The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2511: Freedom, or Freedom

Jin Hao walked into a suburban manor on the Dawn planet. The manor was not big, but it planted many crops, and the farming method was the most common and primitive.

In the fields, several agricultural robots are watering the crops and using ultraviolet lamps to stimulate crop growth.

When I arrived at the house, I saw an old man sitting on a recliner at the door, holding a micro terminal in his hand and browsing the news of the day.

There was a sound of frying coming from the kitchen inside the house.

"I always thought that even if you want to plant something, you should choose precious flowers and plants, Francis." Jin Hao walked over with a smile.

The person sitting on the recliner was none other than Francis Underwood, the former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Dawn.

He pushed his glasses up, looked at Jin Hao, and said calmly: "No matter how precious the flowers and plants are, if they can't be eaten, they are meaningless."

Jin Hao walked over carelessly, dragged a low table from the side, and sat directly on it. "Then you can also create a brand, such as... Prime Minister Apple Pie, how about it?"

"Well, I have a big appetite, so I probably won't be able to sell many." Francis Underwood smiled. "Why, why are you in the mood to come and see me, an old man who has passed his prime?"

"I remembered that I drank a lot of your red wine in the past, so I came here today to return a bottle to you." Jin Hao took out a bottle of red wine from behind like a magic trick and threw it casually into Francis' hands.

Francis looked at the label, smiled and said, "Good wine."

At this time, the door opened and an old woman came out with a hot plate. "Come and try it... Oh, Mr. Jin. It just so happens that you can have my apple pie again."

"Then I'd be honored to refuse." Jin Hao smiled slightly and followed Claire Underwood into the house without any hesitation.

After eating and drinking, Claire cleaned up the dishes and returned to the kitchen, leaving the entire living room to Francis and Jin Hao.

"Old Xu is dead." Jin Hao said lightly.

"I know." Francis smiled.

"Xu Deng inherited the United Mining Group."

“It’s both unexpected and not unexpected.”

"What surprised you? What didn't surprise you?"

“Hehehe…but if you want to imitate Old Xu, I don’t recommend it.” Francis laughed. “Xu Deng is a special case and cannot be copied. And I heard that the Ministry of Commerce of the Kingdom of Dawn has actually complained about it.”

"You should understand that I'm not here to seek advice." Jin Hao said lightly.

Francis put down the wine glass in his hand and said, "You know, this world is all about rules. Even the Galactic Empire has its own rules, but their rules are inefficient and cumbersome. The Kingdom of Dawn naturally has its own rules, and it is obvious that Tang Xiao does not like to see the concept of aristocratic families in the Kingdom of Dawn."

"Am I going to hand over all this that I have worked hard for my entire life to create to others?" Jin Hao frowned.

"This is the rule." Francis said, "Either you follow it, or you make it, or... you break it. Of course, there is another kind of people in this universe who don't need rules. Because they can easily kill all of us by themselves, such people are the rules themselves. Unfortunately, you are not such a person..."

"I'm not here to seek advice." Jin Hao said again.

Francis Underwood smiled, stood up, and called to Claire in the kitchen, "Claire! Do you still have the posters from when you were running the mutual aid foundation?"

"In the cabinet on your left!" Claire answered loudly.

Francis walked over and took out a poster with many races in the Outer Rim of the Milky Way and a circular logo. This was the former Outer Rim Mutual Aid Foundation, and it was also the first appearance of the Fourth Civilization on the political stage of the Milky Way. This was also due to the mediation and efforts of Claire Underwood, which once made her the Minister of the Administrative Department of the Confederation of Independent Systems.

He handed the poster to Jin Hao meaningfully, "You should know what happened in the Mutual Aid Foundation back then."

Jin Hao frowned. He could naturally guess the meaning of Francis giving him this poster. It was actually very simple and could be summed up in two words - freedom.

The Outer Rim Mutual Aid Foundation was considered part of the separatist movement and was one of the targets recruited by Count Dooku. Now, the meaning of bringing up the foundation that disappeared for decades is of course clear.

Francis Underwood had already staggered to the door again, sat down comfortably on the recliner, and said slowly: "If you have any questions, go find the Mutual Aid Foundation."

Jin Hao unfolded the poster, which had two not-so-obvious words on it - Leader.

……

At the same time, on the other side of the planet, at the Dawn Kingdom’s Supreme Command.

"According to information obtained by the Military Intelligence Department, there may be internal strife in the Tag Corporation within the Galactic Empire. The former patriarch of the Tag family, Sanya Tag, decided to join us, but hopes to get our support." Chief of the General Staff Qi Jian said, picking up a piece of intelligence.

"The Tag family? The planet Tepasi?" Ling Liang shook his head and said, "That place is too far away. We have no ability to interfere in the core area of ​​the Galactic Empire." "Sanya Tag's request is that we put enough pressure on the Galactic Empire on the border, and at the same time, let General C return to the family." Qi Jian said.

Hearing the name Sanya Tag, Edel Ulan, who was sitting at the head with her daughter and was also the regent of the Kingdom of Dawn, turned pale and said coldly: "Sanya Tag is completely treating military affairs as a joke! We can't take the risk of launching an attack now, which will once again put our precious fleet in a dangerous situation of being outnumbered!"

But deep down in her heart, she was deeply hostile to Sanya Tag. Her female intuition made her very wary of this woman who somehow climbed into the bed of her husband Tang Xiao.

Therefore, no matter what request Sonja Tag made, she had to stop it. She continued, "Also, General C, that is, Cassio Tag. He has officially served in our Dawn Kingdom Navy and knows a lot of our military secrets. Once he returns to the Galactic Empire and betrays us, it will be a very serious leak!"

Navy Commander-in-Chief Matt Horner also said: "We have just deployed a fleet to the planet of Talasia, which has made the Galactic Empire highly alert to us. I agree with Mrs. Ulan's opinion, because the Empire still has a heavy army on the border. If we take the initiative to attack, it will lead to more unnecessary sacrifices."

"But Tag Corporation is one of the largest super-enterprises in the Galactic Empire. If we miss this opportunity and let Sonya Tag die in vain in the internal struggle, we will also miss a good opportunity to weaken the Galactic Empire." Helmut Zemo said.

He looked up at Edel-Ulan and said with a smile, "His Majesty Tang Xiao made a decisive decision to take over the Rendili Interstellar Dynamics Company and took a huge risk to send a fleet to reinforce the Rendili planet. This led to the Rendili Interstellar Dynamics Company's great achievement of abandoning darkness and joining the light. Now, we should rise to the challenge."

"The situation back then was completely different from now! The Rendili Interstellar Dynamics Company and the 800 billion people on the planet Rendili are all looking forward to the dawn. They share the same hatred and fight the enemy together. But what about the Tag family? How much loyalty can you expect from a family that killed their mother and brother because of a power struggle?" Edel-Ulan asked back coldly.

Sonja Tag died? That's great! It would be better if she died more times!

Helmut Zemo pondered for a while and said, "The risk does exist. I agree not to carry out large-scale military operations on the border for the time being. But we should not sit idly by and watch the Tag family's affairs. As for Cassio Tag, even if we agree to send him to the planet Tepasi, how to get there is also a big problem. I suggest that we continue to study this matter..."

"This is the only way for now. Reply to Sanya Tag, we need a clearer plan before we can take action." Ling Liang said.

"Hahahaha! I'm talking to you guys. When the master isn't around, you're all so timid and incapable of accomplishing anything." Suddenly, a burst of arrogant laughter was heard in the venue, pleasant to the ear but evil. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, only to find that it was Darth Lilim!

This meeting was supposed to be attended by the chief priestess of the Dusk Covenant, but she did not come today, and did not even attend remotely. The person who came to replace her was Darth Lilim.

However, everyone present was generally accustomed to the Twilight Covenant's silence on such military and national affairs, so they did not expect to be interrupted by her like this.

"Ms. Lilith, if you have any opinions, please just say it directly." Qi Jian said with a frown.

Darth Lilim sat casually at the conference table, even lifting up her long legs. She pulled the string of crystals behind her head and played with them, saying, "It's okay if you don't want to move the fleet. However, isn't it a waste to leave billions of soldiers lying around when they are not being used? And... things are not what you think. Do you know who the master has arranged to be with Sonja Tag?"

"It's the Dream Sisters." Qi Jian said, "But they are alone there..."

"Where do we get billions of troops?" Ling Liang was a little surprised.

"Those two girls in Dreamy are capable of more things than you can imagine. Maybe now the entire Tag family is completely lost in the illusion. They don't know what is reality and what is illusion... and at this time, all you need to do is add fuel to the fire, hehe..." Darth Lilith smiled coquettishly.

"How do you add fuel to the fire?" Qi Jian asked again.

"Before on the planet Fangduo, I caught a very interesting toy, hehe..."

"High Inquisitor Hydra?" Ling Liang nodded. "Did she speak?"

Darth Lilith licked his scarlet lips. "She is much more than just a mouth... I can only say that she is so much fun that I can't stop playing with her. Ah, if it weren't for the monster Alexia messing around, I could have continued playing. Anyway, we have a lot of information about the Imperial Inquisition... It's time to deal them a fatal blow..."

"Is this why Her Excellency the High Priestess did not come? Indeed, if we do not use the fleet, we can cause great damage to the Imperial Court and attract the attention of the Empire, thus achieving our goal." Ling Liang said, "But I am still very curious, what is the army you are talking about?"

Darth Lilim showed a cruel smile and uttered two short words, "Planet Taris, underground city..."

"Are you talking about those Rak zombies that mutated thousands of years ago because of Moore's amulet? Those things are totally uncontrollable!" Qi Jian said.

"Why do we need to make them controllable? Hehehehe...can't we just throw them over?" Darth Lilith said with a giggle.

"Asshole! Do you want to release Rak zombies everywhere and kill innocent people?" Navy Commander-in-Chief Matt Horner was furious and slammed the table.

"Hehehe... Marshal Horner, you're still a good man as always." Darth Lilith sneered.

"I think it's feasible." Helmut Zemo said in a deep voice, "When the Galactic Empire built the Death Star, did they consider the issue of civilians? When the Death Star was built and fired at our planet, do you think the Empire would give us time to evacuate civilians? No, they would have done whatever it took."

"The Empire doing this doesn't mean we have to be as despicable as the Empire! We must become the king who rules the entire galaxy! Only in this way, after defeating the Galactic Empire, can we occupy the commanding heights in the divided galaxy!" said Matt Horner.

"First, we need to defeat the Galactic Empire," said Darth Lilith.

"It's good that the Dusk Covenant wants to strike at the Imperial Inquisition. But I am against releasing the Rak ghouls from the dungeon of the planet Taris," Edel-Ulan said coldly.

"I agree." A slightly childish voice suddenly said.

Adele Ulan turned around in surprise and looked at the person who was speaking—Tang Yun, Tang Xiao's daughter and the real regent of the Kingdom of Dawn.

"If we release the Lark Ghouls from Taras, the Galactic Empire will be in trouble, right? Why not do something that will make the enemy uncomfortable?" Tang Yun's eyes were actually gleaming with excitement. She seemed very excited about this decision that could cause the deaths of tens of billions of people, and even looked forward to it.

"Hahahahaha! This is what the master's daughter should be like...hahaha!" Darth Lilim laughed. (End of this chapter)