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

In the modern live streaming room, the barrage of comments has completely gone crazy.

Many netizens never imagined that the most direct trigger for the famous Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to flee the Forbidden City was actually being forced out by the vicious rumors fabricated by the civil official group! All the popular science videos they had seen before said that he was playful, lustful, and longed for the scenery beyond the Great Wall.

At this moment, the anger over the exposed lies is spreading wildly online.

"These civil officials are even resorting to spreading rumors about the royal bloodline in their quest for power. I've truly never seen anything like it!"

"Damn the civil service! Damn the Manchu remnants! They've been making fools of me for centuries!"

"I knew it! Why was an emperor running away when he was perfectly fine in the palace? Turns out, if he hadn't left, he wouldn't have been able to protect his wife and children!"

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the large screen, coldly watching the screen full of angry curses, and casually slapped a stack of printed historical materials on the table.

"Family members, are these vicious rumors merely meant to smear the child in Madam Ma's womb? Of course not! When these people with pens compile history in later generations, they will even nail Ma Ang, the maternal relative who took the blame for the emperor, to the pillar of historical shame!"

The large screen lit up instantly, and a photocopy of a document full of traditional Chinese characters was projected heavily in the center.

"Everyone, please take a close look at this 'Biography of Empresses and Consorts' in the History of Ming, compiled during the Qing Dynasty!"

Judy Jun frantically drew red circles on the document with her laser pointer, her sarcasm practically overflowing. "This record is a textbook example of smear campaigning; the contradictions are outrageous!"

Zhu Dijun read out the four core charges one by one.

"First, her identity was fabricated! Historical records state that Lady Ma was already married to a commander named Bi Chun and was pregnant. It was Jiang Bin who recommended her to Zhu Houzhao to curry favor, and Zhu Houzhao forcibly took the pregnant woman into his Leopard Chamber!"

"Secondly, he forcibly took his younger siblings! After Ma Ang gained favor, his entire family was promoted and became wealthy. Then one day, Zhu Houzhao went to Ma Ang's house for drinks and took a liking to Ma Ang's beloved concubine, Du, and tried to force himself on her. Ma Ang refused!"

"Third, he terrified the imperial relatives! Historical records state that Emperor Wuzong was furious, smashed his cup, and stormed off. Ma Ang was utterly terrified. He not only sent Lady Du to the palace, but also four other stunningly beautiful women, and then resigned and fled back to his hometown!"

"Fourth, she started a affair and then abandoned it! As a result, Lady Ma fell out of favor and remained a favored concubine in the Leopard Chamber for the rest of her life, never even achieving the title of a proper imperial concubine. In the end, she died with no way to prove her innocence!"

Throughout countless worlds and dynasties, emperors of all ages frowned as they looked at the four charges against them displayed on the celestial screen.

The era of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne, glanced at it once, and then let out a cold laugh with disgust on his face.

"Did the person who wrote this history book think everyone in the world was a brainless idiot?"

Old Zhu slammed the Emperor's Sword to the ground, the sound like muffled thunder.

"Stealing a pregnant wife and a subordinate's concubine—this is clearly the despicable act of Zhu Wen, that traitorous minister during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period! These lackeys of the Qing Dynasty who compiled history can't even fabricate a lie; they're just directly copying the filth of their predecessors and throwing it on the heads of our future generations!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun slammed his gavel, completely tearing away the disguise.

"Have you all figured it out, family members? This tactic is incredibly crude! Anyone with a brain knows that even a mountain bandit king would be doomed if he dared to touch one of his men's women!"

"Moreover, what stage is Zhu Houzhao in at this time? He is frantically consolidating military power. He holds the Eastern Palace and the Western Office in his hands, and he still relies on Ma Ang, the Right Vice-Commander-in-Chief, to control 150,000 elite border troops in the Five Military Commands!"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly against the table, sternly questioning the camera:

"In this desperate situation where there's a struggle for military power and the constant threat of being killed by civil officials, would Zhu Houzhao really do something as foolish as seizing the concubine of one of his core generals? If he did, those military leaders wielding swords would chop him into mincemeat the very next day! He wouldn't even live to see the fifteenth year of Zhengde's reign!"

The live stream chat was immediately flooded with comments echoing the sentiment: "Only an idiot would steal a subordinate's wife during the early stages of a business."

"There's no record of what happened after Ma's pregnancy in official history, nor is there any explanation of how Ma Ang ultimately left the scene." Zhu Dijun's eyes darkened completely, his voice low and icy.

"What does this abrupt disappearance signify? It's not hard to imagine that after Zhu Houzhao's death, the brother and sister must have encountered an unimaginable accident!"

"They were brutally murdered in the ruthless purge by the civil service, then falsely accused of all sorts of debauchery. Ma's descendants were completely erased, and Ma Ang's achievements in commanding the border troops were completely wiped out! The civil service and the Manchu Qing dynasty were completely aligned in this regard. Out of a desire to maintain their so-called 'legitimacy,' they were all too adept at this dirty work of covering up the truth!"

The entire internet was in uproar, and a deep sense of powerlessness and sorrow spread through the hearts of all viewers.

Zhu Dijun gave no one a chance to breathe, and the timeline on the big screen suddenly jumped!

[August, the twelfth year of the Zhengde reign!]

A detailed map of northern China unfolds on the screen, and a blood-red escape route is instantly illuminated.

"No matter how much the civil service group tried to stop him, Zhu Houzhao, cornered, finally laid his cards on the table!"

"The first day of the eighth lunar month, Jia Chen day, late at night!"

A heavy, phantom city gate crashed down.

"Zhu Houzhao, accompanied only by Lady Ma and a few trusted attendants and Imperial Guards, abandoned even the emperor's regalia, disguised himself, and forced his way out of Desheng Gate, heading straight for Changping!"

"The next morning, the court officials discovered that the emperor had fled, and the entire court was in an uproar. The Grand Secretaries and Censors were frantic, sending countless memorials after Zhu Houzhao, and even dispatching riders on horseback to intercept him, attempting to forcibly drag the emperor back to the Forbidden City!"

"But Zhu Houzhao was determined this time, and he threw all the memorials urging him to return into the fire and burned them to ashes!"

The red line continues to extend on the map until it encounters a majestic pass—Juyong Pass!

In mid-to-late August, Zhu Houzhao's imperial carriage arrived at the last fortress before he left the pass. However, the Ming Dynasty's civil officials' control over military power was on full display at this moment!

Zhu Dijun wrote three words heavily on the whiteboard: 【Zhang Qin】.

"Zhang Qin, the Imperial Censor in Charge of Passages! A mere seventh-rank civil official! Upon learning that the Emperor was about to cross the Great Wall to Xuanfu, he immediately ordered the Juyong Pass gates closed! He effectively blocked the Ming Dynasty emperor from entering his own Great Wall pass!"

"Can you believe it? The emperor can't even leave his own gate! Zhang Qin's reasoning is all high-sounding—anyone who opens the border without the cabinet's decree will be executed! He's risking his life to buy time for the civil service, forcing the emperor to back down!"

The Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, was so angry that he laughed and kicked over the bronze cauldron at his feet.

"This is utterly ridiculous! If I encountered such an ignorant seventh-rank official, I would immediately order the Imperial Guards to hang his head on the city wall as a chamber pot! The emperor of the Ming Dynasty is behaving like a prisoner!"

"Zhu Houzhao did not dare to kill Zhang Qin outright."

Zhu Dijun's tone carried a hint of sorrow.

"Killing the civil officials would be a complete overturning of the table, and the nobles in the capital would immediately have a legitimate reason to rebel. He can only camp outside the pass, endure the humiliation, and patiently wait for the right opportunity like a hunter."

The timeline jumps to late August.

"Finally, taking advantage of the moment when Zhang Qin, that stubborn old man, was away on an inspection tour outside Juyong Pass, Zhu Houzhao immediately ordered his trusted troops from the Western Office to forcibly take control of the city gates and leave directly through the pass!"

"Not only did Zhu Houzhao emerge from the pass, but he also pulled off an extremely ruthless maneuver!"

The name of the eunuch, Gu Dayong, appeared on the big screen.

"He ordered Gu Dayong, one of the Eight Tigers, to lead a large force to take over the defense of Juyong Pass and completely seal off the gate! The imperial edict was extremely domineering: Without my written order, whether it is a Grand Secretary or a military officer of the Five Armies Commandery, anyone who dares to step out of Juyong Pass will be killed on the spot! From this moment on, Zhu Houzhao used physical means to completely sever the control of the civil service group over him!"

Accompanied by the powerful sound of the trombone, the red dot on the map pierced the heart of Xuanfu.

[September of the twelfth year of Zhengde's reign]!

"Upon arriving in Xuanfu, Zhu Houzhao's first act was to order the construction of his own headquarters—the Zhenguo Mansion!"

"He not only transported all the firearms, money, and provisions accumulated in the Leopard House, but he even openly referred to Xuanfu as 'home' in the imperial edict! This action declared to the whole world that he had no intention of ever returning to the Forbidden City, a place rife with spies, conspiracies, and bloodshed!"

Zhu Dijun turned around and pointed to a photocopy of the "Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong of Ming".

"When the emperor arrived in Xuanfu, 150,000 troops were already assembled at the border, about to face the main Mongol force. And look at how the Veritable Records describe the daily life of this commander-in-chief!"

A red marker tightly encloses a line of text: "[Daily patrols of the streets, drinking and revelry, arbitrarily entering private residences.]"

The live stream room was completely silent.

"Everyone."

Zhu Dijun put down the laser pointer, looked directly into the camera, and suddenly uttered an extremely famous slogan that resonated throughout modern history.

"Use your brains and think about it. What famous quote did the 101st Marshal, who fought in the three major battles, say?"

Nine large, blood-red characters suddenly filled the entire screen!

"Strict military discipline is essential in large-scale operations!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the whiteboard, the sound like a thunderclap.

"150,000 fierce border soldiers, who have spent years licking blood from the frontier, have gathered in Xuanfu! Instead of suppressing the entire army and discussing supplies and military intelligence, the commander-in-chief is leading the way by drinking heavily in the streets every day and harassing civilians by breaking into their homes?!"

"If that's really the case, these 150,000 men won't even need the Mongols to attack; they'll mutini and destroy the central command tent within three days!"

"As we've analyzed before, the civil officials in the court have long colluded with the Mongol Tatars to repeatedly raid the border. Now, the Ming Empire's last and most elite military force is all bet on Xuanfu, this powder keg! For Zhu Houzhao to slack off at this critical juncture by going to drink and carouse? This is an absurd accusation the civil officials are fabricating against the emperor to cover up their smuggling and treason on the border!"

The screen dimmed instantly, leaving only a map showing the entire northern territory of the Ming Dynasty.

"The emperor has escaped his cage and now commands an army of 150,000. The tension on the border is at its peak. Dayan Khan's main force has long been informed by the traitor and is sharpening its knives outside the Great Wall."

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly plummeted to freezing point.

"Since history books are full of absurd lies, then what about this young emperor who hid in the Zhenguo Mansion and always acted unpredictably? At the most crucial moment when the Tatar cavalry was pressing in..."

"What kind of bloody massacre is he plotting?"