Four years? I thought it was five years of inaction
Anyhow easiest to win that war is going over forcelimit, getting mil tech 4 quickly (you have a good ruler!) and asking for mil. access all the way there... it's tedious as you might have to increase relations but it works.
There is a more dank way involving Condottieri though...
Can also just ask for access for a nation near target country and ship troops there. Not immediately adjacent, usually 2 countries away so target doesn't just walk over and kill your guys. You have to do this after declaring rather than before so you don't get exiled.
Then when you have everyone shipped over you can ask for access to adjacent country and walk in.
Also IIRC most war-like actions reset the timer so you can always go for blockade/pick a fight using 1 cog or something to extend it too, but usually you want to win faster rather than slower.
Do AI v AI wars get this? Thinking specifically of every time France DOW's someone in Africa and nothing happens for 70 years.
They do but AI usually blockades for war score or winds up getting some random territory occupied for the duration so the rule doesn't apply.
Edit:
If you want to do some cheese you can become vassal of Crimea, get independence support --> take their land. Switch to Sunni using rebels immediately and ally the Ottomans. Very different way to approach Gothic Invasion but it will work.
My problem with East Frisia is, how do you core it? Can't distance annex OPM subjects and everything else near them is larger or HRE. I guess you could non-cobell vassal someone with 2 provinces...pretty AE expensive but would let you annex and join HRE if you don't get killed by Crimea first.
