Henry Lewis listened and realized that he was still holding back a lot. The state of the world was far more complicated than just rampant banditry and the people's suffering. Because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, local officials everywhere had been granted the authority to recruit and command troops. Then, at the beginning of this year, the emperor approved a memorial from Ian Lewis, restoring the position of provincial governor, which gave local authorities even greater power—provincial governors now wielded enormous authority, almost like local warlords. The situation of regional powers carving up the land was already beginning to take shape.

At the same time, Charles Carter also didn't mention all the sordid things the old emperor had done over the years—minting coins, selling official posts and titles, these absurdities had happened time and again. As for the special 'pool' built in the palace purely for his amusement, that was hardly worth mentioning by comparison.

“Counselor Carter, what do you think should be done?”

Charles Carter thought for a moment. In fact, he had pondered this question himself when he had nothing else to do: in the current situation, what could be done to restore the Han dynasty to its former glory? Unfortunately, no matter how hard he thought, he always felt the problem was nearly unsolvable.

After struggling for a long time, he still couldn't come up with an answer. In the end, it was a single sentence from Henry Lewis that sent a cold sweat down his back.

“If you ask me, since the rot has reached the very roots, why not break them off entirely, and then rebuild from the ruins!”

Henry Lewis said this as if he were talking about uprooting an old tree and planting a new one in its place. Anyone hearing it would hardly imagine he was referring to a vast nation.

“Rebuild from the ruins?”

At first, Charles Carter was simply startled, even suspecting that the man before him might not be the crown prince at all, but an imposter. Otherwise, how could he say such a thing? After all, to rebuild from the ruins meant destroying everything that currently existed. If that happened, would the so-called Han dynasty even survive?

Of course, he didn't know that Henry Lewis didn't care about the Han dynasty or any so-called legitimacy. All he wanted was the throne.

But upon careful reflection, he found that Henry Lewis's words made a lot of sense, and they especially resonated with his own thoughts. For, when alone, similar ideas would sometimes arise in his heart, but out of loyalty to the Han, he would always suppress them. Now that Henry Lewis had brought it up, the idea could no longer be contained, and in an instant, it grew into a towering tree in his mind.

At this moment, Charles Carter felt that the Henry Lewis before him was exactly to his taste. If he could become emperor, only then would the Han dynasty truly be revitalized and become a powerful nation once more.

Once this thought arose, he began to seriously consider whether he really should stand together with Henry Lewis, and what benefits that might bring him.

“Undoubtedly, if the crown prince ascends the throne, at the very least I would be a founding minister, and my future achievements would surely surpass those of a mere General Who Conquers the West!”

The benefits were obvious, but the troubles were many as well. Charles Carter was not the kind of person to be blinded by immediate gain. After a moment of calm, he realized just how many problems lay ahead.

“Counselor Carter, you need not worry. All these troubles before us—there will naturally be people to take care of them for us!”

Henry Lewis had been watching Charles Carter's expression all along, and now he knew that Charles Carter was tempted. Although it couldn't be said that he had truly won Charles Carter over as a subordinate, Charles Carter did indeed have the intention to join forces with him. As long as that intention existed, he would never let this Charles Carter go. As long as he could always keep him under control, there would be no fear of any ulterior motives.

Now, it was time to show a bit of his own capability, to give Charles Carter more confidence in him.

“Why does Your Highness say so?”

“What Counselor Carter worries about is nothing more than the Grand General and Zhang Rang's faction. But those two sides are already at each other's throats. It won't be long before they fight to the death. When that time comes...”

Charles Carter immediately understood Henry Lewis's meaning: “At that time, take action while both sides are weakened?” This plan sounded good, but Charles Carter felt it wouldn't be that simple.

Henry Lewis smiled. “Of course it won't be that easy. The power structure in the palace is a mess right now. We still need a villain to wipe out all that chaos!”

Upon hearing this, Charles Carter was first confused, but then his face turned to shock: “Your Highness intends to... bring in outside troops into the capital?” How could he not be shocked? Normally, most of the power in the capital belonged to the royal family, and the last thing the imperial clan wanted was for outside troops to enter the city. Who would have thought that the man before him would do the exact opposite?

Thinking again of what he had said earlier about rebuilding from the ruins... it seemed this prince was about to unleash a bloody storm. Such ruthlessness was rarely seen in the world.

However, Charles Carter felt that only someone like this could accomplish great things.

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Chapter 7: Benefits

Since the two of them already had a preliminary intention to cooperate, the conversation became much easier. For example, Charles Carter asked directly, “Among all the generals with private armies, who could play the role of the villain?”

Henry Lewis also answered straightforwardly, without beating around the bush: “Donald Drake!”

When Charles Carter heard this name, he immediately fell silent. After thinking it over carefully, he had to admit that Henry Lewis was absolutely right.

The Han dynasty was now in utter chaos, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion had led many local warlords to build up their own forces. Among them, Donald Drake's actions were the most blatant.

No matter how the court tried to reward him, Donald Drake only clung to his own territory. If anyone tried to transfer him elsewhere, he would immediately come up with all sorts of excuses.