The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge

701. The 18th Army of the Galactic Republic

The planet Eliadu, the outer ring of the Milky Way, the capital of the Cesvenna sector, and the capital of the 18th Army of the Galactic Republic, the governor-Wilhuff Tarkin.

This planet is the largest trade center within the outer ring star region, and it is connected to multiple hyperspace routes. In addition to the most important Hydia route and Rimma Trade Route, there is also the Lipsek route. (Lipsec Run) and Yankirk Route (Yankirk Route), Nothoiin Corridor (Nothoiin Corridor) pass here, the traffic is very convenient.

Under the prosperous trade, the planet Eliadu developed extremely fast, with a population of 22 billion, second only to the planet Christophersis with a population of 35 billion in the outer ring star region.

However, unlike the planet Christopher Sis, which is purely a crystal production place, the planet Eliadu, which is a trade center, is obviously much more complicated.

Two years after Tang Xiao and the Fourth Civilization traveled to this world, in the year 33BBY, the planet Eliadu once became the center of conflict.

In that year, because the conflicts in the outer ring star area of ​​the Milky Way began to intensify, and in order to resolve the contradictions and implement his own taxation bill for the outer ring star area, the then speaker of the Galactic Council, Phinis Valorum, decided to be in Eriadu The planet holds a business summit and invites those huge corporate giants from all over the galaxy to participate in the meeting to discuss the issue of taxation bills.

But under the plot of Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, the business summit turned into a farce. Darth Sidious secretly contacted Wilhuff Tarkin, who was the vice-governor and security minister of the Sesvenna sector at the time, to plan a robot riot.

In that robot riot, a large number of high-level personnel of corporate giants were killed or injured, and the senior officials of the Trade Federation were almost taken away in one pot. This also made Newt Gunray the winner in the end. Dieus' lackey.

And because the high-level executives of the Kuat Power Dock also suffered heavy casualties in this riot, Kuat took his anger out on the Trade Federation, because those robots were provided by the Trade Federation. As a result, Quarter Power Dock and the Trade Union parted ways and withdrew from the Trade Union, and a few months later, they also terminated their agreement with the Technology Union and withdrew from the Technology Union.

As for the taxation bill proposed by poor Finnis-Valorum, it became a joke and was ignored at all. Moreover, in order to bear the responsibility for the riots at the business summit, Deputy Speaker Botan stepped down, and Finnis-Valorum lost his last and most important ally.

After this incident, the planet Eliadu seemed to have disappeared from public view, continuing to function as a trade center, but no longer playing a role in the political field.

But in fact, the planet Eliadu is constantly changing.

One year after the riots ended, Schiff Palpatine became the chairman of the Galactic Parliament, and Wilhuff Tarkin's official career has since embarked on a high-speed channel. His security minister was also promoted to the Commander-in-Chief of the Cesvenna Sector Defense Force, and he has all the military and political power in his hands.

Because of Palpatine's hints that war would break out sooner or later, Wilhuff-Tarkin began to prepare for war very early. He used the riots at the business summit as an excuse to cleanse a large number of dissidents in the local defense forces in the Cesvenna sector and increase military expenditures. Even though the parliamentary policy made it impossible to expand the army, he had already cultivated a large number of efficient officers.

After the outbreak of the war, the Cesvenna Sector was integrated into the 18th Army of the Republic, and Wilhof Tarkin became the governor of the 18th Army as a matter of course.

Because of his preparations in advance, the 18th Army did not receive too much challenge at the beginning of the war, and even repelled the raid of the Confederation Fleet of the Independent Galaxy during the battle of the planet Agoma.

Compared with the 14th Army, which was surrounded by the Technology Union headquarters on the planet Ryloth within a few days after the start of the war, and the 19th Army, which was wiped out by the Fourth Civilization in 3 months, the 18th Army under Governor Tarkin even once It is one of the few legions of the Galactic Republic that can still fight back on countless battlefields!

Wilhuff-Tarkin implemented a high-pressure military policy in the 18th Army's jurisdiction, forcibly recruiting troops from various planets, and refitting factories on industrial planets to serve military expansion. There was a lot of complaints in the territory, but Palpatine directly used his relationship in the parliament to suppress all complaints against the 18th Army.

But when everything was going smoothly, the reality gave Governor Tarkin a blow.

The industrial world planet Sullust (Sullust), which is adjacent to the planet Eliadu, the headquarters of the 18th Army, suddenly announced its separation from the Galactic Republic and joined the Confederation of Independent Galaxies. At the same time, Soslob, a large arms manufacturer that owns more than half of the shares on the planet Surust, also has an ambiguous attitude and has always refused to express its position.

The sudden betrayal of the planet Sulust caused the planet Eriadu to lose its barrier and an important industrial base in an instant, and made the planet Eriadu directly face the semi-encircled state of the independent galaxy confederation.

The Supreme Strategic Command of the Republic and the Jedi Knights sent Jedi Knight Rees Alrix (Rees Alrix) as the leader to lead a mobile fleet to assist in the attack on the planet Surust, but encountered stubborn resistance and progress was slow.

In this situation surrounded by enemies on three sides, Wilhuff-Tarkin still relied on his own terrifying and harsh policy methods to resist tenaciously so far.

However, attacks followed one after another. The 19th Army of the Republic launched two consecutive offensives against the planet Bespin, and finally ruined its superior mobile fleet. More than 100 Jaeger-class battlecruisers were destroyed. The most immediate threat to civilization.

Just at this time, Schiff Palpatine also directly ordered him to destroy the Dawn Star. This order, which completely ignored the strategic plan, made Governor Tarkin very angry.

Because the most realistic goal of the 18th Army should be to first keep the planet Eliadu under the watchful eyes of powerful enemies, and then start to open up the situation from the industrial world planet Surust. After having a solid strategic rear, we can talk about counterattacks. , instead of running thousands of miles to attack a dawn star who just killed the 19th Army and has high morale!

You must know that the 19th Army had 110 Jaeger-class battlecruisers at its peak, and this force was more than double that of the 18th Army!

Therefore, Governor Tarkin directly told Palpatine that it is okay to attack Dawn Planet, and give me 500 Jaeger-class battlecruisers, and Palpatine turned off the communication without saying a word.

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[Easter Egg Chapter Attachment 1: The administrative headquarters of Planet Eliadu, because it is a picture in a comic, it is very simple. But it can also be seen that this is basically a fully armed fortress. 】