The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2338. The Destruction of the 17th Army
In such a chaotic situation, it is conceivable that the Imperial military will be distracted by a lot of energy, so Governor Octavian Grant and Admiral Gideon Tarkin could only watch as the star gate built by the Kingdom of Dawn on the planet Fondo gradually took shape.

The Kingdom of Dawn seemed to have used a large number of pre-installed parts and sent them directly. For this purpose, they specially dispatched a small fleet to continuously clear the hyperspace channel between the planet Yago-Dur and the planet Fondo to avoid being intercepted by the Galactic Empire fleet.

Although the Imperial Fleet currently does not have the ability to intercept it.

As a result, in just over a week, the star gate being built next to Planet No. 3 in the Fangduo Galaxy has actually taken shape! !

This construction speed shocked Octavian Grant, because if the star gate was built at this speed, then the Kingdom of Dawn would be able to build a complete star gate network in a short period of time. From this, it can be inferred that the interior of the Kingdom of Dawn is likely to be completely covered by the star gate network!

This is absolutely terrible!

But now, the defenders of Fangduo Planet did not dare to take the initiative to attack and destroy the star gate, because they could not defeat the powerful fleet of the Kingdom of Dawn.

However, something happened soon that made Octavian Grant even more troubled.

On August 8, Admiral Severance Tann suddenly changed her direction and took away two-thirds of the fleets of the attacking multi-planet. This huge fleet began to turn around, started the hyperspace engine, and left just like that!
Severance Tann took away the Taowu Titan battleship, all the Apocalypse-class battleships, 7 Archon-class aircraft carriers, and most of the capital ships.

Only more than 300 battleships, led by the Titan battleship Xuanwu, and more than 2000 small and medium-sized battleships were still stationed on Planet No. of the Fangduo Galaxy. General Ling also arrived here at this moment, took over the command of this fleet, and reorganized the First Combined Fleet.

This behavior is a complete slap in the face and a provocation!

According to intelligence from the Imperial Intelligence Agency, Severance Tann's fleet returned to the planet Yago-Dur that night, and then took a little more than half a day to appear on the planet Eriadu, tens of thousands of light years away, and then came to the occupied planet Kira.

Her huge fleet completed this series of maneuvers in less than two days!

On September 9, the Dawn Kingdom's Second Task Force, led by Severance Tann, completely surrounded the planet Vogel. The defense fleet of the planet Vogel resisted for less than two hours before being completely destroyed.

During this process, the defenders of the planet Fondo remained silent. Even though Severance Tann withdrew most of the fleet in front of them and launched a large-scale attack on the planet Vogel without any covert action, Octavian Grant and Gideon Tarkin did not dare to make any unusual moves.

They had a huge force of 1000 battleships, but they were very afraid of the 300 battleships left behind by General Ling and did not dare to take the initiative to attack.

The reason is the "Star Gate" that is under construction!
With the Titan battleship Xuanwu and more than 180 Hell's Angels-class battlecruisers, Gideon Tarkin believed that he could not defeat General Ling's fleet in a short time. If he could not win quickly, the star gate next to him would probably send a large number of reinforcements.

Severance Tann's fleet could possibly come through the star gate that day and annihilate them all! Yes, although Severance Tann moved to Kira in two days and then launched an attack on Vogel, did it really take two days, or did Tann deliberately slow down to give them an illusion?

If a misjudgment occurs, then the thing that Gideon Tarkin fears the most will happen - a fleet decisive battle!
If the planet Fangduo is defeated in the fleet decisive battle, it will follow the fate of the planet Kira - losing all its fleets in the decisive battle, and then being easily landed on by the Separatists and occupied in a short time!

In other words, if the fleet is still there, even if the planet is bombed to pieces, there is still a chance. However, if the fleet is gone, then the planet will become a piece of fish on the chopping board, without any resistance.

Governor Octavian Grant could only send a message to the Imperial Center, stating that he was not strong enough to take the initiative to attack, and hoped that the Imperial military would organize another fleet to intercept Severance Tann's main fleet.

So in such hesitation, on September 9, the planet Vogel, which had only resisted for two days, announced its surrender, and the 3th Army of the Galactic Empire was declared destroyed!
At this point, you may be confused. Why was the 17th Army of the Galactic Empire destroyed so easily in just two days? Before, whether it was the 19th Army, the 18th Army, or the 14th Army destroyed by the Techno Union, or the 8th Army destroyed in the North, these legions had put up very resolute resistance, and were finally destroyed after a long battle.

But in fact, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion by listing the planets under the jurisdiction of the 17th Army of the Galactic Empire.

The Galactic Republic began to divide the 20 major legions, among which the 17th Army was also known as the Chrome Shield, with its capital on the planet Vogel. It governed the planets of Naboo, Ennako, Malastar, Harun Kal, Kalinda, Kira, and Pax...

Is it familiar?

Yes, in fact, the 17th Army had already been riddled with holes.

Ever since the Kingdom of Dawn occupied the planet Eriadu and destroyed the 18th Army, every military operation they launched in this direction was carried out on the 17th Army's territory.

Including the Battle of Malastar and the Battle of Harun Kal in the middle of the Clone Wars, and the Battle of Ennakor launched by General Ling at the end of the Clone Wars to contain the Galactic Republic. Then there is this time, Severance Tann lured the Imperial fleet to Naboo and annihilated it in one fell swoop, and then invaded and occupied the fortress of Kira.

After this series of battles, the military strength of the 17th Army had long been destroyed, and the administrative system was also in tatters. After the planets Malastar and Harun Kar were occupied by the Kingdom of Dawn, their own jurisdiction was also fragmented, and the most important hyperspace route was cut off, making it difficult to provide support.

This is why, even though Vogel's transportation location is actually more suitable for controlling hyperspace lanes and is closer to Eriadu, in order to intercept the Kingdom of Dawn, the Galactic Empire established a military base and stationed troops on Kira, but did not choose Vogel.

The 17th Army had long since ceased to exist in name only, and their governor, Lynch-Hauser, had long since abandoned the planet Vogel and moved to the center of the Empire to work remotely.

This time, Severance Tann simply nailed the lid of the 17th Army's coffin. (End of this chapter)