Expanding to Naples
2. Expanding to Naples
October 1407
Advisor: Welcome to the office, Sir. I see you're naturally gifted for administration and diplomacy. But you'll have to be a general too because there's a lot of work to do. Our infamy is still high.
This is the situation: Naples has gained Janina, Pisa has won independence from Milan, Ottomans and their vassals are still fighting hordes in the east and Venice has conquered a few Greek provinces... We don't really care about the rest of the Europe right now.
Mateo Reesti: Let's hope we don't go to war for some time. We need time to lower the infamy. I have some other ideas. We'll help our neighbors
with the rebels. That will keep our army tradition slowly rising. And we'll ease the tensions with our neighbors. Relations with Hungary and Venice should be kept at maximum level. Venice has a core on Zeta.
Advisor: Sir, The Papal State broke their alliance with us.
Mateo Reesti: Never mind them, I think they should be on our expansion list. Rome is a nice place for a holidays, don't you think? They come
there from the whole Europe. We'll make some money after we conquer them.
Advisor: But Sir, they are stronger than us.
Mateo Reesti: We'll ally Tuscany for next few years. They are close enough to help if Pope gets too nasty. Our infamy is still very high: I'm working hard to get it down for another round of expanding our tourist facilities. Shrewd commerce practice will get us money to keep up with technology. And we'll get a new general. I'm too valuable to lose my pretty head just like that.
Advisor: Yes, Sir. Allesandro Gundulic is the best we have. But it looks you're more skillful than him in direct combat.
Mateo Reesti: Let's hope my wits keep us out of useless wars...
June 1413
Advisor: Sir, Sicilians are asking for our help. Aragon has declared war on them. Why do we even care?
Mateo Reesti: We have guaranteed Sicily's independence because we are waiting for Nipples to attack them. Then, with God's help, the Nipples will be ours. We'll take a few of their provinces or maybe annex the whole country. I think it will make a nice addition to to our beach in Ancona. There's always sunny and warm down there.
Advisor: You meant Naples, Sir.
Mateo Reesti: That was a joke, and you ruined it...
Advisor: Yeah, yeah. But what about this war, Sir?
Mateo Reesti: Patience, my man. Let's wait and see who gets in.
Advisor: Fortunately only Navarra and Aragon's vassal Tunisisa joined war. Milan, Pope, Aquileia, Genoa and Achaea are on our side. I mean, we are on the side of Milan, they are the leader in this war.
Mateo Reesti: You see. Let's join the war. Aragon is strong, but we don't want to lose prestige by turning down the call for help. We'll keep the low profile, maybe go to Tunisia and learn something about this strange country. Avoid the Aragon's navy by all cost.
Advisor: Yes, Sir, I'll do my best. Should we make some cavalry units?
Mateo Reesti: They are pretty expensive. Let's just... let's pray to the Lord almighty to give us the strength and courage...
Mateo Reesti: So it is, nothing bad for us in this war. They are fighting and we're helping a bit in Tunisia. How's our general doing?
Advisor: Not to good, I'm afraid. Their units are superior to ours. But general Gundulic has managed to escape to Algiers.
Mateo Reesti: Fine, fine. We are doing all right at home, building two constables, our merchants are successful everywhere and our infamy is down to 5. Let's make a white peace because Aragon has annexed Sicily and we can't do much about it.
Advisor: Yes, Sir. Our people like the peace and stability.
Mateo Reesti: Of course they do. You see, they elected me for another term. And we can reward them by giving them more freedom. We'll make tourists come to our beautiful country, mark my words.
Well, it's only temporary instability...
Great economic policy is the main event of 1416 and our fleet makes us proud in 1419. Waiting for some nice war to happen. We can't declare war to any of HRE minors or Mediterranean island states - everyone is allied with some nasty bastard.
1419
Advisor: Sir, the Pope has obviously supported some Umbrian patriots. Well, a lot of them. We are forced to retreat to Tuscany.
Mateo Reesti: The Pope will pay for this eventually. The Rome will be ours.
September 1419
Advisor: Sir, Naples declared war on The Papal State. Let's help Pope, we don't want Naples growing bigger than this.
Mateo Reesti: Sure, we will, but wait a while to see who joins this war. We warned Naples and it's a great chance to expand our Italian borders. It looks only Naples, Provence, Ferrara and Poland on enemy side. We won't rush into battle, let the Napolitanians crush the Pope's army.
Mateo Reesti: We'll take a leadership in this war. Call our allies, we should have Byzantium's navy on our side in this war.
Yes, Ancona is... hmmmhm... under rebel control. We'll whip someone responsible for this. The Pope. I'm taking charge of the siege of Ancona while the rebels molest Abruzzi.
Our talented prince has died during the siege of Ancona and we have a new election. Our new ruler in times of war is a military guy - Biagio Reesti. Shock 3, all right, that's something.
Advisor: Welcome to the court, Sir. I'm sorry for the loss of your uncle Mateo.
Biagio Reesti: My revenge on The Pope will be brutal. But first we have to deal with Naples and those damned rebels. Let's see the situation. We have two generals and an admiral, but it looks I'll have to lead all the important battles. We just lost a naval battle and the Provencal army will land in Zeta or Ragusa shortly. I'll try to stop rebels from sieging Ancona again, and you take care of the situation at home.
Advisor: Right, Sir, I'll do my best.
Biagio Reesti: Did I say we need cavalry? Get some! These rebels are too strong.
Biagio Reesti: I'll try to liberate Romagna and take care that Ferrara and Modena get out of this war. Then we'll see the Naples pays for those Provencal bastards on our shores. We have a chance to shift toward innovative policy and we'll take it.
February 1421
Advisor: Sir, Ancona and Zeta are about to fall. This war doesn't go very well for us.
Biagio Reesti: Don't worry, we still have our army and navy intact. We just need to kick some of the big players from this war. Send our diplomat to Poland and try to reason with them.
Advisor: Great news, Sir. Poland accepted our peace deal, we've lost some prestige, but who cares. And Lithuania offered us a white peace. Our war score now will be significantly higher.
Biagio Reesti: You see, half of the job is done. We took some prestige and ducats in peace deals with Ferrara and Modena and destroyed Modena's army to get some more army tradition. I'm starting to like this war.
Advisor: Sir, you're running form battle?
Biagio Reesti: Not running, just making sure we don't get annihilated because the battle's going wrong way. I'm going to siege Naples provinces while they siege Rome. I know what I'm doing.
Advisor: We lost Zeta and those bastards are moving to our capital. They're trying to land more troops but we'll stop them this time. Aragon has declared war on Naples, and Scotland is with Aragon in this. They will help us.
Biagio Reesti: Just lay siege on Zeta, it will fall shortly with only 100 men in garrison. I'll do the job in Naples.
Advisor: Great news! We won the battle of Adriatic sea and captured en enemy galley. The Aragon navy has helped us a lot.
Biagio Reesti: Good, good. Now liberate Zeta and let me do my job here. You see, I'm gaining us a lot of army tradition!!!<br>
Advisor: If you say so, Sir.
December 1422
Biagio Reesti: God damn it, we must win over these rebels, before Naples has fallen to enemy hands.
Biagio Reesti: Yes, yes, yes!!! Finally! Now we'll destroy those bloody rebels.
Advisor: Great victory, Sir. And our navy was glorious again. With some hep from Aragon and Byzatium we sunk the enemy navy and captured two of their galleys.
We have 12 ships now!
February 1423
Advisor: Sir, you're doing a great job crushing the rebels, but Ragusa is about to fall and so is Naples. We still didn't win the siege of Zeta, Ancona is still in rebels hands so we might lose this war any day now. Can we still fight with two provinces under enemy control and one under rebels?
Biagio Reesti: Hell, I don't know. Storm the fort in Napulia with our Scottish allies. The God is on our side.
Advisor: We won, we have won the Apulia, my Lord. Now hurry and make peace!
Biagio Reesti: All right, it's not what we wanted, but still, our glory is great. We will take Apulia and Calabria. We wanted to get Abruzzi and Apulia to connect with Ancona. This is a great moment in Ragusan history. Our people deserve a peace after three years of this terrible war. Let's celebrate now. We've deserved it.
