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

The break is over in ten minutes.

The live stream signal was reconnected. Zhu Dijun had changed into a black hoodie, the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, and was holding a marker that was half worn down in his hand.

"You're back. Let's continue our discussion of the fourth year of the Longqing reign."

He wrote "1570" and "the fourth year of the Longqing reign" on the whiteboard.

"The most exciting thing in the Ming court that year was that a young Mongol man came to surrender. But before we talk about that, we have to talk about something else first—Gao Gong's 'New Examination System'. This thing was the main theme of politics in the fourth year of the Longqing reign. If you don't understand it, you won't understand anything else."

Zhu Dijun drew a box on the whiteboard and wrote the three words "Performance Evaluation Law".

"What is the performance evaluation system? To put it bluntly, it's a KPI assessment for officials. Local governors, prefectural and county officials have to quantify their annual revenue, border defense, and public security into performance indicators. If they fail to meet the targets, they are demoted, dismissed, or kicked out."

He tapped the whiteboard.

"Sounds quite modern and scientific, right? Historical records highly praise this system, saying that Gao Gong used it to eradicate local inaction, remove corrupt and incompetent officials, and greatly improve administrative efficiency."

Zhu Dijun switched the marker to his left hand and drew an arrow next to "Performance Evaluation Law," pointing to another box—"Personnel Power."

"Here's the problem. Who sets the evaluation criteria? Gao Gong's cabinet. Who makes the final decision on the evaluation results? Gao Gong himself. So, is this still a neutral administrative tool?"

He held up two fingers.

"Two hidden lines. First, the tax quotas. The tax assessment quotas for Suzhou, Songjiang, and Zhejiang in the south were significantly increased. What about the northern provinces? They were relatively lenient. Why? Because the south was Xu Jie's territory, and Gao Gong wanted to use the assessment as a knife to uproot the official system that Xu Jie had left in the local areas. Those who failed to meet the quotas were dismissed and replaced with their cronies from the north. The so-called anti-corruption campaign only targeted corruption in the south, while corrupt officials of the same level in the north were treated leniently. The double standards were played out very skillfully."

Zhu Dijun wrote the word "clean" on the whiteboard.

"Secondly, the investigation into Xu Jie's family. This matter lasted from the third to the fourth year of the Longqing reign. Cai Guoxi, the military commissioner of Suzhou and Songjiang, continued to investigate Xu's three sons, recovering tens of thousands of hectares of illegally occupied land and embezzled silver from usury. Xu Jie himself repeatedly petitioned for leniency, but Emperor Muzong ignored him."

He leaned against the podium, arms crossed over his chest.

"History records say this was a crackdown on powerful clans annexing land and returning lost territory to the people. Let me translate for you. What is the Xu family? They are the largest financial magnates in Jiangnan, involved in maritime trade, salt production, and land. If the Xu family and other gentry in the southeast weren't eradicated, how could the northern groups seize the southeast's wealth? Were the confiscated fertile fields distributed to the displaced people? Some were, but a large amount of high-quality polder land was allocated to officials and gentry clans who migrated from the north. What about the confiscated gold and silver? Part of it went into Emperor Muzong's treasury, and part of it was distributed to the nine border regions to pay military expenses."

Zhu Dijun patted the chalk dust off his hands.

"The emperor took the money, the northern border troops took the money, and the northern officials and gentry took the land. The three parties joined forces to divide up the Xu family's decades of accumulated wealth. Eliminating evil for the people? That was just a propaganda guise."

The live stream chat was flooded with comments.

"Wow, KPI assessment systems existed in the Ming Dynasty! Gao Gong was an ancient HR director!"

"Therefore, the performance evaluation system is never neutral; whoever makes the rules holds the power of life and death."

"When Xu Jie confiscated Yan Song's property, he never imagined he would face the same fate. Retribution comes swiftly."

Zhu Dijun took a sip of water and continued pushing forward.

"Let's talk about the imperial family. In the fourth year of the Longqing reign, the control over the princes continued to be strict, restricting private marriages, lending, hoarding of private wealth, and reducing the annual stipends of distant imperial family members."

He wrote an equation on the whiteboard.

"Cutting the stipends of the imperial family is equivalent to saving money for the northern border defenses. It has nothing to do with the lives of ordinary people. Moreover, who is the most serious perpetrator of land annexation in the country? The civil officials and gentry in the north and south. Does the cabinet dare to touch the interests of its own class? No. So they will target the princes and nobles, diverting all the land-loss conflicts among the people to the imperial family. When the common people see this, they will think, 'Oh, it's these Zhu family princes who are harming us.' Their anger will be directed at the Zhu family, while those upright officials who have seized hundreds of thousands of acres of tax-exempt land can continue to live comfortably as wealthy men."

Zhu Dijun walked in front of the camera and lowered his voice.

"Finally, let me mention something about the cabinet. In the fourth year of the Longqing reign, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng ostensibly worked together, with Gao Gong in charge of military, political, and personnel affairs, and Zhang Juzheng in charge of finance, taxation, and river works. Historical records say that the two complemented each other, which stabilized the court."

He shook his head.

"Who was Zhang Juzheng? He was Xu Jie's disciple and a member of Xu Jie's faction. He knew that Gao Gong's immense power was unsustainable. He outwardly obeyed, but secretly contacted the suppressed gentry and eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial in Jiangnan, waiting to take his place after Emperor Muzong's death. As for Gao Gong, he insisted on monopolizing power and deliberately sidelined Zhang Juzheng's proposals for fiscal and tax reforms. These two were only temporarily bound by interests, not united in governing the country. Gao Gong was driven out in the sixth year of the Longqing reign, but the seeds were sown in the fourth year of the Longqing reign."

Zhu Dijun wiped the whiteboard clean and wrote a new line of characters: "Ba Han Naji Jiang Ming".

"Alright, that concludes the political aspect. Now let's move on to the biggest event of the fourth year of the Longqing reign: how the angry departure of a young Mongol man became a turning point for the defense of the Ming Dynasty's northern border."

He put down his pen and stretched his wrists.

"We'll discuss this in more detail in the next section. Let's catch our breath first."

Zhu Dijun unscrewed a new bottle of mineral water and held it up to the camera.

"Have a sip of water. This grand feast of wealth distribution in the fourth year of the Longqing reign has only just begun."