Chapter 730: Chapter 409, Atonement Expedition, Independent Kingdom_3
The grudge just keeps getting bigger.
It had been some time since Cercis Flower was within the Princess Star Domain, and the Iron Armor Battle Group had been up to no good for a while, so some evidence had been collected against them, and it was eventually given straight to Holy Terra, leading to an armed conflict with the Iron Armor Battle Group.
Cercis Flower couldn’t resist the far larger scale of the Iron Armor Battle Group, to say nothing of the fact that three other Battle Groups were standing with Iron Armor.
So, they began to shake people up. It was at this stage that Phoenix, who had good relations with them, was swayed to join their side.
But at this point, things were actually not too bad; if you turned a blind eye, the situation could perhaps be passed off as not amounting to civil war.
However, Holy Terra’s subsequent actions exacerbated the situation.
The Empire Government certainly did not like what the Iron Armor Battle Group was doing.
It was one thing to be a little disruptive, looking at the fact that you could indeed stand on your own; but causing serious trouble, like siphoning off 80% of a Star Sector’s taxes; overpopulation by a thousand or eighteen hundred could be tolerated under a wartime scenario, but when you exceed six thousand, and add the solidarity of three other Battle Groups, resulting in nearly ten thousand interstellar warriors and a nearly independent kingdom in the making, that was truly improper.
Thus, the Empire designated the behavior of the Iron Armor Battle Group as rebellion, set a deadline for the restoration of Imperial Tax, and demanded that Iron Armor disband into six separate groups and accept deployment elsewhere by the Empire.
Cercis Flower, Phoenix, and another group that was swayed – the ‘Starbreaker Blade’ Battle Group – were assigned as supervisors.
Iron Armor refused to comply, declaring the whole situation a targeted act, an absurdity, with a traitor in Terra.
They opened their defenses, allowing some of the Void Insect Species to break out, while simultaneously implementing a complete blockade of the Princess Star Domain and several neighboring Star Domains, preventing any Empire ships from passing through the Princess Star Domain. Moreover, they launched a campaign of extermination against Cercis Flower, Phoenix, and the Starbreaker Blade within the Star Domain.
This really escalated the situation.
An incident affecting multiple Star Domains greatly impacted taxes, trade, and navigation in that part of the Empire. With the Void Insect Species rampaging, Iron Armor followed under the guise of pursuing and opposing the insect creatures, taking over — even plundering — many planets, and even conscripting supplies from many of the Empire’s tax fleets.
Within the Princess Star Domain, Cercis Flower, Phoenix, and the Starbreaker Blade stood no chance against Iron Armor. Not only were they outnumbered, but Iron Armor had nurtured a vast and extremely elite Mortal Auxiliary Army over the years. The three Battle Groups, having lost the support of the Empire, could only mobilize some Planetary Defense Armies under their control, with a quality far inferior; they simply couldn’t compete.
With the situation having deteriorated to this point, it seemed almost impossible to resolve.
Was there truly going to be a civil war within the Empire during the preparations for the Solar Expedition?
It wasn’t about not being able to fight; it was about having to deploy nearly ten more loyal Battle Groups, along with countless Star Realm Armies and Imperial Navy Fleets, before this situation could be settled. After that, they’d still need to deal with the rampaging Void Insect Species and leave enough forces to block the Void creature tunnels that kept emerging within the Princess Star Domain.
Upon assessment, the expense was simply too great.
It was then that a Terra official took on a mission in the face of danger, sent to negotiate with the Iron Armor Battle Group. Relying on adept diplomatic skills, he persuaded the Iron Armor Battle Group to stand down.
The Empire no longer pursued disbanding them; the Imperial Tax in the Princess Star Domain was raised a bit higher, but not excessively; the territories they were meant to guard were still entrusted to them; the Empire continued to provide reinforcement supplies; and the Empire withdrew its decision of branding the Iron Armor Battle Group as rebels…
The Iron Armor Battle Group accepted these terms.
If Iron Armor was not the traitor, then who was?
Someone had to take responsibility.
Under the insistence of the Iron Armor Battle Group, Cercis Flower was blamed, and what was clearly a rebellion by Iron Armor officially went down in the records as the ‘Great Cercis Flower Rebellion’.
They falsely accused the ‘loyal’ Iron Armor, initiated the attack themselves, resulting in a breach of the bugs’ defenses, and caused a crisis spanning several Star Sectors, even dragging the Spiderweb Cosmos Domain into jeopardy.
Cercis Flower was thus completely eradicated under the ‘suppression’ campaign of the Iron Armor Battle Group.
Phoenix and the Starbreaker Blade were let off, but were sentenced to punitive expeditions. The Starbreaker Blade was wiped out during the sixty-year long punitive expedition; Phoenix survived a century-long expedition, but only seven of them were left until they encountered Gu Hang.
This was the entire process of the ‘Great Cercis Flower Rebellion’.
Now, the Iron Armor Battle Group remains one of the major powers in the Spiderweb Domain, strong and powerful, with their own independent small kingdom, still hailed as the heroic Battle Group fighting the Void Insect Species.
And the Battle Groups that opposed them, Phoenix being the only exception due to special circumstances, were all but wiped out.
Gu Hang had occasionally thought about this matter.
Originally, the Alliance had little to do with the Iron Armor Battle Group. Though the Eastern Cosmos Domain and the Spiderweb Domain were neighboring domains, they weren’t close on a Star Domain level. Dragonhawk and Princess were separated by at least three other Star Domains before they could make contact.
Unless the Alliance expanded to an absurd degree, they probably wouldn’t come into contact with the Princess Star Domain anytime soon;
However, another issue couldn’t be ignored: if the problem with the Void Insect Species inside the Princess Star Domain became explosive, whether Iron Armor couldn’t hold back, or if they were up to something troublesome again on a grand scale, then the Dragonhawk Star Domain might actually be affected.