The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2696 The way out
2696, Rear Route

Lord Dunn Wessex, the King in the North, ultimately failed to defend Bilblin, but the primary responsibility for this battle did not lie with him.

The Dawn Kingdom's strategic deception was remarkably effective, successfully causing the Galactic Empire's intelligence agencies to make incorrect judgments.

In essence, the reason this strategic deception was successful was because the Dawn Kingdom's ever-evolving cutting-edge technology had rendered the Galactic Empire's military and intelligence departments unable to make accurate judgments.

When a math problem is full of unknowns, you can't find the known value. The problem facing the Imperial Intelligence Bureau now is something like x + y = ?

However, such a crushing defeat still requires someone to take the blame. Emperor Palpatine has personally traveled to Palancy to prepare for another decisive battle with Tang Xiao, and Oswald-Tessik's fleet has also advanced there. The responsibility for the defeat cannot naturally lie with them, although they should theoretically bear some responsibility for the slow pace of the surprise attack.

It's inappropriate to blame Dunn Wessex. On one hand, he did manage to recapture Od Mantel, the former capital of the Eighth Army, and even acquired a Lightframe Stargate—the only significant victory in this series of battles. On the other hand, with Bilbrin now fallen, the Northern Legion's strategic importance diminishes. In other words, if Dunn Wessex were truly considering separatist rule, the Galactic Empire would find it very difficult to stop him.

Therefore, not only should Dunn Wessex not be blamed, but he should also be appeased.

The Imperial Intelligence Bureau cannot be blamed either. Its director, Aisani Isard, is currently Emperor Palpatine's top henchman, and he is using her to deal with the core elites. Shifting the blame to them would only cause the core elites, who are being suppressed and unable to raise their heads, to rise again.

So, in the end, after going around in circles, the only result was that Lieutenant General Dalmar Holken, the supreme commander of Bilbrin, was held primarily responsible for the defeat.

Although by the time the blame was assigned, Lieutenant General Dalmara Holken had already died on Bilblin. Looking at the entire battle, he had actually done everything he could; many things were truly beyond his capabilities.

However, for such a crushing defeat to be blamed on a mere lieutenant general seems rather childish to the Galactic Empire.

Therefore, the Empire's major media outlets fell silent during this battle, and the name Bilblin became taboo, as the impact of the defeat was forcibly suppressed.

Now, Dunn Wessex, who has just reclaimed the planet Ode Mantel, is horrified to discover that although he has conquered Ode Mantel, he dares not stay there any longer!

The army of the Dawn Kingdom is currently on the planet Bilbrin, and the stargate has been completed. This incredibly powerful fleet could break out of Bilbrin at any moment and head straight back to the planet Ode-Mantel!
However, he was now in a very awkward position, because he had just been awarded the Nebula Medal by the Galactic Empire in recognition of his achievements in retaking the planet Ode-Mantel. It would be rather unreasonable to simply relinquish his spoils now.

It's worth noting that some voices within the Empire have already hailed Dunn Wessex as the God of War of the North! After all, even though the North has suffered heavy losses recently, he has been the commander of the few notable victories achieved.

Whether it was defeating Severance Tann before or reclaiming the planet Ode Mantel this time, these are all remarkable achievements.

However, he didn't dwell on it for long. Under Tang Xiao's personal leadership, the Dawn Kingdom's fleet quickly launched another attack. Even though the ground battle on Bilbrin was not yet over, Tang Xiao still ordered Admiral Trench to immediately advance on Palancy.

Admiral Trench expressed his opposition to the plan. He believed that a direct southward attack on Palancy would be tantamount to telling the Galactic Empire that their target was Scipio, the financial center, and that attacking Scipio now was premature, potentially prompting the Empire to further strengthen its defenses there.

However, his objections were not heeded. Tang Xiao rejected his suggestions and ordered that the army must advance immediately!
Admiral Trench was forced to organize a force consisting of 120 capital ships, 400 heavy cruisers, and 700 medium and small warships to attack Palancy. Meanwhile, the Galactic Empire was amassing a massive force there, with over 800 capital ships and a single Executor-class super star destroyer—the Reaper!

With almost no pause, the Battle of Palancy began!

This time, the Dawn Kingdom fleet is facing the Galactic Empire's core and most elite fleet—the First Star System Army!
Furthermore, for this campaign, the Geth warships, which had been absent for a long time, also appeared in the fleet attacking Palancy. For this offensive, the Geth brought 150 Throne-class battlecruisers! Of these, only 100 were expendable; the other 50 were fully-equipped Throne-class battlecruisers intended for direct combat!

Even more crucially, Emperor Palpatine is currently with the fleet on Planet Palancy! This battle marks yet another direct confrontation between Palpatine and Tang Xiao!
Seeing this, Dunn Wessex finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Od Mantel was temporarily safe. He then returned to the heart of the Empire with his spoils and began his political maneuvering.

He understood the situation in the North better than anyone else.

With Tang Xiao and Palpatine personally confronting each other on Palancy, the war was no longer of any concern to the Northern Territory. In other words, he had already completed his mission to block the Dawn Kingdom within his own territory, only that the mission had failed.

The best part is that although the mission failed, it wasn't a disgraceful failure—at least not in terms of publicity.

The next phase of the war will be a struggle between the Dawn Kingdom and the core circle, and will have little to do with him as the ruler of the middle and outer ring star sectors.

Dunn-Wessex returned to the heart of the Empire and began cultivating his persona as the "War God of the North." He started attending various parties and banquets, moving among the powerful and influential families in the inner circle to expand his influence.

The Wessex family came from the inner circle, so they were considered part of the family. However, before Dunn Wessex, his family wasn't exactly a top-tier wealthy family.

His rise as King of the North was due to the invasion of Geth, which allowed him to seize the opportunity to build a northern defense line. Under the pretext of joint defense, he gradually brought the 7th, 8th, and 10th Legions, in addition to the Ninth Legion, under his control. The governors of those three legions were all his men.

Furthermore, due to the immense threat from the North and the fact that the Geths' actions involved crimes against humanity, civilization, and genocide, Dunn-Wessex gained considerable support.

His partnership with Lyra Brissex, the chief engineer of Quarter Power Dock, facilitated a powerful alliance between Quarter and the North, enabling him to become the Galactic Empire's premier military and political figure in this universe.

Now, Dunn Wessex also needs to start planning his future.