Nice! How far are you with your Venetian Ambition?
Well, it's early days yet; read on and find out!
Venice, Vidi, Vici - Part 2
Venice, circa 1403
With a decent foothold in the Balkans, Venice is on the right track to meet its great ambitions. Italy is still a way off yet; with the northern states all being members of the HRE, expansion in to the richest parts of the peninsula will be difficult.
The Balkans, on the other hand, remain open to conquest. Unfortunatly, the quick grabbing of Achea and the unlawful vassalisation of Aquelia and Ragusa has resulted in an infamy score of 14; this is having terrible implications on our previously thriving trade, as well as harming our relationships with our allies and enemies alike. For this reason, the Balkans are also off limits until either infamy is reduced to a sustainable level, or a suitible casus beli gives us the opportunity to expand.
As mentioned at the end of the last update, the Castillians have convinced the Pope to launch a crusade against the Morroccans. With this, they took a valuable city on the North African coast. Not to allow a good opportunity go to waste, I decide to join in with this crusade for several reasons:
1) Grabbing a city on the edge of Europe this early will allow it to core with plenty of time to spare before the 16th century rolls around, giving us an edge in the colonial race to the Americas
2) A port at the mouth of the Mediterranean allows for a quick blockade should the likes of England or one of the Balkland nations be dragged in to a war with us
3) The Holy War casus beli against a weakened enemy should allow us to take high base tax provinces for a fraction of the infamy cost; avoiding infamy is of great importance to us at this stage, so this is a rare occasion in which land grabbing is acceptable
The latest targets of Venetian ambition
So, only a few months after our last war, we prepare once again to do battle; this time in the name of the heavans!
Come October, a new leader is elected to lead us through this war; an excellent candidate for fighting the enemy, however his low diplomacy score won't help with the infamy reduction...
On the 25th of December 1403, all preparations are completed. Let us hope that this war ends as swiftly as the last...
The plan this time is to divide our troops in a manner that forces the Morroccans to either split their forces in to manegable sizes, or launch an all out offensive with all of their men to allow us to regroup and overpower them. This is done by sending two large 4,000 man armies to the provinces of Toubkhal and Fez, while sending 1,000 men to the cities of Tangiers and Ceuta. No matter where the enemy attacks, they shall be forced to fight us against favourable terrain, with reinforcements just days away.
The plan works perfectly; the Morroccans are forced to fight us in the mountains with divided forces. Out manned and outmanouvered, the Morroccans are forced on to the retreat!
With that, we pursue, all the while sending small armies to secure our targets. The war, it would seem, should be over before 1405.
With all of our men in Morrocco, the navy is foolishly left to recover in Mellina. The crafty Morrocans seize the opportunity, sending their remaining forces straight to our capital! With only 2,000 men in Trevizo, seperated from the capital by a large crossing, we shall have to wait for our navy to return to eliminate thier transports and give our men free passage to stop them from ruining our plans! Should Venice fall, we shall be set back many years in our plans, and most likely be forced to surrender to the Morroccans; the race is on!
Just to make things worse, we also get a rather nasty event that sets our trade research back at least half a decade; this new event system can be a cruel mistress sometimes...
To compensate, we entact Stato de Mar; this should help us recover from the losses in trade technology. It's also worth noting that the French have established a foothold on the Italian peninsula; this could be a great hurdle later on if left unchecked.
Meanwhile, in Morrocco, the last of the enemy forces are eliminated, making way for a fast victory; let us hope that we can defeat them before they capture Venice!
On the 23rd of June, the African nation of Tripolli joins the fray. This will require us to deploy our newly built galleys, however no troops can be spared to go on the offensive. Again, note the French defeating our Italian brothers...
With another 1,000 cavalry recruited with money from the rapidly depleting treasury, we launch an attack to lift the siege on Venice; God speed, men!
The summer passes, and still no cities have been taken from the Morroccans. While our offensive to defeat the enemy in Venice was successful, we cannot afford to keep the war going for too much longer. To add insult to injury, the remanents of the Byzantine empire have the audacity to leave our trade league, along with the Serbs! Such insolence shall be punished later, but for now we shall leave them to their own demise...
Finally, in December, the enemy capital falls. This is just the beginning of the end for the Morroccans; the Argonese also declare war on the crippled foe, while our men prepare to launch offensives on the enemies remaing cities!
Finally, in April 1405, four months later than we expected, we caputre our targets. The Morroccans are more than happy to let us liberate the two cities in exchange for the withdrawral of our men.
With that, our empire spreads further; we now have land on both sides of the Mediterranean!
See what I mean by low aggressiveness doing wonders for borders?
Alas, this rapid expansion has come at a great unforseen cost. With 15 infamy, our trade suffers and our coffers begin to run dry. It seems that war shall have to be postponed for years to come until we get back on our feet. As well as this, it would appear that while the cities of Tangiers and Ceuta are high tax provinces, we shall not see a ducat of that income until we build two large ships to protect the sea lanes; another amature mistake that I shall not make again...
The following few years see us consolidate our winnings; revolt risk is high in the newly claimed territories, however a stretched budget makes military expenditure take a back seat. Rebellions become difficult to put down, but we manage all the same. In Italy, war rages as the Milanese fight for their lives as the last undefeated opponents of the French on the peninsula. We choose to leave the Milanese be, as we do not wish to weaken their resolve against these foreign invaders. We must also remain at peace until we reduce infamy; without a low infamy score, our trade suffers terribly, unable to compete with the penalties against compete chance. With the unlocking of our first idea, I choose the "shrewd commerce practice" NI, in order to counterbalance these losses. While the 10% bonus allows us to reclaim some lost merchants in Ligueria, it shall not be enough to support a struggling republic.
When 1407 rolls around, another elction is held. This time we opt for a leader with high diplomacy to help allieviate us of our terrible infamy problem. What new exploits shall this new leader seccure? What does the future hold for the most Serene Republic? Only time will tell...
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