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

"Family members, at the moment Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao breathed his last, what shrouded the Ming Empire was not grief, but a long-planned, genocidal class massacre!"

Inside the live stream, Zhu Dijun slammed his gavel, and the originally dark floor plan of the leopard house on the screen was instantly covered by a dense array of blood-red dots.

"Yang Tinghe and his group of civil officials had been waiting for this day for a full sixteen years! Zhu Houzhao had barely breathed his last, his bones were still turning blue, and they hadn't even had time to move his body into a coffin when Yang Tinghe impatiently took that forged 'edict' and, in the name of Empress Dowager Zhang, launched a bloody purge of the entire Leopard House!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the laser pointer, and the red light danced wildly on the screen. Each red dot that lit up represented a vibrant life that had been erased from the official history of the Ming Dynasty or labeled as a "monster".

"Family members, open your eyes wide and look at this purge list! This isn't some rectification of wrongs; it's a massive political purge targeting the core of the imperial power!"

"The first to be sent to the guillotine were the powerful eunuchs who served Zhu Houzhao!"

Judy Jun shouted, her voice dripping with extreme sarcasm.

"Besides Zhang Yong, who had long since betrayed his country, there were also Liu Jin and Ma Yongcheng, who died young. What became of the 'Eight Tigers' of that time? Qiu Ju and Wei Bin, these two old servants who had served the emperor their entire lives, were exiled by an imperial edict from Yang Tinghe, and then mysteriously 'died suddenly' on the way! Luo Xiang and Gu Dayong surrendered immediately when they saw the situation was unfavorable. As for the others, such as Zhang Zhong, Wu Jing, and Liu Xiang, these so-called Jiang Bin henchmen, they didn't even have a trial process; they were captured and killed on the spot outside the Leopard Chamber!"

The screen displayed a series of bloody line drawings, depicting the one-sided massacre that took place in the shadows of the palace.

"That's not all! Yang Tinghe not only wants to kill elephants, he won't even spare the sparrows that cling to the tree of imperial power!"

Judy Jun's eyes were chillingly cold.

"Emperor Wuzong's personal guards, the border generals who studied battle formations together in the Leopard Chamber, even the sorcerers and musicians favored by Zhu Houzhao, and the craftsmen who toiled day and night for the gunpowder reform of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Several hundred people! In the official writings of the Ming Dynasty, they were transformed into demons who 'bewitched the emperor.' These civil officials, under the guise of 'purging the court of corrupt officials,' wiped out Zhu Houzhao's carefully cultivated team of non-civilian technical personnel and military officers in less than three days!"

"Shen Zhou, Li Cong, Qian Ning... these once renowned ministers who guarded the nation's gates for the emperor, all became appetizers at the civil official group's victory celebration banquet in the spring of the sixteenth year of Zhengde's reign!"

In the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, in a dark corner of the capital.

Those courtiers of the Leopard Chamber who had not yet been captured were gazing at the sky in despair. Seeing themselves about to be beaten to death with clubs and subjected to the excruciating punishment of slow slicing, each of them was filled with a deep-seated hatred for the literati of Jiangnan.

"This is what civil officials are! This is what you call 'benevolence and morality'!"

A border general spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed bitterly, "When the Emperor was alive, we were traitors. Now that the Emperor is gone, we're not even human anymore!"

Inside the modern live-streaming studio, Zhu Dijun took a deep breath, his voice suddenly lowering, revealing a strange sense of sorrow.

"Furthermore, family members, I'm going to dig up a detail that the history books are most afraid to mention. That is the women who once accompanied Zhu Houzhao. For example, Liu Liangnu, who came from a common background, and Ma, who came from Zixuan. The history books say that Ma was demoted because of 'licentiousness,' and that Liu Liangnu disappeared after that."

Judy Jun let out an extremely harsh, cold laugh, her eyes filled with pity.

"Could their fate really be any better? In this frenzied class purge, as the women who were Emperor Wuzong's most favored during his lifetime and who best proved his 'unconventional' character, and who also had children of Zhu Houzhao, they were the perfect targets for elimination in the eyes of a hypocritical old fox like Yang Tinghe!"

"Either a three-foot-long white silk ribbon, or a cup of poisoned wine. Their names were erased after death, even fabricated into those sordid unofficial histories, becoming stains to highlight Zhu Houzhao's 'licentiousness'! These civil officials not only killed the people, but also destroyed their hearts, utterly crushing even the slightest bit of tenderness from orphans, widows, and the emperor!"

In a parallel universe, the Great Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, leaned back on his dragon throne, the golden goblet before him reflecting a cold, eerie light. He gazed at the sky, at the gruesome state of Zhu Houzhao's death, and a chilling smile curled at the corner of his lips.

"Stupid. So stupid."

Liu Che gently turned the jade thumb ring on his hand, his voice so low it seemed he was speaking to himself.

"I've said it before: an emperor can't be a human being, he can only be a god or a ghost. As long as you still have even a shred of 'human' emotion in your heart, and still want to talk to these ministers about 'the bond between ruler and subject,' then you are doomed."

"The word 'soft-hearted' has never been in the blood of the Liu family. Whether it was Emperor Gaozu or Emperor Jing, they were willing to sacrifice even their sons and wives for the sake of the country. Emperor Wuzong, Zhu Houzhao, was too concerned about that so-called 'reputation.' He thought that by killing enemies in Yingzhou and suppressing rebellions in Jiangnan, he could prove that he was a good emperor."

Liu Che sneered, his gaze piercing through thousands of years of emptiness.

"A good emperor? In the eyes of political monsters, only those who are 'alive' and 'hold power' are emperors! Before the coup in August of the fifth year of Zhengde's reign, he had a chance! After the great victory at Yingzhou, he had an absolute advantage in military power and had another chance! But he cared too much about that refined facade and missed opportunity after opportunity to send the entire civil service group into the fire pit!"

"This is the price he paid. He harmed himself, and he also harmed those loyal ministers and generals who followed him!"

Inside the modern live-streaming studio, Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the whiteboard, creating a loud bang.

"This is the cruelty of politics! On this point, we must especially mention the soon-to-be-crowned 'Number One Recluse of the Ming Dynasty,' the Taoist Emperor Zhu Houcong!"

Zhu Dijun's eyes gleamed with extreme excitement. "How did the Jiajing Emperor, Zhu Houcong, come to the throne? He was brought in by these civil officials to choose a puppet! But on his very first day in the capital, he saw the truth behind his cousin Zhu Houzhao's tragic death!"

"Zhu Houcong learned only one lesson: if you want to be a living emperor of the Ming Dynasty, you must be more ruthless, more cunning, and more shameless than the civil officials! You must transform yourself into a complete political monster!"

"Many civil officials later said that Zhu Houcong was heartless, that he repaid kindness with enmity to his aunt, Empress Dowager Zhang. My family, was that kindness? It was enmity! Empress Dowager Zhang, in collusion with Yang Tinghe, killed Zhu Houzhao! During the Jiajing era, Zhu Houcong repeatedly set fire to Empress Dowager Zhang's palace. Although he failed to burn this old hag to death, this blatant intimidation, this ruthlessness that made sure she suffered even in death, was his way of avenging Zhu Houzhao, and also his means of protecting himself!"

"He would rather bear a lifetime of infamy than die like Zhu Houzhao, confused and bewildered, from a bowl of medicine given by the imperial physician!"

In a parallel universe, in the first month of the fourteenth year of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

The army, which had been despondent upon learning of their impending doom and drowning, suddenly transformed.

Zhu Houzhao, who had just returned from Xuanda with over 100,000 elite border troops, did not enter the capital at this time.

He reined in his warhorse, his blood-stained armor gleaming a chilling red light under the blazing sun.

Behind him stood 20,000 fierce Xuanfu cavalrymen, as powerful as tigers and wolves. Also behind them were 3,000 Shenji Battalion soldiers, armed with muskets and absolutely loyal to him.

Around him, Jiang Bin, Qian Ning, Shen Zhou, Li Cong... these generals who were about to face the annihilation of their entire families in the sky were now gripping the steel swords at their waists, their eyes spitting out furious rage as if they wanted to devour their people.

That was a near-death experience, the frenzy of a trapped beast reborn.

What Ming Dynasty law, what historical fame—all of it becomes a joke in the face of those gruesome images of slow slicing!

"Gentlemen."

Zhu Houzhao slowly tightened the reins, and the warhorse snorted uneasily.

He raised his head and gazed at the magnificent city of Beijing, which resembled a tomb. There he saw Yang Tinghe, the civil officials who were calculating his death in their hearts, and the bowl of dark, black medicine.

"Above the sky, Zhu Dijun, a descendant of King Zhao, has turned our future upside down."

Zhu Houzhao's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable madness born from the humiliation of imperial power.

"In that skydiving, he said, 'I died in a small puddle. My loyal ministers were executed by slow slicing, and my wife and children died with their eyes wide open in disbelief. I ask you all, I will march back to the capital, I will use the heads of all the civil officials in this city to fill that pond in Qingjiangpu! I will kill Yang Tinghe and his gang of bastards, leaving not a single one alive!'"

Zhu Houzhao suddenly drew his imperial sword and pointed it at the city gate of Beijing.

"Those who are afraid of death may leave now. Those who are not afraid of death, come with me to cleave this dark cloud over the Ming Dynasty in two with a single sword stroke!"

Jiang Bin was the first to dismount, kneeling heavily amidst the billowing dust, his voice booming like thunder:

"Your subject Jiang Bin is willing to die rather than betray Your Majesty! I am willing to be Your Majesty's vanguard and slaughter the capital!"

"Your subject Qian Ning is willing to follow Your Majesty! I would rather die on the golden steps than perish on the medicine bowl!"

"We are willing to follow Your Majesty! We will march back to the capital! We will purge the traitors from the country!"

The roar of tens of thousands of border troops startled the birds in the wilderness, causing them to scatter. At that moment, the last vestige of warmth in the Ming imperial power was utterly shattered, revealing its extremely sharp fangs.

The civil service is not letting them live in peace. If we don't kill them now, are we going to wait to be killed by these human beasts in the future?