Part XXII - Cutting the Boot (1618-1630)
A relatively peaceful update as I'm trying to let my BB cool down. I don't see it as a hard restriction per se, not to cross the BB limit, but for now I've avoided it because I have quite a few powerful neighbours (France, Russia). And besides, games seem to stay interesting longer if you limit your expansion somewhat. But perhaps I'll go crazy in 1750 or so, just because I can.
The recent war with the Friulian Archbishop left Slavonia an Aquileian exclave. We help the suppressed local Croats to develop some ideas about liberty and all that. Croats are considered West Slavic, and West Slavic patriots will probably defect to my vassal Hungary or Ragusa.
Later in the year 1618, we are troubled by the news that France has declared war on Brunei. If the upcoming expansion had been out yet, that would
definitely have been in my Sphere of Influence. But my worries turn out to be unnecessary, as a white peace is signed a few years later.
A minor beneficial event symbolizes the start of the Imperial Enlightenment.
A typical illustration of the cross-dateline colonization bug. But it could be that
a solution to this annoying problem has been found! I haven't confirmed it yet, but I'm hoping it will work..
The Imperial Awesome Legions finally embrace firearms in 1619..
Meanwhile, an interesting war rages in Northern Europe. It's the United Provinces and Austria versus Greater Denmark and HRE Wurzburg.
Since we lost a considerable number of transports to the Aquileians, we have not been able to supply sufficient troops to quell a rebellion on Java. It raged from town to town for a prolonged time, but here it's about to be ended.
A slider move gives our subjects even more freedom than they already had. Or at least that's what they believe.
The Northern War ends in the return or Antwerp to Dutch control, and a couple of severely devastated and exhausted nations. Always such a nice thing to see.
The Trebisponsored Croatian rebels are doing mighty fine
And so is the Pirate Nation. They have amassed a high tech armada off the coast of Congo. One can only guess at what they are hoping to achieve over there. Perhaps they are trying to prevent a Borg temporal invasion?
Forget I said that.
The scumbags have the finest navy in the world!
Slavonia freely joins us! Hurray!
An overview of the conversion of the Orient:
And here's the religious situation in Europe:
Then, to our joy, the Aquileians kindly request another beating.
No problemo.
The first army the bishop sends to us is destroyed in a manner so effective, that even our own generals are surprised.
And as you can see in the background, the Austrian empire is in deep.. eh, turmoil after their last war. Good things will come from this. For us anyway.
Over the following few months, we keep trying to pick favorable fights near the border. The biggest battles are a tactical retreat and a clear victory, both under command of the skilled commander Philippos Said.
After this, we send in a few infantry divisions for sieging.
On the other edge of the empire, we receive news of the state of slow decay that the Ming Chinese are in. The Oirats and the Mongol Horde have regained much of their old territory, and now South-East Asian states are slowly breaking free. We had nothing to do with these rebellions, but we aren't complaining either.
Another oppressed West-Slavic province joins one of our vassals. A direct benefit for us from the losses Austria suffered against Denmark recently. So the Emperor sent a relatively kind thank you postcard addressed to "Beowulf or whoever is in charge over there in Denmark".
More good news. One of our colonies turns out to have a pretty awesome gold deposit.
The war against Aquileia is progressing quite nicely. Note that we're not in a position to take too many provinces in the peace deal, and also that the location of the Aquileian capital (Friuli, right and up from Venice) makes it difficult for us to establish a land link to Italy.
We're happily and victogloriously swashbuckling our way down the Italian boot and through hordes of angry archbishopricians(???) when our intervention is requested in India.
As much as any healthy Trebizondian likes multifront wars, we decide to make an exception and halt the Italian expedition for now.
There we go! We gain two nice provinces on the Adriatic, one with gold. The release of Tuscany effectively cuts Italy in two.
Events like this are ever so welcome when your reputation is already close to the limit...
Maharasthra is ripped apart without much effort. The tech difference is really kicking in now. Should be fun when we take on Ming.
A "great man" event allows us to swap a National Idea for the price of just 1 stability. Our inflation is back to 0 and we will soon have Tax Assessors, so the Bank is no longer necessary.
I pick Shrewd Commerce Practice instead to help our Trade. I'm not sure this was the best thing to do considering our poor reputation, but the die is cast and at least it will be more useful to us than National Bank.
Finally, we take a single province from the Indians and break them up some more.
Resulting in the following situation in 1630: