OPERATION EXODUS: Chapter 7
Now that we have firmly established the republic in the new world, it is time to turn our attention to the liberation of our Basque brothers. We only have 11k manpower; a measely sum, although probably incorrect as I took this picture after a war. Might have been around 33k at the max. Anyway, all kinds of military buildings are going up around the nation, bolstering our numbers.
Trade, however, is anything but bolstered, and in fact floundering. At least, in Europe anyway. Mercantalism is starting to take a grip upon the European people, who have staunchly refused basque merchants in their centers of trade, sometimes even issuing an embargo if we become too persistent. I have opted to permanently abandon all hope of auto-sending successful merchants to this continent. Oman is a big competitor in the far east, but at least locations there are still manageable.
To further increase our income and manpower, three native american CoT's are conquered, and the native population is left intact.
Hells yes. I am fairly certain this will be good for our manpower issue, since they are now "part of our heritage" they will be willing to fight for us. Right?
Ah, no. Not yet anyway. We are not ready. Goodbye alliance with Castille.
Hmph. I should have stuck with them. Whatever.
Colonizing Taiwan. Why? No idea. I need another barque for it anyway.
Immediately following their loss at the hands of the Spanish, France tries her hand at colonizing. I made sure that didn't happen.
The income charts. Looking pretty good, no? This is even still with all of the European CoT's out of our reach due to mercantalism, in what I like to call the "global trade crash." it is an ongoing phenomenon that lasted the better part of a century. Fortunately, the rapidly expanding new world republic's lands are making up for it with exotic goods production and tax income.
I am... a tad bit embarassed by this. I had to slaughter all of the natives. They were wrecking my colonies, and making it next to impossible to advance into new land. I laid down a rule in which I would remove any natives that were both over 1k in population and 7 in aggression. Which is nearly all of them.
England offers an alliance, and I happily accept.
Next idea: Patron of the Arts. I could not think of another idea I would want more, and I am trying to focus them on non-military things.
Fully expanded into the discovered lands.
Our armies are nearly large enough to challenge France, but not quite yet. I had to ditch another alliance to buy more time.
What the trade crash has brought us down to. Less than half of our income is coming from trade now. On the bright side, we are still several tech levels above Europe. I have started investing wholesale into military to beat France to the next best unit.
And here is why France is my first target. not only to they hate the basque more than Spain does, but we have a mission too! See, even the Africans agree that the Basque peoples should not be opressed! The time draws near. With 90k men in Europe, all I have to do is wait for France to become distracted against a major power. Then, strike while they are not watching our border. France has 300k manpower, while I have barely managed to pull Navarra's up to 100k. Force limits are 140. France has an army of 100k in Europe.
This is the man that will reclaim Labourd. Pretty good, except that I requested the military candidate. That is his lowest skill. Bah! Our armies in Europe are 20k inf, 5cav, 5art each. The Continental Armies are purely infantry patrols for the mainland in America, as is the Okinawa Garrison. It took about sixty years, but we finally have the necessary infrastructure to maintain a competitive edge in military capacity. Now, all we have to do is wait for a window of opportunity.
The time has come.
