Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 826 - 518: The Great Purge

Chapter 826: Chapter 518: The Great Purge

Compared to the distinct edges of other high-level officials in the Prime Minister’s Mansion, Old Lady Long had always maintained the gentleness she had held since her girlhood.

In contrast to the clearly demarcated conservative and radical factions within the Prime Minister’s Mansion, she had always gone with the flow.

This had nothing to do with ability but was a matter of personality.

For this, Lou Ji was to blame.

During the formative years of Long Xinling’s character, Lou Ji’s company had transformed her from being unrestrained to steady, but her silent handling of all dangers and trivial matters around her had made Long Xinling indecisive.

She was a genuinely nice person, so much so that among the high-level officials of the Prime Minister’s Mansion, she seemed like someone who had risen to that position through her connection with Lou Ji.

And that was exactly where the problem lay.

If Old Lady Long truly was a connection hire through Lou Ji, Xu Yinhe would have spared her life out of consideration for Lou Ji. However, the reality was that Old Lady Long had become a high-level official in the Prime Minister’s Mansion because of her noble bloodline.

To this day, the vast Prime Minister’s Mansion could actually be divided into five factions.

These included the newly promoted elite group of the past few decades, the original Jingjiang Xu Family, the Beijing Feng Family, various local Sects subdued by different means, and the only exception, the Imperial Capital Long Family.

It’s needless to mention the first three; they were tightly controlled by Xu Yinhe. The subjugated local Sects, spread across Dayan Territory and deliberately divided by Di’an’s Prime Minister’s Mansion, even if these Sects intended to form a collective interest group within the Mansion, they would hardly manage to unite into a force. The only exception was the Imperial Capital Long Family.

The Prime Minister’s Mansion had once undergone two periods of rapid expansion, both of which were built on the corpses of two millennia-old Sects.

The Feng Family heir and the Emperor’s eldest daughter had led a revolt that seized power from their own father. This force was held by Xu Yuan’s mother, but after her death, due to Feng Jiuxuan’s hands-off approach as a shopkeeper, this power naturally transferred to Xu Yinhè.

The relationship between Di’an’s Long Family and the Prime Minister’s Mansion was actually very complicated, with cooperation far outweighing consolidation. Unfortunately, the death of the ancestor of the Long Family coincided with the most turbulent period of imperial power transition.

Originally, this would not have been a big deal for the Long Family, as they had experienced many similar situations as one of the few millennia-old Sects in Dayan Territory, and they had enough heritage to merely observe the chaos. However, the Family Head of that time, due to personal relations and promises made, ended up supporting the former Crown Prince.

Indeed, much like the Elder Brother of Your Majesty who resembled Li Junqing.

And the result was obvious; amidst the political cataclysm, soon after the death of the saint of the Long Family, the Long Family Head also perished, along with that Elder Brother of Li Yaoxuan.

The death of the two main supports, coupled with several strategic mistakes, put the Long Family in a precarious position, and the internal strife among the five inheriting branches after the death of their family head almost disintegrated the once-powerful Long Family overnight.

In such circumstances, Old Lady Long’s elder brother, through her connection with Lou Ji and Xu Yinhè, who by then had ascended as the Chancellor of the Great Flame, established a collaboration.

The groom had love, and the bride was willing.

The cooperation unfolded naturally.

With Xu Yinhè’s help, Old Lady Long’s elder brother unsurprisingly emerged victorious from the internal strife of the Long Family and became the sole Family Head.

The Long Family became a close cooperative partner of the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

However, even the closest cooperative relationships can change with time and shifting interests.

In the tenth year of Old Lady Long’s elder brother ruling the Long Family, at that year’s grand banquet of the Prime Minister’s Mansion, the Family Head of the Long Family and Xu Yinhe had a severe conflict.

Not long after their unhappy parting, he suddenly fell ill, gravely and inexplicably so.

As a Semi-Saint powerhouse, he swiftly died in that severe illness.

Afterwards, a new round of intense internal strife erupted within the Long Family.

This strife was unexpected and fierce, with almost all the direct descendants of the Long Family perishing in it, effectively dismembering this colossal family.

But the strong inertial power of a millennia-old Sect still kept the Long Family’s influence intact, and over the decades, they gradually rallied around Long Xinling, the remaining direct female descendant of the Long Family.

Unrelated to cultivation, this was a nobility derived from bloodline.

Just as after the death of ancient emperors in Xu Yuan’s previous lives, the ministers would certainly pick a collateral member of the Royal Family to become the Emperor.

"..."

A bit of snow fell on the purple gauze, and a touch of melancholy appeared in Lou Ji’s eyes:

"She...actually had no intention to restore the Long Family, rather, she was forcibly placed in that position by others, although her offspring indeed include a few ambitious individuals who have already reached out to many former subordinates of the Long Family."

As she spoke, Lou Ji’s eyelids drooped, and she seemingly said with a bit of self-mockery:

"But even so, she could have survived."

Xu Yuan looked at her pale side face and asked softly,

"To kill her own offspring as a gesture of allegiance?"

Lou Ji shook her head:

"That’s just one option. Your father is very magnanimous; as long as one does not cross certain lines, his tolerance towards us is almost unlimited."

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then understood the implication behind Lou Ji’s words.

His father did not mind his subordinates having too much power.

Did Lou Ji have too much power?

Thinking carefully, the Black Scale Guards were already frighteningly powerful.

The Black Scale Guards, with their almost ubiquitous presence across Dayan and their unique linear chain of command, had evolved almost independently of the Prime Minister’s Mansion. Moreover, Lou Ji controlled many lucrative channels.