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

The live broadcast signal has been reconnected.

Just as Judy Jun unscrewed the lid of his thermos, 50 Ji handed him a celadon teapot from the side. The spout tilted slightly, and the amber-colored tea poured steadily into the cup without spilling a drop. As her metal fingers withdrew, she casually tidied up the scattered documents on the corner of his desk.

The comment section exploded immediately.

"Look at that 50-year-old girl, she does everything from pouring water to editing documents, she's even more considerate than my mom."

"Judy Jun, do you need a leg accessory? Someone who can type and cook."

"Mass production is a must! I'd empty six wallets to buy one. I'm fed up with these modern feminists who constantly insult men, even accusing you of objectifying women for pouring a glass of water."

"Stop dreaming, upstairs. Can you even afford a cold fusion reactor?"

Zhu Dijun glanced at the comments and couldn't suppress the smirk on his face.

"Alright, stop with the collective rutting here. The core reactor for 50-hime would cost enough to buy your entire village; you can't afford to marry her."

As soon as he finished speaking, another wave of comments flooded in, with a completely different style.

"Objectifying women! Turning women's bodies into metal dolls is an insult to all women!"

"You deserve to be burned alive. These metal monsters are just products of your fantasies, disgusting."

"Sisters, let's report this! We should just ban this kind of livestream!"

Zhu Dijun held the cup and took a sip of tea without changing his expression.

"Fellow feminists, please get this straight. Princess 50 has no gender; she's a weapon of war. You call a walking plasma cannon 'female'? Well, your definition of gender is way ahead of mine."

Princess 50 stood behind him, the halo in her mechanical pupils swirling, her expression unchanging. She raised her hand and used two alloy fingers to gently pluck a strand of hair from Judy's shoulder, the movement as light as defusing a bomb.

The comments section went wild again.

Zhu Dijun put down his cup and tapped the table.

"Let's not get bogged down in trivialities. The fifth year of the Longqing reign, 1571 AD. This year was a watershed moment in the Longqing reign, and also the year when Gao Gong's blade shone brightest."

The dates "1571" and "the fifth year of the Longqing reign" were written on the whiteboard.

"Let's start with politics. At the beginning of the fifth year of the Longqing reign, how many members were left in the cabinet?"

He drew four boxes on the whiteboard and filled in the names one by one. Li Chunfang and Yin Shidan—he simply crossed out the two boxes.

"Li Chunfang left last year. Yin Shidan fared even worse. This Shandong man had a fiery temper. He argued with Han Ji, Gao Gong's confidant, in court and even started a fight. Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet fighting in public was a first in the Ming Dynasty's two hundred years. And the result? Yin Shidan was forced to resign."

Zhu Dijun added insult to injury to Yin Shidan's case.

"By the fifth year of the Longqing reign, only two people remained in the cabinet: Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng."

He drew the high-arched square frame to be exceptionally large, while Zhang Juzheng's figure was relegated to a corner.

"At this time, Gao Gong held both the positions of Grand Secretary and Minister of Personnel. I've told you before what this combination of power meant. He alone could decide who would be promoted, demoted, or dismissed among all the civil and military officials in the country. Censors and officials had to report to the Grand Secretariat before submitting their memorials. He set the standards for the capital inspection. This wasn't a Grand Secretary; this was an emperor without a crown."

Someone in the comment section chimed in:

"Wouldn't Emperor Muzong do anything about it?"

"Emperor Muzong has the authority to govern? By what right does Emperor Muzong have the authority to govern?"

Zhu Dijun drew a balance scale on the whiteboard.

"I talked about the deal between Gao Gong and Emperor Muzong last year. You don't care how much money I spend in the harem, how much I drink and have women, and I don't care how the court deals with people. Gao Gong blocked the interference of the civil officials in the royal expenses for Emperor Muzong, and Emperor Muzong allowed Gao Gong to monopolize the government. It was a win-win situation."

He changed the subject.

"But beneath this scale lies an underground river."

Zhu Dijun retrieved a record of cabinet correspondence from the fifth year of the Longqing reign.

"Xu Jie's case. Cai Guoxi continued to try Xu Jie's three sons in Suzhou and Songjiang, recovering land and embezzled silver. This matter went on without stopping from the third to the fifth year of the Longqing reign. What could Xu Jie do? He wrote to his apprentice Zhang Juzheng for help."

He drew a line on the whiteboard, connecting Xujia Village in Songjiang to Zhang Juzheng in Beijing.

"Zhang Juzheng received the letter. He spoke up for Xu Jie. Gao Gong found out about this."

Zhu Dijun imitated a scene, lowering his voice.

"In front of the cabinet officials, Gao Gong asked Zhang Juzheng, 'Taiyue, did you take money from Xu Jie to speak up for your mentor? Don't forget, this is stained with the blood of the people of Jiangnan.'"

The comment section instantly erupted.

"This is tantamount to pointing your finger at me and accusing me of corruption; it's an act of utter blatant disrespect."

"Gao Gong has completely abandoned all pretense of civility, leaving Zhang Juzheng no room to maneuver."

"These Gao Dapao aren't exactly good either. They're useful to the people of Jiangnan when they're needed, but when they're not, they're just a bunch of troublemakers."

"Yes. From this moment on, the conflict between Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng became completely public. History books say that the two 'had different political views but prioritized the overall situation.' Bullshit. This was a life-or-death preliminary battle for the transfer of power."

Zhu Dijun wrote a few words next to Zhang Juzheng's box: "Contact Feng Bao".

"Zhang Juzheng wasn't stupid. Gao Gong controlled the Ministry of Personnel, the Grand Secretariat, and the Censorate. What did Zhang Juzheng have? Nothing. Who could he rely on? Feng Bao, the eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial."

He drew a hidden line connecting Zhang Juzheng to Feng Bao.

"Feng Bao and Gao Gong have a personal grudge. Gao Gong previously suppressed Feng Bao's promotion to Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the two have long been mortal enemies. Zhang Juzheng secretly allied with Feng Bao, waiting for the right opportunity—when Emperor Muzong died and the Crown Prince was young. At that time, Feng Bao in the inner court and Zhang Juzheng in the outer court would join forces, hold the ten-year-old emperor in their hands, and Gao Gong would have nowhere to be buried."

Zhu Dijun tapped the whiteboard.

"This mine was planted in the fifth year of the Longqing reign. It was detonated in the sixth year of the Longqing reign."

The Ming Dynasty, in a parallel universe.

Zhu Yijun sat on the dragon throne, his fingers gripping the hem of his robe. He was only ten years old when he ascended the throne. He had personally witnessed Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao joining forces to drive out Gao Gong.

"It turns out that Mr. Zhang and Feng Bao had already started their affair before my father died."

Zhu Yijun spoke very softly, and the eunuch beside him did not hear him clearly.

"When I was a child, I thought Mr. Zhang was a loyal minister, someone who would protect the country for me."

He gripped the hem of his shirt even tighter, his knuckles turning white.

"In the end, I was nothing more than a rubber stamp in their hands."

Zhu Dijun didn't give any audience member, regardless of time or space, a chance to breathe.

"Let's talk about the performance evaluation system. It was refined and implemented in the fifth year of the Longqing reign. Local finances, border defense, and education were all subject to quantitative assessment. Those who failed to meet the targets were demoted or dismissed."

He pulled up a set of data for comparison.

"The tax assessment quota for Suzhou and Songjiang Prefecture in Jiangnan has increased by 30% compared to the Jiajing era. What about Henan and Shandong in the north? It's basically the same, and some prefectures have even seen a decrease."

Zhu Dijun circled the data for Jiangnan with a red pen.

"Thirty percent. Think about it, everyone. Most of the land in Jiangnan has already been taken over by the gentry, and the remaining self-cultivating farmers are already suffering. If the tax quota suddenly increases by thirty percent, local officials will lose their positions if they don't meet their targets. What can they do? They can only pass the burden onto the common people. Farmers who couldn't afford to pay in the first place are forced to sell their land and become tenants. Land consolidation becomes even more serious."

He put down his pen.

"Is the performance evaluation system a good system? Yes. The system itself is not flawed. But who sets the standards for its implementation? Gao Gong. He wielded this knife and precisely slashed at the south. Northern gentry who owed taxes? They were treated leniently. Southern officials who defaulted? They were immediately demoted. The same set of laws, two sets of standards. Is this reform? This is targeted harvesting."

The chat room chat no longer needs Zhu Dijun's guidance.

"I get it. Even in the Ming Dynasty, the KPI system was used as a tool for torture."

[Gao Gong: I'm not targeting Jiangnan specifically, I'm saying all of you Jiangnan people here are trash.]

[Zhang Juzheng: Master, don't worry, I'll deal with you too once I'm in power.]

Zhu Dijun took a sip of the tea that 50 Ji had refilled, then walked to the whiteboard to make a summary.

"The political landscape of the fifth year of the Longqing reign can be summarized in one sentence: Gao Gong's dictatorship took shape, Zhang Juzheng secretly laid the groundwork, and Emperor Muzong lived a life of decadence. Each of the three factions harbored their own ulterior motives. The court appeared to be a united front, but underneath, it was riddled with cracks."

He wrote a line of text at the bottom of the whiteboard.

"The next section will tell you about the most exciting event of the fifth year of the Longqing reign—the granting of tribute by Anda. An old Mongolian man was granted the title of king, and eleven border trade ports were opened. History books say this marked the end of a century of border troubles. Let's see how much silver was buried beneath the word 'peace'."

Anda was conferred the title of King of Shunyi.

Behind these eight short words lies the unleashing of an entire chain of vested interests.