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

"Family members, it seems that in the battle at Zuoshun Gate on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the third year of Jiajing's reign, the fifteen-year-old Zhu Houcong used court beatings and bloodshed to crush the entire civil official group. In the Great Rites Controversy, it appears that the imperial power has won the first round."

Judy Jun stood in front of the whiteboard, casually tossing the eraser, covered in red chalk dust, onto the table. His eyes held no joy of victory, but rather a chilling, unsettling aura.

"But! Do you really think that group of civil officials who have controlled the government for decades and whose roots are embedded in every inch of the Ming Dynasty will obediently admit defeat after being given a beating?"

The large screen instantly turned a blinding scarlet red.

Zhu Dijun grabbed a black marker and wrote four large characters with extremely violent force on the right side of the whiteboard: "Datong Mutiny"!

"Just as the beatings at Zuo Shunmen were finished, and the bodies of those seventeen civil officials were still warm, the Ming Dynasty's extremely familiar, even unique, [passive skill] was triggered right on time again!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his gavel down, shattering the tranquility of the live broadcast room with a loud bang.

The timeline scrolled wildly across the screen.

"On July 15th, the third year of the Jiajing reign, a bloody conflict erupted at the Zuoshun Gate in the capital! Just seven days later, on July 22nd, a devastating mutiny broke out in Datong, a crucial border town of the Ming Dynasty, thousands of miles away!"

In the modern live streaming room, when millions of viewers saw the "coup" and this extremely sensitive time, the DNA of the entire internet was instantly stirred.

The barrage of comments exploded like an avalanche.

"Holy crap! Isn't this a replay of the events of the fifth year of the Zhengde reign?! ​​The rebellion of the Prince of Anhua in Ningxia was also timed so perfectly!"

[“The Ming Dynasty’s civil service has used its ancestral trick! As long as the emperor tries to consolidate power in the capital and disobeys orders, tens of thousands of rebel troops will immediately spring up on the border! This time bomb is set more precisely than an alarm clock!”]

["Incredible! The killings of Zhengde's adopted sons in Xuanfu, Datong, and Yansui were also part of this tactic. These civil officials are risking the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the border to sow discord between the emperor and the government!"]

Amidst the screen full of mockery, a few troll comments with black "die-hard fan" signs were still trying to defend the situation in a sarcastic and forced manner.

[“Host, stop trying to mislead us! This is just a coincidence! The Datong Mutiny in the third year of the Jiajing reign had absolutely no connection to the Great Rites Controversy. Don’t throw all this mudslinging at civil officials!”]

Zhu Dijun stared intently at the few comments on the screen, a cold, extremely violent sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"A coincidence? No connection whatsoever?" He ripped off his tie, pointed at the timeline on the screen, and roared, "July 15th, the flogging in the capital; July 22nd, the mutiny in Datong! In ancient times, without telephones or telegraphs, the timing of this series of explosions is so seamless!"

"Using border mutinies to exert pressure on the court and tighten the reins on imperial power had long been an unspoken rule among the Ming Dynasty's civil service! Otherwise, why would this mutiny have erupted so precisely at the height of the emperor's power grab? You say there's nothing fishy going on? Ask the millions of people under his command, who would believe that?!"

The screen was immediately filled with a dense barrage of "I don't believe it," completely drowning out the haters' comments.

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly on the podium, his gaze sweeping across the camera like a searchlight.

"Family members, today we're going to put the Datong Mutiny, which traditional historians have deliberately ignored or downplayed its political background, on the operating table and dissect it for you to see just how rotten it really is!"

The screen instantly switched to a military defense map of the nine important border towns of the Ming Dynasty, with a red circle locked onto [Datong].

"The cause of the incident was so simple and brutal that it seemed absurd!"

A half-length portrait of a civil official in his uniform was displayed on the left side of the screen.

"The top civil official at the time was Zhang Wenjin, the governor of Datong! This new official was eager to make a name for himself, and in order to achieve the so-called 'strengthening of border defenses,' he issued an extremely outrageous and absolute order—to build five new fortresses ninety li north of Datong!"

Zhu Dijun picked up a laser pointer and drew that isolated distance on the map.

"Ninety li! Isolated beyond the Great Wall! With no strategic depth! Once these five fortresses are built, they'll be like pieces of meat laid out for the Mongol cavalry to devour! And that's not all. After the fortresses are completed, Zhang Wenjin actually ordered 2,500 Datong border soldiers to bring their families, wives, and children, to garrison these five perilous locations!"

The era of the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting in the Leopard Chamber, crushed the wine cup he was playing with in his hand with a "crack".

He once proclaimed himself the Mighty General and personally led Jiang Bin and his men in battles against the Mongols in the icy wilderness of Datong. He knew all too well what ninety li outside Datong meant!

"Fools! Utter fools!" Zhu Houzhao, his eyes bloodshot, pointed at the sky and cursed, "Sending border troops to guard that kind of death zone with their wives and children? If the Mongols come to plunder, they won't even be able to retreat. That would be a mass grave of thousands of people! These civil officials who have never even held a sword are simply using the lives of Ming soldiers to stain their red hats!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice also revealed barely suppressed anger.

"The soldiers aren't stupid! They know all too well that going would be suicide, so they're indignant and absolutely refuse to go! How did Governor Zhang Wenjin handle this situation?"

"His attitude was extremely tough! He issued strict orders and urged them to hurry! Not only that, the military commander Jia Jian, who was in charge of supervising the work, directly displayed the might of the Ming Dynasty's military law, pinning the soldier captain who led the protest to the ground and beating him to death with military sticks!"

In the background sound effects, there were piercing screams and the dull thuds of whips striking flesh.

"Fight? You're going to fight these thugs who're already teetering on the brink of death at this critical juncture?!" Zhu Dijun kicked over the chair next to him. "Congratulations to Zhang Wenjin, he's successfully detonated the powder keg in Datong!"

The red timeline suddenly jumped!

"July 22nd, the third year of the Jiajing reign!"

"That was seven days after those civil officials at Zuoshun Gate were flogged! The soldiers of Datong completely went berserk! Led by Guo Jian and Liu Zhong, the rioting soldiers, their eyes red, rushed into the military camp and hacked the military commander Jia Jian, who had ordered the beating, to death on the spot, chopping him into mincemeat! Afterwards, fearing retribution, these people fled Datong City and fled to Jiaoshan in the border region to gather!"

The entire internet was in an uproar. In the myriad worlds of the Ming Dynasty, countless eyes were glued to the bloody unfolding on the screen.

"The mutinous soldiers fled. If Zhang Wenjin had been a little more level-headed at that moment and had reported to the court prioritizing appeasement, this matter might have been suppressed." Zhu Dijun let out an extremely mocking sneer. "But the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty can always come up with even more insidious schemes!"

"Zhang Wenjin was afraid! He feared that these fleeing rebels would have nowhere to go beyond the Great Wall and would collude with the Mongols to be led into the pass. So he quickly ordered a pacification campaign, saying that as long as they returned, they would not be beheaded, and thus coaxed Guo Jian and Liu Zhong and their group back to Datong City."

"But!" Zhu Dijun's fingers pounded the whiteboard, making a loud thud. "The moment these mutinous soldiers returned to the city and laid down their weapons, Zhang Wenjin turned on them! He secretly mobilized troops, trying to track down the ringleaders of the mutiny, preparing to wipe them all out and behead them for the reward!"

"He changes his mind constantly! He goes back on his word! In this important town beyond the Great Wall, the Ming Dynasty's credibility is being trampled on like a rag by this governor!"

The lights in the entire live-streaming room were completely switched to a somber, dark red.

"Zhang Wenjin's treachery has driven these border guards to a dead end! Since they're going to die anyway, they might as well take you, this corrupt official, with them!"

"July 27th! Just five days after the first mutiny!"

"A massive military uprising has erupted in Datong City! This time, it's not just a few people fleeing! Thousands of bloodthirsty border soldiers have launched a killing spree in this crucial town defending against foreign enemies!"

Zhu Dijun's speech came out like a machine gun firing wildly.

"The rebels stormed into the Datong Prefectural Government Office! They stormed into the Censorate! A single fire reduced these institutions, symbols of the Ming Dynasty's rule, to ashes! They smashed open the prison doors, releasing all the death row inmates and prisoners! The entire city of Datong instantly descended into anarchy, a living hell!"

A phantom image of an official robe, burned beyond recognition, crashes onto the center of the screen.

"Governor Zhang Wenjin was terrified and tried to escape by climbing over the wall. But the mutinous soldiers had already spotted him! They dragged this high-ranking civil official out of a corner, and in front of the entire city, they swarmed him and chopped him to pieces on the spot! Even his body was frantically mutilated by these enraged soldiers, his bones reduced to ashes!"

The Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at the sky, slamming his fist on the armrest of the dragon throne until his fingernails dug into the wood. The highest military and political official of a province in the Ming Dynasty had been hacked to pieces by his own soldiers! This was the disastrous consequence of the military household and garrison system he had established years ago!

"Killing the governor isn't the end of it!" Zhu Dijun gripped the edge of the podium tightly with both hands. "These thugs have mastered the 'collective immunity' principle they learned during the Ganzhou mutiny! They know that killing the governor is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his family, so they need to find someone of sufficient influence to take the fall!"

A portrait of a trembling military general emerges.

"They stormed into the home of former Commander-in-Chief Zhu Zhen, held a knife to his neck, and coerced this high-ranking military officer of the Ming Dynasty into becoming their leader in order to engage in equal political negotiations with the court!"

"How did the court react?" Zhu Dijun spread his hands with a face full of disdain. "Those old foxes in the cabinet, they were just beaten to a pulp by Jiajing, and then they received an urgent report of the Datong mutiny. They immediately sent Li Kun, the Vice Minister of War, to pacify the situation. And what happened? When Li Kun arrived in Datong, facing these bloodthirsty thugs, he didn't dare utter a single word, and the situation was completely out of control!"

"With Datong on the verge of complete collapse, the imperial court had no choice but to swiftly replace its officials! Cai Tianyou was appointed as the new governor, and Gui Yong as the commander-in-chief!"

Zhu Dijun picked up a red laser pointer and circled the names of Cai Tianyou and Gui Yong.

"The new officials, for once, showed some intelligence. Instead of a direct confrontation, Cai Tianyou and Gui Yong adopted an extremely insidious strategy of divide and conquer, luring their enemies into a trap. They set a trap, capturing Guo Jian, Liu Zhong, and more than thirty other core leaders of the mutiny, and then beheading them on the spot!"

Just as the live chat was about to flood the screen with "That was satisfying," Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly rose, like a resounding slap.

"You think the matter is over just because the ringleader has been executed? You're sorely mistaken!"

"The Ming Dynasty's border army system has long been corrupted into a complete mess by the corruption of civil officials and the exploitation by officers! These soldiers are utterly fearless!"

A grotesque portrait with a face full of scars suddenly appeared on the screen.

"After the ringleader Guo Jian was killed, Guo Jian's biological father, Guo Scarface, led the remaining followers in another rebellion! In their quest for revenge, they stormed the General's Mansion and even captured Gui Yong, the dignified General of Datong, of the Ming Dynasty!"

"The commander-in-chief has been captured by his own soldiers! The military prestige of this vital border town of the Ming Dynasty has been trampled into the mud and repeatedly urinated on by these rabble!"

The entire live stream room fell silent. Everyone, even those watching through their screens, could feel the utter despair brought on by the collapse of order.

Zhu Dijun took a deep breath and slammed the laser pointer in his hand heavily on the table.

"Finally, under immense military pressure and continuous internal appeasement from the imperial court, the widely publicized Datong Mutiny was barely quelled. But what good did it do?"

He stared coldly at the camera, his eyes filled with lifelessness.

"This mutiny completely tore away the last fig leaf of the Ming Dynasty's border defense system in the mid-to-late period. Military pay was scarce, corruption was rampant, and the conflict between generals and soldiers had become so acute that it was a fight to the death. The military strength of Datong, the core northern defense line of the Ming Dynasty, was severely weakened in this internal strife, and even became virtually non-existent at one point."

Zhu Dijun suddenly lowered his voice eerily, as if he were telling the final chapter of a horror story.

"Family members. The flogging at Zuoshun Gate by Jiajing Emperor broke the backbone of the civil official group. The Datong Mutiny, the incompetence of the civil officials and their attempt to force the emperor to abdicate, destroyed the empire's defenses."

"Right in this quagmire of the deadly struggle between imperial power and civil officials, and the constant mutiny of the border troops, an extremely terrifying foreign force is hiding on the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, keeping a close eye on this Forbidden City that is already leaking from all sides."