From the point of view of geography and transportation at that time, the location of Chu's former capital was too remote.

Chu's Yanying was in the area from Jiangling to Xiangyang in Hubei province, the edge of the swampy and jungle-ridden Jianghan Plain, and the center of gravity of Chu's military and political power had already been shifted to today's Nanyang Basin and the Huaihe River Valley.

The direction of Chu's expansion during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods was mainly northward and then eastward, sparsely populated to the south and blocked by the Three Gorges to the west. The status of the Yanying homeland in the large-scale expansion of Chu's relative status declined very quickly, while Chen and Cai in the late Spring and Autumn period of Chu has been very important political status.

The pre-Qin period of Hubei is still very desolate, the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai also said: mountain with the end of the plains, the river into the great wilderness flow. Leave Shu to the Jingchu area is a desolate swampy jungle, when the Jingnan area is known as the Tianwu, the Tang Dynasty people Liu metamorphosis in the Jingnan and the first, into a breakthrough.

"Han Shu - Geography": South County (Yan Ying) population of 710,000, Jiangxia County and Jingnan population of about 1 million, Nanyang County population of 1,940,000, while the RuNan County (Cai ShenXi, etc.) population of 2,590,000 east of the Dabie Mountains of the State of Chu, HuaiYang State (Chen) population of 980,000, Pei County of Chu (PangCheng) population of 2,530,000, the JiuJiang County population of 780,000 (ShouCun), and in addition to belong to the State of Chu there are Donghai County with a population of 1,550,000, Linhuai County with a population of 1,230,000, Lujiang County with a population of 450,000, Huiji County in the Wu-Yueh homeland with a population of 1,030,000, and other counties such as Danyang and Yuzhang, as well as several kingdoms such as Surabaya and Guangling, with a combined population of millions. Chu's population east of the Dabie Mountains is several times that of the west, and the population of Chu's Yanying homeland during the Warring States period was even more sparse, which made it difficult to govern the vast and densely populated area of the Huaihe River Basin.

Chen Cai was subjugated to Chu early in its conquest and expansion, and Chu attached great importance to the operation of this area. Zi Chong, a great general of Chu, set out from Chen to attack Ju in 582 B.C., by which time Chu had already expanded to the south of Lu. King Ling of Chu exterminated Chen and Cai, "cheng Chen, Cai, and Bu Jou", and made Duke Abandonment the Duke of Chen and Cai. In 530 B.C., King Ling of Chu personally led his army to station at Qianxi (south of Chengdu) and prepared to attack Xu, but as a result, there was a rebellion in the country, and Duke Jiuzhi led the army of Chen Cai and other forces dissatisfied with the King Ling of Chu to enter Ying, and later became the King of Ping of Chu, and in order to reward Chen Cai, he restored both countries to the state again. Although Chen Cai was eventually destroyed by Chu, he soon became one with Chu, and the exiled forces attached themselves to Wu, but were eventually defeated by King Hui of Chu as well.

While fighting for supremacy with Jin, the "Divisions of Shenxi" in the Xinyang area of Nanyang, Henan Province, occupied a very important position in Chu's army. King Ling of Chu claimed that "my big cities Chen, Cai and Bu Jiao, all of them are equipped with thousands of rides", and Chen Cai, though still maintaining a semi-independent status for a long time, was already a major military town of Chu. Cai and Tang turned their backs on Chu and joined Wu, and the Chu army suffered a great loss when they crossed the Dabie Mountain. Wu broke the battle of Chu Chu general Shen Yin Xu also from the Nanyang area to mobilize the main force of Fangcheng south to outflank the back of the Wu army. Chu's struggle for supremacy in the Central Plains, very early on, was to the territory around the south of Henan and northern Anhui as the main force, and later expanded to the north of the Soviet Union. After Yanying was captured by Qin, Chu moved its capital to Chen.

Today's golden waterway of the Yangtze River was also not connected at that time. In today's section of the Jingjiang River is still nine back and forth, the Yangtze River in ancient times after Jingmen, in the plains, known as the nine rivers, from Jiangling to Wuhan this section of the navigation is not convenient, the Yangtze River can be navigable history not earlier than the late Warring States. In the years when the Yangtze River was not navigable, Jiangling's geographical position was not as important as in later times.

Late in the Spring and Autumn period, Wu Zixu fled to the state of Wu, passing through Zhaoguan near today's Chaohu Lake in Anhui Province, obviously not along the Yangtze River. Wu broke the battle of Chu, the Wu army along the canal front to the Huaihe River, and then upstream, to the upper Huaihe River near the source of the river, abandoned the boat to disembark, in the Tang Cai State reception under the sneak over the Great Tunnel, straight yuanyuan, Hepai Perfume three passes, over the Dabie Mountain, appeared in the Han River. The previous Wu and Chu many tug-of-war in central Anhui near the Huaihe River, it is clear that the main transportation route east of Ying, Chu was not the Yangtze River waterway, but to the north to the Nanyang area and then east along the Huaihe River. After the Battle of Tusha, Nanyang was captured by Qin, Han and Wei, and the land route between Yan Ying and the Huai River valley was already under threat.

The Records of the Grand Historian - Chun Shen Jun Liezhuan: And the king attacked Chu (Shouchun) will be evil out of the army? The king will borrow the road in the enemy of the collage of Han, Wei? Soldiers out of the day and the king is worried about it does not return, is the king to soldiers funded in the collateral of Han, Wei also. If you don't lend your way to your enemy's Han and Wei, you will attack the right side of Suishui. With the water right border, these are wide rivers and big water, mountains, forests and valleys, do not eat the land, although the king has it, not to get the land. Although the king had them, he did not get the land. The king had the name of destroying Chu but not the reality of getting the land. Here with the water right border, roughly the western foot of today's Dabie Mountain, Hubei Yingshan, Dawu area, that is, when the Wu Expeditionary Army passed through the place, the Dabie Mountain area until the North and South Dynasties, there are "barbarians" activities.

The situation at the time, the state of Chu in the fall of Yanying, gave up the westernmost part of the state of Chu and the eastern part of the affluent territories inaccessible to the homeland, transferred to the Huaihe River basin, consolidation of power, Chen and Shouchun compared to the remote Yanying is more able to the north of the central plains of the struggle for power to the south to open up the south of the Wuyue Jiangnan, and in the ensuing years, once able to re-strengthen the counterbalance to the Qin state. And was annexed by the Qin State of the Chu homeland, still maintains the Chu cultural identity, the so-called "Chu although three households, the death of the Qin must Chu", the end of the Qin Chen Sheng Wu Guang arm a call, the Qin State has long been annexed to the South County also occurred in the revolt.

If Qin continued to attack Chu, the southern Yangtze River channel was not feasible at that time, either by way of Hanwei, or through the then "wide river water, mountains, forests, streams and valleys, do not eat the land" with the water right border. Chu was able to recuperate for a while under the barrier of Hanwei.