Chapter 11: Trouble In Paradise.
France may seem, at times, like a force of nature to its enemies, but there is one thing that can, potentially, bring down even the most powerful.
What is that, you ask?
Religion.
No, it doesn’t bring me down, but at times it felt like it.
The reformation continues its advance, like an avalanche of doom. Several provinces are converting to protestants, and, as we all know, for the first several years, there is really nothing you can do about it.
Nothing new there, and since I have a truce with all of my enemies anyway, I decide to lower Army Maintenance and save some money.
Things go from bad to worse and I get Religious Disorder. Great fun. Deciding between a meagre 7-stack of rebels and a -1 stab hit is a pretty straightforward choice, isn’t it?
If you look closely, you might pick out the rebels sieging Bourgogne. At least I am not alone in this.
I have to get my maintenace back up first, so it takes me 2 weeks before I can get the troops in place to crush them. Religious rebels are quite a bit tougher than your ordinary peasant uprising, after all.
England leaving the coalition does make my day. One less worry for now.
I crush another rebellion, this time in Antwerpen. I don’t have the Admin to increase stability anyway.
In other news, my relations with Hainaut are at +200, and my tax base has increased enough since the annexation of Flanders, that I could diplo-vassalise them. Unfortunately, they are at war with Mainz and a couple of other HRE minors.
And I really hate that pink/purple colour that Aachen has. Rethel would look so much better in royal blue, don’t you think?
(don’t be fooled by the flag on this and following pictures about being able to convert provinces; it’s just 1 province and it would take 1111 months to do it.)
The new Burgundian duke might be more suited to diplomacy than military matters, but I don’t mind. Did you notice that rebel stack in Bourgogne? It’s actually the very same one from before. They have sieged the province and now they just sit there. Waiting, no doubt, to slip across the border and start harassing French people.
As if protestants are not giving me enough problems, now Castile starts stirring the waters. I can barely restrain myself from doing the same thing to Navarra, but I don’t want the AE for getting caught.
Navarran nationalists? It seems like Castile has been spending money where they shouldn’t. The rebels are easily crushed, but it does serve as a warning. If enough nations start doing that, life could get hard.
Burgundy uses its new lease on existence to end Gelre’s existence. Fine, it won’t matter. They will still fall in the end.
Hainaut, surprisingly, is still at war. What is taking them so long? Finish it already, so I can vassalise you.
And one month later, they decide to start a new coalition against France. Can’t say I blame them, given how it saved them last time. Only problem for them is that England, so far, is unwilling or unable to play ball.
And yet another province flips. This time it’s Berry, but I am still a more than 50% catholic nation. Even if I wanted to convert, that would only make things worse. More RR, less taxes, and in 2 years I am expected to repay 4 large loans. Courtesy of an event a few years ago.
Military debate. Defense or Offense? If you were France, what would you take?
And Hainaut ended its war with Mainz while I wasn’t looking and immediately got embroiled in another one.
By the time they end that second war, I have gotten careless enough that our relation has dropped dramatically. I start improving it immediately and rival their enemy, Utrecht. Apparently, in Wealth of Nations, that will be harder to pull of, but I can still use it to make some inroads with my ally.
By this time, I have managed to improve my stability to +2 again, dramatically cutting down on rebellions.
Venice has offered me an alliance, but it’s a good thing I try to check these things before accepting. Poland has rivaled them, and even though Venice has grown somewhat, I choose my big friend in the east over them.
My truce with Burgundy, however, is now 5 years old, and there is nobody else in the coalition. Time to break some bones!