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 broadcast room, the four blood-red characters "Forty-Four Years" stood like four towering, red-hot iron pillars, firmly nailed to everyone's retinas.

Faced with this incredibly exaggerated number, which even surpasses the limits of ordinary people's historical understanding, millions of online modern netizens collectively fell into a deathly silence that lasted for half a minute.

There are no bullet comments.

No tip was given.

The entire live stream room was so quiet that only Zhu Dijun's slightly heavy breathing could be heard.

Before this, most modern people's understanding of the Wokou (Japanese pirates) raids during the Ming Dynasty was limited to superficial impressions from TV dramas. They had seen shows like "Da Ming 1556," "Qi Jiguang," and "Jiajing Dynasty." In those dramas, the Wokou raids seemed to be merely a backdrop in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty to highlight the glory of famous generals, and would be quelled after a few years.

But today, Zhu Dijun used the coldest and cruelest historical materials to tear off this fig leaf in front of the entire internet!

Fifteen years in a narrow sense!

Forty-four years in a broad sense!

After a brief silence, the comment section erupted in the most violent and hysterical outburst in history! The anger of millions of people surged into a torrent, instantly overwhelming the server's capacity!

"Wow!! So the Ming Dynasty actually fought a fourteen-year-long war against Japan?!"

"What nonsense are you spouting upstairs! Do the math, fourteen years is nothing! That's the combined total of the First Sino-Japanese War and the War of Resistance against Japan, nearly fifty years! That's almost two or even three generations!"

"Damn that civil service bureaucracy! Have they lost their conscience?! For their own smuggling profits, they've been harming their own compatriots along the southeast coast for a full forty-four years! How many forty-four years does a person have in their lifetime?!"

"Now I finally understand! Emperor Chongzhen's dying words on Coal Hill, 'All civil officials can be killed,' were absolutely right! Now I think Zhu Yuanzhang's skinning alive was too lenient. To deal with these beasts, we should have exterminated their entire families and scattered their ashes!"

The ordinary netizens in the live broadcast room were so angry that they were trembling all over, while at this moment, in the myriad worlds of the Ming Dynasty, there was a person whose anger had burned so fiercely that even the palace hall could hardly withstand it.

Fengtian Hall, during the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

"Bang!"

The bronze imperial desk in front of the dragon throne was kicked over, and the memorials, writing materials, and even the jade seal symbolizing supreme imperial power all rolled to the ground with a clatter.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at the sky in mid-air, his withered hands trembling violently at his sides, the veins on the back of his hands bulging like dying venomous snakes.

For the first time in his life, this founding emperor felt that he was being laughed at by the scholars of later generations, and he laughed in anger.

"Forty-four years... a full forty-four years..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's lips were turning purple as he frantically calculated a blood debt in his mind.

From his initial joining the Red Turban Rebellion in Haozhou, fighting his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, until he dispatched Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to conquer the Yuan capital and drive the Mongols out of the Central Plains, this period of nation-building history took him, Zhu Yuanzhang, a full sixteen years!

After the founding of the country, in order to completely wipe out the remaining forces in the north and to leave a peaceful country for the descendants of the Ming Dynasty, he launched a series of northern expeditions, which lasted for another twenty years!

Sixteen years plus twenty years, a total of thirty-six years!

It took Zhu Yuanzhang thirty-six years and the blood of millions of Ming Dynasty soldiers to finally wrest the Han people's land back from the hands of foreign tribes!

"But these beasts!"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly drew the Emperor's Sword from his waist and slammed it heavily into the dragon-carved pillar of the main hall, sending wood chips flying everywhere!

"These beastly civil officials who eat the salaries of our Great Ming Dynasty and study the classics!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was hoarse, like that of a vengeful ghost, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"For a few taels of silver in their own pockets! For smuggling! They actually impersonated Japanese pirates and colluded with real Japanese pirates to massacre the people of our Great Ming Dynasty in the water towns of Jiangnan for a full forty-four years! Longer than the time it took us to conquer this land!!"

"They deserve to die! These hypocritical scum all deserve to die! Even killing ten of their entire families wouldn't be too much!"

Old Zhu's roar echoed throughout the Fengtian Hall, frightening all the Imperial Guards outside the hall into kneeling on the ground, not daring to even raise their heads.

The Qin Dynasty, Xianyang Palace.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, stood atop the high imperial steps, the hem of his dark dragon robe fluttering in the wind outside the palace. Unlike Zhu Yuanzhang, he did not smash things in a fit of rage, but his hawk-like eyes revealed an extreme chill that could freeze the entire world.

Ying Zheng looked at the data on the sky, his lips slowly curling upwards, and finally burst into an extremely wild and mocking laugh!

"Forty-four years of calamity against our compatriots... Good! Very good indeed!"

Ying Zheng grabbed the Ding Qin sword beside him and slammed the hilt heavily onto the black basalt floor tiles, producing a dull thud.

He was also calculating!

From the moment he launched the war to unify the six states, the Qin army's iron cavalry trampled through the capitals of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi in a mere nine years!

If we extend the timeline, starting from the most difficult period of the Qin Dynasty under Duke Xiao, when Shang Yang implemented his reforms, that is, 356 BC, until Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms in 221 BC.

The Qin Empire, building upon the legacy of six generations of emperors and countless Qin people who died on the battlefield, took 135 years to complete the monumental task of standardizing writing, unifying cart axles, and unifying the country!

Why was that for?!

It was to end the centuries-long wars between feudal lords! It was to ensure that the land of China would never again suffer the pain of division!

"But what about the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty in later generations?" Ying Zheng sneered, gazing at the sky with utter contempt. "They wielded immense power, yet instead of serving their country, they harmed their own people for forty-four years for the laughable, petty profits of smuggling! All for the wealth and status of their own family and clan!"

Ying Zheng turned around abruptly, his gaze sweeping across the ranks of civil officials below the hall like a sharp blade.

"Those Confucian disciples of later generations constantly denounced me as a tyrant! They condemned the Qin Dynasty as cruel and inhumane!"

Ying Zheng's voice was deafening.

"But look at the despicable things they've done! For money, they've killed and plundered, poisoning lives for half a century! Is this the kind of good student your Confucian school produces?! Is this the benevolence and morality you speak of?!"

"They spout righteousness and morality, but are utterly wicked and depraved! Compared to my Great Qin, they deserve to be torn to pieces!"

The Great Han Dynasty, Weiyang Palace.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, was originally holding a wine cup, but now he had squeezed it so hard that it was deformed, and the clear wine dripped from between his fingers onto the dragon bed.

Liu Che's chest heaved violently, feeling a surge of anger stuck in his throat, unable to swallow or spit it out.

He stared intently at the words "forty-four years," his eyes even reddening slightly from extreme frustration.

He also fought in wars. He fought for a very long time.

Starting with the Mayi Conspiracy in 1045, which shook the world, the Han Empire completely broke off relations with the Xiongnu, thus beginning the full-scale Han-Xiongnu War. Until his later years when he issued the Luntai Edict of Repentance, ceasing all conquests, the Han Dynasty's war machine had been crushing the grasslands for a full forty-four years!

The timing is exactly the same!

But what about its nature?!

"Why did I wage war against the Xiongnu?"

Liu Che slammed the deformed wine vessel to the ground, making a crisp sound.

"I emptied the treasury of the Han Dynasty and halved the population to eliminate the threat posed by those barbarian tribes eyeing the land from the grasslands! To ensure that the people of the Han Dynasty no longer have to live under the thumb of the nomads! To create an unprecedented living space!"

Liu Che pointed at the sky, so angry that he cursed loudly, abandoning even the demeanor of an emperor.

"But you Ming Dynasty civil officials! For the smuggling profits of a few bolts of silk and a few pieces of porcelain! You actually dressed up as Japanese ronin, mixed up with those overseas wild monkeys, and turned your swords against the heads of your own compatriots!"

"Forty-four whole years! The knives in your hands are not used to cut down foreign enemies, but to cut down your own providers!"

Liu Che's eyes blazed with fury, and he gritted his teeth.

"Have your consciences been eaten by dogs, or blown away by the sea breeze?! Have you long forgotten that you also have Han Chinese blood flowing through your veins?!"

Throughout the myriad worlds and timelines, the iron-fisted emperors of every dynasty were utterly devastated by this utterly absurd and bloody historical truth. They could understand how many years of foreign wars there were—it was a life-or-death struggle for survival!

However, the fact that one's own people colluded with outsiders to slaughter their own people for nearly half a century for the sake of their own interests is a shocking betrayal that exceeded the psychological bottom line of all feudal emperors.

This once again confirms what later generations said: that Confucian scholars are mostly beasts, and that civil officials, though full of Confucian and Mencian rhetoric, act more ruthless than robbers.

Inside a modern live streaming studio.

Zhu Dijun stared at the furious barrage of comments on the screen, showing no intention of calming them down. His goal today was to thoroughly expose these festering sores to the light of day.

"Family members, do you now understand how desperate our ancestors would have been if they could have seen this history?"

Zhu Dijun reached out and used a red marker to circle the period representing the peak of the Japanese pirates' rampage on the whiteboard: "From the 31st year of the Jiajing reign to the 37th year of the Jiajing reign."

"These forty-four years of Japanese pirate raids not only emptied the villages and towns along the southeastern coast, but also dragged the already impoverished treasury of the Ming Dynasty into a bottomless financial black hole!"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly on the podium, like a wolf eyeing its prey.

"As we mentioned earlier, when the Jiajing Emperor first ascended the throne, it was a hellish start for him. The national treasury was empty, local rebellions broke out, and civil officials were forcing him to abdicate."

"And now, this huge mess that has lasted for half a century has landed squarely on the head of this Taoist Emperor! He wants to cultivate immortality in the West Garden Abode, and he wants to protect the last bit of bloodline of the Ming Dynasty from being completely drained by these smuggling tycoons."