The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge

2058. The Dark Emperor

Mas-Ameda opened a holographic projection in front of him, and some blurry pictures appeared on it. He pointed to the projection of one of the stars and said: "Although the Principality of Dawn is very strict in blocking their borders, and the Vathians are also a very xenophobic race, almost no one of them goes to other planets. So our agents are completely We can’t bribe them, and we can’t sneak in. However, our most advanced wide-area deep space detectors still took a lot of still photos of the Vathian planet.”

He selected the key points of these pictures, arranged them one by one, and then said: "There are too many of these pictures, so unless there is corresponding dynamic intelligence support, the Imperial Security Bureau will not check them. At present, we have A total of 14 billion photos of the Vathian Galaxy were compared and screened, and we can basically understand the process of building the star ring. "

He pointed to one of the photos again, "Look, this is a photo from about 8 years ago. Here, a shadow appears in the direction of the star Vathian. According to the recognition of the deep space detector, this shadow is The diameter should be more than 10,000 kilometers... Since then, this shadow has continued to exist and continues to expand, so we can conclude that the construction of the star ring of Vathian Star should have started 9 to 10 years ago.”

"And the question raised by Xiao Kuate is exactly the same." Mas-Ameda called up a long list of data, "According to reports from our intelligence officers elsewhere, the mining conditions of several major mines in the Principality of Dawn , reached its peak almost 10 years ago, and then gradually dropped back to normal levels. This is very strange, because even if the Dawn Planet mines all the mines, it is impossible to build one-third of the star ring. This shows that they mined this huge amount of minerals from other places.”

"Are you trying to convince me that the Dawn Principality has built a new mine from a place we don't know, and it has reached an extremely huge output in an instant, and can even build a stellar ring?" Palpatine asked rhetorically.

Mas-Ameda suddenly broke out in cold sweat, lowered his head and said: "The information we currently have is this. Your Majesty. That's why Xiao Kuat said at yesterday's meeting that a star ring is not scary. With such a huge amount of resource collection and the mining capabilities behind it, if there is a matching interstellar shipyard, the proud industrial star ring of Kuat Power Shipyard will not be worth mentioning. "

"Haha... Then tell Little Kuart that if his Kuart Power Dockyard is not worth mentioning, he should know what I will do..." Palpatine sneered.

Mas-Ameda continued: "According to calculations, to build a stellar ring of that size, at least 20 mineral stars need to be hollowed out. And they actually achieved this within 10 years."

"So, what's your opinion? Do we need to launch a war against the Principality of Dawn immediately?" Palpatine suddenly asked.

Mas-Ameda sweatdropped even more when he heard this heart-wrenching remark. He quickly said: "If a war starts now, even the inner circle may not be stable. This matter needs to be considered in the long term. And... Moreover, those rebels The activities of the army are still very active. If the rebels cannot be eliminated, I am afraid that even if a war begins, our rear will be continuously harassed. "

"Bastard!!" Palpatine roared angrily, the sound was like thunder, causing Mas Ameda to stumble. He stood up as if going crazy and shouted loudly, "Those rebels are all Tang Xiao." The conspiracy! And I know... I know that someone in the inner circle has been involved with him! I will catch these people one by one sooner or later! , hang them all at the gate of the Imperial Council! I want them to know who is the emperor of this galaxy! No one can resist me!

Mas Ameda lay on the ground, trembling in the face of Palpatine's dark side, which became more and more terrifying day by day. He kept mumbling, "Yes... yes... yes..."

However, Palpatine suddenly restrained himself, as if the mania just now did not exist at all. He walked forward and personally helped Mas Ameda, who was shaking all over, with his own hands. He also dusted him off and said with a smile: "Go tell those idiots in the Imperial Military Department that I need a plan. I need a timetable! I want to count the days day by day and watch Tang Xiao die!"

Although he has a warm smile on his face, his eyes with golden light are like wild beasts, ferocious, cruel, bloodthirsty and easy to kill!

"Yes...yes...yes..." Mas-Ameda no longer knew what to say and could only respond like a yes man.

Palpatine had returned to the throne and sat down, and his tone returned to calmness, "So, what about the battleship? Didn't Little Kuart promise me that he has found the best battleship designer? I need to be able to compete with him. The weapons of the battleships of the Dawn Principality. I don’t want to hear from you again how many times more troops we need to defeat Tang Xiao.”

"The design of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer has been completed and submitted to the Ship Manufacturing Supervision Committee for approval. Refitting and new construction will be carried out in the near future. It is expected that by this time next year, we will have completed 3,000 newly built Imperial II-class Star Destroyers and completed the modernization of 8,000 Imperial I-class Star Destroyers." Mas-Amedda is quite professional. He immediately found the corresponding report and used this exaggerated number to temporarily satisfy the endless greed of the Dark Emperor.

"Ah... 10,000 Imperial II-class Star Destroyers... Hehehe... Very good, very good!" Palpatine really laughed with satisfaction, "Don't worry, Mas-Amedda, my dear minister. Do you think I will rush to the Principality of Dawn regardless of everything? Hehehe... No, I won't. I am very rational. I always know that those rebels are the real threat. I will use all these 10,000 Imperial II-class Star Destroyers to wipe out the rebels. It will only take two years at most, and those rebels will be wiped out. Then, it will be time for me to step on Tang Xiao, this disgusting guinea pig, to death." Mas-Amedda's back was sweating more. Where did 10,000 Imperial-class Star Destroyers come from? It would be about the same if the Victory-class and other battleships were counted. However, in order to calm Palpatine's anger, he could not care so much, and he could only mechanically respond, "Yes... yes..."

"Then, I need more warships, more soldiers, more resources, and more money! Tell Rush Clovis that no matter what method I use, he must give me the funds needed for the expansion plan I proposed at the conference yesterday! Otherwise... the Interstellar Banking Association (S) has no need to exist!"

Mas-Amedda immediately replied: "Yes... yes, Your Majesty. Recently we have also found some traces in the activities of the rebels. It seems that someone is behind the scenes... As long as we find the rebel headquarters and wipe them out in one fell swoop, these rebels will not be a big deal."

"Ah... I look forward to that day... Hehehe, hahahahahahahahahaha..." In Palpatine's twisted laughter, Mas-Amedda left the palace as if he was escaping.

I don't know when it started, but the imperial emperor Palpatine has been locking himself up in the palace more and more. Sometimes I don't even know where he will go. In short, it is very mysterious. But the only thing that is certain is that Palpatine's dark power has become increasingly powerful and terrifying!

Mas-Amedda couldn't help but look back at the palace, which was brightly lit but shrouded in darkness in the center. For the first time, he felt a little confused about the future of the empire. (End of this chapter)