2721. Early signs (Part 2)
Galactic Empire's political arena is actually fragmented, and countless contradictions can no longer be suppressed. Even the military power that the Empire is proud of is no longer convincing with the continuous defeats on the front line.
The most acute contradiction within the Empire is the conflict between the military power and the power of the traditional Core Worlds nobles. Imperial army can be said to have been created by Palpatine during Clone Wars. There were not many Core Worlds nobles involved in the process. Therefore, as the war progressed and the power of the army grew, the conflict between the two sides became more and more obvious.
Then, there is the conflict between the Core Worlds nobles and the Mega-corporations. In the process of expansion, many Mega-corporationss have chosen to develop towards Outer Rim Territoriess with a less complicated political environment, a huge population and unlimited potential. During the continuous plunder, they have accumulated enough wealth and power to challenge the Core Worlds nobles.
Finally, there is the conflict between the vested interest class and ordinary civilians. The vested interest class includes the military, nobles and Mega-corporations. In the struggle between them, in order to expand their power, they all choose to use increasingly cruel means to exploit civilians to seize resources, causing the people at the bottom to suffer endlessly from taxation, conscription and oppression.
This systematic plunder not only aggravates social unrest, but also accelerates the collapse of the legitimacy of the Empire's rule on countless planets.
Therefore, it can be seen that no matter which aspect it is, the core of the contradiction lies in the aristocratic class. In the final analysis, the contradiction in the Empire is about the uneven distribution of wealth and resources accumulated over the 25,000-year history of Galactic Republic.
During the expansion period of Galactic Republic, the new wealth brought by external expansion was used to alleviate internal conflicts. However, when the entire galaxy was brought under its rule, internal conflicts sharply intensified, and there was no external space for transfer.
Clone Wars, in essence, is just Palpatine and Count Dooku luring some Mega-corporations to join Separatists, then defeating them and cannibalizing them.
To put it bluntly, Galactic Republic, who was hungry and cold, cut off one of his own hands and then ate it himself to satisfy his hunger. It is conceivable that such an action can only relieve the conflict in a short period of time by swallowing those Mega-corporations.
Palpatine claimed to have accomplished extraordinary feats by eating himself, thus reorganizing Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. What he wanted was just such a short period of time, and then before the backlash came, he would continue to strengthen his rule through the Empire's autocratic institutions and suppress the backlash through powerful force.
In fact, at this time, Galactic Empire had already entered an infinite loop. Like Clone Wars, Palpatine still chose a method that could alleviate the problem in the short term, but would only intensify the problem in the long run - he attracted the Core Worlds noble class and secured his position as emperor through the support of these nobles.
From then on, it became impossible for Emperor Palpatine to suppress the aristocracy and gradually redistribute wealth and resources. He himself was already deeply bound to the Core Worlds aristocracy, and any attempt to weaken the power of the aristocracy would shake the foundation of his rule.
Moreover, if Palpatine wants to expand the size of its army, it must rely on the financial and industrial support provided by the nobility, which in turn strengthens the nobility's monopoly on resources. The larger the army, the more operational the war machine, the heavier the taxes and levies borne by the bottom class, and the rift between the civilians and the ruling class becomes increasingly unbridgeable.
Palpatine knows that this road will eventually collapse, but still chooses to use high-pressure rule to buy time, and uses fear to maintain the unity of the Empire. But the problem is that Galactic Empire's military power is not strong...
Even in the original plot, there are 30,000 Imperial-class Star Destroyer and Galactic Empire. Such military power is far from enough to control the entire galaxy. Some historians and military scientists have estimated that if you want to control the galaxy through military power, you will need at least 100,000 capital ships!
Therefore, the demise of the Galactic Empire is precisely due to the lack of military power - there is no way, since you have chosen to rule by force, but the force is not enough, then who will perish if you don't perish?
To tell a hell of a joke, Tarkinism is actually saving money for the Empire's rule. Because according to Tarkin's theory, once Death Star's deterrence is formed, then the Empire does not need to maintain an unimaginably large super fleet to support his rule, thus saving huge fleet expenses.
However, for this purpose, the Empire invested enough resources to build more battleships to build Death Star, which intensified internal conflicts. As a result, before Death Star was completed, the Empire's rule was already shaky.
Therefore, when Palpatine chose to stand on the same side as the Core Worlds nobles, the Empire was already doomed.
What's more, due to Kingdom of Dawn's military threat, the Empire's military power has been further weakened, which makes it even more difficult for him to suppress those careerists in the country who are ready to take action.
For example--Imperial Marshal, Demetrius-Zaarin.
9BBY, August 34, Coruscant.
After Kingdom of Dawn captured Fortress Planet Bilbrin, it began to continuously try to harass Imperial Core Worlds. Geth's small fleet continued to use warp speed navigation to avoid the Empire's border outpost and carried out multiple attacks on Core Worlds.
Not only that, the Empire's financial center Scipio is also being harassed.
Scipio has a secret channel leading to Northern Territory Makito. This matter has become an open secret when InterGalactic Banking Clan split before, and Galactic Empire naturally also focused on the defense of this hyperspace channel.
Now that this place is being harassed, Imperial military naturally attaches great importance to it. On the one hand, it increases troops for Scipio and strengthens its defense. On the other hand, it starts to ask InterGalactic Banking Clan to transfer Scipio's rare alloy reserves as soon as possible.
Faced with such military pressure, the Core Worlds aristocracy headed by Coruscant began to openly question whether Galactic Empire's military power was enough to protect their safety. They began to demand that the military must do something to at least ensure that Kingdom of Dawn would not pose a threat to Core Worlds.
At this time, there began to be a lot of calls among Imperial Senate, demanding that the fleet stationed in Coruscant need to take the initiative and attack instead of sitting here and waiting to die.
Therefore, Imperial Marshal Rufan Digorinus, who was mediating the relationship between the imperial military and the aristocracy on the planet Coruscant at this time, took the opportunity to propose that the second-line capital circle defense fleet take over the defense of the planet Coruscant, and make the defense force explicit-that is, it would no longer be stationed in the fleet anchorage in satellite orbit, but directly enter the atmosphere of Coruscant, displaying force in the form of battleship formations hovering over major urban areas.
In this way, First System Army can at least increase its frontline force by more than 300 capital ships.
At the same time, Dominion Super Star Destroyer's station also moved forward to Scipio, forming direct pressure on Kingdom of Dawn from 2.5 Executor-class Super Star Destroyers on the edge of Core Worlds, and waiting for an opportunity to recapture Bilbrin Planet and regain the initiative in the war.
The so-called 2.5 Executor-class Super Star Destroyer means that Reaper and Guardian attack directly, and Hegemony is holding the battle with Scipio. At this time, if Northern Territory's Dunn-Vesex fleet can attack from another direction, then Kingdom of Dawn's Northern Territory force will surely suffer a devastating blow.
This proposal is very tempting to Palpatine, because he has always believed that Galactic Empire's military strength is far greater than Kingdom of Dawn, but their power is currently too scattered.
However, Governor of the First System Army, Imperial Marshal Oswald-Tessik strongly opposed this proposal and believed that transferring the capital's defense force from outside was an extremely risky move. For this reason, he even got angry directly at Imperial Senate's venue.
Armed with heavy weapons, he roared at the venue, and the people around him did not even dare to express their anger.
Ruffan-Digorinus did not directly conflict with Oswald-Tessik at the meeting. He just went to The office of Palpatine points out in a very subtle way that the authority of Oswald-Tessik is too heavy, and it is almost universally acknowledged by Coruscant.
However, while the entire Imperial politics was arguing over this matter, another Imperial Marshal, Demetrius-Zaarin announced at an internal military meeting that several new types of equipment were about to be unveiled, and they were preparing to conduct weapons experiments in Coruscant outer space.
At the same time, in order to enhance confidence, Emperor Palpatine will be invited to observe this series of weapon experiments on site.
Palpatine immediately approved this request. If more new weapons are added to the Empire's arsenal at this time, it will undoubtedly greatly boost the morale of the Empire and provide stronger support for the big counterattack he imagined.
Therefore, the weapons test was initially scheduled for September 1, two days later.