The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2729 Plan Implementation
2729. Implementation of the Plan

This robbery, which occurred in the hyperspace passage outside the planet Scipio, completely disrupted the Empire's financial allocation plans. As the Dawn Kingdom had hoped, the Galactic Empire immediately halted the outward movement of precious metals and strengthened patrols in the star system surrounding Scipio.

Because of this robbery, both the Imperial Security Service and the Interstellar Banking Association (S) believe that the area surrounding Scipio cannot be guaranteed to be safe at present.

Under these circumstances, calls within the Imperial Council for the swift implementation of "Operation Goalkeeper" grew louder. They demanded the rapid reinforcement of troops on Scipio and a swift northward advance to recapture the fortress planet Bilbrin, thereby securing the area surrounding Scipio.

Currently, most Imperial council members believe that with the combined might of the three Executor-class super star destroyers—the Guardian, the Reaper, and the Overlord—recapturing Bilbrin is only a matter of time. Of course, they also acknowledge that the Dawn Kingdom's military strength has expanded to a point where the Empire cannot ignore it, and this operation will inevitably suffer heavy losses. However, they believe these losses are still bearable compared to the continued threat to the Empire's financial center.

Therefore, the operational plan for the main force of the First Star System to advance was quickly implemented, with thousands of warships departing from Coruscant and Anax and heading at full speed toward Scipio.

Such a large-scale fleet movement would naturally not escape the intelligence network of the Dawn Kingdom.

'White Lotus' has now returned to her mansion in the heart of the empire, changed into the silk robes popular among the inner circle of nobles, and is sitting on the balcony, sipping a glass of fine wine.

Through the astronomical telescope placed beside her, she could clearly see a large number of warships moving around in the outer space of Coruscant, and a smile appeared on her cherry-red lips.

Yes, the plan was successful.

The Supreme Command of the Kingdom of Dawn ordered her to use all means to mobilize the First Star System Army to leave Coruscant, and she succeeded.

Of course, this order from the Supreme Command was not just a casual remark. The movement of the First Star System Army had already shown signs of this, and she simply used this robbery to accelerate it.

Although Bai Lian didn't know what such troop movements meant for the Dawn Kingdom's overall strategy, she was well aware that the movement of each piece pointed to a grander scheme. However, she was still puzzled. As far as she knew, Planet Scipio was the Dawn Kingdom's next target. If they wanted to attack that planet, why were they repeatedly provoking the Imperial army's fragile nerves, causing them to continuously reinforce their troops?

Forget it, such strategic thinking is beyond her reach. Although she is close to the core of the Dawn Kingdom's intelligence department, she has not yet reached the highest level. In fact, there are some strategies that even her superior—the Minister of Military Intelligence, Saratan Moss—has no authority to participate in.

Intelligence agencies are ultimately only auxiliary and cannot participate in decision-making.

The communicator vibrated slightly. 'White Lotus' opened the communicator and said calmly, "How did it go, Mr. Luxen-Rayle? The harvest must have been quite large, right?"

"Eighty thousand tons of rare alloy ore," Luxen said calmly.

"Ore? Not a finished alloy?" Bai Lian frowned.

[Ore.] Lucien-Rayle confirmed again, [and I believe these ores are incomplete; several elements are missing, so they can't be forged into credit ingots for direct use. But regardless, it's still a huge fortune.] "Didn't you ever wonder why it's ore?" A smile appeared on Bai Lian's lips.

"I think you, as someone from the inner circle of nobles, should understand this even better," Lu Sen said.

"Of these 80,000 tons of ore, only about 500 tons should be usable after being cast into credit ingots. But those people in the Interstellar Banking Association can claim that they have 80,000 tons of finished rare alloys in stock. To put it bluntly, the Empire's finances have already collapsed, and they are just barely maintaining their credit through such deception," Bai Lian replied.

"As expected." Lucien chuckled coldly, then asked, "What's the reaction from the Imperial Center?"

“I have two versions here, one that’s publicly available, and one that’s kept internal. Which one would you like to hear?” Bai Lian said with a smile.

"They publicly claimed it was just a routine robbery, stealing only some building materials," Lu Sen said directly. "And what's the internal version?"

"The Interstellar Banking Association reported to the Imperial Treasury that 10000 tons of rare alloy reserves had been stolen from them, and their representatives are making a scene at the Treasury, demanding that the Imperial army recover the alloy as soon as possible." Bai Lian smiled sarcastically, "You know, they've done it again."

[They really dare to make an offer...] Luxem was taken aback by the number.

"It's been like this within the Empire for a long time; it's nothing new." Bai Lian swirled the wine in her glass. "As for us, it's a mutually beneficial and pleasant cooperation. I'm sure that this time, Borsk-Felia's standing within your alliance will rise dramatically, won't it?"

"That's none of your business," Luxem-Rayle said coldly, pausing before adding, "And it's none of my business either."

"Hehe." Bai Lian casually turned off the communication, downed the wine in her glass in one gulp, shifted to a languid posture, and enjoyed the cool night breeze.

At this moment, a sprightly old man came up and said kindly to her, "Sorea, what are you doing here? Your Uncle Deren is here. He is probably the one who will become the next Deputy Minister of Finance. Go and see him. He misses you very much."

“Okay, I was just a little dizzy from drinking. I’m much better now. I’ll go see Uncle Deren and Dad.” Bai Lian, oh no, the niece of the Deputy Minister of the Interior, the third daughter of the Cohen family, Sorea Cohen, stood up and followed her father out.

Sorea Cohen is the third daughter of the Cohen family, an aristocratic family within the inner circle of the government. This family has long operated a massive media empire and has connections with the Deputy Secretary of the Interior, navigating both political and business circles with ease.

However, more than a decade ago, before the Clone Wars even broke out, the second son of the Cohen family suddenly launched a rebellion, attempting to kill his elder brother and become the first in line to the family throne. In the chaos, Sorea was also caught in the crossfire, but she escaped Coruscant under the protection of her royal guards, eventually making her way to the outer ring sector of the Milky Way.

In the complex and volatile outer ring sector, this pampered noblewoman was naturally targeted immediately, and her entire personal guard was killed in action to protect her. Fortunately, at the last moment, she awakened her Force abilities, scaring away the gangsters.

It was at this time that she was discovered by an intelligence officer from Dawn Planet who happened to pass by. He took her back to Dawn Planet and later sent her to study at Twilight Covenant.