The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2651 The Terrified King of the North

2651. The Terrified King of the North
When the Galactic Empire's fleet retreated from the planet Od Mantel, it was relatively orderly. After all, Admiral Gerald Perean had made arrangements beforehand, and he was known for his strict military discipline. Even so, the Galactic Empire still lost approximately 100 capital ships and nearly 300 light cruisers during the retreat.

The reason for such high casualties was that during the retreat, all the warships whose maneuverability was affected by damage were either captured by the Kingdom of Dawn or destroyed.

But the Imperial fleet's nightmare wasn't over yet. After their main force retreated, they were horrified to discover that the Titan warships Divine Messenger and Taotie had caught up with them! And they were even faster than many of the Imperial warships that had set off earlier!

The war quickly spread to the planet Kinasa, which lies behind the planet Ode-Mantel. The Titan warship Divine Messenger relentlessly pursued the Imperial fleet, while the Galactic Empire's warships dared not engage, even though the opposing side consisted of only two warships.

The officers and soldiers of the Imperial Fleet had completely lost their will to fight. What was even more deadly was that the Titan warship Divine Messenger immediately deployed its hyperspace beacon after arriving on the planet Kinassa!

This means that more Dawn Kingdom warships will follow closely behind, and in this situation, the Imperial fleet will be completely unable to resist.

The retreat quickly turned into a rout. The Galactic Empire warships retreating from Kinassa were completely disorganized. They were simply trying to create as much distance as possible and then activate their hyperspace engines to escape this hellish place as quickly as possible.

Those who run first survive, those who run later suffer. Covering the retreat? That's out of the question.

Admiral Trench led the fleet in a relentless pursuit and achieved another great victory on the planet Kinassa, destroying more than 60 capital ships.

When the remaining Galactic Empire fleet returned to Palin-Minor, of the 450 capital ships and 2000 medium and small warships that set out, only less than 300 capital ships and more than 1300 medium and small warships remained, a loss of nearly one-third! More than 240 million naval soldiers were killed in action!

Even greater was the loss of Admiral Gerald Perein, the military commander of the North, who was seriously wounded in the battle and immediately sent to the hospital upon returning to Palin Minor.

The raid on Bilbrin and the defensive counterattack on Ode-Mantel greatly shocked the Galactic Empire's military.

Because, at least from the perspective of operational organization and the course of the battles, neither of these two battles could be described as a crushing defeat. Apart from the rout on Kinassa, the Imperial fleets in other locations also withdrew in an orderly manner.

Compared to the Clone Wars and the previous truly devastating defeats on Kira and Fondo, these two battles can at most be considered minor losses.

But the result was extremely tragic!

The two battles resulted in the loss of over 230 capital ships and over 1900 medium and small warships, with nearly 500 million naval soldiers killed in action! This is equivalent to wiping out the military personnel of a planet with a population of several hundred million! Moreover, those who were recruited into the Imperial Navy were the elite of the elite, requiring more than ten or twenty years to train!
Thinking about it carefully, to become an operator of a high-tech vessel like the Imperial-class Star Destroyer, one must receive about 15 years of education from a young age, and likely be an outstanding student throughout their studies. After entering the Naval Academy with excellent grades, they would rank at the top of their class amidst the envious gazes of everyone, and only then would they be selected by the Navy and transferred to second- or third-line fleets for service.

Then, through continuous experience in battles against pirates and rebels, he finally had the opportunity to serve on the Imperial-class star destroyers, the symbol of the Galactic Empire.

However, such an outstanding talent, cultivated over nearly twenty years, a good child in the eyes of his parents, and a model husband in the eyes of his wife, would have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of them wiped out in one go by the doomsday weapon of the Titan warship, the Divine Messenger!

The Galactic Empire's navy today is nothing like the Galactic Republic's army during the Clone Wars, which was filled with untrained greenhorns from top to bottom. The Galactic Empire's army today consists entirely of professional soldiers who have been trained in large numbers under a strict and precise system.

However, the more this was the case, the more desperate the outcome of these two battles became.

This further illustrates that, without the presence of an Executor-class super star destroyer, even a regular fleet with an overwhelming numerical advantage is no match for the Dawn Kingdom fleet, which is equipped with Titan warships!
This further illustrates that the gap in technological capabilities between the two sides is widening!

Dunn Wessex, who was in charge of everything on the planet Palin-Minor, suffered a series of blows. First, his beloved super star destroyer, the Lyra, was taken away by His Majesty the Emperor. Then, for some unknown reason, the warship was moved to the surface of the planet Doku and was seriously damaged. Now, a large number of engineering teams are trying to install temporary propulsion devices on the warship in order to pull the ship back into space.

Then two Titan warships stormed the planet Bilblin, and Admiral Holst Streich was killed less than two hours after making contact.

Then, two Titan warships suddenly appeared on the planet Od Mantel, catching Admiral Girard Perrine completely off guard and routing his forces. Admiral Girard Perrine was severely wounded.

Dunn Wessex was practically in a rage in his office, cursing Admiral Holster Streich as a complete waste, giving him so many fleets only to have his defenses riddled with holes and ultimately costing him his life.

He cursed Gerard Perein for disobeying orders and being careless. He had told him not to launch a rash attack on the planet Ode Mantel, but he didn't listen and insisted on holding back the enemy's fleet. Now look what happened, a third of their fleet was destroyed in one battle. How could they fight in the future?
What about His Majesty the Emperor, who lost the Lyra? Dunn-Wessex dared not curse, especially not when no one was around. Heaven knows if there were spies or something nearby that might relay his words to His Majesty's ears.

Then, Dunn-Wessex reacted quickly, ordering Lieutenant General Dagon-Nils of Bilbrin to immediately abandon Bilbrin and withdraw the entire army to Palin-Minor.

He immediately instructed his secretary to write a report embellishing the current battle situation. The report claimed that because the Lila super star destroyer was inoperable, the two Titan warships of the Separatist fleet were wreaking havoc on the battlefield unstoppable. Therefore, to ensure the security of the Northern Frontier and prevent more planets from falling into Separatist hands, he had to retreat to Palin-Minor and requested the Imperial High Command to dispatch more warships as soon as possible to reinforce them. He also specifically mentioned that the reinforcements he needed should ideally be Executor-class super star destroyers.

Meanwhile, Dunn-Wessex also began to transfer a large number of warships from other places back to Palin-Minor. He transferred at least one-third of the defense fleet, and it is expected that the number of capital ships on Palin-Minor will increase to 800 in two weeks.

In addition to the warships transferred back from the planet Bilblin, a force of over 1000 capital ships would give him enough sense of security.

However, at this moment, Lieutenant General Dagon-Nils sent a message stating that the Dawn Kingdom fleet on the planet Bilbrin was increasing its infrastructure construction efforts, their forward base was growing larger and larger, and they had also found several asteroids that were entirely metallic and were already conducting large-scale mining on them.

Moreover, Dagon-Nils discovered that the Dawn Kingdom's fleet was even building a large stellar energy collector, clearly indicating their intention to establish a long-term presence there.

Dagon-Nils suggested that it would be best to launch an attack now. Because near the orbit of the fifth planet in the Bilbrin system, the transport ships carrying the Dawn Kingdom fleet mostly carried infrastructure equipment, not resources needed for combat. Furthermore, with the Divine Messenger Titan no longer present and without the hyperspace beacon, navigation for the Dawn Kingdom fleet would become extremely difficult.

This is the best opportunity to attack. If we can destroy the Dawn Kingdom's forward base in one fell swoop and shoot down enough of their transport ships and engineering ships, we will surely deal a heavy blow to the enemy.

To be fair, Lieutenant General Dagon-Nils' attack plan had a high chance of success, because even General Trench, the Northern Commander of the Kingdom of Dawn, was very worried about the situation on Bilblin.

However, the Dawn Kingdom also faces difficulties here. It has only one Divine Messenger-class Titan warship and one hyperspace beacon. Furthermore, Bilbrin is a crucial hub for the upcoming attack on Scipio, the financial core of the Galactic Empire. To prepare for a large-scale offensive, it can only grit its teeth and expand its infrastructure as much as possible despite its limited forces.

Admiral Trench also ordered the fleet from Bilbrin to hold the line as long as possible, at least to prevent the forward base from being destroyed. Only as a last resort would he lead the Titans back to reinforce it.

However, the Titans' priority right now is to attack Palin-Minor and suppress Dunn-Wessex's main northern fleet. Only after ensuring that Dunn-Wessex dares not move will they suddenly turn around and head straight from Bilbrin to Scipio!

Despite Admiral Ander Wiking's advice to Trentich that Dunn Wessex wouldn't have the guts to back down if Palin-Minor were threatened, the ever-cautious Admiral Trentich still meticulously ensured that the fleet from Bilbrin remained on high alert and prepared for any eventuality.

Currently, the fleet commanding the planet Bilbrin is a Major General named Luo Huacheng. He is considered a representative of inspirational figures in the Dawn Kingdom, as he was initially awakened as an ordinary architect. When he was awakened, the Naboo blockade war had already broken out, and his initial mission was to participate in the construction of the Mordel Sector.

However, Luo Huacheng had always wanted to become a naval officer. To this end, he constantly trained his body and studied various military knowledge in his spare time, and finally achieved his wish.
Join the Dawn Kingdom Navy.

Luo Huacheng had always been General Trench's subordinate. During the Clone Wars, Luo Huacheng followed General Trench mainly in the Independent System Confederation's army, where he was a member of the staff.

During the war, Luo Huacheng earned the recognition of General Trench for his outstanding performance, and he also benefited greatly from Trench's guidance. So after the last Northern Campaign ended, with General Mar-Turk killed in action and Field Marshal Severance Tann demoralized, Luo Huacheng followed General Trench to the North.

At that time, the Northern Territory was also in need of manpower, and Luo Huacheng was promoted to Rear Admiral. This time, when Admiral Trench led the Titan warships in a surprise attack on the planet Od-Mantel, Luo Huacheng finally got his chance to independently command the fleet of Bilbrin.

His mission was to hold the line and accelerate infrastructure development as much as possible, so that the Dawn Kingdom's fleet could receive sufficient support when launching a general offensive against Bilblin.

Faced with the restless Galactic Empire fleet, Major General Luo Huacheng had very few troops, only half the number of those of Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils. Moreover, his fleet had just been through a major battle, and the warships were not in optimal condition. This made him extremely nervous every time he received intelligence of the Empire fleet's movements.

Fortunately, Ender Wiking's assessment of Dunn Wessex was very accurate—given enough pressure to Palin Minor, this coward would absolutely not take any risks.

On May 24th, Luo Huacheng received intelligence that Imperial fleet warships were beginning to leave Bilbrin and return to the rear. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, and then quickly ordered the rear to transport as much infrastructure equipment as possible, preferably with a few more Dawn's Radiance-class motherships.

On May 25, Tang Xiao, the King of Dawn, returned from the front lines, but instead of going directly to the front lines as originally planned, he returned to Planet Macito and went into seclusion.

On May 28, Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire returned to the center of the Empire, and once again went into seclusion.

Both sides' supreme leaders made grand pronouncements before setting out, declaring their intention to personally lead the campaign and defeat the other side. However, as soon as the battle broke out, both went to the front lines, only to immediately retreat. Rumors began to circulate that they had clashed, but the result was that both sides suffered heavy losses.

On May 30th, a piercing alarm sounded over the planet Scipio, the financial center of the Galactic Empire, the headquarters of the Interstellar Banking Association (S), and also the location of the Imperial Treasury!
According to reports from the front-line hyperspace outposts, a fleet has appeared and has begun to destroy the hyperspace blockers deployed along the hyperspace route!

Around the planet Scipio, there are some hidden hyperspace routes controlled by the Muen. When the Interstellar Banking Association split, its co-chairman, San-Hill, colluded with the Geths to launch a surprise attack on Scipio via these hidden routes, thus causing the association's split.