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

The arguments presented in the live stream were like peeling an onion, layer by layer, sharp and piercing to the eyes.

Zhu Dijun changed the slide. It listed the three major policies for reforming the inner court and the channels of communication in the first year of the Longqing reign.

Abolished the corrupt practice of venerating Taoism. Encouraged open expression of opinions. Restrained the eunuchs.

"After these three decisive blows, scholars all over the country were writing poems to praise Emperor Muzong, saying that he was wise and had washed away the filth of the Jiajing era forty years."

Zhu Dijun crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Let's look at it point by point. Abolishing religious ceremonies and dismissing sorcerers. Is this the right thing to do? From the perspective of saving national finances, it is absolutely right. The amount of prayers burned every year and the incense, candles, and paper money consumed is indeed astronomical."

He changed the subject slightly.

"But after the imperial court reclaimed the estates granted to Taoism in various regions, were these lands distributed to landless peasants? A glance at the local chronicles reveals that the answer is always no. The lands reclaimed by the imperial court simply circulated around and became 'tax-free hidden lands' under the names of local gentry and retired civil officials. They plucked the emperor's wool from his pursuit of immortality and wove a warm coat for the scholar-officials."

Zhu Dijun tapped the edge of the table with his knuckles, the sound crisp and clear.

"Let's look at the second point. Relaxing restrictions on officials who dare to speak out and encouraging them to submit memorials to the emperor. What kind of tactic is this?"

He drew a balance scale on the whiteboard, writing "Imperial Power" on one side and "Civil Officials" on the other.

"When Jiajing was alive, he used court flogging and imperial prison to keep these censors in check; anyone who dared to falsely accuse others would be flogged. It was an extreme balancing act. Now Longqing has loosened the restrictions, supposedly encouraging the reporting of corruption. And what has been the result?"

Zhu Dijun pulled out several photocopies of imperial edicts from the Longqing era and pasted them directly in front of the camera.

"Look at what these censors are doing! They're not reporting local tyrants for annexing land, nor are they investigating border troops for withholding rations. They've turned this power into a weapon for factional infighting within the cabinet! Xu Jie wanted to bring down Gao Gong, so the censors launched a massive impeachment campaign against Gao Gong; Gao Gong wanted to retaliate, so the censors targeted Xu Jie's protégés. The channels for public opinion have been opened wide, but not to express public opinion; instead, they've given the civil service a green light to infighting and factionalism. The court has become a marketplace where whoever shouts the loudest and carries the most megaphones holds the truth."

A certain parallel universe.

Upon hearing this, the heavily pregnant Zhu Yijun dropped the walnut he was playing with onto his desk. He knew this pain all too well. His entire life had been so vilified by the censors that he dared not even enter the inner palace, and the process of establishing a crown prince who suited his own desires had dragged on for over a decade. These censors weren't serving the country; they were clearly a bunch of mad dogs drawing salaries from the court and standing up for their respective patrons.

In the live stream, a netizen claiming to be a history blogger couldn't help but jump out. A bold, red comment crossed the screen.

[Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng—weren't they all exceptionally talented? The anchor here uses conspiracy theories to dismantle the Longqing New Deal, portraying all the reform pioneers as corrupt officials and powerful figures—this is utter nihilism. Was it wrong to restrain eunuchs and prevent them from interfering in politics?]

As soon as this comment appeared, people quickly started following suit and creating a buzz.

Zhu Dijun looked at the screen, but instead of banning the account, he laughed out loud. It was a kind of disdain that came from seeing through someone's hand.

"Good question."

He pointed to the comment on the screen.

"Let's talk about restraining eunuchs."

"The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs was shrunk, and the eunuchs' authority over salt profits, mining taxes, and local military supervision was completely taken back. Historical records state that this move eliminated the hidden danger of eunuchs harming the country."

Zhu Dijun's speech quickened, carrying an extremely strong logical pressure.

"Let me ask you this: From beginning to end, whose interests did the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty represent?"

"emperor!"

"The emperor couldn't directly collect taxes from the people, and the civil officials in the Ministry of Revenue were always complaining about being poor and having no money in the national treasury. The eunuchs were just the emperor's front men for collecting money! Taking advantage of the Longqing New Policies, the civil official group drove the eunuchs back to the palace. What does this mean?"

Zhu Dijun slammed both palms heavily on the table.

"This means that the last tentacle of imperial power reaching the local level has been severed at the root! This means that the channels for increasing national revenue have been completely monopolized by civil officials." He pointed to the camera.

"You think the recovered mining and salt profits are subsidizing the national treasury? That's utter nonsense. Since the eunuchs aren't collecting them, the money from miners and salt smugglers is all going to local officials and powerful clans as 'protection money'! The court's tax revenue hasn't increased; on the contrary, it's getting poorer because of the embezzlement by civil officials. Driving away the eunuchs is the civil official group seizing financial power! It's not about the well-being of the people!"

The barrage of rebuttals instantly fell silent. Faced with cold, hard data, those history buffs couldn't find a single flaw in the arguments.

"Now that the political score is settled, let's look at the military."

Zhu Dijun pulled up a large map from the Ming Dynasty.

"Southeast and northwest, two lines. Let's talk about the southeast first." He pointed the laser pointer in his hand at the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian.

"Redundant coastal defense posts were abolished, and the navy was integrated. Qi Jiguang's conscription system was implemented. The defeat of the Japanese pirates was undoubtedly a genuine military achievement. There's no denying that."

Zhu Dijun changed the subject very quickly.

"But what happened after the war was quite interesting. The coastal areas no longer had large-scale permanent garrisons to suppress the Japanese pirates. Why? The official reason was that the Japanese pirate problem was solved, saving the imperial court military expenses. The real reason at the bottom was that the wealthy smugglers along the southeast coast had had enough of having so many regular troops loitering around their doorsteps every day."

"The army has withdrawn, and the navy has been reorganized. The seas now belong to the private fleets of those big landowners. They can build large ships at will and export silk and porcelain freely. While Qi Shaobao is fighting bloody battles to protect the country, these vampires are counting their black silver on calculators in the back."

"Let's look at the Northwest."

The laser pointer moved towards the Great Wall defense line. Xuanda and Jiliao.

"The military equipment of the nine border regions was reorganized, and the Great Wall was repaired. At the same time, the surrendered Mongol general Bahannaji was accepted, and peace was made with Altan Khan. This is the famous Longqing Peace Treaty, which ended decades of fighting between the two sides."

Zhu Dijun walked up to the whiteboard and drew a big question mark with a black pen.

"Trade between countries prevents war, which is good, isn't it? Of course it is. But let's look at it from a different angle. Who holds the dominant power in these trade markets?"

He wrote down three characters: Wang Chonggu.

"Wang Chonggu, the Governor-General of Xuanfu and Datong, was from Shanxi. Behind him stood the Shanxi merchants, a powerful interest group that later dominated the economic lifeline of northern China during the Ming and Qing dynasties."

Zhu Dijun's voice dropped eight octaves, revealing a chill.

"The border trade during the Longqing reign was completely liberalized. The Shanxi merchants, acting as middlemen, profited from the Ming Dynasty's textile and grain trade and then turned to profit from the price difference in Mongolian horses. With official permission, they became increasingly audacious and their network expanded. They discovered that smuggling weapons and gunpowder was far more profitable than selling tea."

"This was a commercial monopoly achieved through a military compromise. The defenses of Xuanfu and Datong appeared secure, but the border generals and merchants formed a massive alliance of interests. By the Wanli and Chongzhen reigns, this alliance had become the main force behind treason. Where did Nurhaci's Eight Banners cavalry get their weapons and provisions? They were smuggled out of the pass by these eight imperial merchants who had made their fortunes through the Longqing border trade!"

In a parallel era of the Ming Dynasty, during the final years of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, atop Coal Hill.

The wind rustled through the branches of the old, crooked tree. Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian, slumped to the ground, his hair disheveled, his eyes lifeless. Those high-ranking officials he had once relied on, those Shanxi merchants who claimed to share the nation's burdens—it turned out that back in his grandfather's generation, they had already put a price tag on this Ming dynasty.

He, the emperor, was nothing more than a clay or wooden sculpture guarding an empty treasury, easily fooled by this group of people.