Golden Bars Slipped into the Throat Sealer's Hands, Treacherous Schemes Falling into Blood Butcher's Trap

"Thirty thousand gold?"

An official cried out in shock. "We're all honest officials. Even if we saved every bit of our pay, we couldn't scrape together that much in ten years!

Isn't that robbery?"

Lord Changping's brows knitted together. Thirty thousand gold was enough to equip half a legion of armored soldiers.

But then he thought it over. Assassins who could get close to the royal carriage under the Blood-Clad Army's noses were surely no ordinary hands. A high price was only fitting for their skill.

"How much is the deposit?" he asked.

Yu Xun lowered his voice further. "The thirty thousand is the deposit.

If they manage to alarm the royal carriage, we'll have to pay another fifty thousand afterward."

"What?!"

Lord Changping almost sprang out of bed. The sharp pain from his wound made him suck in a breath. "Eighty thousand gold, altogether? Why don't they just rob the state treasury!"

The room fell silent again.

The others exchanged glances, none of them having imagined that the assassins' price would be outrageously high.

Lord Changping's face darkened as he looked around at them. "Let's pool our resources."

Everyone looked troubled, but no one spoke up.

It wasn't that they were unwilling to stand together. Thirty thousand gold was simply too much. They truly couldn't produce it.

Lord Changping grew impatient. "If this doesn't work, we'll have no chance to turn things around. Some of us will die, and the rest will be demoted. Are we not going to risk it?"

His voice held the resolve of someone who had burned his boats. "At this point, our lives and fortunes depend on this.

If we succeed, never mind eighty thousand gold. Once we return to Xianyang and take power again, what won't we have?

If we fail..."

He didn't