There's some people at the Papal court that believe in our army's invicibility on the field.
Pope Clemens XXII isn't one of them, though.
The Pope falls sick for the second time!
People pray that he wins against the illness once more.
Our current mission is to conquer Hawran, a province east from Judea.
But not only that; we shall take Gaza and Diamentia as well, mending our African territories into one continuous strip of land.
For that, we need more troops in Africa. First time ever, a second Armata is transported there.
We also re-charter the Guild of St.Luke. It served us well in the past.
The war against Iraq goes more than smoothly; Diamentina is already ours, and two Iraqi armies were annihilated.
Wew! Iceland has gone far since the Kalmar Union.
Habemus Papam! We have an Innocentius on a throne!
A warrior and a diplomat? Nice!
The Regimental System will help our economy.
That's becasue Pope Innocentius XV has his own plans on how to spend Papal wealth.
For that, he hires Master of Mint, and pushes Treasury slider rightways.
We're minting 55 ducats monthly now.
Pope Innocentius XV realizes that most of Iraqi cities are under our control now.
He settles a peace treaty, taking Hawran, Gaza and Diamentia, as planned by his predecessor.
Immediately, maintenance on ships and armies is cut by almost half.
The glory of God will be in the splendor of his places of worship!
Not only does Pope Innocentius XV invite Rococco-style artisans in, he also decrees that we get some gilded icons too.
Churches and palaces of the bishops will now shine like the light of God himself!
During his reign we receive new infantry options.
Knowing how powerful we are, and how many allies we have, we can easily go full attack mode.
Caroline Infantry, go go go!
Once you present Innocentius XV with money, he takes it.
Especially if its free money.
Our third and last centre of trade, Alexandria, will have its own Stock Exchange as well.
Even more free stuff that we can get!
We join the Yugoslavian 'war' against Austria, allowing us to gather war taxes.
Pope Innocentius XV immediately begins second part of his plan: manufactories everywhere!
Textiles, refineries, weapon and naval equipment, you name it. Universities in few places, too.
To paraphrase a German baroque actress, Winnifred Operiah: "You get the money, and you get the money, everyone gets the money!"
First weapons manufactory will be in Trentino!
"They've elected whom?"
"King Karl I of Switzerland, your Holiness."
"Since when Switzerland is a Kingdom?" The papal nuncio could only shrug in response.
That doesn't stop us from declaring war to reconquer Chur.
We should also get around to taking Aleppo, too.
His plans only partially realized, Innocentius XV departs this world.
Habemus Papam! Pius VIII is... meh.
Hopefully he won't break anything.
The people of Judea are God-loving, Italian-educated people from now on!
And to think it happened during pontificate of rather mediocre Pope, heh.
Some spy work and siegeing later, the Swiss Emperor agrees to our demands.
Besides Chur, we pass Wallis to our vassal, Savoy. Apparently they had a core on that land.
So we have a core on Aleppo AND a mission for Damascus now?
Could there be a better set of targets??
*shakes fist at Liguria* Goddamn Genoese, get off my lawn!
Fortunately, Armata di Roma destroys the rebels in less than a month.
Once we capture Kaffa, capital of Trebizond, they neatly hand over Aleppo to us.
In few months, Sharizor, capital of Iraq, should fall. Then we grab Damascus!
And there we go, Damascus is ours!
For an average Pope, Pius VIII sure has a nice log of military victories.
If only he knew how to keep his Cardinals loyal. *sigh*
Maybe in the next update of this Let's Play, he will also have victories in diplomacy.
