More CK2, the Aladdin achievement is almost within my grasp! Sunday was a banner day:

• I called China to shatter the empire of Mali, although I ended up having to do all of the actual fighting as they putzed around the tibetan mountains... but it was worth it to declare war on three of the dukes and kings born out of the shattering before they could join the defensive pacts against me and gobble up land that would have taken decades to conquer in just a few years.

• Soon after, China got hit with a devastating plague and I took my shot to break out of being a tributary. I had been forced to hundreds of years ago while all of Christendom was crusading me for Jerusalem and I obviously couldn't fight both. I'd tried before but their troops were too strong. But the plague meant the spawned troops had really shitty comps of mostly light infantry so I was able to hold them off for long enough to become independent! No longer must I suffer under the yoke of the Western Protectorate and pay half my income to them