Starting from the lands along the Ying River, almost the entire Hanyang Plain lay in Chu State's hands. However, the Chu people had not developed it enough, relying mainly on military garrisons and collecting little tax; their main purpose was to obtain soldiers here.
The Nanyang Basin downstream along the Han River was Chu State's core territory. Here lay a thousand li of fertile soil, with countless farmers laboring in the fields. A gentle breeze swept over the lush greenery, a scene of flourishing prosperity.
Chu State had not called up the troops of the entire country for a campaign in many years. Compared with the wars of old, when blood flowed in rivers and heaps of corpses dammed the streams, these were like children playing house.
The Jianghan Plain at Chu State's heart was its home base. Almost all its finest armored soldiers came from here, and it also supplied more than sixty percent of the entire country's grain.
Yingdu, the Royal Palace of Chu State.
Situated in a remote region beyond the Central Plains, Chu's ruler and ministers knew little of the complicated situation there, so the great war that had suddenly erupted in the Central Plains struck them as very strange.
Previously, there had only been minor border clashes, at most wars between one or two cities.
How had things escalated in such a short time into a bloody war between three states, with even the Son of Heaven of Zhou intervening directly?
It was like two people trading a few barbs, politely greeting each other's parents and families, only to suddenly draw knives on one another, bright red blood gushing out in an unstoppable torrent.
"What did Chen State do to make Zheng State mobilize its entire country against it?
"I remember Zheng State always being