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

"Family members, in the last chapter I brought up Ma Fang so that everyone could see what the real killing god of the Ming Dynasty was like."

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the whiteboard, quickly drawing a backward arrow of time with a black marker in his hand.

"But our timeline can't be messed up. In the fourth year of the Jiajing reign, Ma Fang, the future Ming Dynasty's version of Wei Qing who would later dominate the northern frontier, was only seven years old at the time! He would have to wait three more years before being captured by the Mongols and enslaved. The one who truly took over the Ming Dynasty's northwestern defense line and shouldered the life-or-death crisis for the eighteen-year-old Jiajing was still the civil official war god we just mentioned—Wang Xian!"

Zhu Dijun suddenly turned around and slammed a yellowed, tattered memorial onto the center of the screen.

"We just mentioned that Jiajing wanted to rejuvenate the army, but do you know what kind of powder keg the northern border of the Ming Dynasty was in the fourth year of Jiajing's reign, a place on the verge of exploding?!"

On the screen, scarlet text jumped line by line.

"Externally! Prince Bodi and Altan Khan's brother Jinang are leading tens of thousands of Mongol troops, patrolling frantically outside the Great Wall, sharpening their swords! Internally! The aftershocks of the Datong Five Forts Mutiny are still reverberating, and the Xuanfu and Datong regions have been turned into a living hell due to the massive famine that continued from the end of the Zhengde era!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the pointer and lashed it heavily across the few words in the memorial:

"The Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming clearly state—'Two coins for a dou of rice!' Grain prices had skyrocketed! Li Duo, the then governor of Xuanfu, was so anxious that he rushed to the court to report the situation. Four words exposed the true state of the Ming Dynasty's border defenses: 'The granaries are empty!' They couldn't even pay the monthly rations to the border guards! The soldiers stationed at the front lines were dying of hunger in droves, and only a thousand men were still able to breathe and wield their swords!"

The live stream chat was instantly flooded with question marks.

"A defensive line of tens of thousands, reduced to a mere thousand from starvation? What kind of defense is that?!"

"Just open the city gates and let the Mongols in! This is even worse than the Datong Mutiny!"

"No money, no food, the soldiers are about to rebel, and the enemy is about to enter the pass."

Judy Jun approached the camera, her eyes cold.

"This was the hellish battlefield that the eighteen-year-old Jiajing faced every day when he opened his eyes. How to break free? Arrest corrupt officials? Sacrifice a few generals to the heavens?"

He let out a cold, extremely mocking laugh.

"Killing won't solve the problem of hunger! The Great Rites Controversy has already turned the court into a bloodbath; if we were to launch a massive purge on the front lines now, the northern border of the Ming Dynasty would be completely trampled by the Mongol cavalry!"

Zhu Dijun's finger heavily wrote the two large characters "blood transfusion" on the whiteboard.

"Jiajing was an extremely pragmatic dictator! He knew why the soldiers in the five forts of Datong rebelled—because they were really starving to death! In the first month of the lunar calendar, the court held an emergency meeting to address the mess in Datong. The Minister of Revenue was so anxious that his hair turned white, and finally, he gritted his teeth and came up with a life-saving plan."

A golden map of silver transport routes suddenly unfolded on the screen.

"A full 60,000 taels of silver were forcibly extracted from the already depleted imperial treasury! Of these, 40,000 taels were directly allocated as supplementary annual silver to the border troops in the first year of the Jiajing reign! Jiajing immediately issued an edict, dispatching Sun Yi, the principal of the Ministry of Revenue, to personally escort this huge sum of money, sending it to the border via the 800-li express courier service!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his fist on the table, making a loud bang.

"This isn't anti-corruption; this is using real money to buy the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the border! Once the money reached the local areas, Jiajing Emperor strictly ordered local officials to buy grain within a specified time to fill the empty military granaries! This powerful injection of funds effectively suppressed the mutinies that were about to erupt again in Datong and Xuanfu!"

The era of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the West Garden Abode, wisps of smoke curled upwards.

Zhu Houcong, in his early twenties, sat cross-legged, looking at the sky with a satisfied, cold smile on his lips.

Breaking the bones of civil officials requires a board, while appeasing the hungry wolves of soldiers requires money. Killing is the means, but giving money is the fundamental way to maintain stability. This later generation has seen through his imperial mind very well.

Inside the live stream, Zhu Dijun's speaking speed increased again, like a speeding chariot.

"The money has been distributed, and the mutiny has been suppressed. But this is only a temporary expedient. The Mongols are still watching from the outside. The Ming Dynasty needs a strong-willed commander who can turn this money into fighting power and cut off Jinang's head!"

He suddenly grabbed a red pen and drew a huge, phantom image of an official seal on the whiteboard—[Commander-in-Chief of the Three Border Regions]!

"In the fourth year of the Jiajing reign, the imperial court recommended candidates for the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Three Border Regions. The Ministry of Personnel and the Grand Secretariat offered two names: Deng Zhang, and Wang Xian, who was retired and living at home. If you were in this position, who would you choose?"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly against the edge of the podium, a terrifying glint in his eyes.

"The officials and censors in the imperial court jumped out like madmen to impeach Wang Xian! They listed a whole bunch of nonsensical charges, saying that he was arrogant, that he had offended the upright officials, that his reputation was controversial, and resolutely opposed Wang Xian's rise to power!"

Why do censors hate Wang Xian so much?

An extremely complex chart of factions within the Ming Dynasty court appeared on the screen, while Wang Xian's name stood alone, isolated from all the other factions.

"Because Wang Xian was a truly 'lone minister'! He didn't form cliques! He didn't give gifts to the Grand Secretary! He even ignored Zhang Cong and Gui E, the newly rich who rose to power through the Great Rites Controversy! In the eyes of these factional civil officials, not taking sides was the greatest original sin!"

In the background sound effects, a suffocating heartbeat could be heard.

"Faced with the frenzied barking of the court officials, the eighteen-year-old Jiajing Emperor sat on the dragon throne without even blinking."

The large screen instantly plunged into absolute darkness.

Four lines of dazzling gold lettering, like thunderbolts cleaving through the darkness, were firmly imprinted on everyone's retina.

The Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming states: "[The Emperor ultimately adopted the constitution]!"

"The Emperor has actually adopted the constitution!"

Judy Jun roared at the top of her lungs.

"Four words! Absolute crushing power of the imperial court over the civil service! You officials object? I'll use it anyway! You say it's controversial? I'll take this damn sharp knife that won't listen to you!"

In modern live streaming rooms, the chat was completely ignited by these four words!

"So powerful! The Emperor actually uses the law! Those four words are so damn satisfying!"

[Jiajing Emperor: The people you oppose are the people I need most. As long as he can kill the Mongols, I dare to give him military power!]

"This is the true way to govern people! By employing loyal ministers, who can only rely on imperial power, military power is firmly held!"

Zhu Dijun threw away the red pen, picked up a bottle of water, unscrewed it, and took a big gulp.

"Family members, Emperor Jiajing's eye for talent is appalling! Wang Xian, upon assuming the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Three Border Regions, not only did not betray Jiajing's trust, but also delivered an astonishing performance!"

The screen immediately displayed Wang Xian's actions after taking office.

"The first step was to improve logistics! Wang Xian acted swiftly and decisively, immediately reorganizing the border garrisons and laying off redundant officials who only took money and did no work! To appease the local people, he even submitted a memorial to Jiajing, demanding that the eunuchs in Shaanxi stop their harassing practice of forcibly weaving velvet! He even dared to cut off the eunuchs' profits! When the Nine Temples were completed, he also took the opportunity to submit a memorial to Jiajing requesting that he pardon a group of officials who had been convicted in the Great Rites Controversy!"

Zhu Dijun clapped his hands repeatedly, his face full of admiration.

"What do you call that? That's the political skill of a top-tier pragmatist! He doesn't form factions, but he knows how to win over the hearts of the people for the emperor at the right time, stabilizing the political landscape of the entire Northwest!"

Boom!

The sound of war drums exploded in the live broadcast room!

"The second step, and the most crucial one—kill to establish authority!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed a tiger tally model, a symbol of military power, and slammed it hard on the table.

"In the fourth year of the Jiajing reign, tens of thousands of Mongol cavalry from the Jinang tribe acted arrogantly and crossed the border, attempting to plunder the Ming Dynasty while its interior was vulnerable! Wang Xian didn't waste words with them and directly mobilized border troops from all directions to meet the enemy at Shijiudun!"

A reconstruction of an ancient battlefield, filled with bloodshed, dominated the entire screen.

"Five days! Four victories!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers tapped frantically on the screen.

"Within just five days, the Ming army, under Wang Xian's command, swept through the main force of Jinang like tigers descending the mountain, breaking through four times in succession! The heads of more than three hundred elite Mongol soldiers were neatly stacked under the Ming border walls! Jinang was routed, fleeing back to the desert in disarray!"

Viewers across the internet were thrilled and their blood was boiling.

The remnants of the army, who were almost rebellious due to lack of food just a moment ago, were transformed into a fierce and invincible army in the hands of this loyal minister, capable of crushing the main Mongol forces!

"The battle report reached the capital! The eighteen-year-old Jiajing Emperor laughed heartily in his study at the Western Garden!"

Zhu Dijun crossed his arms, his eyes filled with arrogance. "Didn't these civil officials say Wang Xian was incompetent? Didn't they say the Ming Dynasty's border defenses were utterly rotten?! The man I personally promoted won four battles in five days! I'll just slap you bunch of good-for-nothings across the face with Ji Nang's head!"

On the big screen, a golden, shimmering imperial edict descended from the sky.

"Jiajing showed no mercy, immediately bestowing upon Wang Xian the title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince! He also granted his wife and children special privileges! The Emperor used this extreme favor to tell all the officials in the land: as long as you are willing to serve the Ming Dynasty, as long as you can bring back the heads of foreign enemies, I can give you the ultimate honor that all the civil and military officials in the court combined could not match!"

The myriad realms and timelines, the Great Han Dynasty's Weiyang Palace.

Liu Che looked at the "four victories in five days" result displayed on the sky and nodded in satisfaction.

"A loyal minister is easy to use, free from all burdens, and only responsible to the imperial power. This young emperor of later generations uses methods that are strikingly similar to how I used Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. As long as the blade is sharp enough, what is there to fear from the criticism of the ministers?"

Inside the live stream, Zhu Dijun watched as the barrage of comments like "Wang Xian is awesome" and "Taoist priest is invincible" appeared, and a strange smile crept onto his lips.

He picked up the blackboard eraser and, extremely slowly, wiped away all the records on the whiteboard about "great victory" and "distributing money." Only Wang Xian's lonely name remained, along with the dark corner in the upper right corner representing the cabinet and the censors.

"Family members, the border troubles in the Northwest have been temporarily quelled by Wang Xian's sword, and the mess caused by the border troop mutiny has been forcibly plugged with 60,000 taels of Taicang silver."

Zhu Dijun lowered his voice, and that chilling sense of dissection returned.

"But do you think that the hot-tempered eighteen-year-old dictator Jiajing would just let it go like that?"

The light on the screen gradually dimmed, turning into a deathly gray.

"His use of a lone minister at the front means he also needs a mad dog in the court to tear those old-guard civil officials to shreds. Although the Great Rites Controversy resulted in flogging in court and Wang Xian was appointed as the Grand Coordinator of the Three Borders, the civil officials' counterattack followed at the same time!"

A figure with a sinister face, dressed in a scarlet official robe, slowly appeared in the center of the screen.