"It is possible that the Queen Mother did not know about it," Zhong Mingwei said slowly, and paused. He added, "It is also possible that the Queen Mother knew about it, but was forced by the situation at the time. The Prince of Pingxi was not in the capital, and the other illegitimate princes were eyeing him covetously. The Queen Mother had no other choice. She could only help him ascend to the throne, and even had to allow him to marry the Queen Zhenxian who was already engaged to the Prince of Pingxi," said here. Zhong Mingwei paused, he took a light breath, and then slowly exhaled. Then he continued. "That's why Queen Zhenxian gave birth to a son in August after her marriage. So this is the answer to why His Majesty has hated the only legitimate prince of the Emperor and Empress for so many years."
"You... you mean, the child born by Queen Zhenxian is not His Majesty's?" Meiya's eyes widened in shock. She stared at Zhong Mingwei. She looked at Zhong Mingwei's face without blinking, and then whispered. "So you are the flesh and blood of the King of Pingxi? So... the King of Pingxi protects you in every possible way?"
Zhong Mingwei didn't say anything, still lowering his head. He knew Meiya was shocked, and in fact, he felt the same shock as Meiya. In fact, since Ma Zhiming's arrival that day, and Xiao An's recounting of the past between Queen Zhenxian and Prince Pingxi that she had overheard in her childhood, Zhong Mingwei began to think about this question. He felt it was too unbelievable, but when he calmed down, he felt that this was the only answer that could explain all the questions. Why did Zhong Zhiheng hate him so much? Why did Prince Pingxi protect him so much, especially since he had personally caused a major case in the past 20 years that was almost devastating to Prince Pingxi? But Prince Pingxi didn't let bygones be bygones. He really couldn't understand why Prince Pingxi was so tolerant and generous, because it was too unreasonable, but if... if that was the case, he could understand it.
"That's not right. If the Prince of Pingxi and the Queen of Zhenxian had been engaged long ago, how could the Grand Tutor not know about it?" Mei Ya frowned and said, "And it seems that no one knows about it. Sister An was young at the time, maybe she heard it wrongly, or she remembered it wrongly? That Commander Ma was so evasive, maybe he was just being mysterious?"
"If the Prince of Pingxi and Empress Zhenxian were really engaged, the late emperor and the empress dowager would have kept it a secret and would not have made it public," Ding Yunwen said in a deep voice. "The late emperor was determined to help the Prince of Pingxi ascend to the throne, so he could not have announced the engagement of the Prince of Pingxi and Empress Zhenxian so early. If that had happened, there would have been trouble. At that time, the northwest border was not at peace. If the capital was in chaos, wouldn't the Great Zhou be in danger of internal and external troubles?"
"What you said makes sense, but can we take Commander Ma's words seriously?" Gu Changlin frowned.
"This is a serious matter, Ma Zhiming won't say anything nonsense," Ding Yunwen shook his head and said slowly, looking at Zhong Mingwei who had been silent, "and Ma Zhiming is the man of the King of Pingxi."
As soon as these words fell, the room fell silent again. Zhong Mingwei was not surprised. He took a sip of tea and said slowly, "So the person behind the Imperial Guards is the King of Pingxi, so Ningguta is also the King of Pingxi's place. No wonder the Imperial Guards and Fang Zuotang have always taken good care of me."
"If that's the case..." Ding Yunwen looked thoughtful, "Then I understand why the Prince of Pingxi didn't return to Beijing for thirty-four years. But as soon as His Majesty demoted you, he started to make arrangements to return to Beijing."
Gu Changlin also nodded and looked at Zhong Mingwei: "If you act like a prince, he will not mess around. He will just stay in the northwest and command the Northwest Army, waiting for you to ascend the throne. But if His Majesty dares to take action against you, he will not be able to sit still."
Zhong Mingwei and Mei Ya looked at each other and said nothing, but they could both sense the shock that was hard to conceal in each other's eyes, especially Mei Ya. She took a cup of tea from the small table behind her and drank it, barely suppressing the shock in her heart, then took another cup and stuffed it into Zhong Mingwei's hand.
"Master, tell me what you did in Mobei and Southern Xinjiang." After a while, Zhong Mingwei took a sip of tea and said to Ding Yunwen.
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