As soon as Xue Ye finished speaking, the two sides launched into a heated debate. The pro-war faction, led by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect and the Elephant Armor Sect, naturally advocated war. With such a justification, Heaven Dou could muster over ninety percent of its national strength. The imperial family's forces alone could already contend with the Governor's Residence and would only grow stronger. With the addition of the other sects and clans, they stood a considerable chance of winning this war.
As the saying went, when the snipe and the clam fought, the fisherman reaped the rewards. The two sides had already fought such a devastating battle that, to these war advocates who knew nothing of the precise circumstances, this was undoubtedly the best time to attack. They could strike before either side recovered and catch them completely off guard. If they failed to settle the matter soon and waited until their opponents recovered, it would be too late.
This would certainly meet with extremely fierce resistance, but if they could reclaim the Northern Land and distribute rewards according to merit, it would still be a fairly worthwhile bargain.
The peace faction, led by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the other three Elemental Academies, believed that the Jiuzhou Empire bore Heaven Dou little hostility. They could establish friendly exchanges and learn some advanced practices from this nation composed entirely of ordinary people. They would merely have to spend more on trade, and presumably not that much more. Compared with waging a large-scale war only to let the Star Luo Empire or Spirit Hall slip through the opening, this was clearly the more cautious approach.
To put it in practical terms from the pro-war faction's perspective, the former Northern Province had suffered from an unending "bandit