Debate raged in court, yet few ministers advocated yielding. The Zhao Kingdom had also enjoyed more than sixty years of peace, recuperating, reclaiming wasteland, and growing wealthy and prosperous.
Moreover, martial culture flourished throughout the kingdom. Its great sects produced one talented disciple after another, and countless martial artists of every rank lived among the common people. With formidable national strength and deep reserves, it was no soft persimmon for anyone to squeeze.
The long absence of war did not mean the Zhao Kingdom had neglected its military preparations or allowed its martial arts to wither.
The king of the Zhao Kingdom swept his gaze over the ministers in the hall and spoke in a deep voice. "The Wei Kingdom raised troops without cause, launched a surprise attack on our border, and seized our mineral vein by force. This outrage cannot be tolerated. Though we have already mined thirty percent of the deposit, we absolutely cannot allow the Wei Kingdom to extract the remaining seventy percent. Pass down my command: the entire kingdom will prepare for war!"
Decrees issued from the imperial palace one after another, spreading to every province within the Zhao Kingdom.
The first edict summoned every sect, martial school, martial lineage, and other martial organization, large or small, within the kingdom, calling martial experts from across the land to serve in the army.
The edict stipulated that all martial artists who answered the summons would receive pay, pills, and weapons according to their cultivation rank. Those who earned military merit on the battlefield would be rewarded by the Imperial Court with land and gold and silver, and could even be granted noble titles.
Countless messengers rode swift horses capable of covering tens of thousands of li a day to every corner of the kingdom. Sects large and