
The first few years of Regency pass smoothly, us devoting time to construction and diplomacy.
Then Byzantium asks us to participate in a war in Middle East. We decide to send in our mighty fleet.

Such a lazy time is perfect for upgrading our troops a little.

Time for revelry and laziness is over! King Friedrich III, despite a Hungarian, has Prussian blood in his veins.
His first order is preparation for conquest of Hesse. We lost the effects of Overextension few weeks later.

Quite a few people join against us, and Byzantium cowardly breaks alliance when we call for participation.

Hessian army is defeated at Hesse and then annihilated at Frankfurt, allowing us to spread our armies.
Friedrich III is entertaining the idea of annexing Aachen and Bremen as well. We will see how it does for our Infamy.

The fighting shows that our army could use a reform.
"Discipline will reign supreme." Says King Friedrich III Bathory.
In meanwhile, we annex Bremen and Verden.

Most improtantly, we annex Gelre, a trading centre in the Netherlands (we demolish it after the war, because shifts in trade caused its value to drop by about half).
This leaves us with little infamy left for conquest of Hesse...

But there's a plan in Friedrich III's mind.
He cuts Hesse apart, allowing us to annex the crucial province of Hesse at a later date.

Another cooldown period is in place, our diplomats working hard to bring our reputation back.
Meanwhile, King Friedrich III catches the whiff of changes in architectural styles, and is one of first to promote Neoclassicism in Europe.

A small war to remind Ulm that blobbing is bad takes place in 1764.
We have them release Wurttemberg, shattering Ulm so hard it relegates itself to the province of Sundgau.

Utrecht kept inciting rebellions in our lands.
Utrecht was punished.

We can finally wage war against Hesse, and conquer their lands required for unification of Germany.
And no, that purple blob to the left isn't Byzantium. It's Hainaut, a Waloon Kingdom seemingly bent on carving itself a little empire. They're cool dudes, they can stay.

And there we go. Hesse is out of commission and their central province belongs to us (so does Aachen, by the way).
THe next fifty years, we could simply wait, but who would do that if there's plenty of wars to fight?