From Austria to the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets

The huge land and population are the foundation of the empire. For Austria, it must either go south to replace the Ottomans, or go east to replace Russia, or both. Simply exploring the New World westward will only repeat the mistakes of the British and sooner or later face the problem of overseas territories (colonies) developing beyond the mainland.

As a ruler, the protagonist really doesn't pay enough attention to armaments. From weapons and armor to military pay and food, he doesn't pay much attention to it. It doesn't mean that just changing the organization and accepting the fate of a few relatively capable commanders can do it...

Is it possible to disable system and panel properties? What a show

The first country I played when I entered eu4 was Austria. I hope the author can stick to it.

The protagonist and Louis XI are really a pair of hard-luck mandarin ducks. Louis XI fought a civil war for 10 years to centralize power, and the protagonist is now going to fight a civil war because of centralization, and is going to war with the internal opposition nobles and princes🤣Louis XI is on the front foot, and the protagonist is on the back foot. After watching it, I found it so funny🤪

Let's talk about the rule, threats, etc. In the book First of all, although the empire established by the protagonist currently has many threats, in general, external threats are secondary and internal threats are the main ones. The reason why external threats are said to be secondary is because legal principles are too important in Central and Western Europe, and it is really difficult to gain ground without legal principles. Looking at the land occupation situation so far, Milan was inherited by treaty; the land part of Venice was actually the territory of the HRE, which was occupied by Venice around the beginning of the 15th century, and it was natural for the emperor to take it back; attacking Switzerland also took back the clan land; attacking the Palatinate and Bavaria took away more land; in terms of the weakest legal system and the largest land area, the attack on Poland and the partition of Savoy, the two together may only have tens of thousands of square kilometers of land. If the emperor is like this, will it be easy for the emperor's opponents to gain ground? You have to eat it in small bites. With the size of the current emperor, it is not painful at all to simply face the failure of the Catholic country several times. What about insider threats? One is active enfeoffment. The other was the enfeoffment forced by the pressure of local nobles (such as Poland forcing Lajos). After the enfeoffment, the princes continued to fight. This kind of destructive power is the greatest, and it is very likely to be supported by external forces. Therefore, suppressing the aristocratic forces of the subordinate kingdoms has always been the emperor's main goal in his future life, and ensuring that the parliaments of various countries do not interfere with the right of inheritance is the basic goal. Of course, the current general environment is on the side of the emperor, because the expansion of the rights of nobles in various countries takes advantage of the fact that the king needs their support (soldiers or wealth), especially when some foreign monarchs move in. As far as the current oriental form is concerned, let alone a time traveler, the protagonist is an aboriginal. In the context of the 15th century when all countries began to polarize, as long as the Habsburg family can maintain a stable transition for 2 to 3 generations, a relatively stable long-term rule can be achieved. Therefore, how to arrange several sons in place is the top priority. Let's talk about each region. First is France. France will undoubtedly be the long-term enemy of Habsburg in the future, even if it interrupts the current polar circle road of Louis XI. Because there are relatively few nobles in France itself, mainly some big nobles, and most of these big nobles are branches of the Capet family, and the rest are mainly concentrated in the south. Of course, I am not saying that these branches are of the same mind as the French King, but that they are relatively easy to integrate when combined with the French inheritance system. During this period, European countries, especially the Germanic countries, implemented Salic law, but the French royal family was the strictest. Royal women and their male descendants had no inheritance rights. What other semi-Salic and quasi-Salic laws are there? At least female descendants still have the right to inherit. (You can go to Station B to see their differences. Insert here, in southern France, Italy, Spain and other areas where more Roman culture remains, women can inherit, so there are many queens, duchess and counts. The Hundred Years War between England and France means that Britain will use quasi-Salic law to inherit the French throne. According to quasi-Salic law, the male heir after the protagonist's son marries the eldest daughter of the current British King has a high probability of ascending to the throne). This makes it impossible for France to be ruled by foreign nobles. At the same time, once the royal family is extinct, the collateral lines can inherit first, such as the Orleans branch later, and finally the familiar Bourbon branch. Of course, I don't say it won't weaken France, but I personally feel that the most it can achieve is Champagne and the Rhône Valley. Can Champagne Bold Charlie get his hands on it? It's hard to say, but at least if he gets the claim, the future emperor can have a legitimate excuse to help his son defeat it. The Rhone Valley also plays a role. Not only is it the only channel for France to conduct Mediterranean trade, it can also protect Northern Italy. The biggest cause of Northern Italy's separation from the HRE is actually the competition between Habsburg and France in Italy in the 16th century. As for the legal principle, isn't it the title of the king of Burgundy who controls it? Of course, if you feel that your appetite is too big, you can actually eat Lyon and Dauphine. Provence must be independent to maintain its independence. Strictly speaking, Provence is not the land of the French king, but belongs to a branch of your Capetian family inherited through marriage. The emperor has full legal rights to prohibit the French king from merging (actually it also makes the French king no longer have claims to the Kingdom of Naples and Jerusalem). Britain doesn't have much to say. Now that its strength is there, the best thing is to help it take back Normandy and Gastigne, so that Britain can focus its main energy on land instead of engaging in any big voyages. The interior of Shinra is a cesspool. There is no hope of integration without a bloody fight. It can be said that the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic War eliminated a large number of church territories and small nobles, laying the foundation for future generations. As for relying on extermination of heirs and purchasing territory, I'm afraid you have to wait until the flowers have faded. The policies currently implemented are still the historical system, including the establishment of large regions, standing armies, general taxes, establishment of courts, and a permanent ban on revenge. However, I personally feel that this system has changed greatly because of the environment. It is not feasible to continue this kind of reform, because it is a product of compromise. The author's idea is to control it first, so that everyone can get used to the emperor's management, and then take it slow. But in fact, this system is also a great restriction on the emperor. Have you ever thought about it? Why did the elector and the princes agree to the historical reforms only because of the external threats from the Ottomans and France? Or can they get something good out of it? At the top of the HRE are the seven elector princes, who have independent administrative, judicial, and taxation rights and are completely sovereign. Next are the imperial princes (both secular and religious) who have separate voting rights, and their privileges are slightly smaller. Then there were the imperial cities, which were often excluded from imperial rights. In addition, there are two types, one is a group of small nobles who jointly hold one vote, and most of them are imperial counts and barons who are directly subordinate to the emperor. The last one is the imperial knights who do not have the right to vote, and they are also directly subordinate to the emperor. The relationship between these various hierarchies can be said to be complicated due to historical reasons or inheritance issues. For example, Regensburg is a free city, but there are two monasteries at the imperial prince level within the city, and there is also a territory directly under the Duke of Bavaria. You can imagine how many disputes there will be over land, population dependence, inheritance, etc. Historically, it was impossible for Haburg to directly negotiate with so many people. In fact, how much tax each level should pay and how much military force should be shared may be a very rough estimate, because you do not have the ability to conduct a census of the population and land. As for collection, you can only rely on the great nobles. This gives the electors room to operate, such as collecting taxes from the Imperial Knights, Imperial Counts, etc. On behalf of the Emperor. This kind of initiation may determine the affiliation between the two parties over time. At the same time, Habao, including the author, has always been adhering to the idea of ​​poaching the corners of the empire. They only want to take without paying, and they must go through the election system in name by the Shinra Emperor. But it is precisely this idea that hinders the speed of integrating the empire. You cannot provide protection to these imperial cities, direct knights, and nobles, and are unwilling to invest money to support officials to investigate and clean up their population and land. Is it possible for them to provide money for free? Therefore, appropriate changes are very necessary, because the current Haburg, whether it is military pressure or financial capabilities, is far stronger than Maximian in history. The focus of attention is on those forces directly under the emperor. If you study the map carefully, you will find that these forces are very concentrated in Swabia, Franconia, the Hesse region of Lower Rhine and other central and southern Germany except Bavaria. Moreover, these three areas are full of force. For example, the peasant wars in the early 16th century, mercenaries' victory over production areas, the knight brotherhood's resistance to the lord's refusal to tax, etc. All took place in this area (why resist taxes? It's the reason I mentioned above, and even defeated the Ansbach border guard). This can be operated in conjunction with the regional system. However, although they are nominally under the direct control of the emperor, if a major conflict of interest arises, they will definitely rise up and resist. The emperor's infringement of their interests is essentially the same as other big nobles' infringement of them (this article did not express it well, The Second Crusade requires the Free City to pay more taxes. Since the protagonist still thinks it's good, they are the ones who pay the most taxes. Why do they need to pay taxes? It's because they need the emperor to provide military protection to prevent them from being invaded by the neighboring nobles. If you do this, aren't you pushing people into the opponent's hands?) But no matter what, it is wise to start with these three. For example, some brotherhoods of knights in the name of the empire can be established, and then sent to the east to become the HRE version of the Sipasi cavalry. It is unrealistic to have to be fully standing military. One is finance, and the other is the assimilation of pagan local fiefdom systems. When establishing a customs union among the three regions and free movement of farmers (this kind of place is destined to have a much higher proportion of free citizens than other major regions with large aristocrats in the Shinra), what the emperor needs most at the moment at least is population. As for the money, in my opinion, it should be used directly in the local area, such as supporting tax collectors and officials, supporting a defensive army, and even some public construction, etc. If possible, appropriate subsidies can be provided. As for North Germany, it could only rely on the Teutonic Knights for force and then intervene on the platform of the Hanseatic League to exert influence. Although the Hanseatic League was very loose in history, it might not be able to play more roles after the emperor intervened. In the final analysis, the protagonist's mentality within the Shinra should change. It cannot be a purely blood-sucking mentality. Historically, Haburg did not have the strength to challenge all other princes, but the protagonist already has it. So is there any difference whether these vassals directly under the emperor belong to the emperor or Haburg? Who else will come out to run for office? The so-called right of the elector to elect the emperor has been reduced to a decoration. Poland, this is the focus of the next step. At least in my opinion, the priority has been raised before the Ottomans, and it is the focus of diplomacy during the period before the splitting of the skull. Although many people think it is useless and the local power of the nobles is too large, but the geographical position is there, you don't care whether they will come back to bite you sooner or later. And are the Polish nobles just monolithic and have nothing to use for me? Poland has several major geographical plates, one is Greater Poland and Lesser Poland that we are most familiar with, the other is Silesia, and the last one is the Principality of Malawi. The earliest Longxing land was Greater Poland with Poznan as the core, including Gniezno on the side, which was also the earliest bishopric. After the dispute, the center moved to Lesser Poland, headed by Krakow. The size of Poland together belongs to the Polish crown. Then you say that although Malawi has won over half of the Lesser Polish nobles to rebel and come to power, do you think he will definitely be able to stand firm? This is obviously impossible. I don't know how many battles the civil war has been fought, but who will pay the necessary compensation? We need you during the rebellion, and you will definitely be needed after the rebellion is over? In addition, the Duke of Malawi himself lost a lot of money just after taking office, so his prestige is probably under the bed. There is a conflict between the nobles of the Principality of Malawi and the nobles of Lesser Poland. I am afraid that the nobles of Greater Poland and the nobles of Lesser Poland are not of the same mind (I remember that Sigismund was the noble of Greater Poland who first went to Poland to quell the rebellion. I don't know if I remember correctly). Of course, from the perspective of Polish nobles, it would be ideal for Grand Duke Casimir of Lithuania to take the throne. But if the emperor now openly makes a request for the Polish throne, will Casimir dare to fight for it? This undoubtedly raises a big question mark. As for how to get a claim? It feels like bribed some nobles to make a petition. The reason is that Sigismund accepted the allegiance of the Polish nobles, but was rejected by Jadwiga's mother Elizabeth. The question is, does Elizabeth have the qualifications? To put it bluntly, Kazimierz is not Yadwiga's son. The Celje family and the Piast family on the protagonist's mother's side have been married to each other, so they are related. Strictly speaking, the legal principles of both sides are not enough, and they need to rely on their strength to speak, and the protagonist's strength has an overwhelming advantage. Of course, in my opinion, blind pressure is not the way to go. Can we win a crown for Lithuania? Russia's most important Tsar Ivan III has come to power, and with the destruction of the Fortress, the marriage of a Byzantine princess in history has not happened, but the independence of the Rus' diocese has been foreshadowed for a long time. For Lithuania, this enemy has always been a formidable enemy. Lithuania's own population is too small, and most of the people under its rule are Orthodox Rus. In Northern Europe, Denmark and Sweden were still at war during this period, and the threat was not yet obvious. But it can be done gradually to enhance the emperor's influence in Northern Europe. The general idea is to ensure the disintegration of the Kalmar Union, that is, Denmark cannot be allowed to unite with Sweden and let it try its best to fight for life and death and make a fortune in silence. For example, now that the Knights have most likely recovered slowly, but Denmark is going bankrupt (they can't get a dowry even if they marry Scotland), then they can support the Knights to buy back Gotland, which was sold to Denmark. Strengthen and consolidate the trade monopoly in the Baltic Sea as much as possible. Of course, don't put too much hope in the Hanseatic League. This organization is too loose, and the Hanseatic cities are not equal to the Imperial Free Cities, but the Imperial Free Cities occupy a dominant position in it. Many other cities are actually subordinate cities of various princes, such as many cities under the Teutonic Knights. East. It has been said internally in Asia Minor that it does not mean that it cannot be completely withdrawn when the protagonist is in power, but the risk is too great. Unless you have a strong light cavalry team that has been in decline for a long time, how to manage it is the core issue. In my opinion, this area is the place that can be enfeoffed. Implementing the fief system is much more effective than establishing a central standing reserve. Because you don't have so many Turkic local officials who are familiar with the place. If you follow the long-term autonomy of the Ottomans, you are actually digging a hole for yourself. Then taxation and population census are nonsense, so sealing it out is the best. The knights themselves are tax collectors. They come to provide military obligations to share the pressure. At the same time, because they go down to the grassroots level, their control over the grassroots + the progress of conversion is more appropriate than creating a polar circle from the beginning. However, if you want to fight back to Jerusalem in your lifetime, it is most appropriate to fight against Egypt first. Egypt, the Levant, and Iraq actually had more Christians in medieval population proportions than Asia Minor (at least in 2025, Egypt had 16%, Syria had 14%, Jordan had quite a few, and Lebanon had nearly half, but the country was too small to be a reference, and Iraq had 10 to 20% before World War I). I personally guess there are two reasons. The first is the tug-of-war between the Turks and Byzantium in the central and western parts of Asia Minor. The second is that this area is close to the Balkans. The long-term war has allowed some people who are unwilling to convert to migrate away. In general, the fief system will be implemented in areas such as Asia Minor and Egypt in the future, and it cannot be the kind of big lords who are dukes and earls at every turn, but small knights. On this basis, knights and knight brotherhoods will be formed to accept the leadership of the empire (a small number of big nobles will also exist but cannot be the mainstream). Of course, in order to conform to the European tradition, it must be a hereditary system. These knights mainly come from the three imperial circles of the Holy Roman Empire mentioned above, Hungary, or Poland. Many of them also cover Italy, France, Spain and other places. It's just an exchange of interests. The protagonist tightens some of the polar circles in Europe, but leaves everything open and uses the land and population of the East to make up for it. In the Balkans, there was a need for vigorous polarization. Byzantium was actually far larger than the European polar circle at that time. Its biggest problem was the inheritance system. As long as this problem was overcome and the threat from the west was gone, the natural conditions of the Greek and Bulgarian regions in the Balkans and the human and financial resources provided by these nearly 2 million people would not necessarily be worse than Great Hungary. In order to lay a solid foundation, I personally feel that it is actually necessary for the emperor to stay in the Castle for 2 to 3 years. During this period, the land and population will be inventoried and redistributed, the official system will be rebuilt, a large amount of wasteland can be planned as a royal estate, white slaves can be used to establish cotton plantations, etc.

As of this book, after taking the castle, if Habo continues to develop🤔 The entire dynasty should be: HRE+Lowlands+Burgundy+Spain+Portugal+Balkans and Eastern Rome in Asia Minor+Southern Italy And all colonization belongs to Habbo😨Even if the Thirty Years War broke out in 1618, how could the Protestants win? The Habbo in 1618 in this book is at least four to five times stronger than the real Habbo🤔

Now the princes of the empire are opposing for the sake of opposition. The emperor has three gold mines and several vassal states. The country has not experienced war and cannot maintain an army of 100,000 people. How many troops can your princes have? Why should they resist the emperor if they can fight for how many years?

The first is the protagonist himself: the protagonist inherited Bohemia, Hungary, and Serbia from his mother, which can be regarded as filling up the entire family in Luxembourg; one of the protagonist's two sisters married Charles of Burgundy and died of illness after giving birth to Mary, and the other sister married the Grand Duke of Lithuania and gave birth to four sons, so it seems that the protagonist himself cannot get any claims. The protagonist's eldest son: The eldest son's wife is his aunt's daughter, so he mainly preys on Charles's family. Currently, in addition to his own Kingdom of Burgundy, Charlie is also currently competing for the Kingdom of France. Therefore, the eldest son's main claim depends on the outcome of the war between Charles and the King of France. If he is guaranteed to be the King of Burgundy, he may get France. One more thing to mention, France officially adopted the Salic Code (completely depriving female offspring of inheritance rights) as the royal inheritance law in 1593. The time in the book (the second half of the fifteenth century) is the period when the Salic Code was gradually "sanctified" in France. In earlier times, the Salic Code was actually more of a tool to counter the claims of the British King. Even the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 recognized the British King's inheritance rights, but Henry V was unlucky and died too early. Therefore, in this era, the protagonist's son is actually eligible to inherit Charles's throne of France (if Charles can get the title). The protagonist's second son: No claim. Because his wife is from Naples, there are quite a few male heirs in Naples. The third son of the protagonist: can obtain the claim of King of England, but there are variables. The wife of the third son is the eldest daughter of King Edward IV of England. Although Edward IV had two sons, in history, after the successful counterattack against England, his son was usurped by his younger brother Richard III. After being imprisoned for a long time, both sons were killed by Richard III. Therefore, this marriage can bring about a strong claim by the King of England, but the variable is whether Richard III in the book dares to usurp the throne. The protagonist's fourth son: the son of the new wife. Because the new wife's only brother, the "Perfect Monarch" João II, died young, the new wife has a strong claim to Portugal. In addition, the protagonist's father-in-law, Alfonso V, is married to Princess Juana, the only daughter of King Enrique IV of Castile. As long as he can win the succession battle for the Castilian throne, he can also get the throne of Castile. Later, the fourth son can be married to the crazy woman Juana in history, and then he can unify Iberia. Looking at it as a whole, the current protagonist and his sons, except for a few countries such as Poland, Denmark, Lithuania, Scotland, and Naples, have strong claims to almost all major European countries and are even the first heirs. It doesn't matter what the undeclared countries are. It's a pity that Poland and Lithuania can't eat it. The two families are very close, but the protagonist's sister is too fertile 🤭

At that time, France was the only country in Europe that could achieve centralized monarchy and centralized power.