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

An extremely bizarre reconstruction of an ancient scroll appeared on the holographic screen.

"One-way intelligence output is not enough. To completely destroy an empire, its core must be dismantled at the psychological level. Missionaries are well-versed in the psychological tactics used in European dynastic changes. Since the Ming Dynasty's treasury is empty and natural disasters are frequent, let's add fuel to the fire among the people."

Zhu Dijun opened the copy of the "1618 Jesuit China Yearbook" in his hand.

"Let's look at the reports left by Westerners themselves. This account is extremely shocking. In Shanxi Province during the Wanli era, a strange man in bizarre attire suddenly appeared. He wore a yellow robe and a green hat. This attire completely violated the rules of traditional Chinese clothing. This man ran wildly through the streets and alleys, holding a feather fan in his hand, and shouting along the way in an extremely miserable and panicked voice."

Zhu Dijun mimicked the rhythm of the words in the historical records. "What did he shout? 'The current emperor is ignorant of governing the country and is asleep in the palace. The country is doomed! The common people will starve to death, and the soldiers will die on the battlefield!' These words were like stabbing the Ming Dynasty in the back. This kind of vicious political prophecy spread wildly among the people of Shanxi, causing local prices to soar and people to be filled with fear."

"The local authorities ordered his arrest, but this strange man seemed to have vanished into thin air and could never be found again. Who is this person?"

Judy Jun slammed the annual report on the table.

"Westerners themselves readily admit that this strange man is an underground believer developed by their Jesuits! Missionaries used rare natural disasters and celestial changes to forcibly interpret them as the end of the Ming Dynasty's fate. This artificially created doomsday panic, like a virus, completely shattered the confidence of ordinary Ming people in the imperial court from the grassroots level."

A parallel universe set during the Chongzhen era. A cold wind blows like a knife atop Coal Hill.

Zhu Youjian leaned against the old crooked tree, listening to the report read from the sky, his hands and feet were ice cold.

"So that's how it is... So as early as the reigns of Emperor Shenzong and Emperor Shizong, these foreigners were already digging up the roots of the Ming Dynasty." Emperor Chongzhen closed his eyes, his tears drying on his dusty cheeks.

He recalled the Donglin officials around him after his ascension to the throne, who had vowed to improve firearms and introduce missionaries. He also remembered the submissive demeanor of Johann Adam Schall von Bell when he was having his fortune told and the stars analyzed at the Imperial Observatory.

"My court is full of ghosts. All the officials are puppets of foreigners. The Ming Dynasty not only perished at the hands of bandits, but also at the hands of these demons and monsters who collude with us."

In the studio, Zhu Dijun made his final prediction: "In the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the towering tree of the Ming Dynasty collapsed. Who took over?"

The large screen switched to display a court painting from the early Qing Dynasty. At the center of the painting stood an elderly European man dressed in Qing Dynasty official robes—Johann Adam Schall von Bell.

"During the Ming-Qing transition, when the Qing dynasty entered the pass, those Donglin Party members who had once proclaimed their loyalty to Confucius and Mencius in the Ming court lined up to kneel and welcome the Qing army in Nanjing. And what about our Jesuit friends?"

Zhu Dijun pointed to the portrait of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, his tone filled with extreme mockery.

"This Director of the Imperial Observatory of the Ming Dynasty smoothly transitioned into a favorite of the Qing Dynasty. Not only a favorite, but he became a guest of honor in the imperial family. In the early Qing Dynasty, foreigners enjoyed privileges in Beijing far exceeding those of Han Chinese. Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang recognized Johann Adam Schall von Bell as her godfather. When the young Shunzhi Emperor met him, he repeatedly called him 'Grandfather.' 'Grandfather' is a respectful term for one's grandfather in Manchu!"

"The Qing Empire, ruled by the Manchu Tartars, had its emperor calling a Western missionary 'Grandpa.' Is that absurd? Not at all. It was merely a ceremony to divide the spoils after a plundering deal that spanned half a century."

Judy Jun drew a huge pie chart of the spoils on the whiteboard.

"This was a three-way alliance. The Manchus, the Donglin Party (Jiangnan financial magnates), and the Jesuits (Western capital). These three joined forces and devoured the Ming Dynasty cleanly."

"The Manqing people obtained the most tangible land and ruling power, and occupied the Central Plains."

"The Donglin Party, these variants and compradors of the Pu family, thought they could return to the happy times of the Yuan Dynasty when landlords were in charge of taxes. They thought that as long as they shaved their heads, they wouldn't have to pay taxes on the land in Jiangnan and could still be their local emperors. Of course, later, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty consolidated its power, they slapped them in the face and carried out the Jiangnan Case, but that's another story of dogs fighting each other."

Zhu Dijun pressed his finger on the last section with such force that his knuckles even made a cracking sound.

"What did the foreigners take? The West took away the scientific and cultural achievements that China had accumulated over thousands of years from the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties! Those rare books on medicine, agriculture, geography, and surveying were shipped to Europe ship by ship. These academic achievements became the underlying nourishment for Europe to start the modern industrial revolution and achieve a technological explosion."

The live stream's chat section was now completely polarized. The backlash had become extremely vicious.

"That's complete nonsense! The Qing dynasty was conquered by the Eight Banners cavalry, what does it have to do with Westerners?"

["Europe's technological explosion was due to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment; stop trying to glorify those outdated Chinese technologies!"]

Zhu Dijun coldly observed these comments, which were highly whitewashing in nature. He didn't continue arguing, but instead used his backend privileges to send several scanned copies of "The Complete History of the Chinese Empire" compiled by the French Jesuit missionary Du Halde to the pinned link in the public chat.

"Those who constantly talk about Europe's endogenous development and the remnants of Manchu culture should go and read it themselves. Westerners themselves have written in black and white in their books how they copied porcelain-making techniques from the Ming Dynasty of China, how they translated agricultural irrigation machinery, and how they applied the Ming Dynasty bureaucratic system to reform their messy European administrative system."

He threw the water bottle in his hand forcefully toward the recycling bin behind the podium. The empty plastic bottle traced an arc and landed precisely in it.

"People like Xu Guangqi are enshrined on pedestals. Johann Adam Schall von Bell is portrayed as an envoy spreading civilization. Xu Jie used assassination to destroy the internal reform mechanisms of the Ming Dynasty. When you peel back the filter of this history, all you see is the exchange of interests between compradors and colonizers amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood."

Zhu Dijun rested his hands on the edge of the table, facing millions of viewers.

"The reason why the Ming Dynasty deserves our deep regret is that it was no longer facing the traditional knocking of nomadic tribes, but rather the dimensional infiltration of early-stage barbarian capitalism and the complete rebellion of the comprador class within the country. The defense system established by the Zhu family was dismantled into pieces by its own people in this strangulation by a mixture of money and theology."

"Moreover, besides Xu Jie and Xu Guangqi, those two beasts in human form, there was someone else helping the barbarians invade. That person was Qu Taisu, the son of Qu Jingchun."

Qu Jingchun passed the imperial examination in the 23rd year of Jiajing (1544) and served as an important official in the Jiajing reign, including compiler of the Hanlin Academy, reader, Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

It is worth mentioning that Qu Jingchun was also one of the famous "Four Remonstrances of the Jiajing Emperor" in Ming Dynasty history. In the mid-Jiajing period, he and several other officials became famous in the court and among the people for daring to speak frankly and remonstrate, and for impeaching powerful ministers such as Yan Song.