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

The Ming Dynasty. A parallel Hongwu era.

The Fengtian Hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne, not reviewing memorials as usual. His hands were on his knees, his body leaned forward, and he stared intently at the sky.

On the sky, Judy Jun was crying. Those weren't staged tears. They were the tears of someone who, after recognizing a thief as their father for centuries, suddenly unearthed the truth about their own ancestral grave.

Zhu Yuanzhang's chest heaved. The wrinkles on his face had deepened considerably in the past few months.

"child."

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke. His voice was not loud, but it echoed heavily under the empty dome of the hall.

"We don't blame you."

He stood up and walked down the jade steps one by one. The courtiers knelt on both sides, their heads pressed against gold bricks.

"It's our fault. It's our fault for being too lenient with some people."

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped before the imperial steps and looked up at the sky. "The Four Barbarians' Hall? What's the point of keeping those barbarians around? We taught them to read and write, taught them etiquette, and they ended up using pens to break the bones of our future Ming Dynasty descendants."

Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and looked at the officials kneeling on the ground: Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong, Xu Da, and Chang Yuchun.

"We didn't understand the words in the Yin Fu Jing very well before. There are five thieves in the mountains and seas, which are like beasts, ghosts, demons and monsters. Those who hunt them will prosper."

Zhu Yuanzhang read the sentence aloud.

"Beasts, ghosts, demons. These barbarians are not human; they are animals wrapped in human skin. We used to think of ourselves as a superior nation, with all nations paying tribute. That was a mistake."

He returned to his desk and picked up the vermilion brush.

"deliver an imperial order."

The breath in the hall instantly fell silent.

"Abolish the Four Barbarian Inns. All barbarian envoys, merchants, and hostages in the capital shall be expelled from the capital within three days. Anyone who lingers shall be executed without mercy."

"Any official, nobleman, or commoner of the Great Ming who colludes with barbarians, sells the Great Ming calendar, blueprints, or weapons shall be skinned alive and their entire family executed."

"Any official of the seventh rank or above who takes barbarian women as concubines or wives shall be executed on the spot."

Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his vermilion brush on the table. Ink splattered onto the memorial.

"Our Great Ming Dynasty does not want this kind of filthy, stench-stained tribute from all nations."

After the court session. Kunning Palace.

Empress Ma sat on a soft couch, holding a string of Buddhist prayer beads in her hand, but not fiddling with them. She looked at her sons standing in a row before her: Crown Prince Zhu Biao, Prince of Qin Zhu Shuang, Prince of Jin Zhu Gang, Prince of Yan Zhu Di, and Prince of Zhou Zhu Su.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked in from outside and took off his outer robe.

Zhu Biao stepped forward, without offering any formalities, and said directly, "Father, Mother. Your son and I discussed something with my younger brothers."

"explain."

Zhu Yuanzhang sat down and picked up his teacup.

"The descendants on the celestial canopy say that future history will be completely rewritten. Those barbarians colluded with the civil officials to change the fate of our Great Ming Dynasty, its achievements, its technology, and even the lifespan of the emperor."

Zhu Biao's expression was very calm.

"Things on paper cannot be preserved. Things left in the imperial library in the capital cannot be preserved either. Once a change of dynasty occurs, or the capital falls, the first thing to be burned down will be the history archives."

Zhu Biao pointed to the ground.

"I propose that I take the lead, with the cooperation of my younger brothers, to secretly search for deep mountains within their respective fiefdoms, dig tunnels, and excavate underground caves."

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped moving. The teacup hung suspended in mid-air.

"The true calendar, chronicles, firearms blueprints, agricultural records, and water conservancy agencies of the Ming Dynasty were engraved with gold bricks, carved on stone tablets, and sealed in a rot-resistant nanmu box. No paper copies were left, only the metal and stone inscriptions."

Zhu Biao looked at his father.

"Make ten portions, twenty portions. Distribute them throughout the land. Only the successive feudal lords themselves know their locations."

Zhu Biao turned his head to look in the direction of the sky.

"Even if one day, China truly sinks and the land is tainted by the stench of barbarians, as long as these underground vaults remain, hundreds of years later, future generations will be able to unearth them and tell them what their ancestors truly did. They were not slaves."

Empress Ma's eyes reddened, and she nodded.

Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his teacup heavily on the table, splashing water everywhere.

"Alright. We'll do it your way. If you need money, we'll use the imperial treasury. If you need manpower, we'll bring in death row inmates from the Ministry of Works. After the job is done, we'll dispose of them all, leaving no survivors."

Zhu Biao turned around and looked at Zhu Di, who was standing at the end.

Zhu Di's head was slightly lowered. The amount of information displayed on the screen was overwhelming. The 40th year of Hongwu's reign—what then did his future campaign against the Jingnan Rebellion count for? What about his battles with his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunwen?

Zhu Biao walked up to Zhu Di.

Fourth brother.

Zhu Di looked up: "Elder brother."

"I used to blame you. I blamed you for raising an army, I blamed you for your excessive killing."

Zhu Biao patted Zhu Di on the shoulder.

"But I don't blame you anymore. Tianmu made it clear that the civil official group has been infiltrated too deeply by the barbarians. Even my Crown Princess Lü is one of their moles. If Jianwen really does ascend the throne in the future, the Ming Dynasty will be hollowed out by the civil officials and the barbarians within two generations."

Zhu Biao looked directly at Zhu Di.

"If it comes to that, Fourth Brother, if you want to fight, then fight. As long as you defend the territory of the Ming Dynasty, you can rule the world."

Zhu Di's eyes suddenly stung with tears. He took a step back, clasped his hands in a fist, and knelt on one knee. He said nothing.

Zhu Biao pulled him up, lowered his voice, and spoke in an unprecedentedly cold and hard tone.

"But remember this. When you go to Beiping to assume your fiefdom, you will face the Mongols directly. Be merciful to the Han people when mercy is due, and draw your sword when mercy is no longer needed."

Zhu Biao gripped Zhu Di's shoulder, his fingers tightening.

"Especially barbarian women. Remember this. Barbarians have a matrilineal cultural tradition. They know they can't defeat the Han people on the battlefield, so they use women to infiltrate. They send women into the royal palaces and the harems of nobles. They give birth to children with their blood, fundamentally changing the cultural identity of the Chinese."

Zhu Biao glanced at the sky outside the door.

"This is a vicious scheme that will wipe out our lineage. We must not let history repeat itself. None of those women should be spared. Remember this, remember this."

Zhu Di nodded emphatically.

"Don't worry, brother. Within Beiping City, we will not leave a single untrustworthy barbarian alive."

The Ming Dynasty. A parallel Yongle era.

Beiping. The outlines of the three main halls resembled lurking behemoths in the night.

Zhu Di stood beside the white marble railing in front of the Fengtian Hall. The wind blew in from the north, carrying the dry, sandy smell of the area beyond the Great Wall.

A canopy hung in mid-air. Zhu Dijun bowed, shed tears, and changed the program's name in the live broadcast room.

Zhu Di stared at the young man who claimed to be a descendant of the Prince of Zhao. His face was expressionless. The fourth year of the Jingnan Rebellion. This was the history he had always believed. But the data displayed on the screen just now—the 39th year of the Yongle reign.

Previously, it was said that he "died" in the 22nd year of Yongle's reign. However, the 17 years between the 22nd year of Yongle's reign and the 39th year of Yongle's reign were altered and erased!

Zhu Di's brow didn't furrow. He was calculating. If he reigned for 39 years, where would the Ming Dynasty's navy reach? What scale would the compilation of the Yongle Encyclopedia reach? How many of those barbarians, demons, and monsters would be left?

The descendants of Zhu Jianshen did not do a good enough job of eliminating the enemy, so let me, the ancestor, take over. Let the descendants continue the work. Apart from the barbarians, there are also the civil officials within the country. These damned beasts have even sold out their own people. They deserve to die!

They should not be exiled; regardless of gender, they should be executed on the spot!

Footsteps sounded behind him. Zhu Gaosui, the third son, walked up behind Zhu Di and bowed.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

Zhu Di didn't turn around. He pointed to the sky. "Gao Sui. That's your descendant."

Zhu Gaosui looked up at Zhu Dijun, whose eyes were red and swollen in the live stream. He felt a pang of guilt and swallowed hard.

"Father... Your son's descendants have been disrespectful, and I apologize for making you laugh."

"What's so laughable about that?"

Zhu Di turned around and looked at Zhu Gaosui. His gaze was calm, yet it carried the weight of a thousand troops pressing in.

"He is crying. He is crying for the Ming Dynasty, he is crying for China."

Zhu Di walked up to Zhu Gaosui and patted him on the shoulder.

"Look at what the sky says. My history has been altered. Your grandfather's history has been altered, and many emperors of my Great Ming Dynasty in later generations have also been tampered with. This is not just a matter for the Great Ming Dynasty; the history of previous dynasties has also been manipulated by them. That Qing Dynasty, established by the Buryat Wild Boar Skin, uprooted our roots."

Zhu Di patted Zhu Gaosui's shoulder with a loud thud.

"I don't blame this child. He was deceived by those false histories for the sake of the revival of Chinese civilization. He discovered the truth and dared to admit his mistakes in front of the world. He is a good child with backbone."

"In the past, my leniency led to the deaths of future generations of the Ming Dynasty. I will not do that again. Those who hunt beasts, demons, monsters, and monsters will prosper!"

Zhu Gaosui knelt down.

"Father is right."

"Gao Sui".

Zhu Di looked down at him.

"Writing books and compiling history are not just matters for scholars. This is a battlefield. When your grandfather founded the country, and when I raised an army, we killed people on horseback. Those shrewish Qing dynasty officials killed people on paper. They killed without shedding blood, but they killed the minds of future generations."

Zhu Di stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky.

"I entrust you with the important task of compiling history. Whatever you need, I will give you. The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot are at your disposal. Go and find those ministers in the court who truly wish for the eternal transmission of Han civilization, such as Xie Jin and Yang Shiqi."

"Go investigate. Go search. Gather all the books, inscriptions, and steles in the world. Make movable copper type and engrave them. Find the deep mountains and underground vaults, and hide them away."

Zhu Di's voice carried far on the wind.

"I want people hundreds of years from now to find that everything they unearth is genuine gold and silver. Anyone who dares to tamper with this matter will have their entire family executed."

Zhu Gaosui kowtowed heavily. His forehead struck the stone slab with a dull thud.

"Yes, Father. Your son will never disappoint you, nor the ancestors of China, nor future generations."

Modern. Live broadcast room.

Zhu Dijun wrote the words "Ming Dynasty: Top Secret Files" on the whiteboard. He sat back in his chair, picked up the now-cold tea, and gulped it down.

My dry throat felt a little better.

The encrypted tablet on the table suddenly vibrated. Three times in a row. This was the highest level of warning signal.

Zhu Dijun picked up the tablet. It was a message from Beijing Guoan.

The archaeological site has been subjected to a cyberattack that caused a power outage. Physical security has repelled three groups of mercenaries attempting to damage the unearthed artifacts. An academic mole is using internal network privileges to try and remotely erase the artifact scanning database and 3D modeling data. Offshore funds from upstream are working to destroy any traces of their activities.

Zhu Dijun stared at the words. His knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists.

He turned his head and looked at Princess 50 standing in the corner.

"Notify Princess 20, Princess 22, and Princess 35." Judy Jun spoke quickly without pausing.

"Take complete control of the base station network at the archaeological site. Cut off all external connections and physically lock the database hard drive."

Princess 50's mechanical eyes instantly turned scarlet. She lowered her head slightly.

Zhu Dijun continued to issue instructions.

"Scan the internal IP addresses of academic moles. Track the final destination of those offshore funds. They want to physically destroy the evidence and whitewash their tracks online. Dream on."

He turned back to face the camera in the live stream.

The comment section is still buzzing with excitement over the newly announced reign years of the Ming Dynasty emperors. The level of discussion has already surpassed the platform's historical peak.

"Family members. The content of today's live stream has been changed at the last minute. But now, a little situation has arisen."

Judy Jun stood up and walked to the whiteboard. Next to the pile of fabricated historical data, he drew a huge countdown box.

"Some people don't want us to see the real history. They used to burn our books on paper, and now they're deleting our data online. Just these last few minutes, someone is trying to destroy those newly unearthed jade tablet scans."

He looked at the camera.

"We're ending our broadcast now. We'll resume broadcasting in 48 hours."

Zhu Dijun placed his hands on the podium, and the screen went black instantly. The live stream was interrupted.

In the studio, a red alarm light illuminated in the corner.

Judy Jun turned and walked towards the underground laboratory. War, from the pages of history, has spread into the present reality.