Chapter 302: Extremely Cruel

mile.Inside the door curtain, Zhao Qinglan fell silent for a while before reluctantly ordering, "All of you, withdraw."Once everyone else in the palace had left, Zhao Qinglan finally said coldly, "Now...Chapter 302 Ruthless and Fierce

Long Huaiyu's suggestion caused Long Tiandé to furrow his brows, a look of seriousness and contemplation on his face.

Long Huaiyu said in a gentle voice, "Father, in fact, we have all underestimated this Crown Prince."

Long Tiande looked at Long Huaiyu and said, "What do you say"

Long Huaiyu smiled faintly and said, "This prince is indeed quite cunning and capable."

“From this incident, if he went straight to meet Wenshan and his people, it would prove that he had ambition but lacked courage. Let us stand on equal footing with him for negotiations. But if he directly killed everyone in Wenshan, it would be a display of courage but lack of strategy, making him a reckless man. After all, pushing us to the opposite side wouldn't benefit him at all.”

"Solving the same thing, standing at different heights will have completely different ideas and methods, even results."

Long Huaiyu pursed her lips and continued, "For us, this is a matter of the family's foundation, the future, even the survival of the Western Mountain Province local faction. But from the prince's point of view, how to deal with and solve the local faction in the Western Mountain Province relates to his posture and strategy when facing other provinces' local forces in the future."

"Local factions in other provinces will also be watching us, watching the prince. If the prince is cruel, they will all flock to the side opposing him, ensuring he doesn't take power. Otherwise, if the prince rules, today it was the local faction of Xishan Province, the Long family who perished. Tomorrow it could be them. The saying 'when teeth are lost, the lips suffer cold' applies here."

"If the Crown Prince had thought about this, he wouldn't have been so brutal to Wen Shan and the others. Instead, he would have treated them with courtesy, at least putting on a show of it."

But he didn't, his choice was to kill most of them, leaving one Wen Shan behind to deliver a message.

This proves he intends to use an iron fist to intimidate us, and possibly other local factions that may exist in the other provinces. However, he also doesn't want to completely drive these local factions into the arms of the opposition.

"In the capital, the East Palace had never been a match for the Cabinet's power. If all the local forces joined the Cabinet, how could the East Palace possibly compete"

Unless the Emperor suddenly recovers, it is impossible to control the overall situation.

"The Crown Prince has thought all of this through. His choice is very clear now: to use force to intimidate us, then assume a superior position, and pressure us into surrendering more benefits to him."

"As the first local faction to come into contact with the East Palace, it will set a precedent for how the Crown Prince appeases and reorganizes other provincial factions in the future. That's why I said we underestimated the Crown Prince before."

Long Tiande said in a deep voice: "What does this have to do with us going to the capital and compromising with the crown prince in the East Palace At worst, it's a do-or-die situation. As you said, he also has scruples and dare not wipe us out completely. Otherwise, how could other provinces' local factions dare to cooperate with him"

"No, he dares."

Long Huaiyu's single sentence caused Long Tiande's face to change.

"I have observed this prince, studying all his actions and policy commands from the time he was named crown prince to when he became regent, and up to now. I have investigated everything that can be found."

Long Huaiyu narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “This person's cruelty is far beyond what ordinary people can imagine. As I said before, our contact will set a precedent for him to subdue the local factions in the future. So he only has two choices: either he takes absolute control and dominates, making it impossible for anyone to resist, or he kills everyone who opposes him, leaving no one to speak out against him.” never appear on the front battlefield, let alone act as the main force. Your Highness also agreed, but now Your Highness goes back on your word, which is disgraceful."Li Chen's face was as cold as ic...