The war with Mali was rather uneventful. We demanded money and claim revocations for both Songhai and Mali. I didn't waste any time and manpower by going into TI to get some money from Hausa. We also moved one step towards innovative.
This is getting rather repetitive.
The war proceeds fairly quickly. Malian troops once more run out getting killed by natives while I take control of their unfortified provinces. I demand Bure, 75 ducats and a revocation of their claim on Futa Jallon.
Guess what the next mission is?
Yup.
It's their capital, but since it's isolated I can demand it in a peace deal. First we centralize, then declare war on the Malian-Kanem Bornu-Songhain alliance. This puts us at war with all western African nations. They easily fall to our troops, though.
For peace, we demand Wasaju, 25 ducats and a claim revocation on Bure.
Just before the war, we learned how to build forts. This means I can finally go over the 10 province limit without having to worry about nationalists and other rebels. Since we got the mission to incorporate Ashanti after snatching Wasaju, this means we can finally start expanding faster.
Ashanti got to land tech 3 before me, so almost all their provinces are fortified. This is great, because now I don't have to spend my own money building them. I've been loosing about 10 ducats per year for 30 years straight, luckily I've been able to stay afloat thanks to the banks of Songhai and Mali.
February 1st, 1373, Bonny and Calabar cores, marking the fifty year anniversary of our first major conquest.
After annexing Ashanti, we get a mission to grab Massina from Songhai, another core-giving mission. The war is short and our troops fight ruthlessly against the less advanced Songhain troops. We split our army in two, with 12,000 men marching in through Massina and Timbuktu, with another 8,000 enter Songhain territory from the south, through the provinces of Nupe and Dendi.
12th of December, 1474, Songhai and Oyo make peace, therefor ending the war and ceding Massina to Oyo, as well as Songhai paying 203 ducats in war reparations.
Half a year later, the pig-god wills us to conquer Timbuktu. This is great news. Timbuktu is a 14 base tax province and would greatly increase our income.
After gaining territory and filling our treasury with Songhain money, we send two colonists to the provinces of Whydah and Abomey. This connects our south-eastern provinces with our northern provinces. Both colonists are successful and were gained from our coastal Center of Trade in Cayor. The two colonies brings our yearly deficits to -40 ducats per year. This isn't much of a problem though, as we've amassed 434 ducats from our previous raids, and we're about to pay a visit to the Songhain bank in Timbuktu.
The war is very short and we demand Timbuktu and 140 ducats for peace. They have no choice but to accept.
Now we have a core on a 14 base tax, animist, salt producing province.
Shortly after the war, our two colonies become self-sustaining. As you can see, our treasury is nearly empty.
We got a mission to save our animist brethren, this time in Tadimikket. Mali is now an OPM without forts, troops or money. We prepare to declare war, when suddenly...
I had to sit down, put in a snus, and think for a long time about how to handle this.
Instead of gifting them to 150+ relations and keeping them around until I can westernize I decide to send a spy to incite natives. He is successful and the natives destroy the Portuguese settlement.
By now, we all know what the pig-god thinks about using spies.
This is a great ruler though. I still need to move two or three moves towards centralization before I can westernize. Hopefully he'll either survive that long or get a skilled successor, but knowing EU3, he'll probably be dead within a year.
Being safe from the Europeans, I declare war on Mali. Songhai and Kanem Bornu join the war on Mali's side. I annex Mali for two infamy, and vassalize Songhai and Kanem Bornu.
With the privilege of hindsight, I realize it was unnecessary, since they're Sunni and therefor impossible to diplo-annex.
Once again, the Iberians arrive on my doorstep. Weirdly enough, Portugal offers me an alliance. I almost choke on my snus upon seeing the message. I accept, but the alliance ends the next month. I incite the natives in those colonies, and once again I don't share a border with any Europeans.
Hausa then revolts from Songhai, and I get a mission to conquer the mission of Zamfara. They still haven't built an army, so I immediately declare war on them. Although all developed West-African provinces now have forts (except for the two provinces held by Songhai), I still easily managed to win. I revoke cores, demand Zamfara and 110 ducats.
I then get a mission to conquer Katsina, the province north of Zamfara. An easy task, but it'll have to wait five years, Castille and Portugal has erected new colonies bordering my territory.
Uh...
Oh...