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

In the live broadcast room, Zhu Dijun's outrageous remarks about the Qing Dynasty's various sets of policies were like a bucket of ice water poured directly over the heads of all those who benefited from the feudal system.

A parallel universe set in the sixteenth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

The early winter wind howled and howled across the white marble steps in front of the Fengtian Hall. This was the first year since his grandson Zhu Xiong Ying and sister Ma Xiu Ying had passed away. Zhu Yuanzhang sat listlessly behind his desk. The heavy deathly atmosphere that had previously shrouded his eyes was now forcibly dispelled by the bloody political analysis displayed on the screen.

He felt a chill run down his spine, but this was followed by a profound sense of ecstasy.

Having witnessed the celestial phenomena for so many days, he knew how the future Biao'er died, and he also understood how badly the unworthy descendants of the Ming Dynasty were manipulated by the civil official group after losing military and financial power. The Jiajing Emperor, having cultivated immortality to the point of becoming a bastard, hid in the Western Garden and dared not even return to the Forbidden City!

But now, the barbaric methods that the wild boar skin on the sky used to deal with the civil officials and the landlords of Jiangnan are actually a powerful remedy!

A power grab? A check and balance? Secret reports? Joint liability? The Ming History Cases broke the backbone of scholars, and the coastal evacuation and ban on maritime trade cut off the lifeline of smuggling merchants!

If barbarians can use it, why can't our founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty?! This dragon-slaying technique can be used to completely transform the underlying logic of the Ming Dynasty!

"Biao'er," Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.

Below him stood his five sons. Crown Prince Zhu Biao stood at the front, followed by his second son Zhu Shuang, third son Zhu Gang, fourth son Zhu Di, and fifth son Zhu Su.

Upon hearing his father call his name, Zhu Biao immediately straightened his back.

"You saw what happened in the twenty-third year of the Jiajing reign on the sky."

Zhu Yuanzhang tapped his fingers heavily on the table.

"What do you think? Tell me. The second, third, fourth, and fifth brothers are all here. You all need to come up with a plan today to deal with this mess from the future."

Zhu Biao did not hesitate. The brutal beatings Tianmu had inflicted on him during this period had long since brought out the ruthless spirit hidden deep within this benevolent prince. The deaths of his eldest son and his mother had made him see through the cannibalistic profit chain behind those Confucian classics.

"The great victory at Heishan deserves a great reward!" Zhu Biao's voice was crisp and decisive. "Zhou Shangwen, with inferior forces, stubbornly resisted the elite Mongol army—this is an unparalleled feat. The court's failure to reward him, and Yan Song's suppression of the battle report to embezzle military funds, is self-destructive! If it were me, I would bypass the powerful ministers of the cabinet and issue an imperial edict directly to commend him! A substantial reward for Zhou Shangwen will establish a model of practical action for national prosperity! Rewards and punishments must be credible, and talent must be valued. Let all the border troops know that victory brings reward, and see who dares to cower under the Great Wall!"

A distinct hint of approval flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

"What about martial law in the capital?"

The fourth prince, Zhu Di, couldn't help but step forward, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Anda has already reached the city walls! Beijing has been besieged for a month!"

"The martial law in the capital is a deep shame!"

Zhu Biao turned to look at his younger brothers, his tone extremely firm.

"The Ministry of War must be the first to be reformed! As for those cowardly civil and military officials who refuse to come to the rescue and adopt a scorched-earth policy, they must be held accountable! However, with a formidable enemy at hand, indiscriminate killing cannot be tolerated to prevent a mutiny. Your Majesty will issue an edict of self-reproach, taking responsibility for the national crisis and appeasing the military and civilians. Then, using a slow, ruthless approach, we will purge the corrupt civil officials in the Ministry of War and focus on restoring the defense system of the nine border regions!"

What about the Jia Chen Imperial Examination Scandal?

Zhu Yuanzhang pressed for answers, like a sharp blade being drawn from its sheath.

"Punish corruption severely according to the law! The Grand Secretary Zhai Luan and his family will not be let off lightly!"

Zhu Biao looked directly into Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, unyielding. "The imperial examination is the foundation of the nation. Such blatant cheating, with two members from one family passing the imperial examination, deserves to be punished to appease public anger! Using this case to strike at Yan Song's political enemies is only one aspect; more importantly, it's about 'rectifying people's hearts'! We absolutely cannot allow the Ming Dynasty's civil service to rot completely under the leadership of these rats!"

The brothers listened, their backs hunched. Was this still the kind-hearted elder brother who always advised the old man to kill less?

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in satisfaction, a smile finally appearing on his lips. But he immediately posed the most fatal and despairing ultimate hypothesis.

"Ke Biao'er. You saw what happened to that rascal Zhu Houcong back then."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up, walked to the edge of the steps, and looked down at his five sons.

"Internally, the civil service is all-powerful, while externally, Altan Khan's army is at the gates. Landlords in Jiangnan control the silver supply, leaving the national treasury practically empty. The entire court wants you dead. If you were truly placed in that hopeless situation, how would you cope?"

The hall was completely silent. Zhu Di and the others held their breath.

Zhu Biao stared intently at the dragon pattern on the floor tiles. His chest heaved violently, and all the Confucian principles of benevolence and the words of sages he had learned in the past were crushed to pieces by the cruel reality revealed by the sky.

He took a deep breath and suddenly raised his head.

"A strategic retreat." Zhu Biao gritted his teeth and spat out a single, resolute word: "Kill!"

The word "kill" echoed loudly within the Fengtian Hall.

"Killing them is not enough to rectify people's hearts! If we don't skin these parasites who control the government and collude with foreign enemies alive, they won't know whose world the Ming Dynasty truly belongs to!"

……

In another parallel universe of the Ming Dynasty, in the second year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign.

In the heart of Jiangnan, there is a vast and extravagantly luxurious private garden.

Despite the heavy snow that had sealed the garden, the underground heating system had warmed the hall as if it were springtime. A dozen or so wealthy merchants, local gentry, and retired high-ranking officials, all dressed in fine clothes, sat around armchairs. The table was laden with delicacies, but not a single person touched their chopsticks.

Everyone's faces were ashen, their eyes fixed on the sky above them.

When Zhu Dijun, in that extremely mocking tone, listed the ultimate means that the Buryat wild boar skin would use against them in the future—to relocate maritime merchants and ban them from the sea to cut off their foundation, to kill the leaders of landlords who came to report cases and cry at temples, to collect taxes and taxes, to control the judiciary, to prohibit the formation of parties, to punish the Baojia system, and even to use the Ming History Case and the Imperial Examination Case to completely sever the backbone of the civil service group and the local gentry.

These powerful figures, who usually wielded immense influence in Jiangnan and could make the Ming Dynasty's treasury tremble with a mere stomp of their feet, instantly lost all color in their faces.

Fear. An extreme fear of having their cards exposed, even seeing their entire family wiped out, gripped their throats.

"Barbarians...how dare these barbarians defy Heaven like this!"

A one-eyed merchant who controlled a huge smuggling fleet suddenly stood up, his voice trembling with extreme anger and fear.

"What have we given them?! If we hadn't secretly provided them with a steady stream of weapons! If we hadn't smuggled them countless quantities of high-quality pig iron and provisions! If we hadn't delivered intelligence on the Ming Dynasty's border defenses to their desks! How could those wild boars, who eat raw meat in the Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang River, possibly defeat the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty's nine border regions?! What a joke!"

Another wealthy landowner slammed his hand on the table, knocking over a soup bowl, and didn't even notice the scalding soup splashing on him.

"I thought I'd raised a useful but vicious dog!"

He gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with desperate madness. "We painstakingly supported the Buryat wild boar skins so that they could tie down the Ming army in Liaodong! To empty Chongzhen's treasury! What we've been waiting for is the collapse of the Ming court, so we can claim credit for supporting the emperor and return to the tax farming system of the former Yuan dynasty! No more taxes, no more being controlled by the court, we can be veritable local emperors in Jiangnan!"

"Who knew these barbarians would be so ruthless!"

The white-bearded old gentleman sitting at the head of the table coughed violently, his cane thumping loudly on the blue bricks.

"They're discarding us after we've served our purpose! This is tantamount to extinguishing the very foundation of our Jiangnan cultural heritage!"

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely oppressive.

Everyone had foreseen that extremely bloody future. After the Manchus entered the Central Plains, what awaited them was neither a tax farming system nor high-ranking official positions and generous salaries.

People will be beheaded! Keep your hair, lose your head!

The money will be stolen! The case of fraud will result in the confiscation of all property!

There is no place for our own people in officialdom anymore! They are driven around like slaves by their Manchu masters!

The most devastating blow was the complete annihilation of maritime trade! The relocation of the border and the ban on maritime trade directly shattered the centuries-old foundation of exorbitant profits for smuggling merchants in Jiangnan!

"Absolutely not!"

The one-eyed merchant drew his short sword from his waist and slammed it into the valuable rosewood table.

"I can't let these barbarians benefit from the wealth and fortune my family has built up over generations!"

"Cut off supplies! Immediately cut off all smuggling routes to Liaodong!"

The landlord roared, his eyes red.

"Not a single grain, firearm, or pig iron is allowed to leave the pass! Bring back all the spies who are delivering intelligence!"

"We can talk to the imperial court; at worst, we'll have to grit our teeth and pay some taxes to that brat Chongzhen! But we absolutely cannot talk to the barbarians!"

The white-bearded old gentleman made the final decision, his eyes gleaming with a gambler's desperate gamble.

"How dare these thugs turn against their master! This breaks a rule that has stood for centuries! Go, contact our informant in the Ministry of War, and get them to switch sides! Provide funds and manpower to help the Ming border army fight the Jurchens! We must crush these Buryat wild boars outside the Great Wall!"

Self-interest is always the best driving force. When survival was threatened, these parasites that leeched off the Ming Dynasty formed a united front with unprecedented efficiency.

……

Inside the modern live broadcast studio, the studio lights came back on.

As Zhu Dijun watched the barrage of comments scrolling wildly across the screen, a dangerously smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Family members, we'll discuss the methods of obtaining Buryat wild boar hides in more detail another time. For now, we need to shift our focus back to the Jiajing era, that super meat grinder."

He turned around and roughly erased everything on the whiteboard with a blackboard eraser. Then, he grabbed a blood-red marker and wrote a timeline that would chill the hearts of all Ming Dynasty people in the very center of the screen—the death of Xu Shen!