The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2431 Cutting off one's arm

The administrative core of the Northern War Zone of the Galactic Empire, the planet Palin-Minor.

A white light flashed, and a battered fleet appeared in the outer space of the planet. The fleet looked extremely miserable, with the shields of almost every warship broken, the main armor belt riddled with holes, and many places on fire and smoking.

There was no doubt that this was the fleet led by Thrawn returning victoriously.

The fleet initially consisted of more than 800 battleships, but Admiral Gilad Pellaeon led the fleet to launch a campaign against the Mararian Alliance, but was defeated by Mal-Tuk and suffered heavy losses. Later, when Mal-Tuk attacked the planet Bilbrin, they counterattacked under the command of Vice Admiral Ozzel and were defeated again.

By that time, there wasn't much left of the fleet. After receiving some reinforcements, the number of capital ships barely reached 300, and many of them were more or less injured.

It was with such a fleet that Thrawn defeated Admiral Mal-Tuk's aggressive Commercial Fleet!

Later, he received some reinforcements, so that the number of his battleships remained at around 300. But you have to know that this was the third consecutive battle fought by this fleet.

Then, Severance Tann, who had been famous for a long time and was known as the strongest general in the galaxy, attacked again with the Titan battleship, the God's Envoy, which was known as the strongest battleship in the galaxy. If the light cruiser was included, Severance Tann's force was equivalent to twice that of Thrawn!

Moreover, the quality of the warships of both sides is incomparable. The Hell's Angels-class battlecruisers need Imperial-class Star Destroyers to counter them. Other battlecruisers including Behemoth-class, Doomsday-class, and Dunov-class have stronger comprehensive combat capabilities than Victory II-class Star Destroyers. The most important thing is that these warships all have complementary advantages and each has its own characteristics.

However, with such a dilapidated fleet, after being reinforced by the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer whose combat effectiveness was obviously inferior to that of the Angel, Thrawn actually fought a tie with Severance Tann, and the losses of both sides were almost the same!

In fact, the Kingdom of Dawn had 87 casualties, while the Galactic Empire had more than 120 million casualties. The difference of more than 40 casualties was purely because the Kingdom of Dawn's warships carried fewer crew members!

Even at the end of the battle, Thrawn still led this remnant army to cover the retreat of the Leela Super Star Destroyer, the favorite of Governor Dunn-Wessex. Only after the retreat did they return to the planet Palin-Minor.

Standing next to Thrawn, Adjutant Rell Benting's eyes were filled with excitement. He shouted, "General! We won! We really won!! Even the Separatist Titan battleships stopped in front of us!!"

The other officers around also cheered.

Indeed, it was not easy! It was not easy! Especially for the officers and soldiers standing on the flagship, most of them had participated in the series of battles in the North. No one knew better than them how powerful the warships of the Kingdom of Dawn were, how excellent the commanders were, and how strange the technology was.

But they won, they really won! Even the Titan battleship, which was said to be invincible, was hit and caught fire, and had to return to the port for major repairs.

Isn't it true that such a fleet, such naval officers and such a commander deserve a warm welcome, flowers and applause?

However, Admiral Thrawn, who created this miracle, just stood there quietly, motionless, with no expression on his face.

"General?" Leir Benting asked tentatively. After he saw Thrawn's expression, he suddenly understood something and his face turned pale. "No... no way?"

"Yes, Colonel Rael. Yes." Thrawn shook his head.

... Thrawn's fleet did receive the warmest welcome. After his fleet left hyperspace, he saw a new fleet led by the Super Star Destroyer Leela and Dunn Wessex waiting here.

The Lila was in the middle, with the other warships on both sides.

Although it looked extremely miserable and there were still many fires on the ship that had not been extinguished, the Lila still looked so majestic under the protection of the well-disciplined fleet of Dunn-Wessex.

There was complete silence in the communications. Although the scene was indeed grand, there were no flowers, no applause, and no cheers. There was only silence, and the fleet on the opposite side.

Thrawn let out an imperceptible sigh.

At the same time, the Chimera's control console suddenly issued an extremely sharp alarm!

"General! We...we've been locked onto by the fire control radar!" the radar soldier screamed in surprise, "We've been locked onto by...no, it's...it's the Super Star Destroyer Leela!"

"General...they..." There was a sad look in Leir Benting's eyes. He already understood everything.

"Chimera calling Lila, we are family! We are family!" The signalman began to call, but there was no response.

Just now, he fought bloody battles with them, and even used his huge body and powerful shield to resist the attacks of the Titan battleship God's Envoy for them many times. It can be said that if it weren't for the fearless battle of the Super Star Destroyer Lila, they wouldn't even be qualified to stand opposite the Titan battleship God's Envoy!

But now, the Lila pointed its guns at them, at the comrades who had fought side by side with them just a few hours ago...

Without the slightest hesitation.

"No need to call. Lower the shields, shut down the engines, and shut down the weapon systems." Thrawn said.

"General...we, we won?" The radar soldier turned around and looked at Thrawn in a daze.

"Who knows?" Thrawn said this lightly, then saluted the other officers and soldiers on the bridge, turned and walked out.

He walked straight to the hangar platform, neatly arranged his white military uniform meticulously, and then stood there like a sculpture.

A moment later, a Lambda-class shuttle flew in and stopped unceremoniously in front of Thrawn. The hatch opened, and dozens of clone soldiers wearing white polymer alloy armor walked down. These soldiers immediately raised their blaster rifles and drove away all the others here. At the same time, several of them came to Thrawn.

An Imperial Navy officer in a gray uniform and a colonel badge came over, looked at Thrawn and said coldly: "Chiss, Mis-Ro-Nurudo-Thrawn. You are suspected of 17 charges including dereliction of duty, disobeying military orders, and causing large-scale casualties due to wrong command. According to the order of Dunn Wessex, the governor of the Imperial Ninth Army, you are stripped of your position as admiral and immediately sent to the Northern Military Court for trial." (End of this chapter)