!"

"Prince Zhu Chenhao of Ning wrote letters to Lu Wan, the Minister of War and a core member of the Emperor's faction, more than once in private! In the letters, he wrote with extreme arrogance and certainty: 'Only the Governor of Jiangxi and the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner can be compared to Yangming and Liang Chen'er!'"

"Do you understand the weight of those words?!"

Judy Jun screamed into the microphone.

"Prince Ning is using his vast smuggling funds and connections in the capital to desperately recommend Wang Yangming as the top governor of Jiangxi! In the eyes of Prince Ning and Liu Yangzheng, as long as Wang Yangming, one of their own, sits in the highest command position in Jiangxi, the smuggling network and rebellion of the Jiangnan civil officials will become an unbreakable alliance! Later, once they obtain evidence against the Jiangnan civil officials, they can hand it over to Zhu Houzhao and become members of the 'abandoning darkness for light' faction."

In a parallel universe of the Ming Dynasty, during the fourteenth year of the Zhengde reign, only one month remained before Prince Ning officially launched his rebellion.

In the deepest secret chamber of the Prince Ning's residence in Nanchang Prefecture.

Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, sat in the main seat, staring intently at the incredible celestial canopy in mid-air. He was deeply moved when he heard Zhu Dijun, a descendant of the future Prince Zhao, completely expose Wang Yangming's hidden selfish motives.

This prince, who was usually extremely shrewd and calculating, completely broke down in an instant!

"You scoundrel! You treacherous villain! You shameless scoundrel!"

Zhu Chenhao suddenly kicked over the priceless rosewood table in front of him, his eyes bloodshot, and pointed at the portrait of Wang Yangming on the ceiling, shouting hysterically.

Below Prince Ning, Left Chancellor Li Shishi and Right Chancellor Liu Yangzheng were even more ashen-faced and trembling like leaves.

Liu Yangzheng clutched his hair tightly, his eyes filled with utter despair and absurdity. He thought he was conspiring with his close friend who had written his epitaph, and that the gentry of Jiangnan were providing them with protection.

It turned out to be all fake! Wang Shouren had no intention of going down the same path with them!

He knew that Prince Ning was Zhu Houzhao's man, and yet he still betrayed him, completely disregarding the friendship and camaraderie between former friends and fellow students.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's extremely mocking voice was like a basin of blood mixed with ice shards, directly drenching their skulls.

"In other words, Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, regarded Wang Shouren as his most reliable confidant. But what about our great master of Neo-Confucianism? He looked at this group of fools who filled their smuggling ledgers with absolutely no sympathy!"

Zhu Dijun's eyes were extremely cold as he swung his hands heavily.

"What Wang Shouren wanted was to use the heads of his former friend and his junior sister's entire family to exchange for unparalleled military achievements that would make him famous throughout the land and bring him promotion and wealth! Prince Ning treated him as a brother, but he treated Prince Ning as a super-powerful blood bank to rack up battle achievements and gold coins in the Ming Dynasty court!"

The image on the big screen suddenly changed.

Outside Nanchang, blood-red battle flags fluttered wildly in the fierce wind, while Wang Yangming's portrait, seemingly calm and undisturbed, exuded a chillingly deep-seated scheming.

Standing on the edge of darkness, Judy Jun suddenly lowered his voice and threw out the most deadly suspense of the chapter.

"Since Prince Ning treats him as one of his own, and since Prince Ning's preparations for raising an army are far from being able to confront the imperial court."

"So, what kind of heinous and wicked scheme did Wang Shouren, who held military power in Jiangxi, use to prematurely kick this prince, who was still lying low and fattening himself up, into the abyss of rebellion?!"