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

The topographical map of Annam on the large screen looked extremely eerie under the red light.

Zhu Dijun grabbed a piece of chalk and drew a big X on the map. The screeching sound made the viewers in the live stream goosebumps.

"Family members, we just left you in suspense: when the Ming Dynasty attacked Annam, did they achieve a crushing victory or a complete rout?"

A chilling, extremely mocking smile curled at the corner of Zhu Dijun's mouth.

"I'm telling you, none of that is true! This battle was fought in a way that left everyone speechless and in a surreal fashion!"

Three large, blood-red characters slammed onto the public chat: "【No real fight】!"

A barrage of question marks immediately filled the screen.

"That's right! Not a single arrow was fired, not a single sword strike!" Judy Jun slammed his hand on the blackboard, sending chalk dust flying.

"Let's rewind the timeline a little. How did this mess in Annam come to light in the fifteenth year of the Jiajing reign?"

Two names appeared on the screen—【Mo Dengyong】 and 【Li Ning】.

"Annam has not paid tribute for twenty years, actually because the country has changed hands! The powerful minister Mạc Đăng Dung killed the legitimate King of Annam and usurped the throne to establish the Mạc Dynasty! This old scoundrel was guilty and kept it a secret from the Ming court. But he didn't expect that Lê Ninh, a descendant of the legitimate Lê clan, was so resilient that he went directly to the Ming capital, kneeling outside the Forbidden City and pleading with the emperor with tears streaming down his face!"

Zhu Dijun moved closer to the camera, his eyes as sharp as a searchlight.

"Family members, who is Jiajing? He is a fanatic who rose to power and established the legitimacy of his rule through the extremely strict feudal rites of the 'Great Rites Controversy'! The Ming Dynasty is a celestial empire, and you, a subject of a vassal state, dare to murder the emperor and usurp the throne, and even dare to hide it from me?!"

"This is a blatant slap in the face to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty! This is a blatant trampling of the Ming Dynasty's bottom line regarding its tributary system!"

"Jiajing Emperor flew into a rage on the spot and immediately slammed his fist on the court: 'Strike! Twist Mo Dengyong's head off for me!'"

The Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the sky and let out a heavy, cold snort:

"Killing the emperor and usurping power is a capital offense! Zhu Houcong, in this matter, does show some of the backbone of our Great Ming Emperor. These mere Annamese barbarians should be pacified outright!"

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's speech suddenly quickened. "The emperor wanted to fight, and the commander-in-chief specifically requested Mao Bowen. But what was Mao Bowen doing at the time? He was at home observing mourning for his father! His father had just died, and according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, he had to stay at home for three years."

A phantom image of a memorial unfolds on the screen.

Mao Bowen submitted a memorial: "Your Majesty, my father has just passed away. I wish to fulfill my filial duty and request to observe the mourning period before departing. This is equivalent to 'final mourning.' Jiajing Emperor's reply: 'Not permitted!'"

"The censor He Weibai could no longer stand by and submitted a memorial pleading for Mao Bowen. Jiajing Emperor: Forbidden!"

"Mao Bowen got anxious and simply pretended to be sick and refused to leave the house, stubbornly persisting until the mourning period was over."

Zhu Dijun grabbed a red marker and drew two huge circles over the words "not allowed".

"Family members, did you see that? This is called 'reinstating someone who has been imprisoned for mourning'! In Jiajing's eyes, what does your father's death matter? The country needs to fight a war, and I need to establish my authority. Even if you're carrying a coffin, you have to go to the front lines and be my commander!"

The live stream chat exploded instantly.

"This boss is unbelievable! He forces employees to work overtime even when they have family funerals!"

[Jiajing Emperor: Don't give me any nonsense about etiquette; my words are the ultimate etiquette!]

"Mao Bowen was so pitiful; he was forced to clean up this transnational mess."

"The worst is yet to come!"

Judy Jun turned around abruptly.

"Although Emperor Jiajing forcefully pushed through the southern expedition, the Ming court at the time almost tore itself apart because of it!"

A map of the Ming Dynasty unfolds on the screen, with two glaring red dots lit up in the south and north.

"In the north, the Mongol Khan Altan Khan's cavalry are roaming outside the walls every day; in the south, a large army is about to embark on a long march to the tropical rainforest to attack Annam! Vice Minister of War Pan Zhen and Vice Minister of Revenue Tang Zhou have directly stood up to remonstrate with their lives!"

"In his memorial, Pan Zhen listed the extremely famous 'Seven Don'ts'! They went straight to the heart of the matter: the country is dirt poor, the landmines in the north haven't even been cleared yet, and you're going to stir up trouble in the south? Back then, Emperor Yongle's campaign against Jiaozhi (Vietnam) mired the Ming Dynasty in a quagmire for twenty years, nearly bankrupting the treasury. Has Your Majesty forgotten the lessons of your ancestors?!"

The Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di sat upright in the Fengtian Hall. Upon hearing the words "the quagmire of Jiaozhi," his eye twitched violently. It was indeed the sore spot of his life. Conquering it was easy, but holding it was extremely difficult. Annam was a bottomless pit.

"These words are extremely clear-headed and fully reflect the objective situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the blackboard eraser.

"But would Jiajing listen? He felt that Pan Zhen was emboldening the barbarians and diminishing the emperor's prestige! In an extremely tyrannical move, Jiajing dismissed Pan Zhen, the Vice Minister of War, from his post and sent him back to his hometown!"

"At this moment, Xia Yan, the Minister of Rites, stepped forward to appease the Emperor: Annam has committed treason and must be punished with military force! This completely sealed the fate of the southern expedition!"

Zhu Dijun gripped the podium tightly with both hands, staring intently at the camera.

"In the seventeenth year of the Jiajing reign (1548), Mao Bowen officially assumed the position of Minister of War and concurrently Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, fully in charge of the southern expedition. He arrived in Guangdong and Guangxi with an imperial edict. But Mao Bowen was an extremely intelligent and pragmatic man!"

"He knows all too well what kind of trash those border troops under the Ming Dynasty are! They can't even control a small group of Tartars in the north, let alone send them to fight mountain warfare in the poisonous rainforests of the south? That's just handing their lives over to the Annamese! If a full-scale war really breaks out, the Ming Dynasty's leaky treasury will definitely collapse instantly!"

Eight large, gold-plated characters appeared on the screen: "With troops pressing in, psychological warfare is the best strategy!"

"Mao Bowen employed an extremely rare and ultimate all-in intimidation tactic in the history of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers flew across the keyboard, and dense military mobilization data poured onto the screen like a waterfall.

"He frantically mobilized border troops from Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan, cobbling together an army of 250,000! He arrogantly claimed to the outside world that he had 500,000! The entire army was stationed on the Annam border, with banners obscuring the sun and war drums shaking the heavens!"

"Immediately afterwards, Mao Bowen wrote an extremely sharp denunciation and sent it directly to Mo Dengyong's desk. The denunciation used both carrot and stick tactics: You traitor, the Ming army has 500,000 troops right at the border. If you surrender now and hand over the land and household registration books, the Ming Dynasty will spare your life; if you dare to resist, the Heavenly army will pass through and destroy everything!"

In the live stream, the scrolling comments were so fast that the words were almost impossible to read.

"Holy crap, this is a false alarm!"

["Mao Bowen: My trump card is terrible, but I dare to go all in. Do you dare to follow?"] ["Annam is a small country after all. They've never seen anything like this before. They must be terrified!"]

Judy Jun let out a wild laugh.

"Family members, the Annamese are absolutely terrified!"

The screen suddenly switched images. It was the nineteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1540), at Zhennanguan (now Youyiguan).

The sky was overcast, and a fierce wind whipped the Ming Dynasty's dragon flag. Below the pass, a spectacular sight unfolded, leaving all the Ming officials speechless: a breathtaking display of kneeling acrobatics.

"Mak Dang Dung, the powerful minister of Annam and the founding emperor of the Mak Dynasty, completely collapsed under the psychological weight of the Ming Dynasty's supposedly massive army of 500,000!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the pointer and pointed it sharply at the old man kneeling on the ground in the picture.

"He was accompanied by forty-two followers, his hands bound with rope, and he dared not even wear shoes! Barefoot, like a stray dog, he crawled forward on his knees before Zhennan Pass, all the way to the feet of the Ming envoy!"

"He handed over a complete map of Annam's land and population! He utterly surrendered! He completely begged for mercy!"

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, watched this scene from Weiyang Palace, slapping his thigh heavily and exclaiming with delight: "Excellent! To subdue the enemy without fighting is the best strategy in warfare! Although Mao Bowen may not be particularly skilled in military tactics, his ability to manipulate the hearts and minds of the barbarians is unparalleled!"

"The Ming Dynasty has won big!"

Judy Jun drew a huge checkmark on the whiteboard.

"Without firing a single shot or spending enormous sums on a war of attrition, Annam's territory was directly recovered. The Mo Dynasty was nominally downgraded to a military governorate under the Ming Dynasty, and Annam effectively became part of the Ming Dynasty's territory!"

When the news reached the capital, the Jiajing Emperor was overjoyed. He felt he had surpassed even Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, becoming a truly great emperor for all time!

A portrait of an emperor with a ruddy complexion appeared on the screen.

"To honor Mao Bowen, Emperor Jiajing personally wrote a highly praised imperial poem entitled 'Sending Off Mao Bowen'!"

Judy cleared her throat, a strange sense of humor in her eyes.

"The general marches south with unparalleled courage, a dagger with autumn water and goose feathers at his waist. The wind blows the drums, shaking mountains and rivers; lightning flashes, banners soar high above the sun and moon."

He paused for a moment, then circled the last two sentences on the screen with a red pen.

"The celestial unicorn has its own lineage; how can ants in their burrows escape? When the Imperial Attendant returns to peace, I will remove my battle robes with you!"

"Holy crap, Emperor Jiajing's poems are pretty inspiring!"

"That was a perfect display of power! I and the gentleman have taken off our battle robes, and they're pulled up to the maximum!"

"Has the Ming Dynasty finally gotten its revenge?"

As Zhu Dijun listened to the audience's praise, the smile on his face vanished instantly. He dropped the chalk, took a step back, and half of his body disappeared into the shadows of the studio.

"Family members. Annam's extreme maneuvering and this domineering imperial poem are extremely rare highlights for this corrupt empire in the mid-Ming Dynasty."