The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2721 First Signs (Part 2)
2721. First Signs Emerge (Part 2)
The political arena of the Galactic Empire is in fact fragmented, with countless contradictions that can no longer be suppressed. Even the military strength that the Empire was once so proud of has lost its credibility due to repeated defeats on the front lines.

The most acute contradiction within the Empire lies between the military and the traditional core aristocracy. The Imperial Army can be said to have been created by Palpatine during the Clone Wars, with little involvement from the core aristocracy. Therefore, as the war progressed and the army gained more power, the conflict between the two sides became increasingly apparent.

Then there is the conflict between the inner circle aristocracy and the mega-corporations. In the process of expansion, many mega-corporations chose to develop in the outer star sectors, which have less complex political environments, large populations, and unlimited potential. Through continuous plundering, they accumulated enough wealth and power to challenge the inner circle aristocracy.

Finally, there is the conflict between the vested interests and ordinary people. The vested interests include the military, the nobility, and super-corporations. In their struggles with each other, in order to expand their own power, they have all chosen to use increasingly cruel methods to exploit the common people in order to seize resources, resulting in the lower classes suffering unspeakably from taxes, conscription, and oppression.

This systematic plunder not only exacerbated social unrest but also accelerated the erosion of the legitimacy of imperial rule across countless planets.

Therefore, it can be seen that, in every aspect, the core of the conflict lies with the aristocratic class. Ultimately, the empire's contradictions stem from the unequal distribution of wealth and resources accumulated over the 25,000-year history of the Galactic Republic.

During the expansion of the Galactic Republic, internal conflicts could be mitigated by the new wealth brought about by external expansion. However, when the entire galaxy was brought under its rule, internal conflicts intensified dramatically, and there was no external space left to transfer them to.

The Clone Wars were essentially just Palpatine and Count Dooku luring a portion of the supercorporations to join the Separatism movement, then defeating them and gradually consuming them.

To put it bluntly, the starving and freezing Galactic Republic cut off one of its own hands and ate it to fill its stomach. It's conceivable that such an action could only alleviate the conflict in the short term by swallowing up those super-corporations.

Palpatine claimed unparalleled merit by devouring himself, thereby transforming the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. All he wanted was this brief period to continuously strengthen his rule through the Empire's autocratic institutions and suppress any backlash before it could strike.

In reality, the Galactic Empire had already entered a vicious cycle at this point. Just like in the Clone Wars, Palpatine chose a method that could alleviate the problem in the short term but would only exacerbate it in the long run—he courted the core aristocratic class, hoping to secure his position as emperor through their support.

From that point onward, it became impossible for Emperor Palpatine to suppress the aristocracy and gradually redistribute wealth and resources. He himself was deeply intertwined with the core aristocratic class, and any attempt to weaken their power would shake the very foundations of his rule.

Furthermore, Palpatine needed to rely on the funds and industrial support provided by the nobility to expand his army, which in turn strengthened the nobility's monopoly on resources. The larger the army and the more the war machine operated, the heavier the taxes and conscription burdened on the lower classes, and the more irreparable the rift between the common people and the ruling class became.

Palpatine knew this path would eventually collapse, yet he chose to buy time through oppressive rule, maintaining the empire's unity through fear. The problem, however, was that the Galactic Empire's military strength was not formidable…

Even in the original storyline, the Galactic Empire, with its 30000 Imperial-class Star Destroyers, lacked sufficient military power to control the entire galaxy. Historians and military scientists estimate that at least 100000 capital ships would be needed to control the galaxy militarily!
Therefore, the demise of the Galactic Empire stemmed precisely from its insufficient military strength. There was no other way; since you chose to rule by force, but your military strength was insufficient, who else would perish if not you?

To tell you a hellish joke, Tarkinism was actually about saving money for the Empire's rule. According to Tarkin's theory, once the Death Star's deterrent effect was established, the Empire wouldn't need to maintain an unimaginably large super-fleet to support its rule, thus saving enormous amounts of fleet expenses.

However, in pursuit of this goal, the Empire poured resources—enough to build even more warships—into the construction of the Death Star, which exacerbated internal conflicts. As a result, the Empire's rule was already teetering on the brink of collapse before the Death Star was even completed.

Therefore, the empire was doomed from the moment Palpatine chose to side with the inner circle of nobles.

Moreover, the military threat from the Kingdom of Dawn has further weakened the Empire's military strength, making it even more difficult for him to suppress the ambitious individuals within the country.

For example—Imperial Marshal, Demetrius Zarin.

...9 BBY, August 34, Coruscant.

Since the Kingdom of Dawn conquered the fortress planet Bilblin, it has been constantly harassing the inner circle of the Empire. The small fleets of the Geths have repeatedly used warp drive to bypass the Empire's border outposts and launch numerous attacks on the inner circle.

Moreover, the empire's financial center, the planet Scipio, is also being harassed.

The planet Scipio has a secret route that leads to the northern planet Macito. This was already an open secret when the Interstellar Banking Association split, and the Galactic Empire naturally made a strong defense of this hyperspace route.

Now that this place is being harassed, the Imperial military naturally attaches great importance to it. On the one hand, it is increasing the number of troops on Planet Scipio to strengthen its defenses. On the other hand, it is instructing the Interstellar Banking Association (S) to transfer the rare alloy reserves of Planet Scipio as soon as possible.

Faced with such military pressure, the core noble class, led by Coruscant, began to openly question whether the Galactic Empire's military power was sufficient to protect their safety. They began to demand that the military take action, at least to ensure that the Kingdom of Dawn would not pose a threat to the core.

At this time, there were also many voices in the Imperial Diet demanding that the fleet stationed in Coruscant take the initiative to attack, instead of staying there and waiting to die.

At this time, Marshal Rufán-Digorinus, who was on Coruscant, mediating between the Imperial military and the aristocratic class, took the opportunity to propose that the second-line capital region defense fleet take over the defense of Coruscant and make the defense force public—that is, no longer stationed in the fleet anchorages in satellite orbit, but directly entering the atmosphere of Coruscant, displaying military power in the form of warship formations hovering over major urban areas.

In this way, the First Star System Army can increase its frontline forces by at least 300 capital ships.

Meanwhile, the base of the Hegemon-class super star destroyer was moved to Planet Scipio, creating direct pressure on the Kingdom of Dawn with 2.5 Executor-class super star destroyers at the edge of the core circle, and also seeking an opportunity to recapture Planet Bilbrin and regain the initiative in the war.

The so-called 2.5 Executor-class super star destroyers meant that the Reaper and Guardian would directly attack, while the Sovereign would remain on Scipio to provide cover. At this point, if Dunn-Wessex's fleet from the North could launch a pincer attack from another direction, then the Dawn Kingdom's northern forces would suffer a devastating blow.

This proposal was very tempting to Palpatine, because he was always convinced that the Galactic Empire's military strength was far greater than that of the Dawn Kingdom; it was just that their forces were currently too dispersed.

However, the First Star System Army Governor, Imperial Marshal Oswald Tesick, strongly opposed the proposal, believing that transferring the capital's defense forces to other areas was an extremely risky move. He even flew into a rage in the Imperial Diet.

With his powerful military force at his disposal, he roared in the meeting room, and everyone around him didn't dare to breathe.

Rufán-Digorinus did not directly confront Oswald Tessik at the meeting. Instead, he went to Palpatine's office after the meeting and subtly pointed out that Oswald Tessik wielded too much power and was practically the sole ruler on Coruscant.

However, while the entire Imperial political arena was embroiled in controversy over this matter, another Imperial Marshal, Demetrius Zarin, announced at an internal military meeting that several new types of equipment were about to be unveiled and that weapons tests were to be conducted in outer space on Coruscant.

Meanwhile, to boost confidence, Emperor Palpatine will be invited to observe this series of weapons tests in person.

Palpatine immediately approved the request. If more new weapons were added to the Imperial arsenal at this time, it would undoubtedly greatly boost the morale of the entire Empire and provide stronger support for the great counterattack he envisioned.

Therefore, the weapons test is tentatively scheduled for September 1, two days from now.