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

On the live stream's large screen, the barrage of comments erupted into an extremely fierce united front.

Even the few voices that occasionally drifted by, trying to whitewash the civil officials of Jiangnan, were completely drowned out by the overwhelming barrage of angry curses within a second.

The scrolling text on the screen is fixed on an extremely cold motive.

[Murder to silence them!]

[We will absolutely not allow the emperor to return to the capital alive!]

"That's right!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the live-streaming table, making a deafening noise.

"When our Great Sage Wang burned the smuggling ledger that implicated four-fifths of the officials in the entire Ming Dynasty, the nature of this game completely changed!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed a red marker and drew a huge X on the whiteboard.

"With the account books gone, the biggest weakness of the civil service group has disappeared. After receiving the safety signal from Wang Yangming, the entire Jiangnan literati, along with the high-ranking civil officials sitting in the imperial court in Beijing, collectively overturned the table!"

"Since you, Zhu Houzhao, are determined to destroy the livelihoods of civil officials, then let's fight to the death!"

On the large screen, a photocopy of an official Ming Dynasty document filled with traditional Chinese characters was suddenly displayed.

"The first to launch an attack was Fan Yongjian, an imperial censor from the Nanjing Metropolitan Censorate!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his finger heavily on the screen. "Family members, open your eyes wide and look carefully! This memorial, recorded in the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Zhengde' in the intercalary eighth month of the fifteenth year of Zhengde, is not a subject's advice to the emperor at all! It's clearly a blatant death sentence!"

A section of ancient Chinese text highlighted in green was singled out and enlarged.

[Your Majesty, I deeply fear that one day chaos will erupt. At that time, where will Your Majesty place the empire?]

"That's exactly what they said!"

Zhu Dijun loosened his tie and translated for the camera with utter sarcasm.

"In his memorial, Fan Yongjian vehemently criticized Zhu Houzhao for being too far from the capital, saying that all the memorials from the civil and military officials could not be delivered to the emperor, and that they were all suppressed by the emperor's eunuchs and confidant Jiang Bin."

Zhu Dijun moved closer to the camera, a cruel sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"It's okay if you don't understand, I'll translate the subtext of these corrupt officials for my family!"

"Fan Yongjian's true meaning is: Your Majesty, let's be frank. The evidence of smuggling has been destroyed by Wang Shouren. Not only will you find nothing on your trip to the south, but you'll also be trapped in this water town. If you know what's good for you, you should immediately go back to Beijing and become a clay idol, and then we can all live in peace!"

"If you continue your investigation and refuse to leave Jiangnan, don't blame us for being ruthless. If some 'unexpected chaos' suddenly breaks out in Jiangnan, it will cost you your life, and even your Ming Dynasty will have to change hands!"

In a parallel timeline of the fourteenth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Fengtian Temple.

After hearing the vernacular translation, Zhu Yuanzhang kicked over the bronze dragon-patterned charcoal brazier in front of him. The red-hot charcoal rolled onto the ground, sizzling loudly.

"This is outrageous! They've all rebelled!"

The founding emperor's eyes were bloodshot, and the muscles in his face were twitching violently.

"A mere seventh-rank censor dares to issue a death ultimatum to the Ming Emperor?! These civil officials in Jiangnan think they can't be touched by the descendants of the Zhu family, don't they?!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice was like a chilling wind from the coldest hell.

"Now that the death sentence has been issued, the next step should be an extremely terrifying physical lockdown!"

Everything in the picture.

Yang Tinghe, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, who was far away in Beijing, appeared on the left side of the screen with his righteous old face.

"Zhu Houzhao refused to return to the capital and insisted on continuing his advance. Yang Tinghe, the newly reinstated civil official leader in the capital, issued a direct order! He secretly conveyed a death order to officials throughout Jiangnan: No supplies were to be provided to the emperor or the border troops wherever he passed! Let these hundreds of thousands of troops sent to quell the rebellion starve and be trapped to death in Jiangnan!"

A new factual record has been released.

"Let's see just how arrogant these Jiangnan civil officials have become!"

Zhu Dijun pointed at the text in the "Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming" and roared.

"In the autumn of the fifteenth year of the Zhengde reign, Zhu Houzhao's army arrived in Baoying Prefecture! It's an ironclad rule that the local government should provide provisions when the emperor goes on an inspection tour, right? But the prefect of Baoying, Jiang Yao, simply shut the gates and refused to provide any supplies!"

"The accompanying eunuch, Qiu De, was furious. He chained Prefect Jiang Yao up like a dog and subjected him to all sorts of humiliation. But what was the result? A few days later, Qiu De had no choice but to obediently release him!"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly on the podium, a terrifying light flashing in his eyes.

"Family members, consider how terrifying this is! Why would a mere seventh-rank local prefect dare to confront the Ming emperor who leads hundreds of thousands of elite border troops? Does he have a death wish?"

"He wasn't afraid of death because he had Yang Tinghe behind him! And the entire network of civil officials in Jiangnan! He knew that if Zhu Houzhao dared to kill him for this little bit of military rations, the scholar-officials of Jiangnan would immediately launch a full-scale rebellion even more terrifying than that of the Prince of Ning! This is called blatantly cutting off water and food supplies, treating your Ming emperor like a dog!"

In a parallel timeline of the fifteenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao, who was leading his troops south, sat in his imperial carriage, his hands gripping the emperor's sword at his waist tightly, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force.

Yang Tinghe! What a Yang Tinghe!

He heavily relied on this old traitor in the capital, but the old traitor turned around and ordered his supplies to be cut off!

In the modern live broadcast room, Zhu Dijun suddenly slowed down his speech, and his eyes became extremely deep and eerie.

"In all the unofficial historical records and notes, there is a very consistent argument. It is said that Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao was an incorrigible, debauched and incompetent ruler. Even when he went south to quell the rebellion, he did not do any real work every day. He just liked to go boating on the river and spend his days fishing."

Zhu Dijun suddenly let out an extremely wild and cold laugh, which reverberated throughout the entire hall.

"Bullshit! It's all a bunch of blatant lies fabricated by the Qing dynasty officials and their collusion with the civil servants!"

Three large, blood-red characters exploded on the screen—[Secret Service]!

"Think about it, everyone! Zhu Houzhao's supplies have been cut off by the civil official group, and he's being treated coldly by local officials wherever he goes. His border troops are barely getting enough to eat. Does he really have the leisure to go fishing in the middle of the river every day?!"

"The reason he had to frequently travel by water was because imperial power had been completely undermined! It was because he was shocked to discover that his palaces and camps on land had long been infiltrated by spies from the Jiangnan civil officials!"

"If he holds a meeting in a land-based tent, the moment he finishes discussing military deployments with Jiang Bin and Qiu De, the civil officials outside will know everything in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn! Every word and action of the emperor is monitored by that vast intelligence network of civil officials; there is absolutely no privacy whatsoever!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the pointer and pointed it sharply at a lone boat drifting on the river on the big screen.

"To evade the ever-present spies of these civil officials, and to discuss secret strategies for breaking the deadlock with his closest confidants, Zhu Houzhao was forced into a corner and had no choice but to use the pretext of 'fishing' to summon a few absolutely trusted individuals onto a small boat!"

"On the water, the space on the ship is extremely small, and the number of people is strictly limited. If anyone eavesdrops or gets too close, the rippling water will make it immediately noticeable! This is not some leisurely stroll; this is a top-level secret conference room on the water, created by the Ming Emperor in a desperate situation to guard against assassins and spies!"

The screen was instantly flooded with "Holy crap!" comments, which instantly exploded throughout the live stream.

Netizens' worldviews have been shattered once again. It turns out that the absurd emperor in history books who was fond of fishing was actually a doomed monarch who was forced by his court officials to the point that he dared not even speak on land!

The river water on the big screen gradually turned black, like a poisonous river flowing into an abyss.

"But these civil officials who drove Zhu Houzhao to the brink of despair had no intention of leaving any survivors."

Zhu Dijun's voice sank to the bottom.

"When the army arrived in Huai'an Prefecture, the civil official group immediately revealed their true intentions!"

Another transcript was thrown onto the screen.

"On the Double Ninth Festival in September, Zhu Houzhao was stationed in Huai'an. Local officials seized the opportunity to cause trouble, and a group of thugs claiming to be Ming Dynasty officials suddenly appeared in the city, extorting money from the people and deliberately creating a city-wide riot!"

"The objective was extremely clear! It was to incite a popular uprising and take advantage of the chaos to completely engulf this isolated army deep within the emperor's camp! Faced with this hellish situation where the camp could be overrun at any moment, Zhu Houzhao, for his own safety, had no choice but to retreat in extreme humiliation and forcibly hide in the old residence of the local eunuchs Jin Lian and Zhang Yang for refuge!"

The timeline jumped wildly on the whiteboard, finally freezing on that terrifying day that shook the entire history of the Ming Dynasty.

[Gregorian Calendar: October 26, 1520]

[Lunar Calendar: September 15th, Zhengde 15th year]!

"Having taken refuge in the eunuch's residence, Zhu Houzhao thought he was safe. But he was sorely mistaken."

Zhu Dijun stood in the boundless darkness, with only a few lines of pale ancient text on the screen emitting a chilling light.

"This is the original text from Volume 191 of the Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming."

"[On the day of Bingyin, the Emperor arrived at Qingjiangpu and then visited the residence of the eunuch Zhang Yang. Three days later, the Emperor went fishing in a small boat at Jishui Pond, but the boat capsized and the Emperor drowned. His attendants were terrified and rushed into the water to pull him out. From then on, the Emperor fell ill."

The sound of rushing water echoed softly in the live broadcast room.

"Family members, the literal meaning is very simple. Zhu Houzhao was staying at the house of the eunuch Zhang Yang. Three days later, he was fishing in a small boat in a pond when the boat capsized, and he fell into the water but was rescued. From then on, this once robust emperor, who had personally killed Mongol Tatar soldiers on the Yingzhou battlefield, became seriously ill and never recovered."

Just when all the viewers thought the chapter was over.

Suddenly, Zhu Dijun stepped forward, his face almost touching the camera lens, his eyes gleaming with an extremely chilling light.

With an extremely deep, hoarse, and oppressive voice, he directly revealed the most fatal physical contrast suspense of this chapter!

"You think this record is normal, right?"

"Open your eyes wide and stare intently at the locations and scenes in the documentary!"

A huge red halo tightly framed the three characters in the ancient text—【积水池】!

"The Ming emperor's imperial boat capsized and he fell into the water! But the place where he fell into the water was not the turbulent Yangtze River, nor the Yellow River with its endless sandstorms! Nor was it some bottomless natural lake!"

Zhu Dijun's voice was like a detonated powder keg, exploding loudly in the hall.

"That's the Changying Granary water storage pool inside the eunuch Zhang Yang's mansion! An artificial little pool set up in someone else's backyard to store water for fire prevention! A puddle that could barely submerge an adult man's thigh!"

"Here, as long as you come from Qingjiangpu, Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, which is now called 'Yuelong Pond' in the local area, you can go there and see for yourself how deep it is."

The hearts of viewers across the internet suddenly clenched and pounded.

"Zhu Houzhao is a pure warrior who can fight tigers and spends his days riding horses and fighting battles!" Zhu Dijun roared at the top of his lungs.

"I'd like to ask all the officials in the court, and the writers who compiled books in later generations!"

"How could a small boat carrying the emperor have capsized inexplicably in a man-made pool less than 1.5 meters deep?!"

"After he fell into the water, how many unseen hands reached out from the bottom of the pool... to hold a seasoned emperor, a veteran of countless battles, down in the mud and force-feed him an incurable disease?!"