Since the beginning of time, wars have always been fought with food and supplies before troops move forward.
The news of the land expansion war has not yet spread, but the prices of elixirs, talismans, magic tools, magic arrays and other resources in several major markets in southern Xinjiang have already risen to varying degrees.
Thanks to their marriage relationship with the Ge family, the Zhao family became the second family to know the inside story.
Zhao Sheng knew very well that the news could not be kept secret for long.
As long as one month, as short as seven or eight days.
The news that Patriarch Yuye was going to launch a war to expand the territory would surely spread throughout the entire southern border.
There has been no territorial expansion war in southern Xinjiang for nearly five hundred years.
Zhao Sheng could imagine that if a big, fragrant cake was suddenly placed in front of countless cultivators in southern Xinjiang, it would surely attract countless participants eager to reap the benefits of war.
This is a carnival feast shared by sects, immortal cultivation families and individual cultivators.
By then, there will surely be many immortal cultivation families that will take advantage of the situation to rise, and there will also be some forces that will suffer heavy casualties, never to recover, or even disappear.
War has always been cruel, and war in the world of immortal cultivation is especially so.
Monsters have an extremely strong sense of territory. If cultivators want to open up a new fertile land for humanity in southern Xinjiang, they will inevitably have to engage in a protracted, life-and-death war with thousands of monsters.
For the Zhao family, the war of expansion was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Because there is a recognized tradition in the war of land expansion, that is, whoever conquers, occupies! Whoever develops, owns.
Simply put, if you can occupy a piece of spiritual land and successfully develop it.
Then, this sacred land belongs to you.
The reason for this tradition is that "a single tree cannot make a forest."
Developing an area is never something that can be easily accomplished by one or two people or even one or two forces.
Even if the Danding Sect is strong enough to do it, it will incur public anger if it chooses to keep it to itself.
After Patriarch Yuye cuts off the biggest piece of cake, he often releases the remaining edges and corners for other forces to snatch.
However, there are countless immortal cultivation families and sects in southern Xinjiang. It depends on the personal opinion of Patriarch Yulin to decide which forces to participate.
And this is the Zhao family's opportunity.
Long before he came back, Zhao Xuan'an took his wife Ge Feng'er back to the Ge family to visit relatives.
Ostensibly visiting relatives, but actually gathering information.
Once any useful information is obtained, it will be immediately transmitted back to Taiwu Mountain.
The Zhao family has three foundation-building cultivators. Zhao Sheng is stationed in Taiwu Mountain, responsible for summarizing and analyzing intelligence, and mobilizing and issuing various instructions to the clan members at any time.
Zhao Jinjian, who has reached the third level of foundation building, is the strongest. He is now in Jiuding Market, purchasing elixirs and other supplies for his family while protecting the safety of his clansmen and supplies.
In order to secretly collect supplies, most of the more than 30 immortal cultivators of the Zhao family have dispersed to the Jiuding Market.
Zhao Keru plunged into the alchemy room and began to refine various elixirs such as the Miasma-Breaking Pill and the Rejuvenating Pill day and night.
There are many deep mountains and old forests in the southern border wilderness, which are full of miasma and poisonous insects. The miasma-breaking pill is a must-have medicine.
Rejuvenation Pill is a healing pill, needless to say.
In order to obtain ownership of a piece of sacred land, the Zhao family has mobilized all their strength and resources this time.
As time went by, countless outdated pieces of information were ruthlessly torn off the wall in front of Zhao Sheng, but more notes were posted on it.
When the news of the land expansion war spread throughout southern Xinjiang, the Zhao family had only completed half of their material storage work.
Zhao Sheng was very worried, not because of the lack of supplies, but because he discovered that his family had a weakness that was difficult to make up for.
Most importantly, this weakness may very well determine the family's ultimate success or failure.
The next morning, smoke from cooking fires rose from the Zhaoan city, and the atmosphere was quiet and peaceful.
But in the City Lord's Mansion in the center of the inner city, the atmosphere became extremely tense, and the servants and maids in the mansion did not dare to breathe.
Zhao Sheng sat at the head of the hall, silently gazing at the seven Zhao clan members below.
Zhao'an City was built nearly thirty years ago, and the Zhao family has grown from more than 3,000 people to nearly 10,000.
But among these nearly ten thousand people, there are only seven innate warriors.
This number is a bit small for the Zhao family, which started its career with military power.
You should know that the Zhao family bestows a lot of essence pills every year, plus the many experience notes left by the innate warriors of the Zhao family throughout the generations.
The Zhao family should not have only seven Xiantian masters. In Zhao Sheng's opinion, there should be at least more than ten.
As the saying goes, one is born in sorrow and dies in comfort!
"Alas, it seems that the Zhao family has become lazy again in recent years!"
After Zhao Sheng sighed secretly in his heart, his face became extremely cold.
He turned to look at the anxious Zhao family's current patriarch beside him and ordered in a cold voice: "I don't care what method you use. Within one year, you must gather twenty innates. If you are short of one, you will give up your position as patriarch to someone else!"
Upon hearing this harsh requirement, the Zhao clan leader, who was known for his shrewdness and ability, almost cried.
The innate master is not a cabbage, how can it grow just like that?
He was about to beg for mercy, but when he saw Zhao Sheng's serious expression, he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth and could only nod silently.
The Zhao family now has a very tricky weakness.
In a normal immortal cultivation family, the strength of the members often forms a pyramid shape from top to bottom.
However, the Zhao family is shaped like a dumbbell, with high sides and a low middle, and the backbone force in the middle and late stages of Qi training is seriously scarce.
With the passing of the older generation of the Zhao family, such as Zhao Jinding, there are only twelve people in the Zhao family with the characters Ke and Chong in total. There are only two people in the late stage of Qi Refining, six people in the middle stage, and the remaining four are in the early stage of Qi Refining and are of little use.
By the Xuan generation, there were almost thirty people, but the one with the highest cultivation, Zhao Xuanjing, was only at the eighth level of Qi Refining, and the next one, Zhao Xuanan, was only at the sixth level, while most of the rest were only at the first or second level.
Zhao Sheng once secretly estimated that the strongest of the three foundation-building cultivators in the family was only at the third level of foundation-building, and Zhao Keru was not good at fighting.
It is not impossible for the three of them to conquer a piece of spiritual land, but it is difficult.
That's nothing.
What is even more difficult is how to protect the spiritual land from being lost under the watchful eyes of outsiders and monsters.
However, the most difficult problem facing the Zhao family now is the severe shortage of available manpower.
You have to know that in opening up new spiritual lands in the southern border wilderness, ordinary people are of no use at all. At the very least, one must be a congenital warrior.
Because it is impossible for ordinary people to adapt to the extremely harsh environment of the wilderness. Sometimes a little miasma can take a person's life, not to mention those ferocious monsters and poisonous insects.
Unfortunately, the Zhao family's financial resources are too limited, far less than those of other established foundation-building families, and they cannot afford to hire independent cultivators to help.
Join forces with other families?
Zhao Sheng would not choose to do this unless it was absolutely necessary.
Because trust in each other is a big issue.
You can never underestimate a cultivation family's desire for their own spiritual land.
Likewise, you cannot trust any family's promise, even if it's a blood pact.
In the strictly hierarchical world of Zhongzhou, if a family does not have its own spiritual land, it will always be at the bottom of the world.