On June 16, 1607, Prince Leopoldo Barberini Saltalamacchia was unanimously chosen by his fellow aristocrats to lead Tuscany once again.
Most of the first five years of Leopoldo Barberini Saltalamacchia's second term concerned the Great Crusade against Zapotec Paganism. It took many months to travel across the Atlantic and rendezvous the American army with the army coming from Tuscany. But finally, on December of 1607, the troops were in position to land on Zapotec. War was declared.
It took a year for the fortress at Belize to fall. The Tuscan army then moved against the natives. The natives felt confident because of their superior numbers. They had fought Europeans and had held the world's greatest power to a standstill. But they were wrong to be so confident. The Tuscan army annihilated Zapotec on their ancestral homeland and finally destroyed them a few weeks later.
The American army spent the next five years besieging the jungle hideouts of the Zapotec. The soldiers were hungry, afraid, diseased, and far from home, but Tuscan discipline won out. Within five years, the entire southern portion of Zapotec fell into Tuscan hands. Prince Leopoldo signed a peace in which the Zapotec were forced to cede six provinces as well as 450 ducats. Over the course of the war, it was discovered that the Zapotec were incredibly rich and had horded gold for centuries ((they have sooo much money that we can get from them in later wars)). Missionaries were immediately sent from Africa, where they had waged a successful Christianization campaign for decades, to the new provinces to save thousands of souls.
But war was not the only interesting thing to occur over those years. The king of Naples was finally "convinced" to abdicate his throne and the people of Naples rejoiced at becoming a part of the mighty Tuscan Empire. Whether there were backroom deals promising Neapolitan aristocrats that they would receive new positions under an "Italian" kingdom is uncertain, as the exact conversations are lost to history.
Prince Leopoldo gave the navy many subsidies and gifts for their valiant crossing of the Atlantic to make the war possible. Many generals were not pleased with this, although some continued to fight on in the jungles.
Trade boomed as the Tuscan Empire expanded her tentacles throughout the world. Many merchants disagreed about Tuscan trade policy, as some favored mercantilism while others favored free trade. Prince Leopoldo liked the Tuscan merchants who dominated the two Tuscan trade centers but he encouraged the merchants to expand their horizons and promote Tuscan trade elsewhere.
Over the past half-century, thousands of Italians flocked to the province of Saltalamacchia in Africa. The province's economic prospects shrank after its center of trade had vanished many years ago, but Italians continued to move there. Meanwhile, the native African population became decimated by disease. By 1609, most of the population of Saltalamacchia was Italian.
Prussia insisted that Novgorod break all relations with Tuscany in a peace treaty. Prince Leopoldo was confused at the news as he was unaware that Tuscany had any relations with Novgorod or if anyone in the Tuscan government or merchant corps had ever met anyone from Novgorod.
I'll finish the rest of my term soon.