As for provisions and weapons, most of the tax has already been collected; once the Ministry of Revenue allocates some Silver, food and arms will no longer be a problem.
As for troops and horses, if they scrape them together, they can still assemble a very large army; the real difficulty lies in choosing a commander to lead the troops.
The ministers were at each other's throats in court over this one appointment.
In the end, Elder Shangguan actually risked angering the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, in this humble servant's view, now is not the best time to attack Da Rong. Da Rong's forces are strong and vigorous, and the Rong people are by nature brutal and violent, like ferocious beasts and evil spirits on the battlefield. By contrast, Great Chu has very few elite soldiers available. The plan for now should be to preserve our strength and nurture generals capable of breaking the enemy's camps, and only seek to attack Rong ten years from now."
