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

On the large screen in the live stream, the eerie green afterimage of the incense burner slowly faded away.

Zhu Dijun grabbed the laser pointer, and the red light traced an extremely sharp path on the screen, directly piercing a portrait of the Empress Dowager of the Ming Dynasty.

"Family members, after Jiajing achieved his initial victory in the Great Rites Controversy and used a beating in court to break the backbone of the civil official group, he did not stop his purges at all."

Zhu Dijun's lips curled into an extremely mocking sneer.

"He fixed his cold, venomous eyes on Empress Zhang, the old witch in the Ming Dynasty's inner palace who had conspired with Yang Tinghe to kill Emperor Wuzong and then tried to control him!"

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the podium and shook his head at the camera.

"Speaking of which, if Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao could see this, he should really learn a thing or two from his cousin. Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houcong at the time didn't have any military power at all, but he managed to win over all the civil and military officials and the Empress Dowager through sheer cunning. And you, Zhu Houzhao? A dignified emperor who rode on horseback, you were sent to your death by a bowl of medicine from the imperial physician. The difference is... tsk tsk."

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

Within Beijing, flames soared into the sky, and rivers of blood flowed.

Zhu Houzhao, leading over 100,000 border troops, used pure iron and blood to raze the mansions of the civil officials in the capital, annihilating those scheming officials who were plotting in secret.

He carried the still-dripping Emperor's Sword, expecting to see future generations praising him on the sky, but instead he was met with Zhu Dijun's extremely hurtful sarcasm.

"Insolence!" Zhu Houzhao roared, veins bulging on his forehead, pointing his bloodied sword at the air. "This scoundrel, a descendant of the Prince of Zhao, has absolutely no understanding of the difficulties faced by his Ming ancestors! Fine! I'll see what tricks this little cousin of mine has up his sleeve!"

This is set in the second year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Xiyuan Study, Zhu Houcong, who was just over fifteen years old, sat cross-legged on a futon.

He had only recently brought his birth mother, Empress Dowager Jiang, to the capital, and was personally experiencing the extreme contempt that old hag, Empress Dowager Zhang, had shown towards his biological mother.

Upon hearing Tianmu's words, a terrifying glint flashed in Zhu Houcong's eyes. He immediately straightened up, picked up the vermilion pen from his desk, and said, "Well said. I'd like to see how I, in the future, will crush this old hag under my feet!"

Inside the modern live-streaming room, Zhu Dijun had already drawn up a densely packed schedule.

"What is the root of the conflict? Empress Dowager Zhang thought she had the favor of supporting the emperor! She colluded with Yang Tinghe to select the fifteen-year-old Zhu Houcong to come to the capital in order to control the young emperor, maintain the old pattern from the time of Emperor Wuzong, and preserve the overwhelming power of her Zhang family as maternal relatives."

"During the Great Rites Controversy, Empress Dowager Zhang not only forced Jiajing to acknowledge Emperor Xiaozong as his biological father, but even more outrageous, after Jiajing's birth mother, Lady Jiang, arrived in the capital, Empress Dowager Zhang adopted the demeanor of a superior empress and stepmother, suppressing Lady Jiang with extremely arrogant and rude treatment at every turn!"

Zhu Dijun kicked the edge of the live broadcast platform.

"Family members, of all people to mess with, why did you have to provoke the Ming Dynasty's Number One Wallfacer, who is extremely protective of his own, extremely vengeful, and extremely ruthless?!"

The word "degradation" appeared on the big screen, its starkness piercing the eye.

"Let's look at the first step of Jiajing's counterattack! A comprehensive crackdown! He directly attacked the issue of legitimacy!"

"Jiajing immediately issued an edict, forcibly changing Empress Zhang's title from 'Holy Mother Empress Dowager,' representing the legitimate mother, to 'Imperial Aunt Zhaosheng Cishou Empress Dowager!' By adding the words 'Imperial Aunt,' this once high-ranking old hag was effectively relegated to the sidelines among collateral relatives in terms of patriarchal clan law!"

"Next comes the extreme double standard in treatment!" Zhu Dijun sneered. "Every year on Empress Dowager Jiang's birthday, Jiajing ordered a grand celebration throughout the city, with noblewomen all coming to the palace to offer their congratulations—it was all incredibly extravagant! But what about Empress Dowager Zhang's birthday? Jiajing simply issued a cold imperial edict: all court celebrations are cancelled, everything must be simplified!"

"In the inner palace, Empress Dowager Zhang's expenses were drastically reduced, and her servants were dismissed. Emperor Jiajing deliberately refused to see her, even foregoing the most basic greetings. Any official who dared to say a good word for Empress Dowager Zhang was immediately demoted and imprisoned!"

The concubines throughout the Ming Dynasty looked up at the sky and felt a chill run from their feet to the top of their heads. This wasn't an emperor; he was a heartless, cruel devil.

But Zhu Dijun's speaking speed increased rapidly, and the sense of oppression suddenly soared.

"If you think that passive-aggressive behavior is the limit, then you're seriously underestimating this Taoist priest's ruthlessness!"

A huge flame effect exploded on the big screen.

"The year is now March 4th, the fourth year of the Jiajing reign! A raging fire suddenly breaks out in the Renshou Palace, the residence of Empress Dowager Zhang, within the Forbidden City!"

Zhu Dijun stared intently at the camera, his voice low and menacing, like a demon grinding its teeth.

"In this fire that nearly killed the old hag, the guards who were supposed to put out the fire were slow to arrive, and the palace gates were locked. Everyone knew the fire started extremely strangely, everyone knew whose intention it was, but the entire court didn't dare utter a single word!"

"This fire was Jiajing's blatant warning to Empress Dowager Zhang: Do you still think you're the master? I can kill you without even lifting a finger!"

If Empress Dowager Zhang could still stand at this point, she would probably have collapsed long ago.

"Step two!" Zhu Dijun suddenly wrote the names [Zhang Heling] and [Zhang Yanling] on the whiteboard and marked them with a glaring red cross.

"Where did Empress Dowager Zhang's confidence come from? From her two arrogant and domineering younger brothers! In the eighth year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign, the emperor officially wielded the butcher's knife against the Zhang family, her maternal relatives!"

"First, sever their foundations! Emperor Jiajing issued an edict stripping all the titles and ranks of the imperial relatives of the Zhang brothers, and stripping them of all hereditary privileges! Zhang Heling, once the dignified Duke of Changguo, was directly demoted to the position of Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard and exiled to Nanjing to live in seclusion! Zhang Yanling's title of Marquis of Jianchang was revoked, and all his land was confiscated and put to public use!"

"By the twelfth year of the Jiajing reign, the annihilation was complete!"

Judy Jun grabbed the gavel and slammed it down!

boom!

"Jiajing Emperor used the pretext that the Zhang brothers had allowed their slaves to commit murder, seized farmland, and even engaged in witchcraft and curses! He ordered the two men arrested and imprisoned in the Imperial Guard prison, where they were sentenced to death!"

The images on the big screen suddenly changed.

Inside the Forbidden City, amidst a bleak wind and bitter rain.

Empress Dowager Zhang, who was once high above and colluded with the Grand Secretary to decide the fate of the Ming Dynasty, has now taken off her magnificent empress dowager robes, put on a tattered old dress, and knelt outside Jiajing's palace on a tattered straw mat.

"Family members, look at this extreme reversal of power!" Zhu Dijun roared, pointing at the illusory figure kneeling and kowtowing on the screen. "Empress Dowager Zhang has abandoned even her last shred of dignity to save her brother's life! She's kneeling on the cold stone slab, begging the Emperor for mercy!"

"And what was the result? Jiajing sat upright in the main hall, not even glancing at her! He simply uttered four words: 'Not to see her! Not permitted!'"

"In the end, it was Grand Secretary Zhang Fujing who couldn't stand it anymore and fought desperately to protect the emperor, saying that it was inappropriate to kill a member of the imperial family without irrefutable evidence of rebellion. Only then did Jiajing reluctantly change the verdict: not to kill him on the spot, but to imprison him in the imperial prison for a long period of time, pending further judgment!"

The second year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the West Garden Abode, fifteen-year-old Zhu Houcong, watching the pitiful sight of Empress Dowager Zhang kneeling and kowtowing on the screen, actually burst into laughter. The laughter echoed in the empty hall, carrying a chillingly exhilarating quality.

"Serves you right! You old hag, you've finally met your match!" He snapped the vermilion pen in his hand.

On the screen above, Zhu Dijun's commentary had entered an extremely tragic final stage.

"The third step is to completely outlive this old hag and nip her in the bud!"

"Zhang Heling soon died in the imperial prison. Zhang Yanling, on the other hand, was imprisoned by Jiajing like a dog for a full thirteen years!"

"In the twentieth year of the Jiajing reign, Empress Dowager Zhang, after a long period of fear, cold treatment, and extreme despair over her brother's status as a death row inmate, fell ill with grief and indignation and breathed her last."

Judy Jun drew a black rest on the whiteboard.

"Is death the end of everything? Under Jiajing, even the dead are not given dignity! When Empress Zhang was buried, Jiajing directly ordered a significant reduction in the funeral rites, refusing to attend the mourning ceremony himself, and even her posthumous title was drastically simplified!"

"With the Empress Dowager's death, the last vestige of restraint on the Ming Dynasty's imperial power has completely vanished!"

Four large, blood-red characters filled the public chat: "[Beheading at the West Market]!"

"In the twenty-fifth year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign! The Jiajing Emperor issued his final imperial edict! Zhang Yanling, who was imprisoned in a death row cell and was barely recognizable as human, was to be dragged directly to the West Market and publicly beheaded!"

"Thus, the once invincible Zhang family, the imperial relatives, were completely wiped out by this great Ming emperor, leaving not even ashes behind!"

The dense stream of comments in the live stream paused briefly. Even modern viewers were shocked by Jiajing's insidious methods—his deep-seated grudges and his decades-long, slow torture to death.

Zhu Dijun put down the chalk in his hand and patted the dust off his hands.

"Family members, this is Jiajing's political logic!"

He held up three fingers, his eyes sharp as knives.

"First, he established his authority and seized power! By ruthlessly persecuting Empress Dowager Zhang and her relatives, he completely shattered the bottom line of Emperor Wuzong's former officials, declaring to the whole world that the power of the Ming Dynasty could only belong to him, Zhu Houcong!"

"Secondly, revenge for a personal grudge! He's extremely protective of his own and extremely concerned with saving face. You dare to force me to acknowledge someone else as my father? You dare to disrespect my own mother? Then I'll make sure your entire family is wiped out!"

"Third, to curb the influence of maternal relatives! After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the interference of maternal relatives in politics became serious. Jiajing was making an example of them, using the Zhang family's bloodshed to completely extinguish any future thoughts of maternal relatives interfering in the Ming Dynasty's politics!"

As Zhu Dijun analyzed the events, the entire 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty transformed into an extremely oppressive dark cloud in the sky.

"This is the Taoist priest who hides in the West Garden and doesn't attend court."