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

Zhu Dijun tapped the half-empty bottle of Nongfu Spring water on the podium, and the water rippled inside the plastic bottle.

"Alright, family members. You must not think that at this critical juncture in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing's reign, the group of upright civil officials led by Xu Jie was trying to kill just the Prince Jing, who was tyrannical in the De'an region."

He picked up a marker and drew a line on the whiteboard that went backwards, marking the end with "[Forty-third year of Jiajing]".

"We need to move beyond the limitations of palace intrigue and look at the macro background of the Ming Dynasty. As we've discussed at length before, in the 43rd year of the Jiajing reign, Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou completely wiped out the last large-scale Japanese pirates and other pirate groups on Nan'ao Island in Guangdong. The southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty ushered in a long-awaited period of peace and tranquility."

Zhu Dijun turned around, put down his pen, and braced his hands on the edge of the control panel, his gaze sharp.

"The common people are setting off firecrackers to celebrate, and congratulatory telegrams are being sent from the capital. Think about it: how did Xu Jie and his fellow upright officials, whose homes and roots are in Jiangnan, feel when they saw the reports of the great victory against the Japanese pirates?"

A few words floated across the live stream chat: happy, relieved, finally no more war tax to pay.

Zhu Dijun let out an extremely short, cold sneer.

"Wrong, terribly wrong. They hate! They hate it so much they grit their teeth in bed! They hate Qi Jiguang for meddling, but they hate even more the Jiajing Emperor who sat in the Western Garden and refused to budge on opening the sea!"

A golden, high-level comment popped up. The account named "Guardian of Ming History" was alerted again.

[“Stop illogical, anchor. Historical records show that most of the supplies for the anti-Japanese pirate campaign came from the gentry of Jiangnan. The pirates were driven away, and the gentry of Jiangnan preserved their property and fertile land. What reason did they have to hate Jiajing? Civil officials also made great contributions in planning from the rear. You're ignoring basic human decency just to grab attention.”]

Zhu Dijun stared at the comment for two seconds, then casually loosened the collar of his dark gray shirt.

"Brother Ming History, the history books you read are too clean, lacking the harsh realities of society. Today, I'll use the most basic human nature to shatter your superficial theories."

At Zhu Dijun's command, the holographic screen displayed a map of smuggling trade routes along the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty. Red lines intertwined between Songjiang, Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Yuegang, extending towards Japan and Southeast Asia.

"What was the true nature of the Japanese pirate raids during the Jiajing reign? It was an armed uprising by wealthy smuggling magnates from Jiangnan, disguised as pirates. A large portion of the ships that robbed ships at sea were backed by powerful and influential families like Xu Jie's in Jiangnan. With the maritime ban in place, legitimate trade was impossible, and smuggling profits reached 300% to 500%!"

The infrared laser pointer's beam landed on the coordinates of Songjiang Prefecture.

"During the Japanese pirate raids, this group of civil officials enjoyed three unparalleled advantages. First, they made a fortune through smuggling. With the government army tied down by the pirates and the navy in disarray, their smuggling ships could sail freely. Second, they resisted paying taxes. When the imperial court sent officials to collect agricultural taxes from the southeast, local officials would simply write: 'The Japanese pirate raids have caused widespread devastation, and the people are displaced; we request that taxes be waived.' The money remained in the local areas, but where did it end up? In the pockets of the gentry!"

Zhu Dijun walked to the whiteboard and wrote two penetrating characters: 【兼併】.

"The third, and most bloody, reason is that ordinary people, fearing robbery by the Japanese pirates, were driven to desperation and forced to register their land under the names of high-ranking officials like the Xu family, who were exempt from taxes, at low prices or even for free, selling themselves into slavery for protection. While the pirates were killing people outside, the gentry were feasting inside. This is why, despite over a decade of fighting the pirates, the fertile land owned by the major landowners in Jiangnan actually increased in value exponentially!"

He tapped the blackboard, raising his voice.

"By the forty-third year of the Jiajing reign, Qi Jiguang and his gang of hotheads had completely overturned the table. The Japanese pirates had been physically exorcised, and the Ming navy had once again blockaded the seas. This meant that the largest hidden source of income for the Jiangnan civil official group had been cut off! The pretext of annexing land during the war was gone! The imperial tax officials would soon be coming down with their account books to re-measure the land!"

In the live stream, the dissenting comments fell silent. As netizens followed this extremely cold-blooded logic of self-interest, a chill ran down their spines.

"Qi Jiguang and his men had guns and cannons, and the civil officials couldn't do anything about it for the time being. This heinous blood debt of cutting off people's livelihoods and destroying their jobs can only be attributed to the reigning emperor, Jiajing."

Zhu Dijun spread his hands.

"The entire Jiangnan interest group behind Xu Jie reached a consensus. Yan Song and his son were only greedy for money. As long as Emperor Jiajing died, the seas were not opened, and they were not purged, their commercial empire could not be rebuilt."

A parallel universe of the Ming Dynasty. The Hongwu reign.

On the blue bricks of Fengtian Hall, all the civil and military officials bowed their heads.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat upright on the dragon throne, his withered fingers holding a jade ruyi.

"A brilliant scheme. A truly brilliant scheme. No wonder he's a cunning old fox in the officialdom, a former Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). His more than 20 years of being a lackey haven't been in vain."

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke in a low voice.

Li Shanchang stood below, a chill running down his spine. He knew this founding emperor all too well. The calmer Zhu's tone, the stronger his murderous intent.

"Even civil officials can play the game of nurturing enemies to enhance their own power. Back then, we thought only military generals with troops stationed abroad would use foreign enemies as bargaining chips to threaten the court. Who would have thought that these pedantic scholars who only know how to use their pens would treat the common people like dirt when they play this game."

Zhu Yuanzhang placed the jade ruyi on the table.

"For the sake of their own smuggled silver, they allowed the Japanese pirates to burn, kill, and plunder for decades. When the emperor quelled the pirates, instead of expressing gratitude, they contemplated regicide."

Zhu Biao stepped forward and bowed in greeting.

"Father, the morals of the scholars in Jiangnan have deteriorated to such an extent that we must take precautions. Your son humbly requests a thorough investigation of the provincial administration offices of Liangzhe and Fujian, and that all those who collude with maritime merchants be severely punished without exception."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Biao and shook his head.

"Investigate? Their bookkeeping skills are better than anyone else's. That bastard Zhu Houcong has been cultivating immortality and refining elixirs for forty years, and the foundation of the Ming Dynasty has long been hollowed out by these worms. Now these worms have fattened up and want to turn around and devour their master."

A parallel universe set in the Ming Dynasty. The Chongzhen era.

The old, crooked tree on Coal Hill swayed in the cold wind. Zhu Youjian, wrapped in a tattered cotton robe, sat on a pile of withered grass, his eyes bloodshot.

The phrase "taking advantage of the war to annex land" on the sky pierced his heart.

"Smuggling...land annexation..."

Chongzhen's voice was hoarse, and he chuckled dryly a few times.

He recalled the Donglin Party, whom he trusted implicitly, after Wei Zhongxian's death. Those people had cried poverty in court, claiming the people of Jiangnan were suffering terribly, and forced him to abolish commercial and industrial taxes. Then, when the Jurchens invaded and bandits rose up everywhere, they again blocked him from increasing taxes on wealthy merchants, forcing him to impose the additional quotas on the poorest northern farmers.

The country was ravaged by bandits, but the Donglin Party, those cold-blooded gentlemen, remained incredibly wealthy in their estates in Jiangnan.

"They're all in cahoots. Xu Jie of the Jiajing era and Qian Qianyi of my court are all birds of a feather!"

Zhu Youjian grabbed a handful of snow-covered soil and squeezed it tightly in his palm.

"They never truly considered the Ming Dynasty their country. They only had their own home!"

In the studio, Zhu Dijun's analysis and deduction entered a more complex phase.

"Killing the emperor is a business that involves the extermination of nine generations of one's family. Even a powerful minister like Xu Jie wouldn't dare to openly send assassins to the Western Garden."

Zhu Dijun typed on the holographic keyboard, and a panoramic map of Xiyuan was projected behind him.

"When powerful ministers want to usurp the throne or kill the emperor, they usually use only two methods, which can be found throughout history: either slow-acting poison or creating an extremely 'reasonable' accident."

The infrared cursor landed in a corner of the map. Daming Gate, West Thousand-Step Corridor.

"Heaven did not keep Xu Jie waiting long. In March of the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, a great fire fulfilled the long-planned scheme of the Qingliu civil official group to kill two birds with one stone."

Zhu Dijun wrote six large characters on the whiteboard with a red marker: "[Borrowing the will of Heaven to create a killing trap]".

"Gentlemen, this fire, which even official history avoids mentioning, is about to become the most vicious political weapon in the Ming Dynasty court."