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

"Family members! We've just sorted out the mess left behind in the external affairs of the 21st year of the Jiajing reign. Now, let's turn our attention back to the Forbidden City!"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly against the podium, the red laser lights flashing wildly in the studio. He suddenly turned around and, with an extremely bright red marker, slammed four chilling characters onto the whiteboard—【壬寅宫变】!

"In October of the 21st year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty! In the heavily guarded Forbidden City, known as the safest fortress in the land, a shocking case broke out: a mass assassination attempt on the emperor by palace maids—an event extremely rare, even unprecedented, in Chinese history!"

Upon hearing those four words, the viewers in the live chat couldn't hold back any longer, and a barrage of sarcastic remarks filled the screen like snowflakes.

"Here it comes! The classic program from the Ming Dynasty!"

"Practice until your body resembles a crane's, and you won't be afraid of palace maids strangling you!"

"The gathering of three flowers at the top is but an illusion; I only received one million!"

[“Ming Dynasty civil official: I’m so sorry, professional assassins can’t get in, so I’ll have to hire a cleaning lady to do it!”]

"The Yan faction's dictatorship, followed by the ultimate joke of 'Yan Maoqing, emitting blue smoke,' made the Jiajing era a massive makeshift operation!"

A parallel universe in the 22nd year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty.

Having barely survived the Renyin Palace Coup, but now in extremely weak condition, the Jiajing Emperor sat cross-legged on a futon in the West Garden. Looking at the mocking comments on the screen, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

"Your descendants are utterly inhuman! You've already mocked my fire once, and now you even dare to publicize this shameful affair from the inner palace! Do you really think I can't deal with you?!"

Jiajing suddenly turned his head and glared fiercely at Zhu Houyu, who was kneeling below.

Zhu Houyu trembled violently, his heart bleeding. He felt more wronged than Dou E. The descendant of Zhu Dijun on the celestial screen was spewing curses in the future, something he, separated by centuries, couldn't possibly control! But facing the enraged Jiajing Emperor, he could only bang his head against the bluestone bricks, his mind screaming: Well said! This old immortal cultivator should be hung on the city wall as a warning!

On the screen, Zhu Dijun casually loosened his tie, cutting the image on the big screen into an extremely oppressive scarlet red.

"Was this a simple murder within the imperial harem? No, this was an absolute watershed moment in the political trajectory of the Jiajing era!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the pointer and pointed at the screen.

"This incident directly terrified Jiajing, causing him to move out of the Forbidden City and begin a more than twenty-year period of 'Taoist retreat in the Western Garden,' during which he would not see his officials! It also pushed Yan Song's autocracy to an unsolvable peak!"

"Let's look at the trigger first. Why would these palace maids, who were powerless even to kill a chicken, want to kill the emperor?"

Two large characters, glowing with a deep blue light, appeared on the public screen: 【Red Lead】.

"The reason is simple: Emperor Jiajing didn't treat these palace maids like human beings at all!"

Zhu Dijun slapped his hand on the podium.

"In order to refine the so-called elixir of immortality, Emperor Jiajing listened to the nonsense of charlatans and alchemists, and frantically collected the menstrual blood of palace maids at their first menstruation!"

"In order to maintain the so-called 'purity' of menstrual blood, Jiajing ordered that these palace maids absolutely could not eat grains during their periods! They could only eat mulberry leaves and drink dew every day! If their menstrual blood did not meet the standards, or if they made the slightest mistake, they would be subjected to inhumane torture! According to historical records, before this palace coup broke out, more than two hundred palace maids died unjustly in the palace because of alchemy and abuse!"

"What does this mean? The Forbidden City has been turned into a legal slaughterhouse!"

As Zhu Dijun drew close to the camera, every word he uttered exuded extreme coldness.

"Either erupt in silence or perish in silence." Watching their sisters being beaten to death and dragged away one by one, the palace maids were utterly despondent. Better to fight to the death than suffer a humiliating death!

The large screen instantly switched to the Forbidden City late at night. Early morning of October 21st, Yikun Palace.

That night, Jiajing slept in the palace of his most beloved Consort Cao.

Zhu Dijun's speech suddenly quickened, like the rapid beating of war drums.

"Under the orders of the disfavored Consort Ning, Wang, sixteen palace maids, led by Yang Jinying, twisted a thick silk rope and sneaked into the emperor's bedroom under the cover of night."

"A dozen or so women, driven to desperation, surrounded the highest ruler of the Ming Dynasty. Without hesitation or words, they attacked!"

Zhu Dijun made a famously fierce gesture with his hands in the air.

Several men pounced on the bed, pinning down Jiajing's hands and feet! Several others pressed down on his chest! Yang Jinying grabbed a prepared yellow silk rag and smeared it directly on Jiajing's face to prevent him from screaming!

"Then, the most deadly weapon appeared! A noose was tightly wrapped around Jiajing's neck, and two palace maids were pulling desperately from both ends!"

The entire online audience held their breath at that moment. The dignified emperor of the Ming Dynasty was pinned to a bed and strangled with ropes by a group of palace maids. This absurd and horrifying scene was far more shocking than any court intrigue.

"Jiajing woke up with a start and struggled desperately, but he couldn't make a sound. He could only feel the rope around his neck tightening. He even heard a cracking sound as his throat bones broke. He thought he was going to die."

"but!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the whiteboard.

"At this critical moment, fate bestowed upon Jiajing an utterly absurd advantage!"

"Because of extreme panic and darkness, the palace maids' hands trembled when they were putting on the noose! They mistakenly tied a knot that was supposed to be slipknotted into a knot that was impossible to untie!"

Judy Jun let out a laugh that could have blown the roof off.

"Family members, anyone with a basic understanding of physics knows that a knot that can't be tightened can't be! The noose is stuck around Jiajing's neck, and no matter how hard they pull it, the size of the loop just won't change! Jiajing has only been strangled unconscious, but he's still breathing!"

The Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Che looked at the sky, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, and a layer of cold sweat seeped out from his forehead.

"Heaven's mandate has not yet ended... If it were a slipknot, Zhu Houcong would already be a corpse."

"At this critical juncture of the stalemate, someone broke down."

Zhu Dijun's finger touched the name of a palace maid on the screen—Zhang Jinlian.

"Zhang Jinlian, seeing the emperor's face bruised and purple but unable to swallow his anger, completely lost her composure. She thought the emperor was possessed by the spirit of the True Martial Emperor and couldn't be killed, so she turned and ran, rushing to Empress Fang to inform on him!"

"Upon hearing the news, Empress Fang was greatly alarmed. She immediately led her guards and rushed to Yikun Palace, kicking open the gate. She apprehended the group of palace maids on the spot, untied the silk rope around Jiajing's neck, and dragged the dying Ming emperor back from the brink of death!"

The red light in the entire studio gradually faded, turning into a suffocatingly pale white.

"Although Jiajing Emperor did not die, he was so shocked that he could not speak for a long time. As a result, power temporarily fell into the hands of Empress Fang. An extremely bloody purge of the harem began."

Judy grabbed the blackboard eraser and ruthlessly wiped away all the names on the whiteboard.

"The sixteen palace maids, including Yang Jinying, who participated in the assassination, were all sentenced to death by a thousand cuts and their heads were displayed to the public. Consort Wang Ning, who was accused of being the mastermind, was also subjected to death by a thousand cuts."

He paused for a moment, a dark glint in his eyes revealing a deep understanding of the cruelty of the court.

"But that wasn't the end of it. Empress Fang was a ruthless character. Taking advantage of Jiajing's unconscious state, she used the pretext that 'the assassination attempt occurred in the imperial bedchamber' to have Consort Cao, who usually stole her thunder, was extremely favored, and hadn't even participated in the assassination, executed by slow slicing!"

"Using others to do the dirty work, uprooting them completely. Empress Fang used the blood of sixteen palace maids to completely eliminate any obstacles in the harem."

The live stream chat was completely silent.

A few seconds later, it started scrolling wildly.

"Consort Cao was so wronged! She was sleeping in her own palace when she was inexplicably subjected to the torture of being slowly sliced ​​to death."

"This is the power struggle within the imperial harem, even more ruthless than in the imperial court. No evidence is needed, only an excuse."

"The dead knot saved Jiajing's life; this luck is truly outrageous."

Judy pulled up a chair and sat down heavily. He picked up the cold tea and took a sip. Suddenly, he looked at the camera, a chilling, even cruel smile creeping onto his lips.

"Family members. Do you really believe this is merely an isolated assassination attempt stemming from abuse?"

He suddenly stood up, his pointer pointing sharply at the cover of the "Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming" on the screen.

"That's indeed how it's recorded in official history. But if we step outside the perspective of the inner palace and place the Renyin Palace Incident within the broader political meat grinder of the entire 21st year of the Jiajing reign, we'll discover an extremely terrifying yet absolutely logical chain!"

The scene on the big screen was forcibly cut. On the left was a palace maid twisting ropes in the deep palace, and on the right were the civil and military officials and Yan Song, who had just been appointed as the Grand Secretary.

"First point! The weapon used in the crime!"

Zhu Dijun calmly extended one finger and shook it, saying:

"Yellow silk rags and silk ropes! Palace maids usually do rough work, where would they get silk ropes?! Let alone prepare such thick weapons in advance under heavy surveillance! Someone must be secretly providing them with materials and cover!"

"Second point! Overlapping motives!"

He slammed his hand on the podium.

"Family members, as we just mentioned! In the twenty-first year of Jiajing's reign, the Jiangnan civil official group, in order to protect their smuggling profits, colluded with the border general Long Dayou to kill the peace envoy of Altan Khan! Now the borders of the Ming Dynasty are in disarray, the Mongols are invading like crazy, and Jiajing is desperately short of money! He previously targeted Buddhism, and now, in his desperation, it is unknown whether he will follow his cousin Zhu Houzhao's example and target Jiangnan."

He drew a thick red line on the whiteboard, tightly connecting the outer court and the inner palace.

"Once Jiajing recovers, the Jinyiwei will definitely dig up and settle the old scores of corruption and smuggling among this group of civil officials! They need Jiajing dead! The three great fires during his southern tour of Chengtian couldn't kill him, and the celestial fires at the Nine Temples couldn't scare him to death. Now, the physical exorcism package has been upgraded!"

As Zhu Dijun drew close to the camera, every word he uttered pierced the hearts of the audience like nails.

"Bribing those palace maids who already harbored deep hatred for Jiajing, promising their families exorbitant sums for their funerals, and turning them into assassins in a political reshuffle driven by utter despair! This was the most habitual and insidious method of murder used by the Ming Dynasty's civil service!"

In a parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

As Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Zhu Dijun's deductions, he froze on his dragon throne. He didn't erupt in rage, but felt an unprecedented chill in his heart. The swords of the civil officials had already pierced from the outer court directly into his own bedchamber, that of the old Zhu family emperor.

The studio lights went completely dark.

"Jiajing has woken up."

Zhu Dijun's voice echoed in the darkness. "He escaped death. But he knows better than anyone that everyone in the Forbidden City wants him dead. If they can kill even their closest palace maids, what are those civil officials in the outer court incapable of?"

He slowly raised his hand and pointed to the palace on the screen that was gradually disappearing into the darkness.

"Therefore, Jiajing made a decision. A decision that would completely change the fate of the Ming Empire."

"Enter the West Garden and implement the agent system."