The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2755. Dantoin Meat Grinder (Part Two)
During their retreat from the planet Od Mantel, Dunn Wessex upheld the fine traditions learned from the Kingdom of Dawn, destroying all potentially salvageable facilities on the planet. This included fuel depots, maintenance centers, factories, and the space station and supply depots in orbit.

Not only that, Dunn-Wessex's fleet also destroyed several major cities on the planet. He only preserved the residential areas within these cities; everything else, including hydroponic farms, factories, and even commercial districts, casinos, and entertainment facilities, was destroyed.

He also took everything he could carry, including technicians, engineers, and skilled workers, and even confiscated the Dawn Kingdom's No. 4 currency from the residents' pockets. Some stormtroopers even packed up and took the food from the residents' tables while looting.

The space stations surrounding the planet were also dismantled, with every part that could be removed removed. There was also the Agonev-class interstellar base, which had already been abandoned by the Kingdom of Dawn. This interstellar base had already been cleared out once by the Kingdom of Dawn, but now Dunn-Wessex went even further, hiring several tugboats to dismantle and tow away the base's heavy main armor belt.

He went a step further and installed a simple thrust engine on the wreckage of the interstellar base, propelling the wreckage toward the star of the galaxy.

This turned the planet Ode-Mantel into a complete ruin, ensuring that the Kingdom of Dawn would be unable to use it as a forward base to launch an offensive against Palin-Minor for a long time to come.

Dunn-Wessex had also figured it out. Since he could no longer launch a counterattack in this direction and was going to have to withdraw and hand it over to the Kingdom of Dawn anyway, he might as well leave them with a mess.

When the Imperial fleet retreated, the inhabitants of the planet Ode-Mantel had less than a week's worth of food!

Before leaving, he also laid out a large number of air mines and set up hyperspace blockers around the planet, doing whatever was disgusting.

The reconstruction of this planet naturally brought enormous difficulties to the Kingdom of Dawn. Their first priority was to solve the planet's food problem, which required a huge amount of transportation capacity. Moreover, this was an ongoing project until the automated hydroponic farm was completed.

After the Dawn Kingdom reclaimed the planet, it was forced to begin a colonization program on Od-Mantel. Large numbers of whale-class passenger ships, laden with food and supplies, traveled to the planet. After unloading all cargo, they relocated as many starving and freezing inhabitants as possible to the Developer Sector to rebuild their homes.

Following this, the Kingdom of Dawn, equally despairing of the planet's future, handed over Od Mantel to the Vasari and the Geth, entrusting them with the task of rebuilding the planet. Those remaining inhabitants who hadn't had time to migrate eventually became slaves of the Vasari.

Later, Odmantel became a terrifying industrial planet, and the ultimate downfall of the King of the North began there—a kind of retribution. But that's another story.

Having accomplished all this, Dunn-Wessex's fleet quietly sailed into deep space, leaving behind scorched earth and silent ruins. He was somewhat relieved, believing that he had at least halted the Dawn Kingdom's offensive in this direction, and he could now proceed with his plans, expanding the campaign on the planet Dantuin and entangle the Dawn Kingdom in it.

……

Huang Yehao picked up his binoculars and observed a distant highland.

The high ground stretched for tens of kilometers, with an elevation of about 500 meters. It was about 10 kilometers away from his position, and the ruins of abandoned bunkers could be vaguely seen amidst the undulating terrain.

Moreover, large flames were burning on the high ground, with thick smoke billowing into the sky.

That was a position of the Galactic Empire's army on the planet Dantuin. According to previous reconnaissance, at least 20 AV-10 self-propelled artillery pieces were stationed there.

The AV-10 is the latest self-propelled howitzer produced by Taim & Bak, a company of the Galactic Empire, and is an improved version of the AV-7 self-propelled howitzer.

This self-propelled howitzer retains the advantages of the AV-7, requiring only two operators and exhibiting great maneuverability. Furthermore, Tem-Bark has upgraded the howitzer to a twin-mounted design, resulting in a very high rate of fire with alternating firing, giving it formidable firepower.

On this battlefield, the AV-10 self-propelled howitzer is one of the few things that can seriously threaten the Dawn Kingdom's ground forces.

All that could be seen in front of the high ground were hundreds of metal wrecks lying haphazardly, including Scorpion tanks, giant mechs, and the remains of Galactic Empire 2-M hover tanks and AT-AT walkers.

Clearly, a major battle had just broken out here not long ago.

Huang Yehao pressed a button on the telescope, activating the scanning mode. He saw a faint glowing screen appear above the high ground—a mobile deflector shield.

"Their shields have activated again; the bombardment just now didn't work," Huang Yehao said, frowning. "The flames on the ground are all from falling from mid-air. This won't do... we have to take this place down."

"Shall we go, boss?" an officer behind him asked.

“This area ahead is too flat; rushing in recklessly will only make us easy targets.” Huang Yehao looked ahead. “The 19th Armored Assault Battalion should be in combat positions soon. We will attack under their cover.”

"Yes!"

Just then, a piercing whistle suddenly came from the sky, and more than a dozen ghost fighters and five Claymore fighters swooped down from the clouds! They tore through the air like sharp blades and headed straight for the highlands. At the same time, the highlands, which had seemed very quiet before, now revealed their ferocious fangs.

A barrage of laser cannons and blast cannons fired wildly, creating a screen of bullets in mid-air. The dense firestorm blocked the sky, and several Ghost fighters were instantly hit, plummeting to the ground trailing black smoke. Claymore fighters dispersed to break through the defenses, dropping electromagnetic pulse bombs. The intense electromagnetic pulses visibly blasted a large electric grid on the deflector shields.

Immediately afterwards, countless plasma clusters rained down from the sky and exploded on the deflector shield, with countless pale blue flames merging into one in mid-air.

A few seconds later, a deafening roar came from behind.

These distinctive cannon shots were clearly the fire from the Dawn Kingdom's siege tanks!
However, these artillery shots were blocked by deflector shields. The Imperial Army's positions also echoed with the roar of cannons, and numerous powerful turbine laser beams shot directly into the sky, then fell downwards in pre-programmed arcs, like a meteor shower. Behind their own positions, a pale blue light screen appeared in mid-air, blocking the intense barrage.

This is what makes this ground battle so strange; the two sides have essentially turned it into a positional war.

In fact, this type of mobile deflector shield for ground combat had already appeared during the Clone Wars, but the technology at that time was not mature enough. Whether it was the energy supply system, the shield strength, or most importantly, the shield coverage in complex environments, all of these were problematic.

In addition, these mobile shields are easily destroyed by the enemy's orbital bombardment, so their application is not very widespread.

However, the technology of mobile shields has now been completely revolutionized and upgraded in all aspects. As a result, both the Dawn Kingdom and the Galactic Empire have begun to use mobile deflector shields on a large scale, using them as the core barrier for ground propulsion.

In particular, both sides' artillery positions were completely protected by this shield. Before the shield was broken, the attacking side often had to pay a heavy price to face the powerful defensive artillery fire hidden under the shield.

The current ground campaign on Dantuin presents such a situation—the Galactic Empire has deployed these mobile deflector shields in advantageous terrain around major cities and newly built industrial areas as fire anchors, followed by a large number of AV-10 self-propelled artillery, AT-AP all-terrain walking artillery, and even UT-AT hover self-propelled artillery.

Meanwhile, further away from the front lines, the Galactic Empire also deployed the SPMA-T—an all-terrain medium-sized turbolaser cannon. This is a scaled-down version of the previous SPHA-T, smaller and cheaper to manufacture. The turbolaser beams it fires can form an arc under the influence of an electromagnetic field, launching long-range attacks from hundreds of kilometers away.

These long-range weapons created an extremely powerful barrage, and under their indiscriminate bombardment, the army of the Kingdom of Dawn slowed down for fear of suffering excessive losses.

The aerial battles were also exceptionally fierce. The Galactic Empire had already constructed more than ten airfields and deployed a large number of fighter jets on the planet Dantuin. Furthermore, state-of-the-art anti-stealth radars had been installed in the cities, capable of directly penetrating the Ghost fighters' stealth systems.

In contrast, while the Kingdom of Dawn possesses more powerful fighter jets, it only has three makeshift airfields, limiting the number of fighters and bombers it can accommodate. Their prized Longsword-shaped aerial fortresses are unable to be deployed here due to the lack of suitable airfields.

As a result, both sides began to establish positions based on their respective mobile deflector shield generators, bombarding each other while sending small elite units to conduct probing raids in an attempt to destroy the core nodes of the other side's shield generators.

Because the Galactic Empire's firing positions provided mutual cover, forming a crossfire that was also connected, the Dawn Kingdom's plan to use Scorpion tanks for a rapid infiltration and assault did not achieve good results, and instead resulted in the loss of many tanks.

Subsequently, General Dai Hongkui, the supreme commander of the Dawn Kingdom on the planet Dantuin, ordered a change in tactics, shifting to a focus on coordinating operations between elite mech units and special operations units.

He began to deploy elite troops from the Fourth Legion, the Inchori, and the Kali to the front lines, seeking an opportunity to destroy the enemy's shield core before launching a large-scale frontal offensive.

This is why the ground war on Dantuin has dragged on for so long.

In outer space, both sides have established their own transit space stations and space hangars, escorted by a small number of frigates and light cruisers. Transport ships arrive here daily in an endless stream, continuously providing logistical support for the consuming ground battlefield.

Meanwhile, fighter jets from both sides were constantly harassing each other's supply lines, and battles were constantly breaking out in space.

However, due to the highly unstable hyperspace routes on the planet Dantuin and its remote location, large-scale fleets found it difficult to enter the war zone. Not to mention capital ships, even large transport ships like the Whale-class passenger ships could not navigate through it. Therefore, the space battlefield became a mere backdrop.

The waterways here are so narrow that it's difficult enough to meet the needs of ground troops.

As a result, while the two sides were fighting, they were also building up military factories, spaceports, and mining sites in their respective controlled areas to support the needs of the front-line operations.

Both sides have also invested a large number of robots in mining and production work.

The Galactic Empire went even further. After the war began, they captured almost every inhabitant they could find on the planet. The strong were conscripted into the army, while the weaker ones were sent to mines or factories. This created a large labor force, and to maintain morale, the Imperial army treated them fairly well, at least making them feel like human beings.

However, the expansion of production also brought more defensive focus. How to use the limited ground forces, where to defend and where to attack, became a battleground for the commanders of both sides to outwit each other.

The Galactic Empire, with its army exceeding one million on the planet Dantuin, including locally recruited soldiers, is now facing a formidable challenge. The Dawn Kingdom, on the other hand, has only deployed around 20 ground troops. The battle has now devolved into positional warfare, putting the Dawn Kingdom in a very difficult position.

Huang Yehao continued to observe the battlefield. The distant roar of artillery fire persisted, but he knew it would soon cease. Current supply lines did not allow for indefinite bombardment.

Sure enough, as the artillery fire gradually subsided, large numbers of combat robots began to appear in the distance.

These B-1 combat robots have been upgraded with improved control systems and AI, making them more agile and allowing them to move quickly across the battlefield, breaking through the Galactic Empire's firepower blockade.

In the sky, several Pelican transport planes flew over carrying three Scorpion Annihilator combat machines, dropping them directly to the front lines.

Upon landing, the Scorpion Annihilator instantly deployed its shield, and its two twin-mounted turbo laser cannons began firing wildly!
As the Dawn Kingdom's ground forces began their assault, hundreds of turrets—DF.9/B anti-personnel turrets—suddenly rose from the ground on this high ground!
Behind the turret, a large number of Galactic Empire soldiers emerged from the underground tunnels and fired wildly at the attacking army with all sorts of weapons.

A dense barrage of firepower formed a web, instantly engulfing the battle robot formation. Hundreds of battle robots were blasted to pieces by the bombardment! (End of Chapter)