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 flooded in like a burst dam, completely obscuring the red light on the screen.

Faced with the chilling question posed by Zhu Dijun, viewers across the internet did not hesitate for a moment and unanimously came up with the same bloody answer.

"The common people! Who else could it be? It all fell on the heads of the poor, the working class!"

"The powerful and wealthy have a hundred ways to shift taxes onto the lower classes! The Ming Dynasty was a funnel that devoured people!"

["I was reading a Tomato novel called 'The Start by Exposing the Achievements of an Ancient Emperor' the other day. It mentioned that there were actually over a thousand types of taxes in ancient times! I was completely dumbfounded!"]

"Even in peacetime, there are thousands of taxes that squeeze every last drop of income. Now, with the Mongol invasion in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, military spending is skyrocketing. The miscellaneous taxes levied by these corrupt officials could directly cost the lives of ordinary people!"

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the podium, watching the frantically scrolling comments on the screen, a chilling smile curving his lips.

He grabbed a marker and made a very forceful dot on the whiteboard.

"My family is right! Thousands of taxes, layer upon layer of exploitation. Every copper coin embezzled by the warlords on the Ming front lines will eventually become a death knell levied on the common people!"

He abruptly changed the subject, his gaze sweeping across the camera like a razor's edge.

"But family members, because the Jiajing Emperor's foreign wars were disastrous and the people suffered terribly, you're putting all the blame for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's border defenses on the Jiajing Emperor alone. This is a complete distortion of the facts!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his fist on the table, making a deafening thud.

"In previous episodes discussing other Ming emperors, I already laid out the facts clearly! The root of the Ming army's rottenness began with the Three Yangs, Yu Qian, Yang Hong, and their ilk during the Zhengtong reign, who tacitly allowed the warlords to become like their own personal guards, and even openly murdered the emperor, thus orchestrating the Tumu Crisis!"

"It all started with that idiot Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youcheng, who replaced Zhu Yuanzhang's established 'Grain Payment System' with the infamous 'Discount System,' personally severing the supply lines of physical provisions to the border!"

"It all started during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Ming (Zhu Houzhao), when the Jiangnan civil official group engaged in rampant smuggling in Ningxia, provoked a rebellion among the border troops, killed the Prince of Ning, and caused Emperor Wuzong to drown!"

On the whiteboard, Zhu Dijun used red ink to connect several black pots from the previous dynasty into a huge net.

"This is a series of colossal pitfalls left by the previous dynasty! One after another, they all ended up in the hands of Jiajing, this young paperhanger! He sent Zhang Fujing to investigate the estates and used every means to raise money, all to cover up these messy accounts!"

In a parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat in the Fengtian Hall, listening to the retribution announced from the heavens, his old face terribly grim. He knew his descendant Zhu Dijun was right. No matter how incompetent Zhu Houcong was, he was still cleaning up the mess left by those useless Zhu Qiyu and Zhu Youcheng. The very foundation of the Ming Dynasty had long been hollowed out from within by civil officials and warlords.

On the sky, Zhu Dijun casually tossed the blackboard eraser down.

"Alright. We just need to be aware of the mess left by the previous dynasty. In order to raise money and implement new policies, Jiajing not only fought a bloody battle with the civil officials in the court, but also wielded the most cruel butcher's knife on another battlefield where no smoke of gunpowder could be seen!"

Four large characters were slammed onto the center of the public screen: "[Jiajing's Deposed Empress]!"

"Let's rewind to the eve of that nuclear-level Datong coup."

Zhu Dijun's fingers flew across the keyboard, and an aerial view of the Forbidden City suddenly appeared, with flames shooting into the sky from the palace on the east side.

"On the day of Xin Hai in the first month of the tenth year of Jiajing's reign! A terrible fire broke out in the eastern part of the Forbidden City, burning down thirty-five palaces! What was the official cause? It was said that a palace maid named Guo was drunk and started the fire, and Guo herself was burned to death on the spot."

Judy Jun approached the camera, her eyes filled with extreme mockery.

"Dead men tell no tales! But the secret investigation files afterward clearly state four words—'arson'! Someone dared to set fire to the Ming Dynasty's imperial palace, right next to the emperor's bedchamber! This is blatant political assassination and intimidation!"

The live stream chat exploded with comments.

Everyone's smart enough to understand that this fire was definitely not simple, given the political situation at the time.

Many Ming emperors were burned alive, from Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) to Emperor Jiajing (Zhu Houcong). It was a common occurrence for the Zhu family emperors to be burned alive; those who hadn't been burned alive were embarrassed to call themselves Ming emperors.

"This fire just died down not long ago."

Zhu Dijun's laser pointer swept across the screen.

In March of the same year, Censor Fu Hanchen submitted a memorial to the throne. He proposed an extremely crucial tax and labor reform suggestion—advocating for the unified calculation and collection of the poll tax and corvée labor of a prefecture or county!

"Family members, does this look familiar? This is the prototype of Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip Law during the Wanli era! Zhang Fujing's economic reforms, spearheaded by the cabinet and fueled by censors like Fu Hanchen, completely threatened the ultimate interests of all the powerful and wealthy classes in the Ming Dynasty!"

"The resistance at court was overwhelming, and warlords on the frontier were secretly colluding. Meanwhile, in the inner palace, the remaining old forces were also trying to use this turbulent situation to launch a final counterattack against the Jiajing Emperor!"

A portrait of an empress dressed in a ceremonial robe suddenly appeared on the big screen.

Empress Zhang, the successor to Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Dijun took a deep breath, his voice as cold as an icy wind.

"The thirteenth year of the Jiajing reign! That was the year the Second Datong Mutiny was at its most violent, and the court was forced to issue an edict of amnesty to the rebels! Before the mutiny broke out, the Jiajing Emperor, in a state of extreme rage and high-pressure political environment, did something ruthless that completely silenced the entire court!"

Three blood-red entries crashed down.

[The sixth day of the first lunar month]! [The eighth day of the first lunar month]! [The empress was abducted in a flash]!

"It only took two days! On the sixth day, Jiajing suddenly issued an edict to the Ministry of Rites, announcing that he was going to depose the Empress! He didn't give the court officials any chance to react or plead. On the eighth day, he directly announced that Consort De, née Fang, had been chosen as the new Empress!"

"What do you call this? This is called Operation Thunderous Decapitation! The entire Ming Dynasty officialdom is stunned. Yesterday she was the Empress, the mother of the nation, and today she's a prisoner in the cold palace!"

In a parallel Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao gripped his wine cup tightly, staring at the face of his maternal uncle's family reflected in the sky. This empress was none other than the daughter-in-law his own mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, had carefully chosen for Jiajing. That little bastard Jiajing was using the deposition of the empress to slap the face of his deceased maternal uncle!

"My family will definitely ask, why was he dismissed? The official reason given by Jiajing was extremely perfunctory." Zhu Dijun spread his hands and read out that cold historical record.

The official statement declared: "Empress Zhang is [frequently disrespectful and unruly], saying that despite long-standing favors, she has repeatedly failed to correct her ways and is even [unrepentant and defiant]. In simpler terms, this woman has a terrible temper and doesn't give me any face!"

Judy Jun let out a cold laugh that could blow the roof off.

"Trying to fool the world with such a ridiculous excuse? Jiajing is too lazy to even pretend anymore! Let's peel back this political onion and see what taboo Empress Zhang has violated!"

He drew three red lines heavily on the whiteboard.

"First layer! The fire incident! In the tenth year of Jiajing's reign, a man-made fire nearly killed Jiajing. But during the firefighting efforts, Empress Zhang acted extremely indifferently. Historical records indicate that she was grooming herself at the time and did not rush to his aid immediately! In the eyes of Jiajing, an emperor who was extremely insecure and suffered from severe paranoia, what difference was there between this and conspiring to murder the emperor?!"

"The second layer! Jealousy! The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty record a gossip story that Empress Zhang was jealous of Emperor Jiajing's favoritism towards other concubines, and even publicly humiliated the emperor. Under the feudal ethics that emphasized 'the virtues of empresses and concubines,' jealousy was a perfectly legitimate excuse to depose an empress!"

Zhu Dijun's eyes turned extremely fierce in that instant. He grabbed a red marker and wrote two names in the center of the whiteboard that were enough to exterminate nine generations of their families.

Zhang Yanling! Zhang Heling!

"The third layer! The deepest and most fatal reason—[interference in politics]!"

"Family members, do you remember what I mentioned earlier? In the ninth year of the Jiajing reign, Zhang Fujing wielded the butcher's knife on behalf of the emperor, imprisoning Zhang Yanling and Zhang Heling, the two maternal uncles of the Zhengde Emperor, who were among the highest-ranking imperial relatives of the Ming Dynasty, on charges of treason?!"

"This Empress Zhang is the Zhang family's last trump card in the harem! Relying on her status as Empress, she went to Emperor Jiajing and cried and made a scene, trying to plead for her two uncles who were about to lose their heads!"

boom!

Upon hearing these words, all the officials of the Ming Dynasty across countless worlds gasped in shock.

In a parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang abruptly stood up, his eyes flashing with murderous intent: "The empress dowager interfering in politics, pleading for a death row inmate for treason? This woman is simply courting death! Our Ming Dynasty's ancestral precepts forbid the empress dowager from interfering in politics; those who violate this rule will be executed!"

Inside the live broadcast room, Zhu Dijun gripped the podium tightly with both hands, looking down directly at the camera.

"Jiajing is currently implementing new policies in the previous dynasty, and is purging these privileged relatives of the emperor who exploit the people. This is a crucial moment to make an example of them. How dare you, a mere woman in the harem, use your private life in the bedroom to challenge the ultimate bottom line of imperial power?!"

"The way Jiajing looked at Empress Zhang at that time was absolutely no different from looking at a dead person!"

"Don't forget, Empress Dowager Zhang used to give Empress Dowager Jiang, Jiajing's biological mother, no small amount of hardship. And Jiajing hasn't forgotten how his cousin Zhu Houzhao was killed by the Zhang family!"

The portrait of Empress Zhang on the screen instantly lost all its luster and was roughly swept into a dark and narrow prison cell in the cold palace.

"The Empress was deposed in a swift and merciless manner. This was not only Jiajing's complete annihilation of the Zhang family, but also a terrifying roar against all the powerful officials of the previous dynasty who attempted to obstruct the new policies—whoever dares to stand in my way, even the Empress with whom I share the same bed, I will depose without hesitation!"

Zhu Dijun lowered his voice, each word carrying an unyielding chill.

"Empress Zhang's end was extremely tragic. She was deposed and thrown into a separate palace, where she was kept in darkness for two whole years. In the fifteenth year of the Jiajing reign, she breathed her last in extreme fear and depression."

"Was Jiajing satisfied after the woman died? No! Jiajing immediately ordered her to be buried hastily according to the rites for an ordinary concubine, completely stripping her of her title as Empress!"

"Five years later, in the eighteenth year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign, whether it was because the emperor remembered their past relationship or to appease the court, he reluctantly restored her title of 'Empress Dowager.' However, he viciously bestowed upon this former wife a posthumous title that she could never escape—'Mourning Spirit'!"

Four red characters flashed on the public screen.

"Fear is called mourning when it comes to the place, and chaos without harm is called spirit! These are all derogatory terms! Jiajing engraved all his hatred for the entire Zhang family, his maternal relatives, on this cold, lifeless memorial tablet!"

Viewers in the modern live broadcast room felt a chill run down their spines. Jiajing's ruthless and merciless methods of turning on people and eliminating them made everyone realize the most terrifying side of imperial power.

But is it Jiajing's fault?

He can't be entirely blamed. Not only is the empress herself suspected of regicide, but she also failed to refute the plea of ​​Empress Dowager Zhang's brother, who was interfering in court affairs. He was already courting death!

If Emperor Jiajing had not killed Empress Zhang, he would have repeated the mistakes of his uncle Zhu Youcheng, grandfather Zhu Jianshen, and great-grandfather Zhu Qizhen.

There is no right or wrong, only life and death!