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[Haspen]

031: Wrapping Up the 18th Century

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One of Pope Gregorius XVII's first acts is to commission the Cathedral of Avignon.

The old seat of the Papacy needs to be memorialized with grace.



Oooh, Republic of Alsace is doing its best to curb Imperial power!

We should probably knock down the Alsatians a bit before they stir more trouble.



Some English/Spanish colonials have rebelled, and... eh...

Canada.

Yes... This, this is good placement for Canada. Simply sublime.



Pope Gregorius XVII is firm believer that in this time and era, we need to loosen our mercantilistic policies if we want to trade efficiently.

We hire a skilled Trader, Xystus Schio, and prepare to move our slider from Mercantilism towards Free Trade.



Haiti, a nation in South America, has rebelled against many people - including Savoy.

Savoy being our vassal, has called us into war against the rebelling nation. Pope Gregorius XVII is not sure what to do.

So when Haiti asks for white peace, we simply accept.



Three years later, while our Cardinals are idly discussing theological stuff, our way comes declaration of war!

From Austria, too!

Shaken but not afraid, we send our navy to blockade their only port at Gorz. Our Armies will hunt down their main force and besiege Wien.



This is result of the interception of Austrian second force that tried to besiege Salzburg.



And this is the result of victory at Krain, and then at Karnten.

It is said that our Cardinals have been a bit dissappointed, hoping for a fair fight under the watchful eye of our God.

Alas, Austrians crumpled easier than wet paper.



Out of all little nations involved in this war, we annex Cremona, a small republic that existed for several centuries.

It would continue to exist a bit more, but their short-sighted leaders allied with Austria, and, well.



And this is how Austria is punched in the face. Gorz, with its gold mines and strategic location between Istria and Papal States proper, is now ours.

Don't worry about Bosnia, this landlocked province will be sold to Yugoslavia once we settle on the price.

(They buy it after few months for 80 ducats)



We've got a bit of Infamy and I've only now noticed we lose about -0.85 per year.

And Embassy will help with that.



Few years of peace later, the Austrians and Slovenes rose up in rebellion!

The local force posted to keep the peace reacted swiftly, informing His Holiness of this.




Unfortunately, that gave the Pope a fatal heart attack, it seems.

Habemus Papam! Clemens XXIII is everything but a diplomat.



Three months later, General Castiglione reports:

No rebels remain alive in Papal Austria!




Revolts in Austria and Near East continue to pop up despite us having military presence and/or cores on the land.

Pope Clemens XXIII thus decides that it is time to deal with the old prejudices, and institute some more tolerant and humanist laws.



Three years pass, and nothing interesting happened - now 1800s have begun.

For the end of this update, here you have Iceland. Still sitting in its corner of the world, still dirt poor, yet still happy and peaceful.

Somewhere down the line, their bureaucrats overthrew their rightful king, and created an Utopia where all the paperwork is in order.

What a wild, wild world we live in.

[Solymr]

Canada guajeh |v

[EuchreJack]

Almost at the end, and your cloning experiments continue to be successful!

[Haspen]

032: Narrowminded Modernism

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pope Clemens XXIII decides that new era requires new music styles!

Romantic music will do nicely, even if its a bit emotional.



We might as well be called a financial institution.

The money flowing into the Papal treasury is immense as of late!



It is first time in the game I get a Merchant event.

And all it boosts is Trade technology, bweeeh.



We're getting Land technologies so much that we're switching unit types every few months.

Soon, the final upgrade to our Armies should become available.




Habemus Papam! Recently there's a trend to revive old names... but I think Pope Callixtus went a bit too far when choosing the name.



It's been a while since someone offered us an alliance.

We accept the alliance with the pious Catholic rulers of Scotland!



Pope Callixtus III believes that we're a bit too innovative and decides to curb the modernist tendencies.

This causes the people of Romagna to reject the tenets of our faith! However, a well-sponsored missionary will be dispatched to bring the flock back unto our fold.



Austria declares war against us once more!

We shall kick their buttocks once more.



With the help from Salzburg, we beat Austrians at Lienz, then Steiermark, and finally we annihilate them at Linz.



The main Austrian force is thus defeated; Savoy and Tuscany are hunting down their secondary army.

Our Armatas are split into smaller units and sent out to capture Austrian territories.



Jesuits working in China send news that Xin Emperor dropped the ball hard.

Manchu, Dai Viet, Wu and even Oirats have parceled the mainland China between themselves.



Our war with Austria progresses so boringly slow that we get the final idea.

We go with National Bank mostly because our Inflation was nearly 9% already.



A month after that, Wien is captured and Austria capitulates to our demands.

They lose 6 provinces total thanks to release of Styria and Hungary.



And there you have it, like I said, the final infantry/cavalry upgrade.

We're fully 19th century now!



U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

They won't survive long though - they're quite pathetic, and at war with Galicia who is basically native to this continent now.



The recent (minor, fortunately) Reformist rebellions in Romagna caused our God to bestow upon us the most holy mission to eradicate heresy from Italian soil!

+50% Army Tradition for a successful missionary? Yes please!



Just few months later, we complete that mission, yay!



No heresies allowed here, my good sir!

Also, we're decked out on standard buildings in every Papal province. Only special ones remain.

We decide to build Arsenals in Lombardy region, while all other lands will get Mints and Stock Exchanges for massive money generation.



F r e e  c o r e

Obviously the truce with Austria still holds. We will get Slavonia in the next update!

[Solymr]

Galicia independent? Galicia colonizing? The stereotype of Galicians emigrating instead of protesting really is true V:

Also "the Emperor should of tried and burnt Luther"

"should of"

[Haspen]

033: Clemens XXIV and the Arabic Influences in Europe

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We begin with new Papal Conclave!

Habemus Papam! Because we didn't have enough Clemenses!



Pope Clemens XXIV coninues the policy of loosening up the mercantilism within the States.

Not everyone is happy about that, but such is the price of change.



Some level 5 buildings are due to be constructed.

These will be built in high-tax provinces first.



We won't be stirring up trouble though.



Instead, we will concentrate on retaking the province of Slavonia.

Portugal comes to aid their ally, but the Bohemian Emperor does not!



The enemy fleets are sunk or blocked away from Mediterranean, while we drive away Austrian forces from Styria.

Then, they're destroyed at Wien, which we begin besieging in earnest.



By God, Milan, what have you done??




The war has been completed with conquest of Wien. Meanwhile, it turns out our allies captured several Portuguese provinces too.

We've exorted great amount of money from both Austria and then Portugal, along with some core revocations.

The province of Slavonia is greatly underdeveloped, but in 20 years (give or take a few), its infrastructure should be up-to-date.



Pope Clemens XXIV cannot watch the great city of Milan falling into peasant hands.

We deal with the uprising and there's only nine thousand casaulties. Very nice.



We need another Trader; the replacement we get is only 4-star, but it has to do.



Meanwhile, the Holy Roman Empire has became a joke of itself.

A Moroccan-parent, Bohemian-born Catholic is now occupying the throne.

Pity that we do not get a casus belli against them.



It's been only 50 years since Mosquito was colonized by Papal settlers?

Feels more like a century or so.



The peoples of Near East are uppity again.

Pope Clemens XXIV has decided to not be lenient with them anymore.



Charter of the Guild of St.Luke will be renewed, too.



More 'colonial' trouble within the area of Jerusalem.

Pope Clemens XXIV demanded that all independence movements are to be curbed.



Back then, the Arabs have found a place within the halls of Papal Court.

Now Venetians are barred from it.

What will future bring? Will there be Arabic Cardinals chosing our Pope?




Who knows, maybe they're already working to bring down the Papacy!?

Habemus Papam! May God help us, for Pope Alexander IX is ill-suited to govern the States!

[Solymr]

Only 18 years left and you got a crappy pope, what could go wrong?

[Haspen]

034: Final Papal Update, feat. The Socialists and Austrian Immortals

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It seems that the late instability in Europe have not avoided Papal States!

At least we're not Spain, whose territories in and outside Iberia are exploding.



Hmmm, the Austrians are on the throne of the Empire once more?

We better throw some guarantees around, because I'm sure the Emperor will try taking Styria and Hungary back.



Nothing happens in three years of Pope Alexander IX's rule.

And then he gets sick.



As if on a cue, the Socialists appear in the Papal States!

Pope Alexander IX denounces the movement and begins suppressing this school of thought.




The sickness gets Alexander IX to early grave.

Habemus Papam! Yet another Clemens on the Papal throne.



Socialists are helping the Arabs, for sure!

Armata di Judea of course deals with them.



This is new, however.

We fetch the Army of Roma with help of our fleet to deal with Moisquitoan rebels.




Clemens XXV is assassinated! It must be the Socialists! (the other option is Bohemia, and I wasn't keen on fighting them).

Habemus Papam! Pope Pius IX is elected, and he is quite a good diplomat.



Even more rebels pop up in the recent years.

First a peasant uprising in Liguria, now this.



Cremona, and then Gorz become our cores.

That helps little with the rebel sentiment in the States.



Look at those percentages - and we're at 2 points of Stability.



We get a core on Iraqi-held province of Mus.

We go to war immediately.



Per standard modus operandi in dealing with Iraq, we take Mus, then besiege Sharizhor, the capital of the Sultanate.

The Iraqi try to relieve the sieged capital, but fail to do so. By December, peace is concluded, and we gain Mus.



The high revolt risk in our provinces, especially newly conquered Mus (which, despite being a core, has 10.50% chance of rebellion), convinces Pope Pius IX that a High Judge is needed.

Signor Cremona will help curb the seditious thought in our lands. Armata di Judea will also be stationed in the province of Mus to pacify the Shiite natives.



Out of nowhere, Tirol stirs rebels in Apulia and then Calabria. Pope Pius IX is swift to respond - and so is the Austrian Emperor.



Suprisingly, the moloch of 60-regiment Austrian Army beats us at Krain, then Gorz!

We temporarily retreat to Treviso, while Armata di Roma is marching forth. We shall double-team the Austrians.



What is this Austrian force made of??

There have been already TWO battles in Friuli or elsewhere, and they retreat, only to beat one of our advancing armies into retreat.



Treviso! Verona! And Mantua, then Verona again and now Ferrara!

And the Austrians are still forming a coherent force, despite Duchy of Tuscany and Salzburgian troopers coming into the fray.



Okay, clearly, CLEARLY, someone has loaded the dice.

Not only we've chased Austrians all the way to the gates of Rome, they've BEATEN our attempt to stop the siege.

Fortunately, Armata di Ancona has beaten up Swiss and Polish allies of Austria who fetched their troops to Veneto region. Now we can drown the Austrian in Papal soldiers!



Victory! Victory is in the hands of the soldiers of God!

We did have to chase Austrians to Siena, then Pisa, but finally we've caught them unprepared in Modena, where they were annihilated.

Emperor Albrecht VI managed to escape, though.



Filled with rebellions of Naples, Sardinian and Sicillian nationalists, we get a nice pop-up for once.

We can start developing infrastructure in Mus, but the time limit of the game is approaching fast.



Finally, Austria agrees to a peace.

To cripple the powers of current and future Emperors, we have Albrecht VI revoke the only Reform in power.



Oh Lord, I am so happy! It is first ever time that I get this event and this modifier! Pity that it comes so late.

Peace returns to the States, but rebels, both revolutionary and nationalist, pop up with increasing frequency.

Does that spell an inevitable doom for the Papal States? Perhaps. With Pius IX, everything's possible!



At least in Iceland, everything is the same as it ever was.

Even their bureaucratic despotism thing. And if you wonder if we're doing Iceland next, then... no, no we won't.

We've been in Europe for way too many LPs now - it is a time for a change of scenery. What do you think about bamboo and chinaware?



And for the book-keepers out there - the second half of the list of Popes that I've posted earlier.

Conclusion: There have been much fewer Popes in the last two centuries!

[Haspen]

001: The Tribe of Manchu

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We are the Manchu.

We're proud peoples of the steppes that extend northwards from the mighty Ming Empire.

However, compared to theirs, our income, manpower and army limits are laughably small.

And no, we don't have regional portraits for advisors. That's something only in EU4.



The Celestial Empire southwards of us has only recently emerged, since collapse of the Yuan. Unlike the Ming, we're not restricted by the factional conflicts and ineffective government.

Furthermore, they're bordered by bloodthirsty Chagatais and Oirats, while we at best have to deal with the Mongols - themselves also warring with civilized Ming.

Their raids into Ming China will prove a valuable distraction as we build up and wait for prime opportunity.



Not only we're a Despotic Monarchy, the most primitive of civilized monarchies there is, we're also wonderfully, oppressively feudal.

We gotta get those Free Subjects going for better tech-up in coming decades. We need to tech-up if we're to overcome Ming.

In the coming centuries, besides Ming, there will be visitors from distant lands who decidedly will want local lands as colonies.



We don't want the Khanate's lands, of course - that would put us at border with Oirats, who would murder us.

Instead, we will force the Mongols to pay us tribute.



We do have potential to grow huge if we get Green and Eight Banners, both raising our army limits by 33%.

With the cities of Ming, we could get as much as 300-400 regiments at the max.limit.

Ah, but the dreams of tomorrow...



There is also another road we could potentially take - that of colonization of Siberian taiga.

Unfortunately, being not-Catholic, means we get no Colonists at all. Bordering the Nomads gives us 0.25 yearly, but that's it.



Well, that's one side of our borders secured.



Goddamn magical Mongols and their magical knowledge of Siberia allows them to move through Terra Incognita.

Hopefully Dornod falls faster than our capital does.



GODDAMN MAGICAL MONGOLS REEEEE

And yes they did get our capital before we could save it.



We denounce the Neo-Confucian sects because one day we will go full Innovative, meaning we get a massive negative Missionary count.

And yes, this is all of religious acts that Chinese tech groups get. Pretty terrible, huh?



We manage to recover our capital and beat the Khanate all the way to Chahar, then Ulaanchaab.



After long, long bout of ping-ponging the Mongols between Dornod, Ulaanchaab and Ordos, we annihilate their army.

We can begin sieges and captures of their lands.




The mediocre heir dies and we get a good administrator heir in his place.

I ain't gonna complain.



As you see, it ain't much, but it earns us 2.4 ducats yearly.

We will continue to exploit the Mongols like this, hopefully Ming won't eat them up one day.



Magistrates, also very important. Mostly because our Government sucks at making them.

And considering our future landspan, we need them all.



It seems that I was wrong about Ming - Oirats and Mongols haven't managed to as much as tickle them.



AGAIN?

Man, our sons are terrible horse riders. Such indignity...

Well, they were - we have no heirs left at the moment.



I am at rest knowing that the Ming has it even worse - not only their heir, Yongle, died, so did their Emperor.

The Cao family now rules the Ming Empire.



Though occupied by Ming forces, the Khanate goes to war against us.

We shall preemptively ocupy their lands. We never know when Ming might call a peace.



Administrator boy is just what we need.



A regency, however, is not needed.

I think this will be one of those a long, painful, and difficult games.

[Haspen]

002: Jiaqing and Zilang

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We are the Manchu.

The Mongols of the Khanate are rebelling against our occupation, but the regular visits by Ming trops help beat them up.



Just as we ready ourselves to give commoners more freedoms, a comet is sighted.

Despite the bad omen, we do as planned.



Our peoples have a tradition of raiding Koreans.

We allow these raids; relations with Joseon dynasty are repaired by some military access treaties.



Free cultural tradition!

We need more if we want our country to progress, though.



The Ming's stability has went so low that there are now rebels roaming their border lands.

That includes Manchu-populated provinces at the border with us.

The regency council can't do nothing but pray for the rebels' success.



See? With Magistrates spent on paintings, we can commission such men like Tolo Zhifang for our court.

Regency continues and young Jiaqing is growing up in health and peace.



Free centralization is always nice even if it costs 1 point of Stability.

I doubt our young prince did say 'L'etat c'est moi'. We haven't met French yet.



Finally, a National Idea!

To better deal with any steppe nomads in future, we get Military Drill.

Meanwhile, Oirats and Kazakh nomads went to war with each other. Long story short, Kazakhs now also border Ming.



Unlike Ming, we can easily afford -1 Stability hits; we regain it in about a year.



Suprisingly enough, our merchants manage to get trading in Nanjing!

Chinaware modifier is excellent for regency time, Tea's also useful at times.

We also tried haggling at Kyoto, but the Japanese kicked us out almost immediately.



Land Technology goes into level 4, and we can now build Armories.

The regents of Jiaqing order two to be built, at Haixi and Heilongjiang.



I love this event.

There's no problem in this game that cannot be solved with enough money.



With enough paintings made, our cultural tradition allows us to hire another high-ranking advisor.

His level is curbed by the fact that our Army tradition isn't as high, but hey, 4-stars is quite good too!




Jiaqing reaches the age in which he can keep the throne by himself!

Immediately he helps our people develop an Alphabet, in which Manchu edicts shall be henceforth written!

Jiaqing's heir and brother, Giocangga, is a skilled diplomat, but not much of an administrator or general.



For once, a positive event when we move towards Free Subjects.

Our inflation isn't that big (yet), but it helps anyway.



More good events!

This time, the money offered is 23 ducats, so we go for Government technology.

Easily pushes us into level 5.



New tech, new building! We need constables everywhere.

Funny that, for someone as primitive and backwater as us, we get more money than some states in Europe.



Introducing our heir gives us prestige, legitimacy and cultural tradition.

What's there to not like?



Our leader, Jiaqing Aisin Gioro, finds a second ally in Dai Viet.

Like Korea, its also in immediate vicinity of the Ming.



Time to move northwards - the mineral rich lands of Siberia lie just across our border!

And it takes slightly over a month to colonize Albazinsky. Nice!



GOLD STRUCK IN ALBAZINSKY!

Unfortunately, maintaining a colony is quite a drain on the Treasury, so we won't develop more than one of them at once.



This is fine, our relations are high enough.



Ah yes, after all good events, now come back.

First tensions with Korea, now death of the wise Zilang. Such is life!

We have no money or cultural tradition to replace him at the moment, but we will try.



To commemorate the passing of our genius statesman, we rename Albazinsky to Zilangzhou.

The colony itself grows quite quickly, thanks to temperate climate and docile natives.



The colony of Zilang has become a city, and the natives have been made Manchus.

This is but one step toward greatness that awaits us - and we need to make much more steps.

We shall succeed in the end, however!

[Haspen]

003: Jiaqing the Great

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We are the Manchu.

A brilliant Statesman by the name Hoogle Xi arrives in our capital.

He will replace the late Zilang as chief advisor to our glorious emperor, Jiaqing.



Zilangzhou shall become our new national focus.

All provinces will receive a boost - especially new colonies, which now will get approx.100 people per year.



And we start with Nerchinsky province - it has base tax of 4, which is highest from all lands available to us.



A war!

One that shall give us war taxes.



Copper ain't Gold, but it has a nice base price.

Later on, when artillery regiments show up, Copper's value increases dramatically.



We also get a new philosopher. Our Prestige will raise and stabilize around 60 points thanks to Fulu Ji.



But then our good luck runs out, and Giocangga falls ill!

The medicus who was in charge of the heir's healing fails in his duty, and is summarily executed.

The Manchus have no one to lead them in case of Jiaqing's death!



I believe there's some sort of faux pas involved in naming a child after oneself in Asian cultures, or maybe I'm wrong.

We do have a heir now - and Jiaqing Jr. is better than his father, too.



Our army reformer, Ganzhan Zhifang, has perished!

His heirs get to rule the former land of Nerchinsky.



Zhifang became a city, albeit natives died in an attack against our regiments passing through.

More importantly, Emperor Jiaqing has heard an interesting tale:



Korea is devoid of soldiers - their troops, locked in far-away Indochina, are unable to get home.

Knowing that soon he will die of old age, Jiaqing has severed ties with Korea, and sent troops southwards.



In 1449, suffering a hit to Stability, we invade Korea.

Jiaqing himself is leading the troop that shall siege capital city of Hanseong in Chungcheong province.

Dai Viet joins the war on Korea's side, and we hope they won't make much of a threat with 3 transports they have.



Our Emperor learns fast of Korea's attempt to raise military regiments.

Taking the cavalry we have, he bravely chases down Koreans and mows them down.



Palaces of Hanseong are occupied by 28th November; by 7th December, Jiaqing is already at Jeolla.

Meanwhile, Dai Viet forces fail to show up, either by land or by the sea.



Interesingly, Kingdom of Ayutthaya offers us alliance. We accept, and immediately draw them into the war.

They will either be mowed down by Dai Viet, or deal with Viet and Korean soldiers. Either conclusion is favorable to us in the long run.



Shortly after start of 1451, province of Gyongsang falls, and we occupy entirety of Korea.

We grab three out of seven provinces they have. Emperor Jiaqing has further plans for Korean peoples, but those won't be realized for next 10 years.

To deal with the Infamy we accrued, we hire a rank-3 Diplomat.



We continue to expand northwards into Siberia - now Saghalian Oula is our colony.

It has 1000 natives who are mostly docile, so we won't interrupt their growth. One day, they shall be Manchus, like us.



Saghalian Oula will produce Furs!

All we need to finish off 'what you can make in Siberia' list is just Iron.



It was inevitable that Koreans would rebel.

Jiaqing leads the army himself to eradicate the restless Koreans.



The glory that is Jiaqing's rule is reflected in good events bestowed upon us!

The other option is a trickle of prestige and Stability, which we already have maxed out, so of course we get military traditions' boost.



In this dispute at the court, Jiaqing graciously rules in favor of the foreigner.

After all, you can't have too much nepotism at home.



Saghalian Oula stops being a colony and becomes a city.

Colonies drain about 2 ducats yearly, so we should reconsider our colonization policies.

There are other venues of expansion, after all **cough*Korea*cough**



AWWW SHIT

I didn't plan for them to go this way this early!

I DIDN'T PLAN FOR THIS!!

[Solymr]

So this is what happens when you don't keep Ming in check :V

What is Xin tho

[Haspen]

It is a reformed Ming which no longer has any Factions in effect, which means they have no more limits on army size, merchant/missionary/colonist use, and because they are an Absolute Monarchy (150-200 years before normally possible), they get Imperialism casus belli which has 50% infamy/warscore cost on annexing provinces.

Yeah, I've made them a bit OP.

[Haspen]

004: Manchurian Rollercoaster

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We are Manchu, and we're potentially fuck'd. The Xin is already sending settlers to Oirat lands to deal with the nomads, and Mongols are on the way to be colonized too.

We're totally not prepared to wage war against the Chinese right now, so Emperor Jiaqing orders annexation of Korea to go ahead of schedule, without waiting for our Infamy to drop.



While Jiaqing Sr. is out at war, Jiaqing Jr. is wooing ladies and bribing courtiers of Hinggan's courts and palaces.



Jiaqing Sr. wastes no time in beating up the Koreans.

In less than a year, Korea ceases to exist as sovereign nation. This bumps our Army limits to 18 regiments.

That's quite sizeable force for this part of the world.



Our accumulated Cultural Tradition is nearly 100%, so we opt for a Diplomat.

Muduri Xi is whom we get. Very nice.



Woe! Emperor Jiaqing I is now riding horses with his ancestors.

Jiaqing II ascends the Manchu throne. He has superb stats, but no heir at the moment.



Well, that's one fast delivery!

Kangxi isn't as good as his dad, but still better than our ancestor Boksun.



Hordes are shrinking and Xin is blobbin'.

And that's just since they started sending colonists 2-3 years ago.



Emperor Jiaqing II decides to go with the will of the Heavens, and sends colonists to take Deren.

We gain a free core, and another mission to turn Deren colony into a city.

Reward will be extra base Tax and some Manpower in that province.



Our Emperor also has plans to reform our government into a system based on landed vassals and such. It will increase our Army Limits (+10%) and National Manpower (+20%).

More importantly, change slider time from 13 years to 11, allowing us to go Free Subjects/Innovative/Free Trade much faster.

Unfortunately it will cause our Stability to go down by 4 points, so governmental reform will have to wait a few years.



Fulu Ji has died! No longer his caligraphy and wisdom will guide our peoples.

We can't get another like him, we have neither money nor cultural tradition required.



There was a great uproar at the palace of Hinggan when the delegation of Xin nobles have came to deliver the Jade Seal of Xin to Jiaqing II!!

A closer reading of statistics revealed the reason for this; at death of Emperor Cao, their prestige was 86 - ours was 94, just few points over the requirement for the Personal Union.

WE ARE THE CHIN- well, not yet. We must now rein the Xin in and then inherit them, which might or might not happen.

Xin has much greater economy, military power and amount of land. They probably won't want to stay in union with us.



The change in Xin's leadership made them end the endless war with Mongols - allowing us to move in.

Once we take Dornod, we can civilize the local nomads and bring them into our direct control. Unfortunately, the other Mongol province, Ulaanchab, is outside our reach now.



We cannot slip in our control of situation for even a moment.

The Koreans are restless, and shall be put down.



Meanwhile, colonists at Deren find abundance of deer, seals and foxes they can skin for furs.

That is good, furs are both pricey and provide +1% Prestige if you trade in it.



Another of our genius officials died - this time Hoogle Xi, our Statesman.

Our stability is low and will be even lower after switch to Feudal Monarchy, so we get an Artist, Zhonghu Yuanwen, into our court.



This is what I feared! The Xin are sending us insults to lower our relationship.

If it hits 0 or lower, and our current Emperor, Jiaqing II, dies, the PU is broken and Xin are free once more.



Three years pass without an incident, and our Stability is maxed out.

Emperor Jiaqing II goes with the planned reform - more powers are given to nobles, who instead provide us with military force we need.




Our prayers go unanswered and the deadly illness takes Kangxi away!

However, he is soon replaced by Qianlong, who has decent stats all around.



Hooray for Zhonghu Yuanwen!

We grab the Stability we so desperately need.



I don't know where I'm gonna get all the money we need, but we need Oori Zhifang's services right now.



And the gambit was successful! Now we own Dornod, the Mongol province bordering us.

The colonial drain on our Treasury has been lessened, and soon Deren by the sea will also become a city.

What will happen to Personal Union with Xin? Can our constant warring with Nomads and token participation in Ayutthayan-Taunguan conflicts keep Xin distracted from insulting it into oblivion?

I don't know!!

[Haspen]

005: Long Wait, Short Reign

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We are the Manchu.

Our infamy is high, our legitimacy mediocre.

But at least we still rule over Xin via a personal union.



REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I mean, I'm not gonna fight, I just don't like the risks involved with a regency period.

At least our Legitimacy was reset to 100. Few marriages and we should have positive net gain of it, too.



No longer bordering any Steppe Nomads, we get no colonists, and thus we can shift National Focus from north to south.

Putting it in former capital province of Korea will help lower local revolt risks by a bit.



Wow, a 6-star Treasurer arrives in Mudanjiang.

And I didn't have to spend any cultural tradition.

Sometimes, RNG is nice to you.



How did we get the maps of seas on other side of the world?

No idea. Probably via Kazakh marauders or something.



Not much happens these days.

Free centralization is good thing to have!

We're also trying to get high level Philosopher, to keep our prestige high.



We should consider our economy, too.

Our inflation especially is terribad at the moment. And we gotta keep minting if we want to build up our infrastructure.



Deren becomes a city!

Completing the mission and losing colony status gets our Treasury into positive cashflow!

At 0.5 ducats monthly, we can actually reduce minting by a bit.



Shortly after a gift to the state enlarges our Treasury by 120 ducats, we get another National Idea!

It is Patron of Arts, frees our magistrates to build more stuff instead of commissioning paintings.



And, of course, to get this sweet, sweet event.



We go full throttle on free Government investment.

That bumps us 1/5th toward lvl 10.



Our Innovativeness (and warmongering) allows us to grab this particular act.

Currently, not-that-far from our grasp are Eight Banners and Militia Act.

All we need is for Qianlong to become an adult and independent Emperor of Manchu.



Finally, the Philosopher we wanted, we get.

With his skill, our Prestige should equalize at about 40 points.




Our much awaited Qianlong becomes Emperor of Manchu (an Xin)!

He immediately establishes the Eight Banners system. For Militia Act, we need a bit more centralization.

His heir Yintu has superb stats, and isn't far from adulthood himself.



They've got the continent wrong, I'm afraid.

But I won't say no to free stuff. For those curious, the other option switches the values.



Yintu has been introduced to our courts.

As you can see, our infamy dropped low enough that our merchants can comfortably compete in Nanjing.

We earn money now!



For a preacher of universal truth and brotherhood, Nanak's followers are quite combative.

Probably a requirement, consider the Muslim-Hindu tensions and wars plagueing the region.



A man from the Xi family is a master of the mint.

A man from the Xi family has been our diplomat for three decades.

It is obvious that one shall replace the other. It is about time we deal with our inflation!



Our direct centralization attempt results in revolts.

Fortunately, they're very minor. By December, none of the rebels are still alive.



First of unit upgrades. We go with the offensive variant.



Qianlong has died, after only seven years on the throne!

The young Emperor's passing propelled Yintu to leadership. His heir, Giocangga, has below average stats, however.

Will the Manchu prosper under Yintu's rule just as they did during Qianlong's regency and short reign, is the question for the next update.