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

The Ming Dynasty, in a certain parallel universe

Early winter of the 45th year of the Jiajing reign.

Heavy snow covered the glazed tiles of the Forbidden City, and the wind howled along the frozen surface of Taiye Pond, as if playing funeral music for the impending power transition of the Ming Dynasty.

Outside the Western Garden Abode, the secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who used to patrol had long been eliminated. In their place stood the elite troops of the Qi Family Army, wielding wolf-tooth rakes and long spears. Thousands of border soldiers, clad in gleaming iron armor, surrounded the royal Taoist temple so tightly that not even a bird could escape. The clanging of armor shattered the winter tranquility of the capital.

Inside the study, the floor heating system was scalding hot.

Contrary to Xu Jie's plan, Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong, did not lie on his sickbed coughing up blood and awaiting death. This empire's ruler, draped in a crane-feather cloak, sat upright on a couch covered with a tiger skin. His withered fingers gripped a jade ruyi, the edges of his nails faintly tinged with purplish-blue, and a murderous glint flickered in his eyes.

Beside the couch, Prince Yu, Zhu Zaihou, knelt on the ground, clutching a tiger tally that could mobilize troops in the capital tightly in his arms. Sweat made the lifeless object scalding hot.

On the cold, gold-brick floor, Xu Jie, the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhang Juzheng, the Junior Chamberlain, were forced to kneel at the foot of the steps by two burly border generals, their arms bound behind their backs. Xu Jie's official hat had rolled off his head, and his gray hair was disheveled. This old fox, who had endured twenty years and plotted a coup for ten months, was now struggling to even breathe.

A few steps away from them stood Hu Zongxian, who had been secretly brought out of the imperial prison. Still in his prison clothes, Hu Zongxian stood ramrod straight, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the group of civil officials who had nearly taken his life. The Vice Grand Secretary Gao Gong stood in a corner, his hand tightly gripping his court tablet, his chest heaving violently, his breathing so heavy it could extinguish a candle.

"The old imperial calendar has been turned over, Grand Secretary Xu."

Jiajing tapped on the low table, his voice hoarse, revealing the sickly state left by years of cultivating immortality, yet also carrying a sharp, vicious edge.

"At the exact time you calculated, the Imperial Hospital cut off my strong medicine, and the entire Directorate of Ceremonial was filled with your spies from Songjiang Prefecture. How ingeniously you set up this assassination plot! Just a hair's breadth away from it, this old body of mine would have had to comply with your wishes and go to meet our ancestors according to the edict you wrote in the duty room."

Xu Jie pressed his cheek against the floor tiles, struggling to steady his trembling body. The moment Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, those two killing gods, led their armies into the capital under cover of darkness, he knew he had revealed all his trump cards. But he didn't want to die, and he couldn't bear the death penalty for usurping the throne and murdering the emperor.

"Your Majesty...this old minister is innocent."

Xu Jie's voice was dry and weak as he barely raised his head to meet Jiajing's gaze.

"All my actions have been in accordance with the will of Heaven. When Hai Rui arrogantly insulted the Emperor, I defended him in every way to preserve Your Majesty's reputation for not killing upright officials! The reason Your Majesty's elixirs were stopped was because the imperial physicians diagnosed lead poisoning. I did all this for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and for leaving a glimmer of hope for the people!"

"Pooh!"

Gao Gong spat a mouthful of phlegm onto the blue brick in front of Xu Jie. This hot-tempered second minister pointed at Xu Jie's nose and launched into a tirade:

"How dare you speak such nonsense, you old scoundrel! Above the heavens, Zhu Dijun, the descendant of the Prince of Zhao, the future Prince of Zhao, speaks clearly in every word! You formed cliques for personal gain, colluded with landlords in Jiangnan to conceal land taxes, and manipulated the Ministry of Revenue to empty the national treasury. Is this what you call acting for the sake of the people? It's one thing to frame Yan Shifan by using heavenly fire, but you even tried to tamper with the Emperor's daily records and plotted to unleash a flood that would inundate the capital! The lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the capital were murdered in this way. I am ashamed to stand in the court with a beast in human clothing like you!"

Jiajing waved his hand, stopping Gao Gong's cursing. He straightened up, leaning on the armrest, and a cruel sneer appeared on his withered lips.

"I admit I'm a blind cultivator who brings ruin to the country and its people. But what about you, Xu Huating? What kind of filthy thing are you?"

Jiajing leaned forward abruptly, his voice rising sharply like the shriek of an owl.

"The common people? The Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture, the Pu family of Pu Shougeng! Your ancestors dug up the imperial tombs of the Song Dynasty in Quanzhou, selling Han people to the Mongol barbarians like sheep, in exchange for the Pu family's immense wealth and power during the Yuan Dynasty! Now you, this ungrateful scum, have donned the skin of Confucianism and Mencius, and infiltrated the position of Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty. Do you intend to take my life again to exchange it for your eternal dynasty from those blond-haired, blue-eyed Western devils?!"

After these words were spoken, the hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Xu Jie's face, which had been stubbornly maintaining its composure, turned deathly pale and ashen upon hearing the name "Pu Shougeng," resembling a piece of rotting flesh. The family secrets he had painstakingly concealed for decades, top secrets unknown even to his closest disciple Zhang Juzheng, were now exposed to the public by the Emperor.

Registered residence under a false name. An entire family of lowly scions. This is a capital crime punishable by death by a thousand cuts and confiscation of property under the Ming Dynasty's legal code!

Zhang Juzheng knelt to one side, stiffly turning his head to look at Xu Jie, whom he regarded as his political mentor.

"Master...is what His Majesty said true?"

Zhang Juzheng's throat tightened, and his voice trembled with tears. He was determined to reform the long-standing problems and restore the Ming Dynasty, but the fact that his guide was a foreign comprador was worse than being skinned alive.

As a result, he became a villain even if he wasn't originally one.

Xu Jie closed his eyes, his jaw muscles twitched, and he couldn't utter a single word.

"You don't need to look at him."

Jiajing coldly glanced at Zhang Juzheng.

"Zhang Juzheng, you're no better. Your Single Whip Law has caused immense suffering to the Ming Dynasty's border troops and civilians. You scholars pride yourselves on being upright and virtuous, always spouting benevolence and morality, but when it comes to your own interests, what do you care about the distinction between Chinese and barbarians! Hu Zongxian, you tell him what the accounts of the southeastern coast looked like after Yan Song's downfall."

Hu Zongxian stepped forward, his voice hoarse:

"Your Majesty, since my imprisonment, the coastal defenses of Jiangnan have been rendered ineffective. Smuggling ships in the Songjiang and Ningbo areas, flying the banner of Grand Secretary Xu, openly guide armed merchant ships of the Portuguese and Portuguese to shore! They exempt them from commercial taxes and rampantly trade in contraband military supplies. Most of the Japanese pirates I suppressed were supported by the money of these wealthy gentry in Jiangnan!"

"This is the teaching of the sage that you speak of."

Jiajing waved his hand.

Two Imperial Guards dragged a man stripped of his official robes and disheveled, like a dead dog, to the steps. This man was none other than Qu Jingchun, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, who was later hailed as one of the "Four Remonstrances of the Jiajing Emperor."

Jiajing stared at the lump of mud on the ground, his tone filled with extreme disgust:

"Lord Qu, you have earned a great reputation for speaking frankly and offering honest advice. But what about your good son, Qu Taisu? For personal gain, he not only betrayed me, but he actually went to become a collaborator with those Westerners, teaching them how to switch allegiance and infiltrate our Great Ming! You Jiangnan scholars, you've sold out your ancestors and your people, your very bones are filled with the pus of corrupt compradors!"

Qu Jingchun lay prostrate on the ground, trembling violently, his shirt soaked with cold sweat. That day, when the truth was revealed to be Xu Jie's perverse actions, he had secretly rejoiced at being among the upright officials. Who would have thought that the guillotine of misfortune would soon hang over his own neck?

"My son."

Jiajing turned to look at Prince Yu, who had remained silent.

Zhu Zaihou quickly crawled forward on his knees, his teeth chattering softly.

"Your subject is here."

"Look carefully."

Jiajing pointed at Xu Jie, Qu Jingchun, and the others lying on the ground, "These are the pillars of the Ming Dynasty who have been treating you like clay, claiming they would help you ascend the throne. Today, I will sweep away these parasites for you. Go, arrest all those censors and officials outside who are still crying and pleading for mercy! Anyone who pleads for Xu Jie will be charged with treason and collusion with the enemy, skinned alive, stuffed with straw, and hung at the Meridian Gate!"

"Act immediately, or things will change!"

Prince Yu's Adam's apple bobbed as he presented the military tally with both hands and kowtowed heavily. He stood up, and his previously timid gaze finally softened with the fierce ruthlessness befitting a prince of the Zhu family. Retreating to the palace gate, he raised the tally high and gave the order to Qi Jiguang:

"Seal off the nine gates! Arrest them! Kill them!"

The order to kill was given, and heavy footsteps and pitiful pleas for mercy quickly echoed outside the palace. Jiajing leaned back on the cushions, coldly watching Xu Jie being dragged out by the hair by the border soldiers.

"Keep their tongues. I want them to see for themselves how many more of their shameful secrets their descendants will reveal in the future."