For some reason people want to give me their money:
And with that money I build tradeposts. My family trade zone now looks like I want it to be:
The plan is to expand a bit to the Greek peninsula, and capture cities along the coast. By now I have enough holdings to take on the smaller nations. I got my first county, because the Croatians seem to be fighting amongst themselves all the time.
And my second county.
And because I die, my heir can declare war on the croats again:
Now, the Byzantine empress got her empire back together, and apparently she doesn't like me. She wants Venice for some reason. I suspect it's because the croatian lands that are now mine are de jure part of her empire. That sucks, because now it's too expensive to build tradeposts in Greece. And even worse:
Totally uncalled for. I'll send my spymaster stepmother at you, you bitch! Luckily there are still people who want to give me their money:
I have a feeling this won't end well. But that will have to wait until after my holiday. Not in Venice though.