Update 36-Enlightenment Time
It would probably be wise if I were to stay at peace and consolidate. But, if I do that I doubt I will have the time to accomplish my overarching goals, so, in the spirit of "fuck it let's see what happens", I:
Decide to ruin Venice's day.
The first wave of our troops that are headed for Venice.
Arrival. I really expected them to have a nice merc army waiting.
My second batch of troops. They set sail for Ancona.
We win. Now they go to join the siege group too.
Assaults!
We win. I give the county of Venice to one of the barons that has a castle. Now when he rebels I can take the county for free, lose the wrong holding type penalty, and won't suffer the -20 relations hit for taking his barony now.
Now then. To tidy up our borders:
This should be easy.
An army is assembled, and sets sail.
They will be joining a small force that is already in position.
They picked a bad time to engage my troops that were there. They marched on them just as the rest of my troops who had been loaded onto boats started arriving.
Assault successful.
Wiped out some enemies.
And some more. They still aren't willing to give up yet though, so I sail the army into Iberia.
As they head that way:
A province converts.
We arrive. It will take some time for our troops to get ready to assault.
A few assaults later and they are ready to give up.
Butthurt detected.
In a time honored tradition of dickheadery I decide to:
Enjoy getting stomped on again!
The first wave is ready to move out.
And now the second wave is ready. The first headed to Canarias, the second will go into Iberia.
We win a siege.
Then assault the other, much weaker, holdings.
The war ends. Everybody gets back in my territory then disbands.
My mother is still alive, but I doubt she has much time left. That is the direct vassals mapmode. Everything that says Samos, will be inherited by me.
While I am thinking about inheritance related stuff, I check something:
That is the two year old daughter of the King of France and my three year old son. I need to improve his opinion of me by a lot if I want this to happen (and I do, because then my grandson would have claim on the Kingdom of France).
I also remember that I need to marry my daughter off, and do so.
While I am thinking about it and have the money I:
Usurp the title for the Kingdom of Mauretania.
Here are its laws:
Yikes. I need to scale back that crown authority to medium, and switch it over to Agnatic-Cognatic, like the rest of my titles.
My vassals are happy to oblige.
Well now. I should probably play it safe and sit at peace, build up, and otherwise take it easy. But where is the fun in that?
So I:
Attack the Shia Caliphate, which it is apparently now open season on as they are at war with Scotland (meh, except I later noticed that they are allied with France), the Byzantine Empire (sucks to be him), and Georgia plus many other Byzantine vassals (double sucks for him).
The first army gets put together and goes marching into the desert. They should be fine though.
The second army arrives. I think I will hold them in reserve for now. Also note that I did not raise my own personal levies. They need to recover.
The Spartenos Family, bringing enlightenment to heathens and heretics since 1060.
I also decide to strategically place my spymaster so that I should see any enemy coming my way long before they are a threat.
Some enemy forces are closing in, and the Empire has won its war.
The enemy rallies. This is good. Hopefully I will have taken the desert area by the time they finish there, and then they will come to me and let attrition do my dirty work for me.
You irritating bastard you.
We win a siege as our other army goes to deal with our idiot.
We beat his army.
Their jihad fails. Also their army is now suffering attrition, though it isn't much.
We lose a siege. I need to get a white peace with my rebel quickly so that the that army can be in the area to support the force that is sieging the Caliphate's land.
The rebel army is wiped out.
And another rebel. Its a shame that he isn't pleased that I pressed his father's claim, which in turn gave him more territory. I may have to white peace with the Caliph if these idiots keep it up.
A province converts!
I assault the rebels at great cost.
But it convinces our first rebel to call it quits.
Meanwhile back east:
We lose another siege.
But we take a province too, so it is all good still.
Another rebel army gets educated on why it is a bad idea to rebel.
Another siege is lost, and more enemy troops are coming. My army over there has had to pull back into our territory for now, as disease has struck the area.
They will probably disband soon.
Another siege is lost. Both my armies are trying to put down the rebellion right now.
We win a siege, but they still aren't ready to give up.
And another rebel joins the fun.
An assault is won and they are ready for peace, now to Venice.
This is good. It should improve people's opinion of us.
Ambition achieved. That will also help with people's opinion of us. We don't have any options except to kill our husband, so we have no ambition right now.
Our first grandson is born!
We arrive in and assault the holdings at Venice, and before long the rebel is begging for peace. I imprison him and:
Take his title for myself. With the rebellions suppressed, it is time to focus on the Caliph once again.
But that will be in the next update. For now my armies disband to recover and get ready to go bring enlightenment to some more heathens.