Chapter 1830: Chapter 1240: Civil War Ignites
In the history of the Galactic Republic, this is a day worth recording.
On this day, the battle that broke out on Geonosis Planet marked the beginning of the civil war between the Independent Federation and the Galactic Republic.
In this initial battle, the Galactic Republic suffered heavy losses as all the masters of the Jedi Council perished, with no survivors, which dealt a great blow to the Galactic Republic. Of course, the official explanation was that the Independent Federation used the captured Jedi Masters as bait, and the Jedi Council underestimated the Independent Federation’s resolve and strength, leading to their massive defeat and total annihilation.
This rumor was jointly promoted by both the Independent Federation and Palpatine for a simple reason: everything present there was destroyed by Duanmu Huai, and even the Independent Federation only knew that everything was obliterated. Who did it? Hmm... Count Dooku claimed it was their contingency plan, and so the Independent Federation went with it. After all, if spreading such a narrative would boost their pride while diminishing the enemy’s prestige, why not spread it?
As for why Palpatine pushed the rumor, the reason was even simpler: on one hand, he wanted to cover up the Tribunal’s involvement, and on the other hand, Palpatine naturally wished for the Jedi to perish. This rumor not only tarnished the Independent Federation but also labeled the Jedi Council as rigid and foolish, ultimately seeking their own demise.
How satisfying to tarnish two parties at once, Palpatine was even ready to pop champagne.
After all, for Palpatine, the most troublesome issue wasn’t the Independent Federation, but the Jedi Knights. Regardless of reality, most people within the Galactic Republic believed that the Jedi Knights were the Guardians of the Galactic Republic, hence they were naturally supporters of the Jedi Knights. This was why it was difficult for Palpatine to directly target the Jedi Knights, as trying to discredit them was something the majority of the public wouldn’t accept.
But now... I’m not discrediting, I’m just stating facts!
Even the most devoted supporters of the Jedi Knights would feel that, after reading the battle report, these Jedi Knights might be brainless, daring to charge in with just over a hundred and ending up completely annihilated!
There’s no helping it; most people are results-oriented. If the Jedi Knights had won, they would naturally say the Jedi Knights were powerful, dared to fight the odds, and ultimately successfully rescued their comrades, foiling the Independent Federation’s plot.
But losing now... who can argue against foolishness?
Now, Palpatine doesn’t need to discredit them; many are already very disappointed with the Jedi Knights, given that the entire Jedi Council was sacrificed!
Although some Jedi Knights, for various reasons, couldn’t join in time, the collapse of the Jedi Council still dealt them a significant blow. Naturally, Palpatine worked behind the scenes, finding ways to send them to the front lines, letting them die one by one in battles against the Independent Federation... hmm, no need to lift a finger.
Palpatine wasn’t worried they’d survive for a very simple reason: the current situation of the Galactic Republic wasn’t good.
Though the demise of the Jedi Council made Palpatine want to pop champagne in his office, this news was a significant blow to the morale of the entire Galactic Republic.
After all, even the Jedi Council’s Jedi Masters and over a hundred Jedi Knights died at the hands of the Independent Federation. Could they really win?
This led to the Galactic Republic being overwhelmed, facing the Independent Federation’s offensive with no means of retaliation, and various disadvantages.
However, the Independent Federation couldn’t capitalize on this for one reason only.
The Tribunal.
Among the planets attacked by the Independent Federation, many naturally belonged to human or humanoid races. Whenever the Independent Federation tried to attack these planets, the Tribunal’s warships would immediately appear, striking the Independent Federation’s fleet mercilessly, shattering them, and then leaving as if nothing happened.
After several times, both the Independent Federation and the Galactic Republic discovered this issue. Hence, the Galactic Republic immediately shifted directions, concentrating their forces on non-human galaxies to strengthen defenses. After hitting several walls, the Independent Federation had to accept this painful reality and also shifted towards those galaxies controlled by non-human races, clashing intensely with the Galactic Republic.
Thus appeared a strange scene: some galaxies remained peaceful, everyone getting along; some galaxies fought fiercely, life and death hanging in the balance.
Most people didn’t wish to be drawn into war, hastily migrating to those galaxies free from conflict. However... they were refused refuge!
The reason was simple: as an entity influencing the conflict between the Independent Federation and the Galactic Republic, the Tribunal naturally became known, as did their principles and stances. Simply put, they only protected humans and Subhumans, beyond that, they couldn’t care less, hoping all others would die!
Though under the grand backdrop of the Galactic Republic, the Tribunal’s stance wasn’t publicly supported, as beneficiaries, they clearly understood it internally. Because their galaxies were human, the Tribunal appeared to assist. If they let alien races in, and the Tribunal deemed their galaxy non-human, they’d abandon them; what then?
The Galactic Republic’s military force was weak and in defeat. Without the Tribunal’s protection, could they rely on the incompetent Galactic Senate? If the Tribunal didn’t come, and the Galactic Republic’s fleet failed to provide support, their home would be doomed.
As Duanmu Huai used to say, in the face of life and death threats, every race would first consider their own survival. Thus, those galaxies firmly rejected the requests of other alien races for refuge, turning them away. This naturally displeased the alien races. They wouldn’t dare confront the Tribunal, but they were angry at the betrayal of their own.
We’re all citizens of the Galactic Republic, and you spoke of unity among the Milky Way races, no? How come at this moment, everyone’s only looking out for themselves? Was what you said before just nonsense?
If so, we might as well abandon this Galactic Republic!
With this mindset, many galaxies surrendered to the Independent Federation, joining their ranks. This naturally delighted the Independent Federation immensely, to the point of laughing in their dreams. Initially, they thought persuading those galaxies to join would take effort, but due to the Tribunal, those galaxies drifted their way!
Thus, under the Tribunal’s influence, the entire Star Territory gradually became a confrontation between the human and Subhuman-centered Galactic Republic and the Independent Federation, excluding humans and Subhumans.
This was naturally what Duanmu Huai was happy to see—though there were still some ignorant humans standing by the Independent Federation, claiming to defend some kind of freedom and democracy. But these were irrelevant; the Tribunal’s attitude towards heretics was no different than towards aliens.
However, for the Independent Federation, problems began to surface.
On the surface, the Independent Federation seemed to be driving the Galactic Republic into defeat, losing many galaxies.
But in fact, all these galaxies belonged to alien races, meaning that after all the battles, what remained were star systems of humans and subhumans.
What does this represent?
It means they must confront the Tribunal head-on!
And such confrontation leads to death!
Previously, when the Independent Federation could not defeat the Tribunal, they could still go to other galaxies and fight the Galactic Republic’s fleet head-to-head.
But now it’s different; no matter where they went, the Tribunal’s fleet would appear at the fastest speed, smashing the Independent Federation’s fleet to pieces.
As for the Galactic Republic’s fleet, they welcomed this situation, retracting entirely to the rear to begin refitting and rebuilding.
This made the Independent Federation impatient, as they were waging a blitzkrieg, seizing the opportunity when the Galactic Republic had no time to regroup. Once the Galactic Republic was given a chance to breathe and came to their senses, misfortune would follow!
Strictly speaking, at this stage, the Independent Federation’s goals have already been completely achieved; they not only have territories and power comparable to the Galactic Republic, but many star systems have even turned towards them. This outcome is a hundred times better than what the Independent Federation initially envisioned.
Yet human nature is greedy, especially for a power composed of capitalists like the Independent Federation.
Thinking that if they could capture Coruscant, they would rule the entire Galactic Republic, the Independent Federation suddenly found the current situation, where territories are divided, unacceptable.
They wanted to devour the entire Galactic Republic!
Combined with Count Dooku’s incitement, the leaders of the Independent Federation brimmed with confidence.
However, in the face of their ambition, the Tribunal became an insurmountable obstacle.
Now, the Independent Federation had to pay genuine attention to the Tribunal, a force originally disregarded by them. After all, if they could not defeat the Tribunal, they couldn’t (simply wouldn’t dare) attack Coruscant.
But how exactly to deal with the Tribunal?
General Grievous of the Independent Federation proposed a wild idea regarding this issue.
That idea was... all-out offensive!
According to General Grievous’s analysis, he had studied the Tribunal’s battles closely and discovered a problem—that was... although the Tribunal’s warships were indeed powerful, their numbers were limited. After analyzing data from several battlefields, General Grievous could confirm the Tribunal had less than three hundred warships overall!
Every time the Tribunal took action, they concentrated their attacks, fought, and then withdrew, leaving the impression of being invincible due to their powerful warships. However, General Grievous keenly spotted the Tribunal’s weakness—that was—their numbers were ultimately limited!
Targeting this weakness, General Grievous designed an all-out offensive tactic which was simple: gather all the fleets of the Independent Federation, launch simultaneous attacks, and initiate a complete and thorough invasion of the Galactic Republic’s star systems ahead!
This was akin to betting all their chips at the gambling table!
Although it seemed like a gamble, General Grievous believed the odds of winning were high.
The reason was simple: the soldiers used by the Independent Federation were robots, which could be manufactured non-stop, creating millions of robot armies casually. Losing these was not a big issue. But if they could exploit the Tribunal’s weakness and invade those star systems, even if there was one galaxy the Tribunal didn’t tend to, they would quickly deploy millions of robot soldiers onto the planets of that galaxy.
Then he wanted to see how the Tribunal would deal with those robot armies occupying the planets! They could even exploit the Tribunal’s human supremacy weakness, taking the planet’s residents as hostages to force the Tribunal to surrender!
Thinking of this, General Grievous wore a smug expression.
Everything was under control, and this victory was assured!