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

The studio's overhead light cast an extremely harsh, cold white beam, pinning Zhu Dijun's shadow firmly to the holographic whiteboard behind him.

He didn't speak, but grabbed the blackboard eraser and wiped away all the writing from the previous lesson about Yan Song's downfall. Chalk dust fell in a flurry, landing on the black podium like burnt paper money.

"End of previous recap."

Zhu Dijun tossed aside the blackboard eraser, put his hands in his pockets, leaned slightly forward, and stared at the camera.

"The Yan Party, which had dominated the Ming Dynasty for twenty years, has fallen, and the Qingliu Group has finally emerged victorious. Ladies and gentlemen, today we'll dig into what earth-shattering 'good deeds' these self-proclaimed literati, full of benevolence and morality, actually did in their first year of absolute power."

He pulled out a marker and wrote six large characters in the center of the whiteboard: "The affairs of the court are decided at the gate."

"This is a direct quote from the 'Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong of Ming.' What does it mean? It means that Xu Jie, the Grand Secretary, now has the final say in the affairs of the Ming court."

Judy Jun scoffed coldly.

"It has been two years since Yan Song was kicked out. In these two years, Xu Jieqian's core work has been only one thing: a systematic purge. All those in the Six Ministries, the Nine Ministers, and the local governors and viceroys who had any connection with the Yan family, whether they had given gifts or dined with them, were either dismissed or exiled."

A holographic screen unfolded behind them, displaying a densely packed personnel schedule of Ming Dynasty officials. The red names of the Yan faction were crossed out one by one and replaced with green labels indicating integrity.

"With the people emptied out, who will fill the positions? The ministers and vice ministers of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works have all been replaced by Xu Jie's protégés and former subordinates! In the cabinet, pure-blooded upright officials like Li Chunfang and Yan Ne have been promoted to the cabinet. The cabinet has been completely purged into a single-color interest group."

Zhu Dijun walked to the side of the screen and tapped his knuckles on one of the most dazzling names—[Zhang Juzheng].

"One person must be mentioned here. In the second year of Zhang Juzheng's entry into the cabinet, as Xu Jie's most favored student, he had already become the de facto second-in-command of the Ming Dynasty. How do history books evaluate their relationship? 'He consulted him on everything.' Xu ​​Jie would consult Zhang Juzheng on anything he couldn't make up his mind. This teacher and student duo held the highest decision-making power in the Ming Dynasty."

"In January, Yang Bo was appointed Minister of War, ostensibly to reorganize the Beijing garrison and border defenses. In September, the performance evaluation regulations for border governors and viceroys were revised. Do you understand this series of moves? He holds the power of personnel appointments, reshuffles the power of evaluation, and the Qingliu faction remains as stable as a rock throughout the court."

A parallel Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Inside the Fengtian Hall, the air was so cold that water froze into ice.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat upright on the dragon throne, his withered fingers rhythmically tapping the imperial desk. "Form factions," the old Zhu uttered, his words dripping with chilling murderous intent.

"Xu Jie, under the guise of overthrowing Yan, has actually turned the court into his own personal fiefdom."

Li Shanchang stood at the lower end, sweat beading on his forehead.

"When Yan Song was in power, there were people like Xu Jie in the court who fought against him."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered.

"Now that Xu Jie has taken power, the entire cabinet is full of his cronies. The imperial power is isolated and helpless. Can't that blind, immortal Zhu Houcong see this situation of civil officials dominating the country?!"

Or perhaps...

Zhu Yuanzhang saw things very clearly. Although factional strife wasted national resources, once the strife ended and one side became dominant, the next thing to be sidelined would inevitably be the imperial power.

He could see it all clearly. Zhu Houcong, this future descendant, had been emperor for 40 years. Could he not see it clearly? Then the worst-case scenario was that he had already been sidelined by this time!

On the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice interrupted Old Zhu's thoughts.

"Everyone must be wondering, while the Qingliu are frantically expanding their territory, what is our Great Ming Emperor doing?" Zhu Dijun made a few moves on the control panel, and the screen display changed.

There are no battles or carnage, no widespread famine. The scene depicts an extremely luxurious, mist-shrouded royal garden.

"The Jiajing Emperor is currently hiding in the deep palace of the Western Garden, rarely seeing his court officials. The only people who keep him company every day are Taoist priests and a few sycophantic close ministers."

Judy Jun's tone was extremely mocking.

"Ordinary people can't even afford to eat, the country is in such a terrible state, what is this immortal cultivation boss busy with? He's busy celebrating auspicious omens!"

"In April! Four stars aligned in the sky, falling in the position of the Willow constellation. In astronomy, this is called a natural phenomenon. When it came to the Jiajing Emperor, his ministers submitted a memorial, saying that this was an extremely auspicious omen sent down by Heaven!"

"May will be even more amazing!"

Zhu Dijun kicked the side of the podium, his voice rising, "Several immortal peaches suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the palace! Then, the palace's white rabbit gave birth to two baby rabbits, and its deer gave birth to two fawns!"

He spread his hands, facing the camera, his expression utterly absurd.

"This is such a trivial matter! In the countryside, it's just a routine matter of poultry breeding, but the Ming Dynasty court regarded it as an auspicious omen of longevity! The emperor was overjoyed, and all the officials wrote celebratory poems! On one side were millions of disaster victims and refugees from the southeast and north, and on the other side were a group of high-ranking officials in the Forbidden City, who were studying the classics, singing praises to two rabbits that had just given birth!"

The parallel Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty.

"Hahaha--"

Zhu Houzhao spat out a mouthful of wine directly onto the table, laughing so hard he clutched his stomach and rolled around on the floor.

"A rabbit giving birth... an auspicious sign of longevity..."

This most unconventional emperor in the history of the Ming Dynasty laughed through his tears. He pointed to the sky, then turned to look at a group of eunuchs.

"Did you hear that? Back when I built the Leopard Lodge to raise tigers and leopards, those civil officials in court blocked the gate every day, cursing me as a foolish ruler! They accused me of indulging in frivolous pursuits and neglecting my duties!"

Zhu Houzhao stood up unsteadily and kicked the wine pot at his feet.

"Now it's my good cousin's turn! He keeps a white rabbit in the palace to have babies, and these civil officials don't criticize him anymore; instead, they kneel on the ground and shout 'Long live the Emperor!' These cowardly, bullying, and utterly illogical literati have truly mastered the art of double standards!"

In the studio, Zhu Dijun casually picked up a bottle of mineral water and took a sip to moisten his throat, which was still full of gunpowder.

"Jiajing was indeed weary of state affairs; he relinquished all power over daily matters to Xu Jie." Zhu Dijun put down his water bottle, and an infrared laser pointer drew a glaring red line on the screen.

"However, please don't think that Jiajing has been sidelined. This old fox is very shrewd. He can move personnel around as he pleases, but he holds the two most core things of the Ming Dynasty firmly in his hands."

"The first is military power, the second is money."

"Anything involving border troop movements and military expenditures must be approved by him personally. No matter how powerful Xu Jie was, he could only obediently act as an accountant in the face of these two red lines."

Zhu Dijun turned off the auspicious image, and the large screen instantly went black, leaving only a few account books that reeked of blood.

"Since we've brought up money, let's take a look at what kind of mess the upright official Xu Jie inherited."

He slammed his knuckles against the table.

"With the rise of the Qingliu faction, can they revive the Ming Dynasty's economy? Let me expose the first year's financial statements to you."