The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2926, Kira Contract (Final)
During the three-day negotiations, Krul van der Lon felt as if he had been being cut by a dull knife for three whole days.

Harry Seldon completely trampled on his bottom line.

In reality, Krull Van der Lon understood that the Galactic Empire's bottom line was to prevent the current regime from collapsing. Because once the Sartre Pestach regime fell, they would cease to be of any value and would only face the most tragic end.

At the same time, people like Krul van der Lon, although they did not have military power and were manipulated at will by people like Aisani Issad, still had enough political insight to see what would happen once the Sartre-Pestac government fell.

Because Aysani-Isard has no legitimate cause whatsoever, all she has is military power and the assistance of the Dark Church, once she steps forward to take power, it is tantamount to giving many warlords in the galaxy a very typical example—with a fleet, I can be independent.

When that time comes, what will Dunn-Wessex in the North think? What will Piet, who temporarily controls thousands of Star Destroyers on Delon, think? And what will the governors of the various legions who still have power think?
Once this fig leaf is torn off, the Galactic Empire will truly become a cake to be divided among those warlords.

Krull Van der Lon, a member of the Imperial New Order Maintenance Committee, is at least very loyal to the concept of the Galactic Empire. He is definitely not a shameless ambitious person like Isani Isaard. Of course, he may be corrupt, but everything he does is within the framework of the Galactic Empire.

Aisani Isad, however, did not seem to care that much.

Because of this, Krul van der Lon always felt that there might be someone else behind it, but at the level he could currently access, he could not find any proof to support this.

Even though he was already the number two figure in the current government of the Galactic Empire.

Therefore, Krul van der Lon had to humbly maintain his last shred of dignity, almost pleading for a chance to survive for the pitiful regime of Sartre Pestačić.

He didn't care what would happen to the people under the Galactic Empire, he didn't care about the ownership of those planets, he didn't care who controlled the hyperspace routes, he only cared about one thing—the necessity of their government's existence.

In order to maintain this necessity, the government cannot assume too much responsibility.

Unfortunately, Harry Seldon was well aware of this. Throughout the negotiations, Harry Seldon's mindset was almost that he would leave the Sartre-Pestach government with its last breath, while ruthlessly destroying everything else.

Throughout the three-day negotiations, major media outlets in the Fourth Reich broadcast the entire process live.

They didn't broadcast the negotiations directly, but they captured, at just the right moment, Krul van der Lon's desperate expression during the negotiations, and Hari Seldon sitting at the negotiating table with his arms crossed like a cold statue.

Meanwhile, the media is also trying to emphasize the importance of the planet Kira, such as the Death Star, the Lusankia super star destroyer, and the negotiations themselves.

Moreover, the Fourth Reich's media repeatedly reviewed the entire war, constantly broadcasting numerous scenes and images of the Fourth Reich's glorious victory.

Ultimately, the Fourth Empire officially defined this war as the Second Galactic Civil War.

The name is actually quite subtle.

For example, the previous Clone Wars, this name is actually unofficial, but it is known to the public because the Galactic Republic used a large number of clone soldiers and they became a symbolic presence in this war.

Officially, the Clones Wars are known as the First Galactic Civil War.

The reason it was a civil war was that the Galactic Republic never recognized the sovereignty of the Independent Galaxy Confederation, and only regarded them as separatists and rebels.

Furthermore, Count Dooku, the leader of the Independent Galaxy Confederation, did not truly claim to possess the same prestige as the Galactic Republic. The Independent Galaxy Confederation, as its name suggests, was more about declaring autonomy and forming a loose alliance.

Therefore, this war was a civil war based within the Galactic Republic regime.

The fact that this war between the Galactic Empire and the Fourth Empire is still defined as a civil war is quite intriguing.

Because no matter how much the Galactic Empire calls the Fourth Empire "separatism," the Fourth Empire has after all established an equal regime, and in the end, Tang Xiao even directly declared himself emperor in front of the Galactic Empire.

So, under such circumstances, what is the significance of almost calling this war a "civil war"?

Whose "internal strife" is this war? Is it the Fourth Reich's or the Galactic Empire's?

Clearly, the Fourth Empire is trying to subtly prove its legitimacy in ruling the entire galaxy—yes, they will view this war as an internal conflict, a large-scale uprising within the Fourth Empire's ruling structure.

It doesn't matter what others think, but the Fourth Reich will declare itself this way.

……

Finally, after three days of negotiations, the Galactic Empire and the Fourth Empire signed a formal contract and issued a joint statement on the contract.

The main contents include:

First, the Fourth Reich recognizes Coruscant's legitimate status as the capital of the Galactic Empire. However, Coruscant must become a free economic zone, and its military presence cannot exceed 100 capital ships.

Second, both sides agree to a ceasefire along the current area of ​​actual control, and the Galactic Empire must recognize the sovereignty of the territories occupied by the Fourth Empire during this war.

III. Skako, Lundelli, and Tepaci, these three core planets belonging to the Technological Alliance, Lundelli Interstellar Power Company, and Targ Company respectively, officially become sovereign territories of the Fourth Empire. Furthermore, the Galactic Empire is prohibited from restricting transportation to and from these planets for any reason. IV. The Galactic Empire opens the Peremian Trade Ridge and the Corellian Route, two core shipping lanes directly connecting to Coruscant, to the Fourth Empire. Civilian ships and escort warships below the cruiser class are permitted free access.

Fifth, both sides jointly declare liberalism and anarchism illegal ideologies and jointly uphold the basic principles of autocracy, rule of law, and order.

VI. The Galactic Empire will use the Fourth Empire's No. 4 currency as its legal tender, which can be used for fiscal accounting, and will gradually introduce ten trillion No. 4 currencies as official reserves over the next ten years.

7. The Galactic Empire will compensate the Fourth Empire for its war losses with 500 billion credits. This amount can be paid by using rare metals or by the Fourth Empire making economic investments within the Galactic Empire.

This means that the Galactic Empire is actually broke and its finances have collapsed. To make the Galactic Empire repay its debts, the Fourth Empire will invest in the Galactic Empire's industries, and then use the future profits from these industries as repayment. And this will incur interest.

8. The three thousand habitable planets in the Targ sector will be gradually transferred to the Fourth Empire within the next year, becoming its official territory.

9. All existing central and outer ring planets of the Galactic Empire can, upon application by the planet's governor, undergo a three-month investigation and evidence collection process by the Fourth Empire's investigation team, and then proceed to a referendum to decide whether to merge into the Fourth Empire.

10. All those responsible for the destruction of Chardan and Parks (including but not limited to Wilhoff Tarkin and senior officers in his direct command chain) must be handed over to the Fourth Reich for trial unconditionally.

XI. The Galactic Empire prohibits the manufacture and possession of weapons capable of destroying planets or causing permanent damage to them. All torpedo balls must be destroyed, and projects such as the Galactic Gun, the Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer, the Planet Destroyer, and the Blackwing Virus must be cancelled. The Galactic Empire's naval structure remains unchanged, and the construction of Executor-class Super Star Destroyers may continue.

12. The Galactic Empire opens the database of the planet Scarif for free review and verification by a team of experts from the Fourth Empire to ensure that no records of superweapons exist in the database.

Thirteen, the Fourth Reich and the Galactic Empire jointly established a military research institute, with the Fourth Reich assisting the Galactic Empire in developing its own new long-range fighter jet. This fighter jet will be equipped with a hyperspace engine, enabling it to conduct interstellar combat missions. The Fourth Reich will also send a team of experts, advisors, and trainers. Subsequently, the Fourth Reich will also assist the Galactic Empire in the research and development and outsourced construction of new security-type warships.

XIV. The Galactic Empire shall reduce the import tariffs on all goods and services of the Fourth Empire to no higher level than those on any of the best planets within its territory. The Galactic Empire shall open all trading ports and markets within its controlled territories to Fourth Empire merchant ships on an equal footing, exempt from additional tariffs, for a period of ten years.

15. Both sides investigated and collected evidence regarding the outbreak of this war, confirming that it was caused by the actions of the former Galactic Emperor Palpatine. With Palpatine's death, the war should no longer continue. Palpatine must bear responsibility for this devastating war, and all his property will be confiscated to compensate and provide relief to the war's victims.

In reality, this issue was the subject of very intense discussions between the two sides. Krul van der Lon was unwilling to let either the current government or Palpatine bear the responsibility for the war. But in the end, under the threat of Hari Seldon, he was forced to choose a method that would cause relatively less harm to their current government—to push everything onto Palpatine.

XVI. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with the interpretation or implementation of this Treaty shall be settled through consultation between the authorized representatives of both parties. If no agreement is reached within sixty days, the dispute shall be submitted to an arbitration commission appointed by the Fourth Reich for final decision.

These are just the most important clauses. The entire treaty contains 247 articles, covering cooperation between the two sides in various aspects.

Ultimately, this treaty became known as the Treaty of Kira.

This contract also brought an end to the three-year war.

This war nearly destroyed the foundations of the Galactic Empire's rule, leaving them barely clinging to life. The Fourth Empire also paid a heavy price—they expected to end the war within a year, but a series of unexpected events, along with several crushing defeats inflicted on them by Thrall in the North, dragged the war into three years.

Ultimately, however, the signing of the Kira Contract also marked a glorious victory for the Fourth Reich.

In fact, this treaty wasn't particularly harsh overall; its core provisions concerned tariffs, investment, currency, and air travel. Essentially, it facilitated the Fourth Empire's economic infiltration and even control of the Galactic Empire.

The Galactic Empire's economy had long since collapsed, so the Fourth Empire was actually working to restore the Galactic Empire's economic capabilities, only in the process of further infiltration and control.

But even without this treaty, given the Galactic Empire's economic situation, they would have long been unable to stop the infiltration of Currency Four.

Furthermore, this treaty, aside from superweapons, did not restrict the Galactic Empire's conventional military power; in fact, the Fourth Empire was to help the Galactic Empire improve its military strength. The development of new fighter jets and security-type warships, in particular, clearly targeted the Galactic Empire.

At the same time, apart from Palpatine and Wilhelm Tarkin, who are both dead, no one else was tried as a war criminal in this contract, and the structure of the current Galactic Empire government was preserved as much as possible.

Ultimately, the Galactic Empire gave up some territory that it did not actually control, opened its borders, partially relaxed tariffs, opened up its already collapsing economy, and abandoned superweapons that it was already unable to rebuild, in exchange for the Fourth Empire's full support.

Although it's painful, at least I can survive.

Both sides now understand that their next enemy, perhaps an even more dangerous one, is no longer each other, but rather—liberalism! A righteous alliance!
……

With the departure of the ten Imperial-class Star Destroyers from the Galactic Empire's negotiating delegation, the galaxy has entered a completely new era.

For Tang Xiao, for the Galactic Empire, for the Fourth Empire... the fates of countless people took a 180-degree turn at this moment.

Tang Xiao didn't even attend the victory celebration. While the clone impersonating him was talking eloquently on the celebration platform, a blood-red spaceship had already disappeared in an instant, entered the hyperspace channel, and flew towards a remote planet in the Milky Way.

Tatooine...

Shortly after arriving on Tatooine, all of Tang Xiao's connections were severed, and no one in the entire Fourth Empire was able to find him.

His departure left behind a vast power vacuum. Countless beings who had once been suppressed by him, who dared not even breathe, can now finally raise their heads and look at this galaxy anew…

Let's see if their opportunity has arrived. (End of Chapter)