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

studio.

Zhu Dijun's eyes were as cold as ice. He casually shoved the "Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming" off the podium, and the red light on the large screen flickered eerily. "Fellow family members, we just looked at the official history of the Ming Dynasty. Some people say that it was written haphazardly by officials in the capital to shirk responsibility."

He suddenly straightened up and slammed his finger heavily onto the screen:

"Alright! Let's continue! Let's see how the local gazetteers compiled by the people of Jiangnan during the Ming Dynasty recorded this blood debt!"

The holographic keyboard emitted a series of loud bangs, and two yellowed ancient book phantoms crashed into the center of the screen.

"The Annals of Songjiang Prefecture! Compiled in the 35th year of the Jiajing reign! That is, the third year after the outbreak of the Great Japanese Pirate Raid!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed the pointer and slammed it onto the page of the book, the sound like a thunderclap.

"It was written clearly in black and white: 'In the thirty-second year of the Jiajing reign, the Japanese pirate raids were rampant. The gentry and officials in the prefecture occupied land spanning several counties, while the common people had no land and many followed the Japanese pirates as guides!'"

"Do you see that now? Spanning several counties! Is this supposed to be buying land? This is called robbing people by drawing circles! The fields owned by the gentry stretch as far as the eye can see, while the common people can't even fit a single pot in them! What are the people who can't survive doing? They're acting as guides for the Japanese pirates!"

The laser pointer frantically swiped at another ancient book next to it.

"Let's look at the Wuxi County Gazetteer again! It's from the thirty-third year of the Jiajing reign!"

Zhu Dijun laughed in extreme anger, a laugh tinged with profound sorrow.

"When Magistrate Wang Qiqin took office, he saw the land full of displaced people and gritted his teeth to investigate hidden land! Guess how much he found?! He discovered a whopping 160,000 mu of land that powerful families had hidden and evaded taxes on! More than 7,000 landless farmers were all forced to flee and join the Japanese invaders!"

The entire live stream went silent for a moment, followed by an explosion of comments like an avalanche.

"160,000 mu! A county has hidden 160,000 mu of land that doesn't need to be taxed!"

"More than 7,000 households of refugees! This isn't a Japanese pirate rebellion; it's the gentry forcing ordinary people to lead the Japanese pirates!"

"The case is solved! The Ming Dynasty's southeastern coastal defenses were torn apart by these vampires themselves with their own annexation-based butcher's knife!"

A parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Fengtian Hall, there was a deathly silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang stared intently at the blood-red characters "Occupying Fields Across Several Counties" on the sky, his breathing heavy as if a bellows were being pulled at full capacity. His calloused hands gripped the armrests of the dragon throne so tightly that his fingernails dug deep grooves into the sandalwood.

"The territory spans several counties..."

Old Zhu let out a low, beast-like growl, "We were too kind back then, and these people have eaten us alive without leaving a trace!"

He abruptly stood up, drew his imperial sword, and smashed the bronze charcoal stove in front of him. The red-hot embers tumbled to the ground, scorching the cold gold bricks of the hall.

"These bastards are occupying 160,000 mu of our Great Ming's fertile land without paying taxes, forcing more than 7,000 households to become guides for the barbarians!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were bloodshot, and his murderous intent was as real as a physical force as he locked onto the trembling officials below.

"Mao Xiang, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

Mao Xiang scrambled to his knees at the foot of the jade steps, his whole body soaked.

"Send our elite guards! To Songjiang! To Wuxi!"

Old Zhu's sword pointed straight at the sky outside the palace, his roar shattering the wind and clouds.

"Those officials who have seized land spanning multiple counties, regardless of their rank or who is behind them! Skin them alive and stuff them with straw, hang their entire families at the city gates! We will use the blood of these beasts to give the people of the world an explanation!"

"Yes"

A parallel Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty.

A cold wind howled beneath the old crooked-necked tree on Coal Hill.

Zhu Youjian's withered hands pounded the ground frantically, his fingernails curling and bleeding profusely.

"I'm still scrimping and saving in the Forbidden City, unable to even afford a new robe. Meanwhile, one county alone harbors 160,000 mu of tax-free fertile land!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked up at the sky and let out a bitter laugh that was so utterly desolate that tears mixed with blood streamed down his face.

"So their claims of poverty were all a lie to me! This Ming Dynasty has long been divided up and devoured by them! The refugees... they were the ones who forced them into this state!"

On the backdrop of the studio, the crimson spotlight shone fiercely on Zhu Dijun's face.

"You think local chronicles aren't enough to crush them? Then let's look at the official high-ranking officials' memorials!" Zhu Dijun turned around, and a huge Wenhai archive—"Huangming Jingshi Wenbian"—slammed down on the holographic screen.

"This is an internal memorial written by an official during the Jiajing era!"

Zhu Dijun grabbed a red pen and wrote two names on the whiteboard with great force.

"Tang Shunzhi! A famous minister who resisted Japanese pirates! In the thirty-second year of Jiajing's reign, he directly submitted a memorial to the Jiajing Emperor: 'In Suzhou, Songjiang and western Zhejiang, powerful families have seized land, leaving the people with nowhere to stand, so many have gone to sea to join the Japanese pirates; the military farms in the garrisons have all been occupied by officers, and the troops are weak and unable to fight!'"

He slammed the stick down on the blackboard, the sound deafening:

"Family members! These are the words of a high-ranking official who fought the Japanese pirates on the front lines! Why is the Japanese pirate problem so rampant? Because powerful families are seizing land! Because officers are embezzling military land! Ordinary people have their rice bowls destroyed and can only go to sea, while soldiers have their land taken and can only be spineless!"

Another memorial appeared on the screen.

"Look at Pang Shangpeng's memorial on clearing up the military farms: 'In the southeast coastal areas, less than one in ten military farms remain; the fertile lands have all fallen into the hands of powerful families; soldiers have deserted; and coastal defenses have been completely abandoned!'"

Zhu Dijun pressed his hands firmly on the podium, staring intently at the camera.

"Not even one in ten survives! The land the state allocated to military households for survival and farming has all ended up in the pockets of powerful and wealthy families! What's the point of this coastal defense?!"

Zhu Dijun slammed his foot on the edge of the podium, shattering the screen behind him into four pieces. The four blood-soaked square formations resembled four sharp, boning knives, brutally embedded in the southeastern map of the Ming Dynasty.

"How did the Ming Dynasty's land annexation turn the 32nd year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign into a bloodbath? It was all thanks to these four particularly powerful, blood-sucking mountains!"

The laser pointer pointed sharply at the first square formation—[Noble Bureaucrats].

"The first major obstacle was the Yan faction, imperial relatives, and local officials in the capital! Yan Song and his son not only amassed wealth in the capital, but they also frantically acquired vast amounts of land in Jiangnan, Zhejiang, and Fujian! When they encountered people who refused to sell their land, they forced them to buy it at low prices, and even directly had the government convert farmland into their private property! Even the estates of princes and princesses were extended to the coast, enjoying special privileges and tax exemptions, which directly squeezed the common people to death!"

The laser pointer cuts towards the second square formation—[Local Powerful Clans].

"The second major obstacle: the local tyrants and bullies of Jiangnan! The Xu family of Suzhou, the Xiang family of Jiaxing, the Shen family of Huzhou, and the Hua family of Wuxi!"

Every time Judy Jun read out a name, a blood-dripping skull appeared on the screen.

"These people used their clan power and connections in officialdom to seize every opportunity! They grabbed all the farmland—farmland, polder land, sandy land, and lakeside land! Then they colluded with local officials to wipe the seized land off the tax registers!"

Zhu Dijun turned and pointed to the third formation, his face full of disdain—[Guard Officer].

"The third major obstacle is those damned hereditary military officers who deserve to be torn to pieces! The officers of Guanhaiwei, Taicangwei, and Jinshanwei in Zhejiang directly transferred the imperial farmland to their own names, treating the soldiers who were supposed to defend the country like slaves and serfs to till their land! Military pay was withheld, and soldiers deserted. When the Japanese pirates landed, there wasn't a single living sentry left on the coastal defense line!"

Finally, Judy Jun's pointer slammed heavily onto the fourth formation—[Flying Sprinkle of Strange Tales].

"The fourth mountain, the ultimate insidious scheme that forces ordinary people to become traitors! I've mentioned it before, but I'm bringing it up again because it's the most important of the four mountains that drive the people to rebellion!"

"These powerful and wealthy people forcibly distribute all the land tax revenue under their names to ordinary people; this is called 'spreading taxes freely'! Or they register their land under the names of poor people; this is called 'deceptive registration'! The rich don't pay a single penny, while the poor not only lose their land but also have to pay taxes for the powerful and wealthy!"

The red lights in the studio were flashing wildly, like the last gasps of the dying Ming Dynasty.

"The rich are exempt from taxes, while the poor are heavily taxed!"

Zhu Dijun roared, enunciating each word clearly.

"The mergers led to the collapse of the tax base, placing the entire burden on the poor. Farmers went bankrupt and turned to sea as pirates and guides. The garrisons collapsed, and the Japanese pirates landed as if in an empty field. The powerful coastal families themselves were smugglers, directly providing intelligence and supplies to the Japanese pirates, while also seizing land from the destitute!"

He grabbed the blackboard eraser and drew a huge infinite loop on the whiteboard.

"This is the ultimate formula for the massive outbreak of Japanese pirate raids in the thirty-second year of the Jiajing reign! This was a cannibalistic feast created by a bunch of powerful figures from Jiangnan! The Ming Dynasty was emptied out of existence by these beasts who only knew the Four Books and Five Classics!"

The parallel Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di sat on the dragon throne, his facial muscles twitching violently. His eyes had transcended anger, revealing an extreme coldness capable of freezing the heavens and earth.

"Of the ten garrisoned farms, only one-tenth remains... the fertile lands have all fallen into the hands of the powerful..."

Zhu Di muttered these words in a low voice, then suddenly let out a chilling laugh.

"Good, excellent. The officials, imperial relatives, powerful families, and even military generals supported by the Ming Dynasty are all digging up the roots of the Ming. The prosperity of Jiangnan is actually just sucking blood from the corpses of military households and common people."

Zhu Di's gaze slowly swept over Zhu Gaochi, who was kneeling below, and then over all the civil and military officials.

"The iron wall I forged during my northern expedition against the Mongols, stretching for thousands of miles, was torn apart from within by these people. Without such internal traitors, how could those mere Japanese invaders have dared to wreak havoc even a fraction on the territory of the Ming Dynasty!"

He issued the decree word by word.

"Ji Gang, take this imperial token. Investigate! Anyone in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty who has occupied military-run farmland or civilian land, regardless of who they are, will be executed without mercy!"

On the screen, Zhu Dijun's chest heaved violently, his breathing gradually calming down. He casually tossed the marker into the wastebasket, and the blood-red lights in the studio slowly dimmed, leaving only a pale spotlight shining on him.

"The Ming Dynasty was indeed utterly rotten."

Zhu Dijun's voice was extremely hoarse. "The smuggling tycoons, bloodsucking bureaucrats, and greedy royal family within the Ming Dynasty are tearing its lifeblood apart. In the north, Altan Khan has breached the Great Wall, and in the south, Japanese pirates are slaughtering the Jiangnan region. No matter how you look at it, this is a doomed situation."

He slowly raised his head, and a dazzling flame suddenly ignited in his eyes, particularly striking in the deathly shadows.

"But my family, the greatness of our Chinese history lies in the fact that even in dire straits, there are always those who dare to throw their lives into this dark abyss!"