The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2298. On the verge of breaking out

11 BBY, June 6, the headquarters of the Northern Theater Command of the Milky Way, the planet Palin-Minor.

"Akingano, you bastard!!" Dunn Wessex rushed into the dungeon like a wild beast, roaring at the layers of fortified cells in the middle of the dungeon.

The cell door sealed with special metal opened, revealing a Grisk man locked inside.

"I don't know what you are talking about... Respected King of the North, Mr. Dunn-Wessex..." The Grisk man Akingano gave an ugly smile.

Dunn-Wessex walked over, grabbed the Grisk man and lifted him up, shouting: "Did you leak the information about the Stargate?! Did you!!!"

"Hahahaha... How could it be me... The great King of the North." Akingano laughed sinisterly, "Haven't I been locked up here by you all this time?"

"Don't play tricks on me!!" Dunn Wessex was furious. "The Empire is now ready to declare war! The reason is that the information about the Star Gate was handed over to His Majesty the Emperor!!"

"Oh... So after I gave you the information about the Stargate, you didn't give it to His Majesty Palpatine?" Akinganor pretended to be surprised. "As a loyal northern king of the empire, don't you think you haven't sent the information out yet? This shouldn't be the case!"

"Asshole!" Dunn Wessex threw Akingano to the ground. "What else have you not told me?!"

"Hehehe... Of course there is more..." Akingano lay on the ground, reciting a passage of Grisk in a voice that was almost like a chant, [The dark king has awakened, and the living fleet has set sail... Cherish the beauty in front of you, 50 years later... Everything will be burned to ashes. ]

The irritated Dunn Wessex was too lazy to waste time with him and waved his hand casually, "Kill him for me!"

The two dark Jedi Knights in black robes behind him immediately drew out their blood-red lightsabers, took a step forward and pierced Akinganor's chest directly!
Dunn-Wessex returned to his office, but he continued to pace and turn around restlessly.

A week ago, Emperor Palpatine suddenly received intelligence that the Principality of Dawn had a stargate, and their expansion in the unknown star region was based on the stargate. The stargate was a heaven-defying technology that could ignore the hyperspace channel and directly conduct point-to-point hyperspace navigation.

This piece of information was exactly the same as what Akingano had sent him before. So Dunn-Wessex's first reaction was whether he had leaked the information.

However, after a detailed investigation, it was found that this was not the case. The intelligence was directly obtained by the Minister of Intelligence, Armand Isard, and was reported directly to Palpatine on the same day.

Palpatine praised the Minister of Intelligence, Armand Isard, at the meeting, and kept praising him for obtaining such critical intelligence. Then, Palpatine changed his face. He was furious and ordered an immediate attack to completely destroy the Principality of Dawn.

Although the Imperial military was not willing to go to war at this time, the star gate was right in front of them. If they did not fight now, and wait until the Principality of Dawn really completed the construction of the star gate network, then the Galactic Empire would really have no chance of winning.

So, even though the Galactic Empire has just ended its war against the Trade Federation, and even though the Empire is already exhausted, this time, the Empire must start a war immediately.

Although Dunn-Wessex wanted to stop it at the time, when he saw Palpatine's fanatical expression, he realized that he could not stop it.

Because even if you list 10,000 reasons why a war must be started, if Palpatine doesn't want to fight, then this war can't be started anyway. Dunn Wessex knows Palpatine too well... The reason why he holds the information about the Stargate in his hands is because he knows that Palpatine has wanted to start a war for a long time, but he just lacks an excuse. If Dunn Wessex knew that the Principality of Dawn had also made every effort and thought about countless possibilities before finally deducing that the Galactic Empire must go to war, he would definitely respond with a mocking smile. Because this has nothing to do with the Stargate directly, it's just because Palpatine wants an excuse, that's all.

But what really made Dunn Wessex furious was that starting a war now would disrupt his plan! Because he was currently leading the internal disruption of the Chiss Territory, and after deciding to start the war, Palpatine was very considerate and asked him not to be in charge of the front battlefield, but to focus on the Geth and Chiss Territory, thus handing over the overall command of the first phase of the war to Darth Vader!

But his original plan was to make certain progress in the Chiss Territory, use the merits from the Chiss Territory, and then compete with Darth Vader for military power!
"Find it for me! Find it for me!" Dunn Wessex said angrily, "Find out who gave the information about the Star Gate to His Majesty the Emperor!!"

"Yes!" The two dark Jedi saluted and disappeared instantly.

Dunn-Wessex was still angry. He thought for a long time, took out a dedicated communicator from his drawer, contacted several people in succession, and then hurried out of the office.

……

11BBY, April 6.

Grand Duke Tang Xiao of Dawn cordially met with the envoys of the Galactic Empire on the Dawn Planet, and the two sides held talks in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere. Tang Xiao once again emphasized that the Principality of Dawn is absolutely the best partner of the Galactic Empire, and he claimed that the recent mobilization of the Principality of Dawn is limited to the army to deal with the increasingly rampant liberals and rebels, and is definitely not aimed at the Galactic Empire.

On June 6, the Military Intelligence Department of the Principality of Dawn monitored the movement of the Galactic Empire's large-scale fleet for the first time through a hyperspace outpost. According to the investigation, this movement was located near the Imperial Center, the capital of the Empire.

On June 6, the Galactic Empire carried out a large-scale rotation of its troops, and reduced the garrisons of the two major border military bases on the planets of Fangduo and Kira by 30%. The media of the Empire touted this as a peaceful act of kindness by His Majesty the Emperor.

On July 7, Prime Minister Francis Underwood of the Principality of Dawn announced his resignation, and the cabinet he had formed, including Claire Underwood, was also dissolved.

On July 7, Deputy Prime Minister Daphne Clement became the second Prime Minister of the Principality of Dawn and began to form a cabinet. Hari Seldon, a young official with high hopes, entered the cabinet and served as Minister of the Interior.

On July 7, Hari Seldon announced the construction plan for the Principality of Dawn for the next five years.

On July 7, the Interstellar Banking Association (S), which belongs to the Galactic Empire, launched an investigation into Rendili Interstellar Dynamics, claiming that Rendili Interstellar Dynamics had a large number of false accounts and corruption during the Galactic Republic era. It demanded that the Ulan family must give an explanation and return the stolen money of up to 33 billion credit points.

On July 7, Rendili Interstellar Dynamics refused to investigate, stating that any accounts from the Galactic Republic era were past the statute of limitations and would be ignored.

On August 8, Rush Clovis, co-chairman of the Interstellar Banking Association (S), ordered an investigation team to go to the planet Rendili to investigate.

That afternoon, the Galactic Empire announced that the Imperial Ministry of Economic Management would also send senior officials to join the investigation team.

On August 8, the investigation team was detained by the planet Rendili. (End of this chapter)