After ten years had passed, Sordar City had gone through great changes.
Through Chen Heng's hard work, Sordar City had become a city that could rival the Kutu Royal City. Even though it was inferior in some regards, it was no less splendorous.
It contained a dense vitality and sharpness that even the Kutu Royal City did not have.
Within the city, citizens, travellers, mercenaries, slaves, and even Outlanders walked about.
This kind of scene was very difficult to see anywhere else, but it was very common here.
Because of the northern side policy, many mercenaries and younger sons of noble families would come here every year. They would replenish their stock and equipment here before going to fight.
The reason why Sordar City was able to develop so much in just ten years owed a great part to these people.
Moreover, because they had built solid defenses, the Sordar region's military pressure had been greatly reduced. The citizens were able to live stable lives, and the population steadily grew.
As Sordar stably grew, many refugees were attracted here and became part of the city.
Now, the Sordar region was completely different to how it had been when Chen Heng had first come.
Nomadic tribes, refugees, and even some Outlander slaves had been incorporated into this city.
It had to be said that this was quite an incredible accomplishment.
At this moment, Sordar's ruler, the Guardian Knight Kailin, was thinking to himself in his room.
"Is the information accurate?" Chen Heng raised his head and looked at the emissary as he asked seriously while sitting at his table.
"It has been confirmed," the emissary nodded seriously.
"A rebellion?"
Thinking of the information from the emissary, Chen Heng sank into his thoughts.
After ten years of peace, the Kutu Principality was now in a period of turmoil.
There seemed to be nobles staging rebellions in the south, openly opposing the royal family. They attacked a few of the royal family's territories and took them over.
In response, Olivia was infuriated and sent her army to suppress them but failed.
The rebelling nobles were not simple; they seemed to be supported by the Olis Kingdom, and they not only beat back Olivia's army but took this opportunity to devour even more territory.
Many nobles were threatened and forced to join the traitors; that was how the situation had developed.
The sudden rebellion caused everyone to feel shocked, and Olivia's failed suppression caused many people to see that the royal family's power was in decline.
As such, many rulers began to stir but continued to observe.
Moreover, at this critical moment, Olivia fell ill.
Her illness was quite severe, and she would often fall unconscious and occasionally cough up blood.
Those symptoms made everyone think of the previous King.
Back when the previous King had been confined to his bed, he often had such symptoms.
It had not been too bad at first, but as time passed, it became worse and worse until he could not take care of himself.
Now, Olivia seemed to have been stricken with the same illness.
Once this news was spread, everyone became quite anxious.
Different to the previous King, Olivia did not have any heirs.
No heirs did not mean no children; rather, it meant that she did not have any legal children who could succeed her.
In actuality, with how many male servants Olivia played around with, it would be incredible if she did not have any children.
However, the children born with the male servants were all viewed as illegitimate children, and they did not have any rights to the throne.
In the end, she did not have a single legitimate heir.
As the Queen, Olivia had not married anyone, and she naturally did not have any legitimate heirs.
According to this age's rules, without any legitimate heirs, there would be no legitimate successors.
This was quite dire.
The southern rulers were rebelling and Olivia had fallen ill, but she did not have an heir who could help stabilize the situation.
As such, the situation became quite chaotic.
After hearing about this information, Chen Heng knew that Olivia was in grave danger this time.
Within the Kutu Principality, because of Olivia's past actions, most nobles were already quite dissatisfied with her. It was just that they were limited by their circumstances and did not dare to show it.
However, now that the southern nobles were rebelling, the royal army had already been defeated once, and Olivia had become ill…
Olivia and the royal family's decline was immediately revealed.
It was difficult to say how those who were dissatisfied with Olivia would react.
It was like throwing a lit match into a pile of firewood; it would immediately grow into a raging bonfire.
In front of this bonfire, Olivia's situation would become quite grim.
Chen Heng silently thought to himself.
After ten or so years, the current status quo was different than before.
During these ten years, Olivia's territory had greatly grown.
However, that territory was mostly taken from other nobles, so they were quite disorderly. They had not been properly administered either, so they could not count as part of her strength, and it was just land under her control.
Even though Olivia had used various methods to take other people's territory over the years, her management was still quite lacking.
Using those outdated administration methods for an increasingly-growing region made it so that they could not be managed properly.
As such, to Olivia, these new territories were not part of her strength, and in a sense, they were a burden.
What could count as her strength were still her original territories.
Those territories were split between the territories she had when she was a Princess and the territories she had gained after becoming Queen.
She could most likely bring out 10,000 soldiers from the former, and as for the latter…
From how Chen Heng saw it, if Olivia was truly resolved to fight to the end, she could bring out 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers from the royal family's territories.
Of course, they would not be able to guarantee the quality of their training.
Without sufficient training and equipment, those soldiers would not have much fighting power.
With enough time, Olivia would be able to bring out a large army, but it seemed that she would not have the opportunity to do so.