Cheng Baihan remained expressionless.
The Inner Factory should never have fallen so far, but Fist King Gao Tiankuo had killed one batch, and another had been struck dead by lightning while infiltrating the Myriad Harmony Commerce Guild and the Idle Prince Army. Later, when they attempted covert assassinations, they never even caught sight of Li Qingxian before the Idle Prince Army dragged them out in broad daylight, denounced them as assassins, and executed them.
Compared with the Idle Prince Army's proud soldiers and fierce generals, the Inner Factory was sinister and ruthless enough, but simply could not win a fight.
He had plainly stated that assassination was useless against a Fate Arts Master, but the emperor kept implying that they should try anyway. The result was nothing but lost soldiers and fallen officers.
Once, the Inner Factory and the Night Guard had boasted mighty troops as numerous as clouds, and Eunuch Lu had been brimming with confidence.
But now, after so many had died and so many more had been dismissed, a closer look revealed that only two kinds of people remained in the Inner Factory and the Night Guard.
One kind had patrons whose hands and eyes reached the heavens. Even if he, a distinguished chief eunuch, were dismissed, they would remain untouched. He could not command them at all.
The other kind were slippery old hands who would say anything but never risk their lives. If they would not risk their lives in the Inner Factory and the Night Guard, what were they even there for?
Cheng Baihan himself was at his wits' end, so he did not blame the Coward King in the slightest.
"We cannot touch the Myriad Harmony Commerce Guild, but we can touch those children," Cheng Baihan said slowly.
Startled, the Coward King hurriedly