Chapter 80 - Five Years

Time passed slowly, and before anyone knew it, five years had gone by in the blink of an eye. After five years, everything had changed a lot. During this period, many things happened. For example, in the Kingdom of Kutu, the King of Kutu died of illness. Subsequently, Princess Oriman and Prince Gries fought for the position of the King of Kutu. The two were opposed to each other and once triggered a great war. In the end, however, it was Princess Oriman who emerged victorious. With the help of many followers including Chen Heng, Princess Oriman won by a narrow margin and became the Queen of the Kingdom of Kutu. During this process, Chen Heng played a huge role. He once faced the three knights of the Kingdom of Orlis alone on the battlefield and killed them all by himself. After this battle, he was also hailed as the new-generation royal guard knight, replacing Coribo's former position. After obtaining the position of the King of Kutu, in order to reward followers like Chen Heng, Oriman deprived many lords who had followed Gries of their territories and granted them to her own followers instead. And after that final battle, the situation in the Kingdom of Kutu gradually stabilized. Oriman, as the Queen of the Kingdom of Kutu, took charge in the city of Kutu. Chen Heng, as always, stayed in his Soda. Five full years had passed, and Soda at this moment was no longer what it used to be. If someone who had once been to this land saw what Soda looked like now, they would surely be shocked by the changes in this land. Compared with five years ago, most of the Soda region still looked desolate, but around it, many earth forts had been built. This was a kind of military building simplified by Chen Heng with reference to the castles of this era. Although its defensive power was not as good as that of a real castle, it was simpler to build and its defensive power was also good. At least those orc thieves who didn't have siege equipment and whose training was very scattered would mostly be unable to capture it. The scattered earth forts covered the border of Soda and blocked many alien races coming from the desert. The cities in the rear thus got good opportunities for development. In five years, the cities established by Chen Heng at the beginning had gradually become lively. Although they still looked very simple and there were very few pedestrians, they were full of vibrant vitality. If one looked carefully, one could find that in the farmland outside the city, many alien races with strange appearances were farming there. These were the alien slaves obtained by Chen Heng from the desert and were widely used in construction and labor, becoming the main objects of exploitation. Every year, in the battles with the desert, a large number of slaves would appear. The use of slaves was extensive and they could be used in many aspects. The obedient ones were sent to farm the land, while the disobedient ones who were likely to hurt people were escorted to do some more dangerous tasks and used as consumables. It was precisely because of these new objects of exploitation that Chen Heng's territory could develop vigorously and so rapidly. Ironically, quite a number of these slaves were actually sold by their own tribes. Unlike the previous lords, after coming here, Chen Heng fought against the alien races in the desert on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was also looking for ways and means to negotiate with the alien races. He knew that although these alien races looked different from humans, they also had self-awareness and wisdom, just that their level of civilization was much lower than that of humans. However, in any case, as long as there was self-awareness and wisdom, there was the possibility of negotiation. Therefore, after coming here, Chen Heng had been working hard in this regard, wanting to negotiate with those alien races. Finally, after some twists and turns, he successfully got in touch with several alien tribes and reached agreements with them. These alien races provided Chen Heng with various specialties and slaves from the desert, while Chen Heng exchanged them with food. To put it bluntly, in the eyes of people in this era, Chen Heng's move was quite shocking. In the past, perhaps some people had thought about trading with alien races, but most of them ended up being killed by those alien races and even became their dinner. The vast majority of alien races were cannibals. There probably weren't many people like Chen Heng who not only successfully got in touch with alien races but also reached trade agreements with them. In this way, he successfully obtained a large number of specialties and slaves from the alien races in the desert. The slaves could be used by himself to extract surplus value, and those specialties from the desert only needed to be transported to the south to generate high profits. And all that Chen Heng paid was just some food. Food, which might be very difficult for other northern lords, especially such a large quantity of food. But for Chen Heng, who controlled a trade route and had been engaged in north-south trade all year round, it wasn't too difficult. By now, after these years, under the leadership of Oriman, some nobles had also started to engage in north-south trade, and there were also some successful ones at present. However, in this field, Chen Heng had the accumulations from the past, and his position couldn't be broken by others for the time being. Therefore, in the north-south trade, Chen Heng still occupied the lion's share and obtained a large amount of income from it every year. "Your Majesty Oriman, has she killed people again?" In the quiet courtyard, sitting in his own room, Chen Heng asked the person in front of him. "Yes." The person in front of him sighed and then continued, "This time, as many as three families were charged with the crime of rebellion and were suppressed by Her Majesty Oriman, and the territories of several lords were also deprived..." "What on earth does Her Majesty Oriman want to do?" Hearing this, Chen Heng couldn't help frowning. In the past few years, as Oriman ascended to the throne, her temperament had become more and more terrifying. As early as when she was just a princess, influenced by her mother, she had the habit of taking lovers. It was said that she had three or four lovers. After ascending to the throne and becoming the queen, she let herself go even more. It was said that she collected beautiful young men from all over the place and kept them all in her palace. Such behavior was a bit too much even for the nobles who were always known for their chaos. Of course, these were just personal style issues and might not be a big deal for others. But after this queen ascended to the throne, her style became more and more tyrannical. At the beginning, it was okay, but later, almost every once in a while, some people would be forced to death by her, and from time to time, she would deprive those nobles of their territories for various reasons. This practice inevitably caused panic among many people. And Oriman showed no sign of stopping at all. Instead, there were signs that she was becoming more and more terrifying and tyrannical. Even Chen Heng couldn't help frowning when he saw this.