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I Ching wrote:The image of this hexagram is that of a tree growing high on a mountain top. If this tree grows too fast, without first properly rooting itself, it becomes susceptible to being torn up and destroyed by the winds. If, however, it establishes a proper foundation and is content to grow gradually, it will enjoy a long life and a lofty view.
After the massive growth of the last session, for much of the early session I was struggling with rebels, and for the later bits involved with wars such that I never fully retained my balance. The winds were unkind to Korea, but not as unkind as they could have been, and it was mostly my mistakes with army management that kept my forces low.
Despite the rebels, the first order of business was expansion in the northeast. That gave me two important things: a gateway to Alaska (as Kagrygyn's port is unbelievably closer to Alaska than Penzhina's) and an infusion of cash.
All together, something like 500 ducats is looted from the tribes, which was almost enough to embrace the Renaissance on its own.

I apparently forgot to screenshot the end of the war with Chavchuveny.Second order of business was beginning the harmonization of Vajrayana buddhism, present in the state of Eastern Mongolia. It gives +5% production efficiency, which is (for some unclear reason) also used for determining settler chance, meaning it's important to get that underway quickly. My harmony was already somewhat low because of harmonizing Judaism, and I also have Zoroastrianism to harmonize next--I decided that, well, harmony can't go below 0, and so I'm going to both convert a lot of Tengri provinces (useful for getting the '10 provinces converted' that grants splendor in the Age of Reformation, as well as getting more true faith provinces, and Tengri, as part of the animist group, only gives -0.5 unrest if harmonized) and harmonize Vajrayana followed by Zoroastrianism, and then recover back up to high harmony.
In 1489, Korea is the first in the immediate area to embrace the Renaissance, though Candravamsas has had it for all of the session.
Xi was subbed this session, and the sub didn't have the mod ready at the start time, and so as per the rules was picked up in a rehost at the 30 minute mark. Unfortunately, during that time AI Xi decided to take the mandate from Ming, and in 1487 Yue Shuang becomes Emperor. He dies within the year, and Bai Luzhen (presumably a consort) takes over. With three roughly equally powerful players in China, the mandate is something of a white elephant--the other players are unlikely to bend the knee, and then you’re looking at steady mandate loss.
After the rehost, now that it has a player, Xi is attacked by Tianlan. Unlike their previous wars, this one is for the mandate, which would result in a truly crippling modifier. Korea’s armies are scattered to deal with rebels and Northerners, but a 6k stack starts sieging in Jiangsu.
At the start of the war, Xi has a 27k stack (impressive, given that they started the session with only about 6k men) and Tianlan has two stacks of approximately 20k each, which are split to attack Xi from the east and South. But the opportunity to strike while they’re separated passes, and afterwards the two stacks are rarely more than a province apart as they walk through Xi. An attempt to siege down Hangzhou has to be called off, and the war proceeds inexorably.
The rest of the Korean army finally arrives, evening out the numbers, but the war is already at a late stage; Xi’s forts, taken by Tianlan, prevent the Korean army from joining the Xinese army and forcing a major battle. Tianlan, uninterested in fighting an even war, peaces out Korea for some provinces in Jiangsu, which will eventually lead to Korea holding its victory card there. Tianlan takes the eastern half of Xi, reaching a staggering 170% overextension, and forgets to take the Mandate.
This leads us to the 1490s. In 1491, Korea advances to miltech 8, leading to Asian Arquebusiers. Hyohye, now renowned as a conqueror, pays close attention to the education of military leaders to ensure that they correctly use this new technology.
Korea has two colonists in Alaska, slowly working their way eastward. Exploration ideas are finished in 1496, activating Korea's third national idea. As per the Scholar idea set, this is now an additional 10% reduction in each of the tech costs; add on to Korea's traditions of -10% tech cost, and it's no wonder that Korea ends the session as tech leader, with level 9 in all three techs. (I'm aware of four others at 26, and many have miltech 9, so it's not a huge edge.)
I had thought, at the start of the session, about investing a bunch of mana into getting as many of my ports as possible to 12 development, to increase the chance of colonialism spawning in one of my provinces. I decided to instead invest it in other things, and colonialism spawns in western France. This provides the opportunity to boost Suwon, the new home of Zoroastrianism (which has been banished from the Middle East), up to 20 dev so that it can eventually be harmonized. Once the first colonial nation comes online, it'll be about four years from finishing--which might be too slow, and so I may bump Suwon up further next session. (Low harmony is biting me here, with the 25% penalty, but it's mostly just canceling out other bonuses.)
In 1504, Hyohye becomes Expansionist, giving a much-needed boost to settlement. The Highly Developed Colonies boost gives +3 dev to colonies when they finish... so long as we're still in the Age of Discovery, which likely will come to an end shortly.
In 1507, the unmarried queen finally marries a Korean noble. What would have been normal if the genders are reversed is instead somewhat scandalous--she's 54, he's 16. At about the same time, Korea gets another female heir. Since Hyohye is too old to have children of her own, we'll assume she had an unmentioned daughter, who married Prince-Consort Jang Gyeong, and then died in childbirth, and so now the grandchild is heir apparent with her father as potential regent. Or maybe I should go with her robbing the cradle and having a miracle baby?
Also, there are apparently only two female names in EU4's Korean culture list, so this one is
also called Hyohye. She's a mediocre 2/4/2, which is at least better than Yi Jung who she replaced, who had passed away some time ago.
In 1508, Xi loses a war for the Mandate of Heaven to Hsenwi, an unremarkable nation in Indochina that's allied to Candravamsas (Khan, absent for this session). Korea answered the call to arms but couldn't do much against Candravamsas, and so just knocked out Hsenwi's army and retreated, which wasn't enough. Now with the crippling penalty for having lost the mandate, Xi is rent asunder by rebels, with four different separatist movements with armies greater than the main government's, and the Civil War disaster well on its way to happening.