During those periods, the countries in the south and along the Yangtze River were often able to fight off the army of Hubei (North China) which had power of cavalry and were superior to the southern army, by developing a powerful suigun navy and using their maze of waterways as a natural defense advantage.
そうしたとき、水路が入り組んだ南方江南の諸国は水路を天険の守りとし、強力な水軍を養成してしばしば北方の騎馬兵力を擁して軍事的に優越した華北諸国の軍を撃退することに成功した。