Upon hearing the battle report, the general composed himself slightly, pondered for a moment, and then said to the head of the Sarutobi Clan, "Clan head, since the Uchiha Clan has suffered such heavy losses at the front, we might have a chance to wipe out their main force!"
Our main force was wiped out by the Uchiha Clan in the past, so we can follow their example and defeat their main force in return.
Now that the Uchiha Clan has won two consecutive victories, they will inevitably become arrogant and overconfident, venturing deep into enemy territory alone. We only need to concentrate our superior forces to ambush them in the valleys of the southeastern hinterland, and we will surely annihilate the main force of the Uchiha there."
However, the civil official standing nearby clapped his hands and sang a dissenting tune. "Heh, all talk and no action! You bunch of military generals, of course all you know is fighting. You'll never get to the bottom of things. In the end, aren't we civil officials the ones who get things done?"
All you do is talk the talk. Let me ask you this: where will the money and soldiers come from? Are you going to pay for it?
The leading military officer pointed at the civil official's nose and cursed, "Money, money, money! You bunch of money-grubbing bastards, are you all obsessed with money? We're talking about national affairs and military matters right now!"
The civil official raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I'm talking to you about national affairs, aren't money a national issue too? Money is more important than your bullshit military stuff."
Without money, what kind of military campaign can you wage? You military officers only need to fight on the front lines; we civil officials have to consider many other things."
Hearing the other side criticize their military generals so harshly, all the generals were speechless and stood up to accuse the civil officials.
"What the hell are you talking about? Are you implying that we military officers live off your whims? You're nothing but a bunch of bookworms. If it weren't for us military officers fighting enemies outside, would you still be able to stay here peacefully?"
"You civil servants are a bunch of useless trash! Screw you! I'll go to hell with you! I don't even know what you're good for. We never see you on the front lines. All you do is stay in the rear, yelling and complaining, all you care about is money, money, money, like some kind of landlord! So vulgar! You son of a bitch!"
"Go to hell! All you do is pout and yell all Tenten. So you're saying that since people are already at your doorstep, you're just going to surrender?"
The military officer was spewing vulgarities, his spittle almost landing on the civil official's face.
Faced with such an insult, the civil official was naturally displeased. Therefore, he immediately launched a counterattack.
"Don't try to frame me! I never said that! The Uchiha have only breached the border; it's not as serious as you make it out to be. Don't exaggerate!"
"You bunch of brutes who only know how to fight, your language is so vulgar! Money is the foundation of the nation, the foundation of the treasury! Without the treasury, none of you could afford to eat! A bunch of stupid pigs whose brains only know how to fight!"
"You spout vulgarities! Do you think you're so great? In the end, aren't you just pieces of trash getting beaten to a pulp by the Uchiha? Without the country's logistical support, you wouldn't even be able to decide what you eat on the front lines!"
The civil officials' barrage of words, one after another, slapped at his face. However, compared to the military generals' sharp tongues, the civil officials' words didn't seem to be as offensive.
"Enough!" Amidst the escalating argument, a commanding voice from the very center of the hall broke the silence.
All the civil and military officials turned to look at the Sarutobi Clan Sarutobi Clan, who sat in the center, his face contorted with rage. " The Uchiha practically about to punch you in the face, and you still have the nerve to argue here!"
Upon hearing this, both the military officers and civil officials lowered their heads. The leading officers and civil officials exchanged glances before turning their heads away.
Looking at the two of them, the Sarutobi Clan chief sighed and said, "Now is not the time to argue; what we need to do is solve the problem!"
Upon hearing this question, the military commander stepped forward. "We currently have a problem: troop strength. We lack sufficient troops at the front lines. We need at least 800 men to keep the 400 Uchiha within our territory."
As for the location plan, that's not a problem. Once the troop strength issue is resolved, everything will fall into place.
The civil official also stepped forward. "Chieftain, I have only one question: where will we get the money for this war? Troop strength and such are secondary; as long as we solve the money problem, nothing else matters."
The head of the Sarutobi Clan gave the two men a complicated look, then asked, "So, what do you think should be done?"
A civil official clapped his hands, pointed to the sky with one index finger, and revealed a flash of inspiration. "I have a plan. If we don't have enough troops, we can just recruit more. There are so many people in our country, surely we can find a few ninjas. By piecing together enough from all over the country, we can surely gather seven or eight hundred men."
As for the money problem, that's even easier to solve. Just raise taxes! Let's levy a war tax now and make everyone pay a sum of money to support our war effort.
The leading civil official widened his eyes. "What are you talking about? Conscripting soldiers nationwide is one thing, but it's only ninjas, the number is small, and the impact is not significant."
But what kind of nonsense is this, imposing war taxes? Do you know that if we do this, the Sarutobi Clan's popularity within the country will plummet to zero? This is squeezing the nation's potential! This is courting death!
The military officer standing nearby said, "You know what, you know what? I actually think this move is feasible. It's not the 'suicidal' approach you're talking about. If we don't do this now, we'll be dead! You'll panic when the Uchiha arrive at our doorstep!"
The civil official's eyes widened. "Hey, so you're only against me, not against the civil officials? You son of a bitch!"
The civil official immediately turned and took two steps forward, bowing to the head of the Sarutobi Clan, saying, "Clan head, you absolutely cannot do this! This is digging your own grave, courting death!"
The Uchiha haven't cornered us yet. We can just muster our main forces to hold Uchiha off. There's no need for us to leave the Uchiha's main force in the country!
However, the civil official waited with his head down for a long time without hearing anything from the Sarutobi Clan leader, which gave him a sudden bad feeling.
The civil official shakily raised his head, looking at the Sarutobi Clan chief with disbelief. The Sarutobi Clan chief simply looked at him calmly, then sighed.
"I know this is wrong, but it's rare for a depleted Uchiha army to venture so deep into enemy territory. If we can annihilate and devour them..."
Then, the entire southwestern border towns of the Uchiha will be within our sight, and our iron hooves will be able to move freely! The Land of Gold will thus become powerful.
The Uchiha Land of Light is too powerful; they won't give us many opportunities. We must consider whether this is our only chance in this lifetime.
The civil official kept shaking his head. "Absolutely not! This is walking a tightrope, this is gambling! What if we lose?"
The head of the Sarutobi Clan said, "For the future of the Land of Gold, why not take a gamble? We might not necessarily lose!"
The military commander then added, "That's right, we're 90% confident this plan will succeed! It's you who's been constantly talking down our plans and contradicting us. Don't you want our Land of Gold to become strong?"