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

Inside the live stream, the sound effects of flowing water had completely disappeared, replaced by a rapid and heavy drumbeat.

Judy Jun stood in front of the whiteboard covered with scribbles, the red light from the laser pointer in his hand flashing, adding a touch of grimness to his face.

"Family members, warm-up complete, let's get started!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the large screen, and the green chat interface on the screen instantly expanded, taking up the entire field of vision.

"In the first episode, the emperors of the Zhu family were still fighting amongst themselves and harboring suspicions. But in this second episode, this fan has pushed the conspiracy theory to its climax—he has Zhu Yuanzhang use his authority to forcibly drag all the top civil officials in Ming Dynasty history into this group chat of corpses!"

On the big screen, a series of system notification sounds resounded through the sky, accompanied by golden light effects. Five names, carrying an extremely heavy sense of historical pressure, crashed into the group member list.

[System: Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, Yu Qian, Chen Xun, and Yang Hong have joined the group chat.]

"Everyone, look closely! The moment those names were added, the atmosphere in the group completely changed!" Zhu Dijun pointed at the screen, his eyes filled with madness. "This is no longer a group chat; this is the ultimate judgment arena for over two hundred years of imperial power versus ministerial power, for the emperor versus the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty!"

Almost the instant these civil officials joined the group chat, the group owner, whose profile picture was of Zhu Yuanzhang, erupted.

[Zhu Yuanzhang: @Yang Shiqi @Yang Rong @Yang Pu, you three old scoundrels, get out here! I abolished the position of prime minister back then precisely because I feared the civil officials would seize power. And what you've done is create a cabinet, seizing the power of drafting proposals and effectively usurping imperial authority! Did you tamper with Biao'er's medicine so early to support the young Wen'er and make it easier for you to rule from behind the curtain?!]

The era of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at the sky, his breathing heavy and labored, like a bellows. Looking at the questions raised on the screen regarding Zhu Biao's cause of death, he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

"The Three Yangs... Yang Rong! Yang Pu! Yang Shiqi!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth as he recited these names. Even though the cabinet had not yet taken hold in his time, he once again felt the immense threat posed by the concept of "the orthodox tradition."

The replies on the screen were scrolling by extremely quickly.

[Yang Shiqi: Your Majesty, please calm your anger. We assisted Emperors Renzong and Xuanzong in establishing a prosperous era; how could we harbor any rebellious intentions? Crown Prince Zhu Biao's weak health is truly a matter of destiny. If we wanted to seize power, why would we have helped Emperor Yongle consolidate the empire? It is Your Majesty who has gone too far in killing meritorious officials; we were merely preserving the talents for governing the Ming Dynasty to prevent the imperial family from destroying its own foundation.]

[Zhu Di (angry emoji): Bullshit! You three Yangs outwardly assist my son Zhu Gaochi, but in reality, you hinder him at every turn! When I returned from my northern expedition, I wanted to continue expanding our territory, but you deliberately used the excuse of "rest and recuperation" to stop Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean, cutting off the empire's overseas eyes and ears. Were you deliberately keeping the Ming Dynasty blind and deaf to make it easier for you to manipulate the court?!]

Yang Rong: Emperor Taizong, you are mistaken. The voyages to the Western Ocean cost millions and caused widespread suffering. We were merely showing compassion for the people. However, during Your Majesty's Jingnan Campaign, most of Jianwen's former officials perished, yet we "knew the times" and surrendered. Did Your Majesty not consider that we deliberately spared our lives to preserve the civil service and future checks and balances on imperial power?

Holy crap!

Zhu Dijun shouted in the live broadcast room, "Family members, listen to this! 'Preserve the flame, check the imperial power'! This is the confidence of the Jiangnan civil official group! They believe that emperors are like flowing water, but only they, who have studied the classics, are the ironclad camp!"

The conversation on the big screen reached a fever pitch.

[Zhu Zhanji: What a fine "concern for the people's plight"! You three Yangs have been implementing the "Rule of Renxuan" in our dynasty, seemingly bringing peace and prosperity to the country, but in reality, you have been secretly cultivating the power of the civil officials, allowing the power of the Six Ministries to supersede that of the emperor! I want to personally lead the expedition, but you are doing everything you can to stop me. Are you afraid that my military achievements will be outstanding, consolidating my imperial power and cutting off your path to autocracy?!]

[Yang Pu: Emperor Xuanzong, we, your subjects, spent ten years in the imperial prison and have long since become disillusioned with power. Your Majesty's establishment of the Inner Academy to teach eunuchs, intending to use the eunuch faction to check the civil officials, is a pity; eunuchs are ultimately just household servants. We have already formed a network through the imperial examinations and hometown ties; no matter how powerful the eunuch faction is, it cannot cause any real trouble.]

Zhu Dijun pointed at the four characters "Imperial Examination, Hometown Friendship" with a sneer.

"See that? This is their knife that kills without drawing blood! As long as you still use the imperial examination system to select officials, all the officials in the land are their students, their fellow countrymen! The emperor? He's nothing more than a prisoner locked up in their deep palace!"

Just then, Zhu Qizhen, who had been nailed to the pillar of shame for hundreds of years, jumped out.

[Zhu Qizhen: @Yu Qian @Yang Hong, you two are the real culprits! The Tumu Crisis was caused by your embezzlement of military rations, smuggling along the border, and even the burning of the granaries! In the end, it was you, Yang Hong, who led the assassination of the emperor, killing Duke Zhang Fu of Yingguo! Yu Qian, stop pretending to be virtuous; you and Yang Hong are related by marriage!]

[Yang Hong: Your Majesty, at the time, I was stationed in Xuanfu with a small force. If I had rashly launched an attack, the entire army would have been annihilated. It was Wang Zhen's reckless command that led to the disastrous defeat. Our civil service group was merely there to clean up the mess.]

[Yu Qian: Well said! In the defense of Beijing, I single-handedly protected the Ming Dynasty, only to be unjustly killed by Your Majesty after your restoration! When the Taizu Emperor abolished the position of Chancellor, we raised the banner of "the orthodox tradition" to challenge imperial power. The Great Rites Controversy and the struggle over the foundation of the state, seemingly about rites and laws, were in reality a power struggle among the civil service for control of the nation!]

[Zhu Qiyu: Yu Qian, stop patting yourself on the back! You supported my ascension to the throne, and now you want to make your elder brother's son the crown prince—isn't that just a way to completely strip the Zhu family of power and let the civil officials control the Ming Dynasty?! The so-called defense of the capital was nothing but a charade, designed to make the Ming Dynasty completely dependent on you!]

[Chen Xun (coldly): Emperor Jing's words precisely expose the narrow-mindedness of the imperial clan. What the civil service group sought was "the scholar-officials and the emperor ruling the country together," not usurpation. Emperor Hongwu's killing of all his meritorious officials shows us that the imperial clan cannot be trusted. Zhu Houzhao wanted to break free from these constraints, but ended up "drowning and dying suddenly"; Zhu Youxiao was obsessed with carpentry and wanted to use Wei Zhongxian, but also ended up "falling into the water and being frightened." Are these all just coincidences?]

boom!

Zhu Dijun kicked over the chair next to him, and the live stream was instantly flooded with comments saying "easily soluble in water".

"Listen to that! Chen Xun's mouth has torn away that veneer of morality!"

Zhu Dijun rushed to the screen, his eyes bloodshot, and roared as he pointed at Chen Xun's image.

"He's threatening us! He's telling the ancestors of the Zhu family: if you disobey, if you dare threaten the livelihoods of civil officials, then the Jishuichi Pond in Qingjiangpu will be your burial ground!"

The emperors in the group have completely gone mad.

[Zhu Houzhao: You, Chen Xun! It really was you who did this! I knew someone pushed me from behind when I fell into the water, but afterwards you slandered me as lewd and immoral! Is this your 'conscience'?!]

[Zhu Houcong: No wonder I, who sought peace and quiet by cultivating immortality and refining elixirs, still encountered the Renyin Palace Coup! How dare a group of palace maids attempt an assassination? It must have been you civil officials who instigated this, trying to install a puppet ruler!]

[Zhu Youjian: Before I hanged myself on Coal Hill, I should have killed you all! You opened the gates for Li Zicheng to enter the city! You surrendered when the Manchus entered the pass! You never cared about the Zhu family's rule, only about wealth and glory!]

Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang's long, pinned text, accompanied by an extremely heavy and somber background sound, slowly scrolled across the entire screen.

[Zhu Yuanzhang: Enough! You treacherous officials! I've finally seen through it all. The fall of the Ming Dynasty wasn't due to infighting among the imperial family, nor was it the eunuchs' usurpation of power. It was a conspiracy orchestrated by your civil official group! From the Jingnan Rebellion to the Tumu Crisis, from the Red Pill Case to the Palace Relocation Case, it was all your doing! You used the imperial examinations, hometown ties, and traditional moral authority to weave a vast net, ultimately using the Zhu family's empire as a pledge of allegiance to the new master!]

At the very bottom of the group chat was an extremely cold and gloomy reply.

[Yang Shiqi: Your Majesty, why be angry? For 276 years, the civil service has steadfastly upheld the orthodox tradition. While the imperial family may have had wise and foolish rulers, the civil service has always been the 'pillar of stability' for the Ming Dynasty—only this pillar ultimately chose to abandon the corrupt imperial family and preserve the cultural heritage of China.]

[Zhu Di: Bullshit! This is treason!]

[Yu Qian: Emperor Taizong, if imperial power weren't absolute, why would civil officials need to act so ruthlessly? Emperor Chongzhen's massacre of civil officials led to the downfall of the nation and the destruction of his family. This shows that imperial power cannot exist without civil officials, but civil officials can exist without imperial power.]

[Zhu Yuanzhang: I will exterminate your entire clan! My bones will be crushed and my ashes scattered!]

[Yang Rong: Your Majesty, it's too late. The Zhu family's rule is over, but our civil service group can continue in the new dynasty. This is the power of the orthodox tradition.]

The chat interface completely collapsed and shattered amidst a burst of extremely sharp electronic noise.

Zhu Dijun stood in the dark live broadcast room, with only the fill light illuminating half of his face, making him look extremely eerie.

"Family members, after reading this conspiracy theory version, do you still believe that the mysterious deaths of those emperors in the Ming Dynasty and the absurd course of history were really just 'accidents'?"

Zhu Dijun's voice was lowered to the extreme, carrying a chill that seemed to reach straight to the top of one's head.

"The civil service calls this 'the orthodox tradition,' 'the pillar of stability.' But in my eyes, Zhu Dijun, they're nothing but a group of parasites clinging to the backbone of the empire, sucking its marrow dry, and even selling its scraps to a new master for a higher price at the last moment—a group of parasites for millennia!"

He suddenly looked up, staring intently at the camera, his eyes blazing with extreme ferocity.

"Now that Yang Tinghe and his group of civil officials have achieved a resounding victory in the Leopard Chamber assassination plot, and now that the young Taoist priest Zhu Houcong they brought in is already waiting at the gates of the Forbidden City, let us now begin the most breathtaking chapter of the entire history of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand heavily on the whiteboard, completely tracing the outline of Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong, in red.

"The Jiajing Emperor didn't come to Beijing to be a dutiful son. He had no troops at his disposal; he faced a vast net laid by Yang Tinghe, and the murderer who killed his cousin!"

"Right outside Zhengyang Gate in Beijing, on that imperial road steeped in the stench of blood, this fifteen-year-old boy, with just three words, caused all the high-ranking civil officials, led by Yang Tinghe, to utterly lose all dignity and authority, like dead dogs!"

"What exactly do these three words mean?!"

Zhu Dijun abruptly cut off the screen, plunging the live stream into darkness.

"The day after tomorrow, the Ming Dynasty's number one reclusive emperor will teach you a lesson!"