Yeah, those rebels were absolutely awful, sometimes I'd declare war on some little neighbour of mine just so my allies would walk through my land and take care of them.
I believe the Golden Horde can modernise their government as an event but it's pretty hard to get those requirements. It's actually a lot easier to go South to India. DOn't worry about it being gamey. Ever since the Khans learnt about the riches of India there has been plans to conquer it. Timur failed but I believe it was a splinter tribe of the Golden Horde that managed to sack the northern states and become the Mughals.
You're a sweet talker, eh?
As convincing as your argument is, there are also practical blockades to my route to India like my arch-nemesis Persia whom I hope never to fight again and my ally Kabul (basically the equivalent of Delhi in this mod).
Okay! I'll change my sliders, Golden Horde starts out with a lot of Serfdom, Land and Quantity anyway. I'll just need to get to Defensive. I've heard of the scorched earth strategy, but I've never utilised it.
The Black sea is already practically my personal lake, but I have already been ignoring boats, I can barely maintain my army never mind a navy.
I can't form anything like the Mongol Empire, I just thought ruling the steppes would be cool and thematic. Eastern Europe will indeed be a pushover (more or less), though I'm hesitant to expand any more because of my awful tech and economy. I'm allied with Poland which is gargantuan so central Europe shouldn't be an issue either.
I guess since you didn't comment on my idea to release vassals to improve my economy it was a bad idea? Maybe I could periodically raid my Western neighbours to get cash.
Here' an annotated map and an animated gif of my financial situation.