The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2680 Luring the wolf into the house
2680. Inviting a wolf into the house

“Open the border waterway…” Silas-Tagg hesitated upon hearing this request.

He naturally knew what opening the border waterway meant...

The Galactic Empire is now surrounded by powerful enemies. The Kingdom of Dawn is a given, but the biggest pressure on the Empire's borders comes from rebel forces and space pirates.

Especially now, with the war raging, the outer and middle star sectors have suffered from war damage and brutal exploitation, leaving most areas in poverty and even destitution. As a result, many people, unable to survive, have gathered a group of friends, pooled their money to buy a secondhand spaceship, made some minor modifications, and set off to become space pirates.

Also due to the war, the amount of military supplies flowing into the black market was countless. These included those from the Dawn Kingdom, the Galactic Empire, and the former Galactic Republic. Of course, the largest quantity came from the Confederation of Independent Systems. Before its collapse, the Confederation still maintained a sizable fleet, but it had politically disintegrated, so many of its weapons ended up on the black market.

Therefore, in some illegal workshops that modify spaceships, you often hear people discussing topics such as adopting the Dawn Kingdom's precise fire control system, the Galactic Empire's inexpensive turbo-laser cannons, the Independent System Confederation's highly autonomous intelligent AI, and the Corellia Engineering Corporation's reliable and cheap spaceships...

Oh! It would be even better if we could find some armor fragments that were shot down from the Dawn Kingdom's Hellsangel-class battlecruisers on the battlefield. Welding these armor fragments onto the outside of our own ships would provide excellent protection.

Then there are companies like Corellia Engineering Corporation, which have always been the largest industrial giants in the galaxy. But how big are they really? Nobody knows. Many people's stereotype of Corellia Engineering Corporation is that they mainly focus on civilian spacecraft, with most of their military orders being contract manufacturing, supplemented by a small number of self-developed light warships.

However, few people know that Corellian Engineering Corporation also manufactures warships for the Rebel Alliance, and even fewer know that they also produce warships for some outlaw groups in the outer rings, such as the Zane Consortium. Even fewer know that, for enough money and with the right connections, even if you're a space pirate, Corellian Engineering Corporation is more than happy to open its spaceship docks and build a new Zane warship for you.

Therefore, for all the reasons mentioned above, mercenary groups and space pirates are becoming increasingly rampant in the Milky Way. They are growing larger, stronger, and their spaceships are becoming more and more advanced.

Not to mention the Galactic Empire, even the Dawn Kingdom is extremely annoyed. They always maintain a powerful escort fleet, and the local defense fleets in various places are also quite strong. This is because most of the shipping routes that are not covered by stargates are not normal to be robbed two or three times a day.

Therefore, both the Dawn Kingdom and the Galactic Empire adopted a relatively conservative border defense strategy: directly blocking border shipping lanes with a large number of hyperspace blockers. This would prevent space pirates from operating across borders and making them even more difficult to eradicate.

That's why Silas Targ hesitated so much. Druckenville was an industrial planet from the former Independent System Confederation that the Targ family acquired after the Clone Wars. There was indeed a sizable fleet on that planet, but one had to consider what that fleet was for—naturally, to defend against space pirates.

Especially since Drukenville is located on the southern edge of the Milky Way. What's the situation in the southern region? It's so chaotic that even if the Kingdom of Dawn conquered it, they wouldn't be interested in occupying it!
This area borders the Hut Space, home to countless gangs and factions that have long operated there. Since most planets here practice anarchism, they often use the banner of rebellion to expel officials, refuse to pay taxes, and plunder shipping lanes. Currently, some well-known pirate groups in the Southern Territory possess at least dozens of warships, each with hundreds of vessels!

So once the border route in the direction of Drukenville is opened, the consequences of these space pirates flooding into the Empire would be unimaginable!
Moreover, you have no way of guaranteeing that the Dawn Kingdom's fleet, or the fleets of those rebel armies, won't be mixed in!
Once the border in this direction is lost, the Galactic Empire will lose the entire Middle Ring Sector in this direction! Then the defense line of the Delon planet, which guards the key route of the inner ring, will immediately go from being attacked from one side to being attacked from two sides!
Silas Tag dares not take on this responsibility!

After much deliberation, Silas Tager decided to reject Casio Tager's proposal. He still clung to a sliver of hope, thinking he might just have to try and see what happened—what if he won? Or perhaps his brother would suddenly change his mind and forgive him?
The problem is, Orman Tag seems determined to kill him. No matter how many times Silas Tag sent messages requesting negotiations, they all went unanswered. His older brother simply stared at him coldly before cutting off the communication.

Just thinking about such a scene is terrifying!
Imagine you're arguing with someone. You start by trying to reason with them gently to resolve the conflict, but they just stare at you coldly. Then you get angry and hurl the most vicious insults at them, but they still stare at you coldly without saying a word.

In that case, don't hesitate, just run. He might pull out a knife any second...

Casio Tager didn't say much about Silas-Tager's refusal. He simply glanced at Silas and walked out of the office, leaving him to continue indulging in his fantasies.

Meanwhile, Orman Tager was also extremely distressed.

He genuinely didn't want things to escalate to this point. In his view, his mother, the conservative Sanya-Tagh, was already the biggest and final obstacle to the family. As long as he eliminated her and took control of the family, he could naturally set things right and lead the family onto a path of rapid expansion and development.

In his vision, each of his siblings possessed unique strengths and exceptional talent in their respective fields. He believed he had outstanding leadership skills; his second brother, Cassio, was exceptionally gifted in military affairs, and even if he were to die, his fourth brother, Uriel, could take his place; his third brother, Silas, was remarkable in scientific research; and his fifth sister, Domina, possessed incredibly powerful Force abilities.

With such brothers and sisters, as long as they are united, how could the family not grow big?

Why can't that idiot Silas Tagg understand his own ideals?
Orman Tag also initiated communications multiple times, trying to have a proper talk with Silas. After all, they were still brothers, and there was no reason for things to escalate to a civil war. This wasn't just ordinary fighting; both sides had deployed their fleets!

Once the two sides clash, regardless of the outcome, the Tagg family will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

However, no matter how hard Orman Taggard tried to persuade him, Silas Taggard on the other end of the communication channel just looked at him coldly without saying a word.

After this happened several times, Orman Tager now shares Silas's concerns: he's starting to worry that the other guy is really going to use a knife...

“Fine…you forced me to this!” Orman Tag said through gritted teeth. “Since you’re going to jump out, then I’ll make an example of you! I’ll show everyone the consequences of disobeying me!!” He turned to an elderly man, about 5 or 60 years old, wearing a Galactic Empire naval uniform but without a badge, and said, “It’s up to you! General Doras! Take Drukenville as soon as possible and quell this chaos!”

“Okay.” Veteran Dolas nodded calmly.

Rear Admiral Doras of the Imperial Navy was a relatively unknown officer. Born into a relatively wealthy family in the central ring of the galaxy, he had no connections and spent nearly forty years in the military before barely reaching the rank of rear admiral. And he was merely the commander of the defense fleet in the insignificant and impoverished Chaykin sector, whose main occupation was fighting pirates.

This time, however, in order to ensure that he could quickly defeat the rebels raised by his brother, Orman Tagg was willing to spend a lot of money to persuade the governor of the Chingling District to send troops to help.

Therefore, Rear Admiral Doras tore off his badge and joined Orman-Tagg's fleet in his own name with fifteen Jaeger-class battlecruisers, serving as the fleet commander.

Now, Orman Tag has finally made up his mind to resolve the issue by force!
General Doras began issuing orders, and the entire fleet proceeded with its battle deployment in an orderly manner. He positioned fifteen Jaeger-class battlecruisers at the heart of the fleet, providing long-range artillery support in the center of the formation and also assuming the role of aircraft carriers.

Orman-Tagh's fleet comprised over 2800 ships, including light cruisers and frigates, and was relatively advanced, including the Arquitenth-class light cruisers, a first-line warship of the Galactic Empire Navy. In addition, there were Karak-class high-speed cruisers, near-first-line warships that had recently been relegated to a secondary role.

In contrast, the warships Silas-Tagg received on Druckenville were mostly from the former Independent System Confederation fleet, and were mostly second-line warships. There were more than 1200 warships in total, including a few capital ships, but they were all outdated warships such as Generous-class frigates and Disobedient-class light destroyers.

However, General Doras remained remarkably composed in the face of such an enemy. Having served forty years, this was the only opportunity of his life to command a large-scale fleet operation. Now nearing retirement age, he was determined not to jeopardize the final act of his military career.

Orman-Tagg's fleet departed from Miragro and approached Druckenville directly along the hyperspace path. General Doras did not launch an immediate attack, but instead chose to exit the hyperspace path at a distance of more than 200 million kilometers from Druckenville, and very cautiously set up hyperspace blocking devices while deploying logistics engineering ships.

Two days later, General Doras issued the order to attack.

Although the Jagdpanzer-class battlecruisers were only equipped with eight twin-mounted heavy turbolaser cannons, these were still capital ship-level turbolaser cannons, and their firepower far surpassed that of light cruisers. With the Jagdpanzer-class's bombardment, the civil war within the Targ family officially erupted!
General Doras, leveraging his numerical superiority, secured the frontal battlecruisers with the Jaeger-class battlecruisers while simultaneously dispatching the Karak-class high-speed cruisers to outflank the enemy fleet. Furthermore, he ordered the Jaeger-class cruisers to launch fighters while maintaining their artillery fire, allowing the fighter squadrons to coalesce in the center of his fleet's formation.

Because fighters launched from the Jagdpanzer-class aircraft can only take off under their own power, they need to accelerate for a certain distance. Before they can accelerate completely, these fighters are very vulnerable to being shot down by enemy long-range artillery. That's why this tactic is used—first group them up, then attack in clusters.

This is the tactical system that the Galactic Republic gradually developed in the later stages of the Clone Wars.

All that could be seen was a large number of V-wing fighters and TIE/LN fighters taking off from the Jagdpanzer-class destroyers. After forming up, General Doras gave the order for a general attack. The fighter formations were mixed in with the light cruisers and frigates and launched a full-scale attack!

What awaited them was Casio-Tagg's meticulously crafted defenses! He had used armed space stations and planetary orbital defense systems as a core, surrounding these defensive facilities with his fleet to create a defensive network. Countless laser cannons and turbolaser cannons fired wildly, a dense barrage of fire pouring forth.

At first glance, the fleet deployments of both sides make it seem as if we've traveled back to the era of the Clone Wars, or even to the early stages of the war!
Casio-Tagg's fleet consisted of warships received from the Confederation of Independent Systems, while the Jagdpanzer-class battlecruisers brought by General Doras were discarded by the Galactic Empire from the former Republic Navy and were given to these remote star sectors as a last resort.

The Generous-class communications frigate and the Jagdpanzer-class battlecruiser have engaged in gun battle for the first time in 15 years!
However, due to the vast disparity in troop strength, Casio-Tagh's fleet was immediately plunged into a fierce battle.

General Doras ordered the frigates to escort the fighter squadrons forward, and after approaching the enemy formation, they suddenly surged out from all directions. V-wing fighters and TIE/LN fighters also formed a rare, epoch-making mixed formation, providing cover for the TIE bombers to bombard the Generous-class frigates!

Almost half an hour after the start of the war, two Generous-class corvettes were sunk!
【No! Second Brother! We can't hold on! We can't hold on! Quick! Send out your ambush troops!】 Although Silas-Tagg was hiding in his office, he was still paying close attention to this battle that was crucial to his life.

He knew that Casio-Tagg had a high-speed cruiser squadron lying in ambush on the outskirts of Druckenville, the third planet in the system. That squadron only needed a short hyperspace jump to launch an attack on the rear of Orman-Tagg's fleet.

If this fleet can destroy those Jagdpanzer-class battlecruisers, the scales of victory will tip!

But a barely perceptible sneer appeared on Casio-Tagg's lips. He feigned urgency and said, "No! If we send out an ambush now, they'll be destroyed immediately! Orman's fleet also has a large number of fighters providing cover! We must make them send out all their fighters!"

"What should we do? We're doomed!" Silas shouted. On the holographic battle map, the blue markers representing their own warships were rapidly disappearing.

The disappearance of each marker means that a warship has been sunk!

"There's only one way! Send all our main forces up there! Only by putting enough pressure on Orman will he send out the Guardian Hunter-class fighters!" Casio-Tagg shouted.