The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2400: The Death of Mal-Tuk (Part ) [Construction Completed]

2401. The Death of Mal-Touk (Part )

While Admiral Mal-Tuk was determined to attack the planet Waqar with all his might, Vice Admiral Thrawn was sitting very calmly on the bridge of his flagship, the Chimera, looking coldly at the holographic star map in front of him.

"General, Mal-Tuk did just as you expected. He mobilized all the main fleet to the planet Palansi without waiting to completely wipe out the remaining forces on the planet Bilbrin." Adjutant Voss-Parker said with admiration on his face.

Thrawn smiled, put down the wine glass in his hand, and said, "Malt-Tuk's judgment is actually not wrong. The main reason why our fleet cannot confront him head-on is that after two defeats, many warships are in very bad condition and urgently need repairs. So he took advantage of this period of advantage to pursue us relentlessly and did not give us time to rest. This is correct. And... he must have thought that we were trading space for time."

Voss-Parker was stunned for a moment and asked, "Uh... General, isn't it?"

"We lost the planet Bilbrin, a fortress that took hundreds of years to build. What we got in return is far more than just time." Thrawn shook his head. "Maltuk wanted a passage to the core circle, I gave it to him. He wanted a base to move forward, I gave it to him. He wanted to know the movements of my main fleet, I also gave it to him... But he wanted a decisive battle? Haha..."

Thrawn stood up, tapped twice on the holographic star map, shook his head and sighed, "No."

He turned around and said to Voss-Parker, "Order all ships to immediately begin hyperspace navigation calculations to ensure that we can begin hyperspace jumps within 10 minutes."

"Yes!" Voss-Parker was extremely excited. He stood at attention and saluted and responded loudly.

……

On February 10, 2 BBY, at 13:8 PM galactic standard time, Admiral Mal-Tuk led the vanguard out of the hyperspace channel and entered the Waqar system.

他留下了500多艘中小型战舰和50艘重巡洋舰防守帕兰西星球，然后先头部队包括10艘主力舰，150艘重巡洋舰和1700艘中小型战舰。

Dense warships appeared in the outer space of the planet Wakar along with dense white flashes, making this planet, which was originally sparsely populated, immediately become lively.

Without any hesitation, Admiral Mal-Tuk immediately ordered an attack! He did not intend to give the Imperial Fleet any breathing space.

However, the Imperial fleet was now all gathered in the synchronous orbit of the planet Wakar, gradually distancing themselves from it as the planet revolved, and after a symbolic counterattack, they activated their hyperspace engines and fled!
Looking at the Imperial fleet gradually disappearing on the holographic star map, Admiral Mal-Tuk was furious. He slammed his fist on the console and roared, "What are they doing! What are they doing!! Does this guy Thrawn know where he is going? There are only uninhabited planets after the planet Waqar. Is he eating dirt over there?!?!"

"General, should we give chase?" asked the T-series tactical robot.

"What is the purpose of the Imperial fleet going to the uninhabited galaxy?" Mal-Tuk asked, the muscles on his face twitching twice.

"According to the simulation, the most likely scenario is to extend our supply lines." The T-series tactical robot responded immediately.

Mal-Tuk raised his voice and shouted angrily: "Our supply line is extended, so will they have supplies?! We can transfer supplies from the planet Palansi, can they?"

"We need to consider the possibility of the Galactic Empire establishing supply stations in uninhabited galaxies." said the T-series tactical robot.

Mal-Touk's face changed and he fell into deep thought.

He suddenly realized that although he had been advancing triumphantly, he was in a very embarrassing situation. It was true that he had occupied the planet Palansi, but the problem was that the planet Palansi was located at a transportation hub and was in the center of many hyperspace routes. No matter where he planned to go, he could not avoid the planet Palansi.

However, the planet Palansi is not a very suitable planet to be used as a forward base.

First of all, the industrial capacity of this planet is not developed, and most of the industries on the planet are financial. So in times of war, can your financial industry make a part for my star destroyer or charge my turbolaser cannon?
Therefore, the material reserves on the planet Palansi are not abundant, and the industrial production capacity is completely insufficient, so it is necessary to rely on transportation from the rear.

Then, such a planet that is easy to attack but difficult to defend is located at a transportation hub, so what is the result? The result is that enemies from all directions may threaten this place!
Why did the Galactic Empire set up its defense line on the planet of Bilbrin instead of the planet of Palansi? It was not because they did not know that if a fortress was built at a transportation hub, the radiation range would be wider, but because this place was simply not suitable!

Therefore, now that Mal-Tuk has occupied the planet Palansi, he is indeed one step closer to conquering the core circle he has always dreamed of, but the planet Palansi has become a burden to him instead.

It is very difficult to transport the Dawn Kingdom's rear supplies to the planet Palansi.

Transportation on the planet Bilbrin was very inconvenient, and several secret hyperspace routes there had not yet been discovered. Although Mal-Tuk had organized astronomers and hyperspace experts to conduct exploration as soon as possible, it would take time. Before that, they had to rely on several known routes with low traffic volume for logistical transportation.

Not to mention those annoying armed asteroids around the planet Bilbrin. Although the automatically operated armed asteroids that blocked the road had basically been destroyed, the armed asteroids in other places were still there, which invisibly compressed the activity space of the Dawn Kingdom's transport fleet.

Finally, the planet of Bilbrin itself also needs a large amount of material input, especially to rebuild the planet's energy system. These require a large amount of transportation equipment from the rear, as well as a large number of engineering robots.

Therefore, the planet Bilbrin became a bottleneck. The large amount of war materials prepared by the Kingdom of Dawn were all stuck in the rear of the planet Dolin and the Malarian Alliance. And now the most fatal thing is that even if the materials are delivered, it is not safe to concentrate them on the planet Palansi. As mentioned above, this is a planet that is easy to attack but difficult to defend.

Mal-Tuk's face was gloomy. He knew the problem and understood that now was not the best time to attack the core circle. But the problem was... he didn't want to wait.

If we were to follow the plan and slowly take control of the planet Bilbrin, rebuild the energy supply, explore the hyperspace route, build a material transfer station, and then attack and occupy the planet Palansi, the situation would certainly be much better. But in this case, it would take at least half a year.

His expression gradually became ferocious. He slammed the table and shouted, "Continue to send out reconnaissance planes! Find the location of Thrawn's main fleet!"

The T-series tactical robot immediately responded: "The location of the Empire's main fleet has been discovered, and they have not hidden their movements. They have now arrived at the UX00144 galaxy, 0.5 seconds away from our position." "Continue to monitor! Send out a fleet to land and occupy the planet Wakar!" Mal-Tuk gave the order.

Under his command, the Commercial Combined Fleet immediately dispatched a fleet consisting of 10 heavy cruisers and 200 light cruisers to cover the transport planes' landing on the planet Wakar.

There was not much resistance from the planet Vakar, and the planetary governor almost immediately opened the city and surrendered. However, facing Mal-Tuk's angry questioning, the planetary governor told him very embarrassedly that the Imperial fleet destroyed almost all the factories on the planet when it left, and took away all the strategic materials. Now Vakar is almost just an agricultural planet.

Therefore, your fleet comes with food and drink, but it lacks strategic materials such as blasting gas, rare metals, warship parts, electronic components, core elements, and sublight fuel.

Even the spaceport on the planet has been damaged a lot. Now there are only berths that can accommodate more than ten light cruisers, and other warships can only float in space.

In other words, there is no possibility for Mal-Tuk to dock the warship at the spaceport for maintenance and replenishment. If it wants to resupply, it has to rely on transport planes to move it bit by bit!

"Thrawn..." Mal-Tuk gritted his teeth. He was already extremely angry. The other party's attitude of avoiding fighting made him feel like a thorn in his throat. Even though he felt extremely uncomfortable and angry, he could not find any place to vent.

"Attack...attack..." Mal-Tuk muttered.

"General, is the above language a combat order?" asked the T-series tactical robot.

"Attack! I said! Attack! Gather the fleet immediately and attack that uninhabited galaxy!" Mal-Tuk punched the console and roared loudly.

"Roger!" The tactical robot immediately sent combat instructions through the built-in communication equipment.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

The huge fleet was dispatched immediately. The hyperspace route from the planet Wakar to the uninhabited galaxy UX00144 was very smooth. The main force of the Commercial Combined Fleet was divided into two waves and arrived at the destination in the early morning of the next day.

Thrawn's fleet had been waiting for a long time, and opened fire again after the commercial fleet arrived. The two sides fought fiercely for more than three hours, and then the Imperial fleet started the hyperspace engine again and escaped again! !

This time, Mal-Tuk checked Thrawn's fleet command very carefully. Even he had to admit that the other party was able to command such a huge fleet including hundreds of capital ships and thousands of small and medium-sized warships, rely on cross-cover to complete rapid turns in the case of fierce exchange of fire, and quickly start the hyperspace engine to escape. Such macro-judgment ability is simply an art!
But he didn't have time to feel too much emotion now, because after the Imperial Fleet left, what was left behind was indeed a forward base!
This forward base is not large in scale, and is full of space buildings, including storage facilities, energy facilities, simple docks, hangar platforms, etc. Of course, when Thrawn left, these things were also emptied.

"General, according to the scan, there are bombs placed in all these space buildings. As long as we get close, they will explode." said the T series tactical robot.

"Thrawn..." The muscles on Mal-Tuk's face twitched. He clenched his fists and said in a low voice, "Open fire! Blow these things up!"

The huge space facility was quickly blown into countless pieces by the Yamato cannon of the Minotaur-class heavy cruiser, and flames were everywhere. Mal-Tuk stood in front of the porthole, watching this tragic scene without saying a word. The flames of the explosion reflected on his face, making his expression look a little hideous.

"General, we have discovered that the Imperial fleet has reached the uninhabited star system UK003413. Should we pursue them?" The T-series tactical robot came over and asked.

"Chase!! I want to see how many forward bases you have built, Thrawn!" Mal-Tuk said viciously.

……

"You have to understand one thing, Colonel Parker. The cost and man-hours required to build an Imperial-class Star Destroyer are equivalent to ten times that of a simple military base like this." Thrawn said lightly while standing in front of the holographic star map.

The Neimoidians' folk music was still echoing around. To be honest, from the perspective of humans and Chiss, this music could only be said to be very unpleasant, because the Neimoidians had never been a race known for their art.

But Thrawn listened tirelessly, and he could hear a lot from the music. The national characteristics, thinking style, interests and so on of the Neimoidians were all contained in these songs.

Adjutant Voss-Parker followed behind Thrawn and said, "Yes General, I am reviewing the economics of war as you requested."

"Books are dead, but battlefields are alive. What you need to do is to make every piece of knowledge you learn work flexibly, and then make it appear in your mind at the right time for you to use." Thrawn said, "You have done well in the Imperial Naval Academy, so now you should look at the battlefield more and think more about how our enemies think."

"Yes, General," said Voss-Parker.

"It's impossible for Kuat Power Dockyard to produce more warships in a short period of time. But it's a piece of cake for them to complete hundreds of these modular space buildings and assemble them into simple forward bases. As for the supplies that fill the warehouses, the Imperial military also provides them without limit." Thrawn said: "The advantages of the Empire's productivity are reflected in all aspects, not just in the production of warships."

"I understand. This is how we will starve Mal-Tuk's fleet to death," said Voss-Park.

"You can't delay and kill him." Thrawn shook his head. "Malt-Tuk's patience must have reached its limit. He's about to change his tactics."

"Everything is as you expected, General." Voss-Parker smiled admiringly.

"Oh, so sometimes I feel that you guys who are involved in the military are no different from those guys who are involved in politics. You are all a bunch of old perverts." said Arden Lin, who was standing aside eating snacks and watching the show.

　Thank you for the 1000 starting coins from Yuanshiyihuayuan!!

　　-
　　I celebrated my birthday early yesterday and got drunk again. I woke up in the morning and made the most of the time to catch up on yesterday.

　　(End of this chapter)