Ning Country certainly did not want to see Chu State occupy the entire Lingnan region.
Lingnan, with its three nations and five counties, spanned a vast twenty thousand li and housed a population of six to seven million.
If Chu State were to acquire such a fertile territory, not only would its borders swell to twice the size of Ning's in an instant, but its population would also rapidly catch up, becoming comparable to that of Ning.
Then, just with its national power alone, Chu State would far surpass Ning Country. Given two to three decades to develop and fully unleash the potential of its new territory, Chu would eventually crush Ning with its superior strength, leading to Ning's downfall.
Confronted with matters that endangered the very existence of his nation, Shen Qiu naturally could not sit idly by.
Therefore, he had no choice but to reluctantly abandon his own plans to launch a sneak attack on Dongting, defeat Chu State, and turn defeat into victory.
