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

The oppressive, suffocating blue light in the studio vanished abruptly. In its place came a bright, warm yellow light that was light and cheerful, even somewhat comical.

Zhu Dijun unscrewed the mineral water bottle on the podium, took a big gulp, and casually ripped off a tangled tie.

"Family members, we just exposed the blood debts of the Manchu conquest, the disgusting faces of the smuggling tycoons in Jiangnan, and all those traitors and actors who distorted history. To be honest, I'm furious myself!"

He casually crushed the empty plastic bottle, making a crisp sound.

"This land has endured too much suffering; the very blood and sweat of our ancestors have been drained. But! We, the common people, have never been destined to merely weep and be beaten!"

Zhu Dijun tapped a key on the holographic keyboard, and a hilarious, down-to-earth erhu background music filled the studio.

"Faced with the Manchu rulers, who stole the throne and constantly erected 'Ten Great Military Achievements' and 'Emperor of the Ages' arches for themselves, the common people, unable to rebel with swords, invented an extremely vicious and penetrating weapon—the Hellish Joke!" Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the podium, a wicked smile playing on his lips.

"Today, let's see how unofficial historical accounts have stripped the Qing Dynasty's 'wise and benevolent rulers' bare of their true colors and displayed them at the entrance of the market!"

The large screen suddenly lit up, projecting an official portrait of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty. Immediately afterwards, an extremely bizarre scene unfolded.

With a flick of his red pen, Zhu Dijun instantly photoshopped the emperor's hat off Shunzhi's head, transforming it into a shiny bald head. He even thoughtfully added stickers of a wooden fish and a kasaya (Buddhist robe) next to it.

"The first official emperor of the Qing Dynasty after entering the Central Plains was Emperor Shunzhi, Fulin! In the official history of the Qing Dynasty written by the Manchu remnants themselves, this man was a young monarch who founded the dynasty."

Zhu Dijun let out a deafening laugh, "But in folk tales and among the common people, he's a complete oddball, the ultimate love-struck freak! How do people describe him? They say he didn't die of smallpox at all; he felt that being emperor was meaningless after his beloved Consort Dong'e died, so he packed his bags and ran off to Mount Wutai to become a monk!"

Zhu Dijun cleared his throat and immediately launched into a stand-up comedy routine in the live stream.

"Emperor Shunzhi sat on his dragon throne, gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and said with deep emotion: 'The country is meaningless, my beloved concubine is gone, I'm going to become a monk.'"

The ministers below were so anxious they were slapping their thighs: "Your Majesty! The Qing Dynasty has only just secured its rule! There are still remnants of the Ming Dynasty in the south that haven't been wiped out! If you go and become a monk, who will take over this mess?"

Emperor Shunzhi waved his hand with great nonchalance: "Sit still, you all sit down, don't bother me, I'm going to Mount Wutai to chant sutras and beat the wooden fish, Amitabha!"

The live stream chat was instantly flooded with "hahahaha" and various mocking emojis.

"Sit down, you guys sit down! Isn't this a classic example of shifting blame in the workplace?!"

"He loved his country more than his love, becoming the first person to flee overnight with a bucket!"

"This is hilarious! The first emperor of the Qing Dynasty was an unconventional man who became a monk because of a broken heart!"

A parallel Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Forbidden City.

Zhu Youjian stared intently at the image of the Shunzhi Emperor with a large bald head sticker on the sky, frozen in place, his expression incredibly complex. From shock and absurdity, it finally transformed into utter despair and resentment.

"To become a monk for a woman... for a woman?!"

Zhu Youjian's voice trembled, and his withered hands pounded the gold brick floor frantically, his knuckles smashed until they were bloody and mangled.

"For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, I toiled day and night! I wore patched dragon robes, and I couldn't even bear to eat! I thought day and night about how to raise military funds, and in the end, I was forced to hang myself on Coal Hill! And then... and then the barbarian who seized my empire turned out to be a love-struck fool who casually threw the throne into a latrine?!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly tilted his head back, tears and snot streaming down his face, and let out a mournful laugh:

"Though it's a joke, Heaven is blind! Heaven is blind! The Ming Dynasty has been defeated by such a spineless and absurd piece of trash!"

A parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared coldly at the sky, his old face as black as the bottom of a pot, and then let out an extremely contemptuous sneer.

"These Buryat wild boars are truly bastards to the core."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and patted the imperial desk.

"He stole our empire, yet he can't even shoulder the responsibilities of governing it. If our Ming Dynasty produces such a useless piece of trash who would abandon his ancestral legacy for a woman, we'll personally stuff him into the alchemy furnace and burn him to ashes!"

On the screen above, Zhu Dijun's revelations never stopped.

"Shunzhi fled, is that all? No! This hellish joke has an extremely ingenious sequel!" Zhu Dijun pulled up a portrait of Emperor Kangxi on the big screen.

"His son, the Kangxi Emperor, who is known as one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history, wasn't he depicted in the TV series 'Kangxi's Private Visits' as making six incognito trips to the south of the Yangtze River, punishing corrupt officials, and displaying great power and prestige?"

"But according to ordinary people, his trip to Mount Wutai to worship Buddha wasn't for seeking blessings at all!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his hand on the podium.

"What's the folk tale about it? It says that every time Emperor Kangxi went to Mount Wutai, he was actually secretly going to see his runaway father! He would wander around the mountains with his imperial guards. Why? Because he was afraid that Emperor Shunzhi, that lazy and useless emperor who couldn't even distinguish between the five grains, wouldn't be able to beg for alms in the mountains and would starve to death!"

The live stream room erupted in another round of celebration.

"Emperor Kangxi, the filial son, was on an incognito visit that turned into 'Pockmarked Son's Search for His Father at Mount Wutai'!"

"Unofficial histories are a million times more interesting than official histories; the common people's ability to deconstruct history is simply unbeatable!"

"Did you think that was all Kangxi had to offer?" Zhu Dijun casually swiped away the portrait of Shunzhi, dragged the portrait of Kangxi to the center of the screen, and then violently drew a comical old man's beard on Kangxi's face.

"Our great Emperor Kangxi, aside from his search for his father at Mount Wutai, has a truly awful image among the common people! In movies and TV dramas, his incognito visits are for solving cases, but in unofficial histories, his incognito visits are just plain aimless strolling through the market!"

Zhu Dijun began to recount the story vividly, as if he had witnessed it firsthand.

One day, Emperor Kangxi changed into civilian clothes and, accompanied by a few attendants, strolled aimlessly through the markets of the capital. This fellow, though addicted to gambling, was terrible at it. He went to a chess stall and insisted on playing a couple of games with an old man from the common people. As expected, he was utterly defeated and lost everything!

"Losing money is one thing, but this high and mighty Qing Emperor is cheating! He demands money when he wins, but refuses to pay when he loses! The old man who won the game got furious. He didn't even know who he was facing, and he pointed at Kangxi's nose and started cursing: 'You old bastard! Dressed like a respectable person, you won't even pay a few copper coins when you lose. Have you no shame?!'"

Zhu Dijun slapped his thigh suddenly, laughing so hard that tears were about to come out.

"Guess what?! The imperial guards following him were so scared their legs went weak, but without Kangxi's orders, they didn't dare utter a single word. They could only watch helplessly as this old man berated the Qing emperor. Kangxi slunk back to the palace, too ashamed to kill anyone, and could only look in the mirror and mock himself: 'I'm a pretty miserable emperor. All the money in the world belongs to me, and even when I play chess, the common people call me a deadbeat!'"

The parallel universe of the Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng stood with his hands behind his back, and upon hearing this, the disdain in his eyes almost overflowed.

"A dignified emperor, traveling incognito, gambling with commoners in the marketplace, and then trying to renege on his debts after losing?" Ying Zheng coldly uttered two words, "a monkey in sheep's clothing."

His First Emperor of Qin toured the world, his might shaking the four seas, building highways, pacifying the Baiyue tribes, and defeating the Xiongnu! The emperor's majesty was forged in iron and blood. This so-called emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty acted like a rogue in the marketplace. Does such a person deserve to be called an emperor?

The parallel Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di made no attempt to hide his contempt.

"I conquered the world on horseback, and I am skilled in archery and horsemanship! This Buryat leader actually went to the streets to gamble and cheat, and was even insulted by the common people."

Zhu Di snorted coldly.

"Mite-eating has no laws, let alone the decorum of an emperor. If such a vile scoundrel fell into my hands, I wouldn't even glance at him, I'd have him sliced ​​to death and fed to the dogs."

On the backdrop of the studio, the laughter gradually subsided. Zhu Dijun's comical smile slowly faded, replaced by a coldness that revealed the depths of history.

"Family members, everyone is laughing, thinking this anecdote is hilarious. But think about it carefully, how much heartache and helplessness is hidden behind it?"

Zhu Dijun put away his pointer and looked directly at the camera.

"When the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, they enforced the shaving of heads and changing of clothing, and launched literary inquisitions, causing rivers of blood to flow among the Han people. Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong—these figures were portrayed as gods in official history by a group of spineless, traitorous Han literati from Jiangnan, every word written about them as extremely virtuous and righteous. Did the common people dare to criticize them in writing? No! Writing a single wrong word was a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of their family!"

The image on the holographic screen gradually became mottled, as if corroded by the years.

"Therefore, ordinary people can only use their words to dissect these executioners! If you won't let me say you're bad, then I'll make up stories about you being stupid! If you boast that you're the greatest emperor of all time, I'll portray you as a gambler who lost money and refused to pay his debts; if you boast that you're a wise and benevolent founding emperor, I'll portray you as a love-struck, brain-dead monk who didn't even want the throne!"

Zhu Dijun's voice was powerful and resonant, echoing throughout the studio.

"This is a weapon of the weak on a cultural level! It is the most ruthless and thorough contempt and counterattack of the Han people against the hypocritical imperial power of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was built on the corpses of their compatriots! You may conquer us physically, but in our hearts, you will always be nothing more than a bunch of ignorant wild boars and street urchins!"

The live stream chat exploded with comments like "Perfect reading comprehension" and "So this is the truth behind folk jokes."

As Zhu Dijun looked at the screen, a strange smile suddenly appeared on his lips.

"However, when it comes to the eccentricities of the Qing emperors, Shunzhi and Kangxi are merely appetizers. If we're talking about those who truly embodied the word 'madman' to the extreme in both unofficial and official histories, we have to look to the infamous emperor who confiscated property—Yongzheng!"

Zhu Dijun pressed the button on the podium, and the large screen instantly displayed an extremely outrageous portrait. The person in the portrait was wearing a Western-style collared shirt, a wig with curlers on his head, and holding a trident, cosplaying as a Western assassin.

"Family members, are you ready to welcome this real-life humanoid Frankenstein's monster?"