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

"Family members, don't you think the Ming Dynasty has won this round to the point of exhaustion? Don't you think that poem composed by Emperor Jiajing is practically a standard feature of any emperor throughout history?"

Standing in front of the large screen, listening to the exclamations and jubilant comments in the live stream, Zhu Dijun's lips curled into an extremely eerie, cold smile. He grabbed the blackboard eraser and roughly wiped the map of Annam and the domineering imperial poem off the whiteboard.

"Showing off might feel good for a moment, but it all depends on luck!" Judy Jun's hands gripped the podium tightly, his eyes appearing extremely cold under the red light.

"Mao Bowen used a fake army of 500,000 to exert maximum pressure, frightening the powerful Annamese minister Mo Dengyong to his knees, and thus reclaimed Annam without firing a single shot. But this wasn't because the Ming Dynasty's military might was so strong; it was a miracle achieved by the Ming Dynasty using up the last bit of its luck!"

He drew a blood-red arrow across the entire northern part of the Ming Dynasty on the whiteboard.

"While Jiajing and Mao Bowen were risking their lives in the south, the northern border was far from idle! At the same time as the extreme pressure campaign in the south, the powder keg of the Ming Dynasty's northern frontier had already begun to experience a series of extremely devastating explosions!"

The screen suddenly switched, and a picture of the Great Wall defense line with howling winds and swirling yellow sand appeared before the eyes of viewers across the internet.

"Family members, let's turn our attention back to the north! As we mentioned before, in the Battle of Heihedun in the fifteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1546), Liu Tianhe, the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions of Shaanxi, used wheelbarrow chariots to drive the 100,000-strong cavalry of Jinang, the leader of the Mongol Right Wing, back to the grasslands. Don't you think that Jinang was severely weakened, and that the northern part of the Ming Dynasty can be peaceful for a few years?"

There was an unyielding sarcasm in Zhu Dijun's eyes.

"Wrong! Utterly wrong! Jinang did retreat, but he only suffered some minor losses. The main force of the Mongol cavalry was not completely annihilated! This steppe wolf retreated to lick its wounds, and then turned its attention to the Ming Dynasty's more fatal weakness!"

Two large, blood-red characters flashed wildly on the map—【Xuanfu】!

"What kind of place is Xuanfu? It's one of the nine key border towns of the Ming Dynasty! It's the most crucial northwest gateway to Beijing, the capital! Once Xuanfu is breached, the Mongol cavalry will only be a few days' march away from the Ming imperial throne!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed a red marker and punched an X in the location of Xuanfu.

"Just a few months after the great victory at Heihedun, Ji Nang regrouped and launched another attack! He astutely realized that the Ming court's attention was completely drawn to the situation in Annam in the south, and immediately launched an extremely deadly surprise attack!"

"June! The sun is blazing! Jinang's army bypassed the Ming Dynasty's fortified cities and fortresses, showcasing the terrifying mobility of the Mongol cavalry, and forcefully broke into the Xuanfu defense line!"

On the screen, countless Mongol cavalrymen wielding scimitars surged like a black tide, frantically cutting through the Ming Dynasty's battle lines.

"Faced with such a torrent in open field battle, the Ming army's disadvantages were completely exposed! Without the protection of city walls and the cover of wheelbarrows, the border troops were unilaterally slaughtered by the Mongol cavalry on the plains! And in this battle, one of the Ming frontline commanders stood to the very end!"

A name was slammed onto the public screen—[Zhao Tang]!

"Commander Zhao Tang! He fought to the death on the Xuanfu defense line! Leading his poorly equipped soldiers, many of whom may not have even had enough to eat, he used his flesh and blood to fill the gaps opened by the Mongols! In the end, the entire army was wiped out! Zhao Tang died on the spot, a heroic sacrifice for his country!"

In a parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at Zhao Tang's name on the sky, his withered hands clenched tightly, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

"A true man... Our Ming Dynasty still has warriors who dare to die on the battlefield!"

He slammed his hand on the imperial desk, letting out a wild, beast-like roar.

"Why are you so terrible in field battles?! A million-strong army, and the Tartars swept through like it was nothing! Zhu Houcong, you piece of trash, how did you train your troops?!"

Zhu Di, who was below, wanted to say a few words for his descendant Zhu Houcong, but quickly swallowed his words and sighed helplessly.

The emperor was so angry that he completely forgot the whole sequence of events that had happened before.

In the modern live stream room, the chat exploded with comments because of this tragic sacrifice.

"Holy crap, the commander is dead! This battle was brutal!"

"Those small victories at Heihedun were all wiped out in just a few months!"

"If you can't win in open battle, you can only retreat and cower. That's not national defense; that's just being a punching bag!"

"Family members, don't rush to get angry, because this is just the beginning!"

Judy ripped off his tie and roared, "Do you think the Jinan gang is satisfied just because one commander died? After looting and retreating, it's already August of this year!"

The scene on the big screen suddenly turned bleak and desolate.

"August! The autumn air is crisp and clear, and the horses are plump and strong! This is the golden season for the Mongols' traditional 'grazing'! Jinang gave the Ming Dynasty's Xuanfu defense line no chance to regroup and rebuild, and launched a second general offensive with even more cavalry!"

Zhu Dijun's fingers furiously typed on the keyboard, and a string of jarring battle reports was displayed directly in front of the camera.

"This time, Jinang's offensive was even more ferocious than in June! The entire Xuanfu defense line was in dire straits! The Ming border army was once again driven to the brink of defeat! And in this battle, the Ming Dynasty paid an even more devastating price than in June!"

A new name exploded on the screen, carrying a strong stench of blood—[Zhang Guofu]!

"General Zhang Guofu! Died on the battlefield!"

As Zhu Dijun drew closer to the camera, every word he uttered struck the hearts of all the viewers like a heavy hammer blow.

"Fellow family members, those who understand the military system of the Ming Dynasty know just how prestigious a lieutenant general is! This is a whole level higher than a commander! A lieutenant general is usually responsible for the auxiliary defense of an entire army or a key town!"

"In modern terms, the death of a deputy commander, whether the commander of a main force regiment or the commander of a combined arms brigade, is equivalent to a breach in a defensive zone (position + control area) of 150-300 km²."

What does the death of a lieutenant general signify?

Judy slammed her fist on the whiteboard, sending chalk dust flying everywhere.

"This means that the entire forward command system of the Ming Dynasty in that defense zone has been completely destroyed by the Mongols! It means that the defense line of Xuanfu has been breached with a bottomless hole! The Mongols can even point their whips at the direction of the capital and laugh!"

The Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Che slumped onto the dragon throne, his face ashen. He understood military strategy all too well. The deaths of high-ranking generals at the front were a crushing defeat. "The defensive line has fallen, a star general has perished. The sky over northern Ming is already teetering on the brink of collapse."

The era of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin's brows furrowed into a tight knot:

"When Liu Tianhe repelled Jinang, I thought the Ming border army still had a chance. Now it seems that was just a last gasp. Without a strong field cavalry, being defensive everywhere means being attacked everywhere!"

Zhu Dijun took a deep breath, his tone turning extremely cold. He turned around and on the whiteboard, he connected the two place names, Xuanfu and Annam, which were located in completely different parts of the country, with a red thread.

"Family members. Commander Zhao Tang died in June, and Lieutenant General Zhang Guofu died in August! The situation in Xuanfu has deteriorated to the extreme, and it is only a hair's breadth away from a complete collapse!"

"Now, let's examine these two bloody defeats in conjunction with the situation in Annam in the south!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the pointer and pointed it sharply at the name that had been dismissed from office by Jiajing Emperor—[Pan Zhen, Vice Minister of War]!

"Do you remember the 'Seven Don'ts' memorial that Pan Zhen risked his life to submit? He desperately tried to stop Jiajing from attacking Annam, but Jiajing felt that he was boosting the morale of others and diminishing his own, so he directly dismissed him from his post and sent him back to his hometown!"

"But what's the truth?! The facts prove that Pan Zhen was the one who truly saw through the Ming Dynasty's true nature—the ultimate clear-headed one!"

Zhu Dijun roared at the top of his lungs.

"Xuanfu in the north is in such a terrible state! Jinang's cavalry could be at the gates of Beijing at any moment! The national treasury doesn't even have enough silver to pay the pensions and rewards to the north!"

"If! I mean if!"

Zhu Dijun's eyes revealed extreme lingering fear. "If that powerful Annamese official, Mo Dengyong, hadn't surrendered on his knees, if he had chosen to fight to the death! Mao Bowen's 250,000-strong army would really have been fighting in the poisonous rainforests of the south!"

"The Ming Empire will instantly be plunged into a terrifying two-front war! The south will become a meat grinder, frantically devouring supplies, while the Xuanfu defense line in the north will completely collapse, allowing the Mongols to strike at its heart! The Ming Dynasty's financial and military networks will absolutely collapse completely within six months!"

The chat room was completely stunned.

"Holy crap! This is terrifying to think about!"

"Jiajing isn't playing a grand strategy; he's blindfolded running through a minefield!"

"Thank you, Mo Dengyong, for sparing my life! If he had even a shred of backbone, the Ming Dynasty would have been completely ruined this time!"

"Pan Zhen was so wronged! The person who spoke the truth was dismissed from office, while the gambling tycoon became a legendary emperor!"

[“Upstairs, you can’t blame Jiajing entirely. If he hadn’t gambled back then, Annam would have ignited the war in the south, and with the Mongol invasion from the north, the Ming Dynasty would have died even faster. You have to consider the circumstances at the time.”]

"This is the most disgusting and magical part of history."

Zhu Dijun threw the pointer on the table, a sneer playing on his lips.

"Annam's victory without a fight masked Jiajing's extremely dangerous strategic misjudgment. Jiajing was immersed in his pretentious poem 'I and my teacher take off our battle robes,' feeling smug and believing himself to be as powerful as a tiger."

The light on the screen gradually dimmed, and the Ming soldiers' corpses and broken battle flags scattered all over the Xuanfu battlefield were extremely glaring in the fierce north wind.

"However, these two crushing defeats in Xuanfu, and the blood of two high-ranking generals, have ripped away the hypocritical veil that conceals the Ming Dynasty's northern border!"

Zhu Dijun pulled up a chair and sat down heavily. The entire studio was shrouded in a somber, dark red hue.

"Jiajing's luck has run out. The Mongols have thoroughly figured out the strengths and weaknesses of the Ming Dynasty's defenses. The Battle of Xuanfu was just a small rehearsal before the complete collapse of the Ming Dynasty in the north."

He raised his head, staring intently at the camera, his voice low and deep, as if he were reading a death sentence.

"The Gengxu Incident, an unprecedented humiliation that brought the Mongol cavalry to the gates of Beijing and forced the Jiajing Emperor to tremble with rage in the Western Garden, has already sounded its most terrifying prelude."