The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2655 The Empire's Counterattack

2655, The Empire's Counterattack
Today is definitely the worst day of all for Dagon Nils, commander of the Bilbrin planet defense fleet.

Because at that very moment, he received two contradictory orders...

Lord King of the North, Governor of the Ninth Army Dunn Wessex, ordered him to preserve the fleet as much as possible and to begin a gradual withdrawal from Bilblin, diverting the fleet back to defend Palin-Minor.

However, just yesterday, the planet Scipio, the financial center of the Galactic Empire, was attacked and its condition was unknown. However, Marshal Oswald Tessik of the Empire was obviously very angry. He ordered Lieutenant General Dagon Nils to take the initiative immediately and put as much pressure on the Kingdom of Dawn as possible.

Most importantly, Marshal Oswald Tesik hoped that Lieutenant General Dagon Nils could destroy the forward base that the Kingdom of Dawn was building on Bilblin, in order to eliminate the possibility of the Kingdom of Dawn's main fleet passing through Bilblin and directly attacking the inner circle of the Empire.

Although Dagon-Nils did not know the exact situation of the attack near Planet Scipio, he judged from Marshal Tesik's reaction that the situation was definitely not optimistic.

So now the question is, should we take the initiative to attack or retreat?
Dagon-Neillz forwarded Field Marshal Tesick's instructions to Dunn Wessex, only to receive a cold reply: "Do what you think is best."

Clearly, Dunn-Wessex is demanding that Dagon-Neill take a clear side. This is not merely a military choice, but also a political one.

Dunn Wessex was absolutely resentful about failing to be selected as a Reichsmarschall, so he was unlikely to cooperate with any of Oswald Tessik's orders.

However, for Dagon-Neilz, this choice was not difficult.

He was loyal to the empire...

Giving up Bilblin as a defensive line, completely opening up the core area of ​​the Empire, would be a fatal blow to the Galactic Empire!

On May 23, Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils first ordered all warships to immediately enter communication silence mode, cutting off all external communications to the fleet. Then, he issued a direct, decisive order—a full-scale assault on the Dawn Kingdom's forward base on the planet Bilbrin!

He assembled approximately 600 capital ships and 1500 medium and small warships, and launched a full-scale attack late that night, according to Galactic Standard Time!

Six hundred capital ships and 1500 medium and small warships were arranged in 10 attack formations, forming a net-like attack on the Dawn Kingdom's forward base!

The commander of the Dawn Kingdom's operations was Rear Admiral Luo Huacheng.

He had just been promoted from colonel in the General Staff to major general, and now he was about to face such a dangerous battle alone!
The Dawn Kingdom's fleet deployed on the planet Bilbrin currently comprises 120 capital ships and 350 heavy cruisers, in addition to 600 light cruisers. Its strength is less than half that of the Imperial fleet, and more importantly, many of its ships are not in optimal condition due to a lack of logistical support.

It's strange, really, that these warships, right in the forward base, are lacking logistical support?
However, it's clear that the Dawn Kingdom never truly resolved the issue of navigation between Bilbrin and the rear. Previously, additional navigational capacity was only possible after the Titan warship, the Divine Messenger, forcibly deployed its hyperspace beacon.

Now, the Titan warship Divine Messenger has been dispatched to the planet Od Mantel, and after defeating Gilard Perein's fleet, it is preparing to attack the planet Palin Minor.

Therefore, without the hyperspace beacon, travel from Bilblin to the rear became difficult again.

The mission of Luo Huacheng leading this fleet was to build an advance base as soon as possible, in preparation for the large-scale attack on the Bilbulin planet fortress later.

Tang Xiao's plan to attack Planet Scipio was actually an open secret.

Scipio is incredibly important, everyone knows that, and any disturbance in that direction will inevitably trigger a reaction from the Galactic Empire. Therefore, a sneak attack is absolutely impossible; the only possibility is a frontal assault.

Therefore, the most important part of this plan is to establish a foothold on the planet Bilblin and build a stargate to open up a hyperspace route.

Therefore, during this period, Major General Luo Huacheng mobilized most of the spaceships from the rear planets, which were transport ships and engineering ships, and the supplies transported were various building materials and instruments and equipment.

The supplies needed for combat are given a relatively lower priority.

Now, facing Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils's attack, Luo Huacheng has a fleet that is understrength and in poor condition!
Under such circumstances, even the Supreme Command of the Dawn Kingdom, after learning about the battle situation, believed that Luo Huacheng's fleet was likely to suffer serious losses.

Chief of the General Staff Qi Jian personally ordered the Titan warship Divine Messenger to return to its defensive position as appropriate.

While it was said to be discretionary, it was actually just a way of giving some face to General Trench, the commander-in-chief at the front; the wording of the entire instruction was actually very clear.

Faced with this situation, Andre Wiking simply said one sentence to General Trench: "Hold on for one more day."

General Trench relayed this message to Major General Luo Huacheng.

At the same time, the Imperial fleet's counterattack on the planet Bilblin officially began!

Lieutenant General Dagon-Nils almost frantically ordered his warships to launch a full-scale attack, maintaining full speed ahead while continuously firing! He was determined to break through the Dawn Kingdom's fleet's defenses in one fell swoop!

Six hundred capital ships, most of which were Imperial-class star destroyers, unleashed a barrage of fire like rain! Each turbo-laser cannon shot was powerful enough to destroy a city on a planet, yet on this battlefield, tens of thousands of turbo-laser beams were fired continuously!
Nothing can withstand such terrifying firepower!

However, Rear Admiral Luo Huacheng had no intention of standing still. He ingeniously deployed his fleet into four circular formations. In the center of each formation were the Cataclysmic-class and Paladin-class battlecruisers, along with various auxiliary warships. On the outer perimeter of the formations were the Hells Angel-class battlecruisers and the Prophet-class battleships.

The Hellsangel and Prophet classes continuously maneuvered at high speed in a circular path, attacking with their side turrets while absorbing the majority of the firepower.

The central Dunov-class battlecruisers continuously provided energy to the outer ships, ensuring their shields remained in good condition. Meanwhile, the Zvezda-class repair drone carriers launched numerous repair drones to repair damaged ship armor.

The Ogno-class logistics ships also fully deployed their armor repair and shield replenishment systems to provide support to the attacked warships. Furthermore, the light cruisers, sheltered in a circular formation and protected by powerful shields, even forfeited their shields, unleashing their full firepower to provide maximum firepower output.

At the same time, Major General Luo Huacheng dispatched 200 heavy cruisers to deploy in four directions, constantly harassing the flanks of the Imperial fleet's formation.

The two Banku-class supercarriers and the three Consul-class carriers are also playing a significant role.

The Swarm II drones launched from the Archon-class carrier swept away like a dark cloud. These drones even used their own bodies to block the turbo-laser cannon fire of the Empire-class Star Destroyer, just to reduce the pressure on the front-line warships as much as possible.

The Eternal-class supercarrier not only serves as the central hub for fighter jets, but also provides data link layer assistance for the entire fleet's command system.

Finally, Major General Luo Huacheng also utilized the two Longfin Whale-class industrial flagships on site. He deployed these two industrial flagships at the forefront of the battle line. When the battle line was at its most dangerous, the core industrial modules would be deployed, making the shields almost indestructible.

As for the icy asteroids needed to deploy the core industrial modules, these had already been prepared in advance.

Major General Luo Huacheng had anticipated this battle and had made thorough contingency plans and training. After the battle broke out, under his command, the entire fleet moved with fluid grace. This was all thanks to their constant training.

Faced with the resolute defense of the Dawn Kingdom fleet, Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils was also at a loss. His warships would face a powerful counterattack if they approached the four hedgehog-like circular formations.

Furthermore, his fleet's fighter squadrons had already suffered heavy damage from the Eternal-class supercarrier in previous battles, and the situation was no better this time. The Sabre fighters continued to slaughter the TIE advanced X-1 fighters, and after gaining a numerical advantage, they completely seized air superiority in less than two hours after the start of the battle!

Under such circumstances, the captains of the warships in Dagon-Nils' fleet were not willing to risk their lives for him.

The captains were all shrewd men. Although they were unaware of the political struggle between Dunn Wessex and Oswald Tessick, they were very clear about what choice Dunn Wessex would make under such circumstances.

In any case, this choice is definitely not to take the initiative and defend the Dawn Kingdom's lines.

Especially after witnessing the Dawn Kingdom's incredibly strong defenses, they began to have second thoughts. If the defenses weren't so formidable, they wouldn't mind using their numerical superiority to add a significant chapter to their military achievements. But if they were facing an impregnable wall of steel, they would start to question who they truly served.

In any case, this candidate is definitely not Lieutenant General Dagon Nils!
The offensive launched by Dagon-Nils only lasted for about 10 hours before it became unsustainable.

The Imperial Fleet lost 140 capital ships, over 400 light cruisers, and all of its more than 1500 fighters. The Kingdom of Dawn lost 28 capital ships, over 50 heavy cruisers, and almost all of its Swarm II drones on its three Archon-class aircraft carriers were lost.

In addition, another Prophet-class battleship was sunk, and the other Prophet-class battleships were severely damaged.

However, Major General Luo Huacheng held the line!
Although Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils intended to continue the attack, some of his warships had already begun maneuvering to the flanks of the battlefield, planning to withdraw. Furthermore, a considerable number of warships broke the communication silence and transmitted updates on the situation back to their headquarters.

Soon, 11 hours after the offensive was launched, Lieutenant General Dagon-Neilz was dismissed by Dunn Wessex and transferred to a military court for investigation.

Meanwhile, Field Marshal Oswald Tesik immediately expressed his high praise for Lieutenant General Dagon Nils's actions and demanded that Dagon Nils be immediately transferred to the highest military court in the Imperial Central District for prosecution. As for how he planned to deal with this lauded imperial loyalist, that goes without saying.

However, since Vice Admiral Dagon-Nils was in the Northern Fleet at the moment, he was immediately detained by his guards, and the naval officer who temporarily took command also ordered the entire army to retreat immediately.

Subsequently, Dunn-Wessex used the impending attack on Palin-Minor as a pretext to demand that the fleet evacuate from Bilbrin.

However, the Galactic Empire's Supreme Strategic Command directly ordered that the fleet's withdrawal be refused.

Dunn-Wessex was dissatisfied and demanded that the Imperial Diet be convened immediately to submit the matter directly to His Majesty the Emperor for consideration.

However, His Majesty the Emperor did not reply at this time, so the matter had to be put on hold. In the end, both sides compromised, and Dunn-Wessex agreed to withdraw only about 100 heavily damaged capital ships and 300 light cruisers from Bilbrin, while the remaining fleet would continue to hold Bilbrin.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Strategic Command agreed to immediately dispatch two Assertion-class dreadnoughts to Palin-Minor as reinforcements.

While the two sides were arguing, Admiral Trench led the main force of the Dawn Kingdom's northern fleet to capture the planet Isol and was advancing towards the outer perimeter of the planet Palin-Minor!
Judging from this posture, he really wants to conquer the core of the Northern Territory in one fell swoop!

……

Meanwhile, Tang Xiao had already left Planet Macito and arrived at the Northern Fleet Command Headquarters on Planet Ode-Mantel. He convened a military meeting to review the current military operation in the North and to have a final discussion on whether to proceed with the planned assault on Planet Scipio.

Outer perimeter of the planet Ode-Mantel, interstellar command center, conference room.

Tang Xiao was dressed in a black robe, completely covering himself. Even so, the terrifying chill emanating from him still sent shivers down the spines of everyone present.

The almost out-of-control dark side of the Force was unprecedentedly powerful, but also unprecedentedly violent!

Behind Tang Xiao, countless black mists seemed to coalesce into a terrifying beast, baring its fangs and claws, ready to devour anyone in its path!

Just standing in this conference room seems to pose a great risk to one's life.

General Trench, however, possessed the resilience characteristic of the Hachi people. Apart from Qi Jian and others who were attending remotely, he was the most composed among the generals of all ranks present.

"Your Majesty... the movements of Darth Vader's Death Fleet are currently uncertain. They may choose to launch a preemptive strike, threatening Fangduo, or they may take a detour to attack Kira. Under these circumstances, I suggest postponing the plan to attack Scipio," the Chief of Staff's flagship said.

"Hehehehehe..." A chilling laugh came from under Tang Xiao's black cloak.