And then, he surveyed the surroundings, searching for a suitable direction for expansion.
After looking around, Wei Country remained a tiger with undiminished might, second only to Liang as the second largest in the north of Jiangnan.
Zhao and Xu, two countries in Central State, only held one prefecture each, and regarded their territories as their lifeblood, not only relocating the majority of their populations there.
To hold onto this land, the two countries spared no effort to amass over a million soldiers and extensively fortified their defenses, creating ramparts as impregnable as a turtle shell, extremely difficult to overcome.
As for Chu State to the south, it controlled the vast majority of Central State, with only a small portion of Xiangyang Prefecture.
This remote corner had little significance to attack; even if Liang wished to strike, it was not certain they could overcome Chu.
Thus, west, north, and south—all three directions—were not good avenues for expansion.