honestly it would been better if the mc just stuck with trading even more so in war times do you know how much you can just jack up the price of iron and grain in those times, or maybe create a corporation of trade like the east india company of the british , the voc or the vice royalty of portuguese india by the way by east india company of the british and voc i mean when they were just trading not the conquest and rampant corruption and exploitation; or even nowwith the whole war thing the mc could just gunboat diplomacy a country to only trade through the mc easy money to get luxury liner or even outright conquest though that doesnt seem in the spirit of the series.