Was Machiavelli in a way trying to write a book on morality by subtly exposing political methods in The Prince?

This is highly doubtful. The Prince
was written during a time of intense political turmoil in Italy. Machiavelli had been
imprisoned, tortured, and later banished by Lorenzo de Medici, a member of the notorious
de Medici family and relative of the future Pope Leo X. The treatise is unseemly
flattering of Lorenzo, and suggests ways that a Prince might "succeed" in ruling his
country. His famous statement (which I often quote to my students) that "it is better to
be feared than to be loved if one must choose" hardly sounds like the words of one
attempting to expose political methods. Leo Strauss, in Thoughts on
Machiavelli commented:

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Even if we were forced to grant that Machiavelli
was a patriot or scientist, we would not be forced to deny that he was a teacher of
evil.

In the last chapter,
Machiavelli urges de Medici to free Italy from the "Barbarians." Again, this hardly
seems s subtle way to expose political methods. The Prince has been the subject of
intense scholarly and literary debate; however I think it is a reach to say it was
written as an expose. The more logical explanation is that Machiavelli was attempting to
flatter Lorenzo in hopes of restoring himself to the latter's good graces. Such an
effort would be truly Machiavellian