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

The atmosphere in the studio became extremely tense. Zhu Dijun took a sip of water, the water rippling in the plastic bottle.

"When people mention the Jesuits, their first reaction is often missionaries and scientists. Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, Giulio Aleni. In history textbooks, these people are labeled with Euclid's Elements, the Chongzhen Calendar, and advanced Western artillery technology. They are portrayed as benevolent figures spreading the seeds of science."

Judy Jun wrote down "[1534, Jesuits]" heavily on the whiteboard.

"Let's peel back this veil of warmth and see what kind of organization this really is. The Jesuits were founded by the Spanish in 1534. Go and look up world history. What was Spain doing in the 16th century? The Age of Exploration—acquiring land all over the world, establishing colonies, engaging in the slave trade, and massacring Native Americans. In fact, those so-called Native Americans overseas were descendants of the Han Chinese. A religious organization that emerged from such an extreme colonial empire—do you really expect them to cross oceans to the East just to teach the people of the Ming Dynasty geometry?"

"Absurd! It's true that Jesuit missionaries study theology. But their primary identity upon setting foot on Ming soil is that of war spies with political and military ambitions. Their mission is to infiltrate the upper echelons, map out maps, and ascertain the economic and military structure of the Ming Dynasty."

A scanned image of the original letter pops up on the large screen.

"Don't believe me? Look at this. A top-secret letter from Matteo Ricci to the King of Spain. It clearly advises the Spanish royal family that they only need to send a small fleet of musketeers to easily conquer the Ming Dynasty's coast. You call this cultural exchange? This is a plan for invasion!"

The dissenting voices in the live stream grew weaker and weaker. With the bloody original files laid out before them, any attempt to defend the situation seemed pale and powerless.

Since the evidence is irrefutable, a blatant attempt to whitewash it won't work, but they'll have to pay more. What if helping to whitewash it with so little money ruins my own image? How am I supposed to survive here?

Zhu Dijun stepped down from the podium, stood in front of the holographic map, and gestured with his hands to show a flight route from Macau to Japan.

"Let's rewind the timeline to the Imjin War in the 20th year of the Wanli reign. That was the national war in which the Ming Dynasty resisted Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea."

"Before the outbreak of this war, where did Toyotomi Hideyoshi get the audacity to boast that he could conquer the Ming Dynasty in three months with the power of an island nation? Besides the fact that he was a madman, there was also a crucial intelligence source backing him up."

He pointed to a name on the screen: Luo Mingjian.

"The Portuguese missionary Michele Ruggieri. He arrived earlier than Matteo Ricci. He was active in the Guangdong area, befriending local officials and chatting with Ming Dynasty scholars every day. But behind the scenes, this foreigner was doing top-secret intelligence gathering. He wrote a detailed national condition assessment report on the number of troops stationed in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, the aging of weapons and equipment, and the collapse of the garrison system."

Zhu Dijun tapped the edge of the screen with his knuckles.

"Where was this report sent? To Japan!"

Historical fragments from Japan's Sengoku period appeared on the right side of the large screen.

"It is clearly recorded in the original Japanese documents. The Jesuits passed on Luo Mingjian's intelligence to Toyotomi Hideyoshi through their missionaries in Japan. The intelligence denigrated the fighting strength of the Ming army to the dust, saying that 'the Ming army's military preparations were lax, the officers were afraid of fighting, and a few hundred Japanese ronin could sweep through several prefectures and counties in Southern Zhili.'"

"Upon receiving this report, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was brimming with confidence. A large number of Japanese naval and land forces subsequently landed in Busan. It can be said that the devastation on the Korean Peninsula, the Ming Dynasty's expenditure of tens of millions of taels of silver on military expenses, and the deaths of tens of thousands of elite soldiers in foreign lands were all caused by the decisive role played by the Jesuit intelligence agency in fanning the flames."

Parallel universe. In a certain Zhengde reign, at the Leopard Chamber.

Zhu Houzhao was holding a jade pendant in his hand. Upon hearing this, he exerted force with his fingers and forcefully cracked the edge of the jade pendant.

The extremely martial emperor suddenly stood up and paced back and forth on the expensive carpet.

"Take our Ming Dynasty's mountains and rivers and defenses and give them to the Japanese pirates as a pledge of allegiance."

Zhu Houzhao gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. "On the surface, they wear Confucian robes and imitate the etiquette of the Central Plains, but secretly they're surveying our empire, scheming how a few thousand musketeers can storm Nanjing. I shouldn't have left that little piece of land in Macau to the Portuguese. Those who are not of our race will surely have different hearts!"

"The Four Barbarians' Inn should be abolished immediately, and the four barbarians here must be eliminated immediately."

Zhu Houzhao turned to look at his trusted aide beside him.

"Issue an order to the Ministry of War! Conduct a thorough investigation of foreign trade dealings with the coastal maritime trade offices. Anyone found to have privately drawn maps or probed the strength of the garrison should be beheaded on the spot, without further interrogation!"

In a parallel universe during the Hongwu reign.

Zhu Yuanzhang held a teacup, his cold face reflected in the water.

"The Four Barbarian Institution, the Pu family—we've dug a bottomless pit for future generations. It should be closed. The remaining members of the Pu family shouldn't be exiled; they should all be killed, especially the women. The 'deer antler culture's maternal nest? Let's destroy it!"

In the studio, Zhu Dijun continued this extremely scathing analysis.

"Although the Ming Dynasty won the Imjin War, the national treasury was completely emptied. This provided the Jesuits with the perfect opportunity for their second phase of infiltration."

He returned to the console and pulled up a list of cabinet members. "Entering the mid-to-late Wanli period, under the leadership of traitors like Xu Guangqi, who were promoted to power, Jesuit missionaries successfully infiltrated the Ming court and central government. Under the guise of revising the calendar and manufacturing cannons, they gained access to the highest secrets of the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Observatory."

Zhu Dijun's eyes were like searchlights, directly targeting the millions of viewers in the live broadcast room.

"You think they built cannons to prolong the life of the Ming Dynasty? You're too naive. The missionaries created a cloud-based shared database containing cannon blueprints, gunpowder formulas, and city defense plans for the northern part of the Ming Dynasty."

He drew three lines on the whiteboard, connecting them in three different directions.

"These top-secret intelligence reports were continuously copied and sent by the Jesuits. To whom were they sent? To the Later Jin beyond the Great Wall! To the Buryat wild boar skin, and to Li Zicheng, who was roaming within the country! Whoever could give the Jesuits the greatest convenience for missionary work in China, whoever could promise them more generous privileges, they would sell out the Ming Dynasty to!"

"Before the Ming Dynasty's defenses were physically breached by the Jurchens, they were already riddled with holes in terms of intelligence and technology by these European spies disguised in religious garb."