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

When the name "Zhu Di" was uttered by Zhu Dijun...

In the Fengtian Hall of the fifteenth year of the Yongle reign, the air seemed to freeze instantly.

Zhu Di was struck dumb, frozen in place.

What?

It was I... who abolished the "Great Hall"?

His mind went blank, and he desperately tried to recall.

It seems... that's true.

After the Jingnan Campaign, he was busy stabilizing the court, launching a northern expedition against the Mongols, sailing south to the Western Ocean, and moving the capital to Beijing...

The "Dabentang," an institution that existed only during the Hongwu reign, seems to have been quietly forgotten amidst the complexities of state affairs and ceased to operate.

At the time, he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it.

But now, after Tianmu mentioned it, he realized with shock how foolish and terrible he had done!

Why?

Zhu Di looked up at the sky and uttered a hoarse question.

"Why...why did I do this?"

Even he himself couldn't understand it!

To abolish a system that could unite nobles and civil officials around one's son is like cutting off one's own arm.

Why?

Above the sky, Judy Jun let out a cold laugh, a laugh that seemed to transcend time and space, offering an answer.

"Ancestor, do you really not know why?"

"Because you're a traitor!"

The word "traitor" was like a red-hot steel needle, piercing Zhu Di's heart!

He had just built up his psychological defenses by using the rhetoric of "punishing the rebels," but now his descendants were tearing them apart in the most cruel way!

"You, a prince, seized your nephew's throne!"

"So, you're scared!"

"You're afraid history will repeat itself! You're afraid your son, your brother, your nephew will become the next you!"

"The 'Grand Hall,' which closely linked princes, noble sons, and gifted students, was, in the eyes of the founding emperor, a powerful tool for consolidating imperial power!"

"But what is it in your eyes, you 'traitor'?"

"It's a breeding ground for 'crown princes'! It's a platform for princes to network with future leaders and build their own power!"

"You fear their power is growing too great and will threaten your throne!"

"So, you'd rather they be penned up like pigs than become a second you!"

"You not only abolished the 'Great Hall,' but you also used your life to explain four words to your descendants—"

"Bone! Flesh! Tears! Between! Each! One!"

Zhu Dijun's voice turned icy cold.

The screen shifted, revealing three figures.

One was the obese and kind-looking Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi, with deep-set eyes.

One was Zhu Gaoxu, the Prince of Han, who was valiant and had made outstanding military achievements.

The last one is Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di, who sits upright on the dragon throne, his face full of suspicion and imperial scheming.

"The Prince of Han, Zhu Gaochi, is most like you. During the Jingnan Campaign, he repeatedly saved you from danger and made outstanding military achievements."

"You once promised him: 'The Crown Prince is often ill. You should encourage him.'"

"Work hard! Your elder brother isn't in good health. The position of crown prince will be yours in the future."

Zhu Di's body swayed suddenly.

He did say that.

That was a casual word of encouragement he gave to his second son, who was fighting valiantly on the battlefield.

But he never expected that this unintentional remark would become...

"A promise made unintentionally became the King of Han's lifelong obsession and the Crown Prince's lifelong nightmare!"

"And so began a twenty-year-long feud between brothers!"

"And you, in this struggle between brothers, constantly maintain balance, constantly suspect, and constantly suppress."

"You revel in the power and pleasure of manipulating your son, yet you never consider the devastating impact this will have on your family!"

"You showed everyone through your actions:"

"Brother, you can't trust him!"

"Uncle and nephew are natural enemies!"

"For the throne, fathers and sons can turn against each other, and brothers can kill one another!"

Trust? Unity?

"It doesn't exist in heaven!"

The scene changed again.

That was after Zhu Di's death, when Zhu Gaochi's son, Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, personally led an expedition to quell the rebellion of his second uncle, Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaochi, the Prince of Han, who was a valiant warrior throughout his life, was captured alive.

Zhu Zhanji did not kill him, but instead imprisoned him like a wild beast under a large bronze vat weighing three hundred catties.

Zhu Gaoxu, unwilling to be humiliated, struggled fiercely inside the bronze vat, managing to move the enormous vat.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Zhanji grinned maliciously and ordered that firewood be piled up around the bronze vat.

A raging fire broke out.

The bronze vat was glowing red-hot.

From inside came Zhu Gaoxu's heart-wrenching, yet gradually weakening, screams.

In the end, this prince, who most resembled Zhu Di, was roasted alive into a charcoal by his own nephew.

Historically known as "Beijing Clay Pot Chicken".

……

"ah--"

In the fifteenth year of the Yongle reign, Zhu Di looked at the scene in the sky and let out a beast-like roar.

He kicked over the imperial desk in front of him, his eyes bloodshot.

"Beast! Beast!"

He was cursing Zhu Zhanji, the grandson of his own uncle who had been roasted alive.

But more than anything, he was criticizing himself!

It's him!

He was the one who ignited the flames of conflict between his sons!

He himself broke the rule established by his father that brothers should work together to protect the royal family!

He personally erased the word "trust" from the Zhu family's dictionary!

Why was "Dabentang" abolished?

Because the foundation of trust has been destroyed!

When all that remains between brothers is suspicion and killing, how can they learn together and cultivate friendship?

Why did the princes keep their children in captivity?

Since only hatred and fear remain between the uncle and nephew, who would dare to let them hold military power?

Everything is connected.

The fact that the princes raised pigs was like severing the "limbs" of the Zhu family.

Abolishing the main hall destroyed the "core" of the Zhu family.

Both major crimes were committed by Zhu Di himself!

He was not a meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty!

He is a sinner of the Ming Dynasty! A sinner even greater than his father!

……

Inside the Hongwu Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang had just caught his breath when he saw an AI-generated image in the sky showing his second grandson, Zhu Gaoxu, the most valiant of his fourth sons, being roasted to a crisp.

He witnessed how his most admired grandson, Zhu Di, used imperial tactics to turn his family into a gladiatorial arena of mutual slaughter.

"puff--"

Another mouthful of blood spurted out, even more turbulent than the previous one.

"Our home...our home..."

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to the sky, his whole body trembling, tears streaming down his face.

He established the Ming Dynasty so that his descendants would never again experience the same devastation and loss of their families as he had.

In the end, however, the fate of his descendants was a hundred times more tragic than his own!

This person was not killed by the enemy.

This is infighting!

Crown Prince Zhu Biao held his father tightly. He looked at his fourth brother Zhu Di, who had become an absolute stranger in the sky, and at his cruel grand-nephew Zhu Zhanji. A chill ran down his spine.

Is this the future of the Zhu family after his death?

……

Above the sky, Judy Jun's voice, like a final death knell, brought this topic to a close.

"So, family members, do you understand now?"

Why was Emperor Chongzhen so lonely when he wrote "Let the rebels tear my body apart, but do not harm a single commoner" on Coal Hill?

"Because his ancestors, the two most outstanding emperors, Zhu Yuanzhang (the founding emperor) and Zhu Di (the founding emperor), had cleared away all those who might have helped him more than three hundred years in advance!"

"Those powerful princes and uncles? Gone. They were raised like pigs more than a hundred years ago."

"The once powerful and valiant noble families? Gone. Without the connection of the 'Grand Hall,' they have become estranged from the emperor and have long since become warlords who only care about their own interests."

"A united, loyal ruling group centered on imperial power? That's a joke!"

"Emperor Chongzhen was indeed a ruler who brought about the downfall of his country."

"But to a large extent, he was just an unlucky guy who inherited a country that was destined to perish."

"He was facing an empire that was rotten to the core, with its finances emptied by the vassal kings, its power usurped by the civil service, its internal divisions, and its surrounding powerful enemies."

"Of course, the imprisonment of Prince Tang, a vassal king who had taken the initiative to send troops to help the court suppress the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, further shattered the already fragmented connection between the royal family and the vassal king."

"The foundation of this empire was hollowed out by its own builders when it was first established."

"And all that the ghosts of the 'Khazar' and their civil allies have had to do for the past three hundred years is stand aside, smile, and applaud."

"Watching this magnificent high-rise building named 'Da Ming' collapse in the midst of the storm."

"This is the most brilliant way to destroy a country."

"—To praise someone to death!"