The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2772 The Fall of Dantuin (Part 2)

2771. The Fall of Dantuin (Part 2)
As it turns out, the strategy of assembling this budget version of the Throne-class battlecruiser directly on the planet Dantuin was absolutely brilliant! It not only significantly shortened the construction period but also avoided the hyperspace fluctuations caused by traveling via hyperspace routes.

If we really want to bring two Throne-class ships, then the hyperspace route towards Dantuin will have to be suspended for at least a week. Such a long gap could, at the very least, lead to a shortage of supplies for the ground forces on Dantuin. At worst, they could be driven out of the planet by the Galactic Empire in a counterattack when they are out of ammunition and food!
Now, by using this method, the most complex and cutting-edge equipment can be brought over directly, and then the Dawnlight-class industrial mothership can be fully deployed into a heavy interstellar dock. The ship structure can then be cast using materials sourced locally in the asteroid belt, greatly reducing transportation costs and strategic risks.

Furthermore, the mothership's own processing equipment can also manufacture some relatively simple facilities and equipment, such as the warship's outer shell armor, support frame, and even basic pipeline system, further improving construction efficiency.

That's how the miracle of assembling two battlecruisers within a month came about!
Even if this is just a basic version of the Throne of Kings level, it can still be called a miracle! The process seems simple, but it is actually very precise and complex.

For example, all components must be planned in great detail, including which components can be produced locally, which components need to be transported, how to maximize the resource utilization efficiency and carrying capacity of the industrial mothership, and even the production sequence must be precisely calculated to ensure that each process is seamlessly connected.

At the same time, the budget version of the Throne-class battlecruiser is actually a manifestation of returning to simplicity and the ultimate sophistication. It abandons redundant systems and non-core modules, yet still maintains combat effectiveness, which is itself a great crystallization of engineering wisdom. How to make those eight large neutron rapid-fire cannons operate with minimal and simple costs? This problem alone consumed a great deal of time and resources from countless individual engineers of Geth.

It's safe to say that even with the current Quat Dynamics shipyard, it would be absolutely impossible for them to build a basic version of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer within a month!
This is not something that can be solved simply by subtraction.

Therefore, on this battlefield, these two basic versions of the Throne-class battlecruisers became the key factors in turning the tide of the battle!
With the outer space defense forces completely defeated, the more than 200 million Galactic Empire soldiers on the surface of Dantuin were cut off from external support. All their supplies, from food and medicine to ammunition and spare parts, now depend on local factories for production, and resources have become extremely scarce.

At the same time, the Galactic Empire also suspended reinforcements to the Dantuin system and, with a very serious attitude, ordered the transport ships that were running around everywhere to immediately stop using the hyperspace channel. It seemed that they intended to suspend the operation of the channel and send some star destroyers to confront the two Throne-class ships.

However, some of the transport ship captains, who were already terrified, disobeyed orders. Even when Admiral Gerald Pereira gave the orders in the sternest tone, transport ships would still occasionally try to activate their hyperspace engines and quietly escape.

This practice, however, kept the hyperspace route constantly active, preventing the passage of star destroyers.

Left with no other choice, Gerald Perein had to arrest all the escaped transport ship captains, publicly execute them, and send the execution videos to officers and soldiers at all levels throughout the planet Dantuin, which finally brought the runaway transport ships to a stop.

However, this resulted in the already low morale of the Dantuin planet's defenders becoming even more demoralized and devoid of fighting spirit.

However, the Kingdom of Dawn had no intention of letting those transport ships go. They dispatched a large number of fighter jets to hunt them down everywhere. No matter where the transport ships ran in the star system, they would be constantly pursued by escort ships and fighter jets.

Both the Sabre and Claymore fighters are equipped with miniature hyperspace engines, enabling them to make ultra-short-distance hyperspace jumps within star systems, leaving transport ships with nowhere to escape.

Furthermore, the Dawn Kingdom used B-1 combat robots to pilot some of the captured spaceships and brazenly made hyperspace jumps toward the Galactic Empire, disrupting the shipping lanes as much as possible and making it increasingly difficult for the Galactic Empire to send star destroyers over.

That's not all. The Kingdom of Dawn also sent some urgently needed precision equipment and parts from the rear to start building a hyperspace jammer. They were practically leaving them no way out!
Faced with a dead end on both ends, the Galactic Empire's transport fleet began to surrender one after another. Many transport ships, once spotted by the Dawn Kingdom's fighters, immediately released surrender signals, opened their cargo holds to show they were harmless, and then allowed the Dawn Kingdom's escort ships to take over. All the supplies on board were confiscated, and the crew members were taken to prisoner-of-war camps.

The soldiers of the Dawn Kingdom were quite efficient, giving each prisoner of war a copy of "Tang Xiao's Sayings" and taking them to a prisoner-of-war camp on the planet Dantuin, a former military base that had been converted into a military base. This book would be their only reading material for a long time to come—no need to worry about them getting bored, because the great King of Dawn, Tang Xiao, was still alive, and his sayings were constantly being updated.

This made the situation on Dantuin even more desperate.

At first, Lieutenant General Zell Johnson was able to get a response from Palin-Minor, instructing them to hold their ground as much as possible. Even if they couldn't hold it, they needed to trade space for time to send more reinforcements and Star Destroyers to the rear.

However, after Governor Dunn Wessex returned to Palin Minor, Zell Johnson received no further news from the rear. He seemed to have been forgotten in this star system by the entire Galactic Empire; without a doubt, he had been abandoned.

Not only him, but also more than 200 million Galactic Empire soldiers on the planet Dantuin were abandoned.

At this point, the native inhabitants of the planet began to revolt. They went on strike, destroyed factories, arrested foremen, and attacked spaceports.

The uprisings escalated, and eventually, almost all three of the planet Dantuin's largest cities were plunged into chaos.

What made things incredibly difficult for the Galactic Empire's army was that the rebels had somehow acquired a large number of weapons, mostly basic assault rifles and blaster rifles, which gave them the ability to wage guerrilla warfare against the regular army.

Once the flames of rebellion were ignited, they could not be extinguished. The Galactic Empire's army was exhausted and completely unable to suppress the uprisings that were rising one after another.

Enraged, General Zell-Johnson ordered a brutal massacre and purge of the civilians who rose up in rebellion, but this only led to more intense resistance.

As the resistance in the outer space of the planet gradually disintegrated, Admiral Dai Hongkui landed ten of the Incasas-class frigates into the planet's atmosphere.

While this meant that these frigates, without external engines, could not return to outer space, it allowed them to unleash firepower far superior to that of fighter jets within the atmosphere. Then, the Dawn Kingdom's ground forces launched a full-scale offensive!
The 180mm plasma howitzer of the siege tank roared deafeningly. The Thor mech advanced to the appropriate area, knelt down, and deployed the four 330mm Punisher siege cannons on its back, continuously firing and bombarding.

Even with Galactic Empire fighters relentlessly bombing from the sky, the artillery positions remained unmoved. The Thor mechs' scattering anti-aircraft missiles prevented those TIE fighters from getting within effective attack range.

On the ground, the massive M-850 Grizzly tanks rolled over the Galactic Empire's positions, their two medium-sized turbo-laser cannons capable of destroying any ground targets in their path. Even more terrifying, after breaching the lines, the Grizzly tanks' two quadruple missile launchers began firing homing white phosphorus bombs into the air!

These white phosphorus bombs would track Imperial soldiers on the ground and then descend from the sky to launch an attack.

Large numbers of soldiers screamed as they were burned to black charcoal by white phosphorus bombs. Even after they became charcoal or skeletons, the white phosphorus continued to adhere to their bodies and burn.

Equipped with Vulture flying mechs, the Vulture Company circled in the air like real vultures, seizing every opportunity to swoop down and hunt down lone Imperial soldiers. Even without an opening, their sniper rifles could accurately hit their targets at high speed, blowing Imperial soldiers' heads off.

The soldiers of the Fourth Legion moved like reapers across every corner of the battlefield. They fought in three-man squads, and their presence was felt on almost every front. Wherever they appeared, they mercilessly reaped the lives of Imperial soldiers.

Army soldiers wearing CMC-300 power armor form the backbone of the battlefield. Sporadic firepower cannot threaten them at all, and they are almost one-sided massacres when facing individual small arms!

Finally, a large number of combat robots rushed over like a tidal wave, dragging out one by one the Imperial soldiers who had been baptized by the previous elite troops and were hiding in the shadows, barely clinging to life, and executing them on the spot.

If you're facing other legions, coming out to surrender might be useful, but if you're discovered by combat robots, even if you strip naked, lie on the ground, and shout that you surrender, you'll only get a bullet to the forehead.

The only thing that could stop the combat robots from firing was the book "Tang Xiao's Sayings".

Along the way, one could see large numbers of Galactic Empire soldiers with copies of "Tang Xiao's Quotations" pasted on their foreheads, heads in their hands, walking dejectedly towards the POW camp. Some POWs were even unattended; they voluntarily walked to the POW camp and locked themselves up.

Faced with the attack from the Kingdom of Dawn, the Galactic Empire's defenses crumbled almost instantly. Their army outnumbered the Kingdom of Dawn by four times, but their morale was shattered, rendering them utterly ineffective in combat.

The imperial soldiers had almost no will to fight. As soon as they realized that the enemy's offensive was very fierce, they scattered and fled. The battlefield was littered with abandoned white combat armor.

It is common to see scenes of more than ten soldiers from the Kingdom of Dawn chasing and killing hundreds or thousands of soldiers from the Empire.

In the end, only the clone soldiers and KX series security robots were still putting up a last-ditch resistance, but their disorganized resistance was completely ineffective.

The collapse at the front lines exacerbated the chaos at the rear, with many Imperial soldiers even losing their will to suppress local uprisings. Sometimes, Zell-Johnson would send out a strike battalion, only to have it desert before it even reached its designated position!
The chaos on Dantuin continued until the end of January of the following year, 8 BBY, when Lieutenant General Zell Johnson of the Galactic Empire surrendered with his remaining 200,000-plus Imperial soldiers.

In the month and a half of fighting and slaughter, more than 600,000 Imperial soldiers lost their lives, and countless others were wounded. The number of Imperial soldiers captured by the Kingdom of Dawn reached a staggering one million!
But that's not the most terrifying part. In the outer space of Dantuin, the number of Imperial soldiers and staff at all levels who perished along with the destruction of space stations and transport ships reached a staggering 140 million!
In the environment of outer space, there is absolutely no chance of survival when attacked—zero wounded, zero captured.

The prisoner-of-war camps on the planet Dantuin were packed with dejected Imperial soldiers, huddled on the cold ground, their eyes vacant as they stared at the sky beyond the iron fences—a sky that did not belong to them.

What awaited them was a long period of forced labor and imprisonment. They had no human rights whatsoever; their only purpose was to serve as labor to rebuild and repair the three cities on the planet Dantuin that had been destroyed by war.

During this time, although Dunn Wessex had already returned to Palin-Minor and brought Imperial Marshal Mattio Bach with him, he did not make any major moves. Instead, he summoned Admiral Gerard Perein, and the three of them held a secret meeting in a secret conference room for a day and a night.

Finally, Matteo Bach departed alone for Agamar to make his own preparations. Gerard Perein, reluctantly abandoning his plan to rescue Dantuin, instead focused on further strengthening his second line of defense. Simultaneously, he deployed numerous hyperspace jammers and hyperspace outposts on the outer perimeter of the Dantuin system to prevent the Kingdom of Dawn from launching a surprise attack from that direction.

Dunn Wessex, on the other hand, remained on the planet Palin Minor. His adjutant noticed that mysterious figures dressed in black robes were constantly entering and leaving his office, their identities unknown.

Clearly, the story of Dantuin is not over yet.

……

In the capital of the Galactic Empire, at the heart of the Empire.

The news of the fall of Dantuin caused no stir whatsoever. The planet was only significant to Dunn Wessex's previous plan to cultivate a powerful enemy, and to Marshal Mattio Batch and his so-called "Warren Base".

To the rest of the Empire, it was just a remote planet on the frontier, with no strategic value whatsoever.