Chapter 2130 The Beginning and End of the Trade Alliance (1)
2131, The beginning and end of the trade alliance (1)
In today's galaxy, the Trade Federation gives people the impression of being overbearing, greedy, ruthless, and corrupt. However, few people know that when the Trade Federation was formally established about 350 years ago, this organization could be called the most powerful organization in the galaxy at that time.
A model organization within the Republic.
And it can be said that without the Trade Federation, there would be no rule of the Galactic Republic over the outer ring sectors of the Milky Way - although this rule has always been very weak.
Therefore, if we understand it from this perspective, we can understand why from the beginning of the Galactic Republic to the present Galactic Empire, the Trade Federation has tolerated the Trade Federation betting on both sides of the war, but has never completely solved them.
The reason is simple. They have a lot of support in the parliament.
350 years ago, with the further expansion of hyperspace routes, the Galactic Republic ushered in a golden age of great exploration. Many edge planets in the outer ring star areas were discovered and joined the family of the Galactic Republic. These new discoveries
The star region is called the Expanded Star Region, and it covers at least one-third of the current outer ring star region and a small part of the middle ring star region. The scope is extremely vast.
In this process, a large number of conflicts inevitably arise, with different species having different interests, as well as major chambers of commerce and companies, and various disputes emerging one after another.
And because most of the places where disputes occur are in expansion areas, the law does not apply here. The Republic 350 years ago did not have a powerful standing fleet, only a judicial fleet, and the judicial fleet generally would not be dispatched.
At that time, the Galactic Republic was still in its final glory period. In addition to the Judiciary Fleet, they often relied on the Jedi Order to resolve disputes. But the Jedi Order would travel all the way to the Outer Rim Star Region to settle a company's debt.
Did you borrow 100,000 credit points from someone else’s consortium but defaulted on the debt and didn’t want to pay it back?
Obviously not.
Therefore, the Expanded Star Territory at that time was basically a lawless area. Fights were trivial. Fighting with guns was only common. Fighting between fleets often broke out. Both sides were armed with thin skin and big stuff.
Cargo ships will naturally suffer heavy losses if they are hit in the past.
During this struggle, super tankers such as Pulsar Supertanker, Quasar Cargo, Red Star Shipping Lines, and Ororo Transportation were born.
Enterprises. These enterprises can be called the overlords of the expanding star field, and no one dares to provoke them.
If you look at the names, you will find that these are all logistics and transportation companies. Why is it a shipping company and not some industrial giant, financial giant, or business tycoon?
Because in the expanded star field at that time, what was the most important thing? Navigation data! Without navigation data, you had no idea how to navigate those newly discovered galaxies, and it was easy to get lost in the hyperspace turbulence and never come back.
Therefore, these logistics and shipping companies began to monopolize the navigation data of the outer star expansion area. All companies and individuals doing business in the outer star area must rent navigators from these companies at a high price in order to obtain accurate coordinates to other star systems.
.As a result, these shipping companies can make huge profits without leaving home.
Such a deformed monopoly naturally produced great resistance. Many races, small companies, and small groups joined forces to form an organization to fight against those large shipping companies. This was the prototype of the trade alliance.
The original trade alliance was enlightened, efficient, fair, open, and clean. They elected their own governors, and then coordinated and arranged the transportation and shipping undertakings of all participating planets, races, and companies. Those shipping companies refused to disclose navigation data.
The Trade Federation organizes its own exploration team, explores step by step, and then discloses the results of the exploration to every member, as well as to the officials of the Galactic Republic.
At the same time, in order to facilitate the maintenance of unified standards, the trade alliance placed an order with Hoersch-Kessel Drive, one of the large shipyards at the time, to develop a ship with a simple structure, large transportation capacity, and sufficient
A large cargo ship capable of self-protection.
So this is the LH-3210 cargo ship, the famous donut, Rookery Hook class.
In addition, they also concentrated on ordering a fleet of Captor-class heavy munitions cruisers and Munifex-class light cruisers nicknamed the Class 1000 cruiser.
Escort fleet.
Powerful cargo ships and excellent escort fleets protect the safety of shipping between various galaxies. Under the protection of the Trade Federation's escort fleet, the chance of a merchant fleet being robbed by pirates has dropped to less than one percent. Regarding the laws of the Galactic Republic
The expanded star field that cannot be covered is simply paradise.
With continuous efforts and joint struggle, the Trade Alliance defeated and annexed those arrogant shipping companies one by one, and became a pivotal presence in the Outer Rim Star Region. Even super industrial giants such as Quat Power Shipyard,
In order to protect their interests in the Outer Rim Star Region, they also took advantage of the cooperation opportunity to produce Predator-class armed freighters for the Trade Alliance, joining the Trade Alliance and becoming their peripheral members.
After defeating all competitors, the Trade Federation became the actual controller of the expanded star field and most of the outer ring star area. They were responsible for trade and shipping between all galaxies, resolving disputes for the major races, and unifying industry pricing.
Avoid malicious competition.
At the same time, because the Trade Federation disclosed the navigation data of the Outer Rim Star Region to the Galactic Republic, it also allowed the power of the Galactic Republic to enter the Outer Rim Star Region, which made them famous.
After the Trade Federation became a terrifying behemoth, some people once raised concerns that if the Trade Federation continued to grow, they would become a powerful force strong enough to challenge the Galactic Republic. They once proposed to expel the Trade Federation from the Outer Rim Star Region.
But the answer they got was - "Kick out the Trade Federation? Do you know that if the Trade Federation wasn't there, there wouldn't even be laws there?"
This is a summary of the power of the Trade Federation, and it is also an affirmation of their positive image. The Trade Federation, which controlled unparalleled power and wealth, was a super monopoly second only to the Interstellar Banking Association in the galaxy at that time.
Giant! We can’t even say that this is a trans-galactic cartel, they are directly a river-level super cartel!
But power and wealth are the breeding ground for corruption. This sentence applies to any place and any era. The Trade Alliance that once brought order and stability to the expanded star field is naturally no exception.