Chapter 398: Chapter 304: A Game of Imperial Power
As Tie Ying finished speaking, Fu Zhen and the other two couldn’t help but hold their breath.
Previously, Fu Zhen had repeatedly pondered over the various irrational aspects of Xu Yin and had already sensed that his appearance on the Northwest Battlefield back then was not simple. Coupled with the appearance of Zhou Yi afterwards and the Flying Horse Token obtained from Zhou Yi—indeed, this token was the same as the tattoo on Tie Ying, and they all recognized it. With the above evidence, even if it couldn’t be confirmed whether Xu Yin was a descendant of the Prince Yi Mansion, his identity as someone from Dayue was becoming evident.
Now, unexpectedly capturing a Tie Ying from Xu Yin’s subordinates brought even deeper suspicions about Xu Yin.
Fu Zhen asked, "The power struggle between your Monarch and King Yi ended two years before the establishment of the Great Zhou. According to you, both sides prepared backup plans from the start of their conflict, so the timeline should be moved back. Xu Yin is twenty-four this year, and the Great Zhou was established twenty-two years ago. Xu Yin’s birth year should be the year your Monarch won the royal power struggle. How could he be a descendant of the Prince Yi Mansion? How old was the second son of King Yi when he was expelled from the mansion?"
Liang Ning met Xu Yin when he was twelve. He himself admitted as much, and all those around Liang Ning estimated his age to be eleven or twelve too. Even accounting for possible deception, it would only be by a year or two. Unlike adults, there isn’t much room to exaggerate within ten years.
To put it another way, even if Xu Yin did falsify his age by a year or two, it would still not change the essence of things significantly!
Even if he was five years younger, he still couldn’t match the age of King Yi’s second son who was expelled from the mansion!
"General, General Liang and the others have arrived!"
Just after Fu Zhen voiced her doubts, Guo Song came to report.
Everyone in the room turned around simultaneously but before they could speak, Liang Chen and Liang Zhi had already stepped inside. Accompanying the sound of footsteps were their urgent inquiries: "Where’s the person you caught? Are they all awake yet?!"
As the voice fell, they entered the room. At the first sight of the crowded room, they paused slightly, then quickly spotted Tie Ying on the ground and rushed forward in unison: "Is that him? The one Xu Yin painstakingly brought to the capital city?"
Pei Zhan followed their gaze: "Indeed, it’s him. He’s from the Tie Family of Dayue. Just now, he said there’s a possibility that Xu Yin might have been feigned to be expelled from the Prince Yi Mansion but was actually retained as a means to preserve strength."
As expected, Liang Chen and Liang Zhi were immediately astonished and grew solemn.
Tie Ying scrutinized him: "You are Liang Chen? The Liang Family that saved Xu Yin?"
Both Liang Chen and Liang Zhi’s fathers had sacrificed their lives in the Northwest. They could not harbor any friendliness towards the people of Dayue, especially those who had been close to the Dayue Monarch. However, clearly more important at the moment was to let Tie Ying quickly reveal the secrets he harbored.
Liang Chen asked, "Where did your conversation leave off?"
Fu Zhen interjected: "We were discussing suspicions that Xu Yin is a descendant of the Prince Yi Mansion, but his age doesn’t match with King Yi’s second son, Duan Mian’s age." She gestured to Tie Ying: "You can answer now."
Tie Ying said, "King Yi expelled his second son from the mansion twenty-eight years ago. At that time, King Yi’s second son, Duan Mian, was fifteen years old. Xu Yin is not King Yi’s second son, but he is very likely the son of Duan Mian, King Yi’s grandson."
Fu Zhen took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and then spoke: "The events happened twenty-eight years ago, yet over the past twenty-plus years your Monarch had the energy to incite trouble in Great Zhou. How come no one was sent to track Duan Mian?"
"Because it was initially unknown that this person existed, let alone that King Yi left his hidden forces and elite guards to Duan Mian before his defeat."
"When did you find this out? How did you find out?"
Tie Ying thought for a moment: "According to your calendar, it should be during the eighth year of Shengyuan."
Fu Zhen frowned: "During the eighth year of Shengyuan, you had already started causing trouble at the Great Zhou borders."
To be precise, the first war between the two countries started in the sixth year of Shengyuan.
"It was at that time." Tie Ying looked down, "Coincidentally, the discovery that the Prince Yi Mansion secretly had someone was due to the war between our two countries. There was a food shortage beyond the frontier, and after more than a decade-long royal power struggle in Dayue, all branches began exporting wealth to seek foreign aid. By the time the Monarch ascended the throne, the country was already hollow."
Fu Zhen said slowly: "So you began to clash with the Central Plains."
What a ridiculous reason?
However, his words weren’t untruthful, because earlier when Pei Zhan took that dagger to Grand Preceptor Gu for verification, Grand Preceptor Gu said that when the Great Zhou was founded, he was responsible for clearing the national treasury and found numerous treasures tribute from foreign nations, with the majority coming from Dayue. The dagger called Cold Moon was merely one gifted by the Prince Yi Mansion to the former Imperial Family.