Wooh, update!
Alot has happened since last time in my Ming epic. A very effective series of wars with Japan had just started. The first war I touched upon last time I got the south asain island. The second war I got the three provinces that make up the southern Japanese island. The third war got a few more. The forther effort was the best, I had troops still sitting on Japanese lands from the last war, so the instant they decced me, I got a 55% warscore, good to take 3 provences. I didn't lose a single man. The next war, (rather quickly afterwards) I reuded them to three provinces. I annexed them to conclude the 7th and final Japenese war of agrresion. Meanwhile, I proceded to finish off the timurids and perisans. I continued to fight the Mamaluks, and they are almost finished now, down to a single province (see screenie). I reduced to indians nations down to eventually just the V. Once they lost their last ally (who orginally had 10 provs), I was pretty much able to dominate them. They've got a few provs left that will be taken soon (again, screenie). The main advancements have been made in Russia and in central asia. The lands taken off the Persians and Mamaluks led to a recent couple wars with the Ottomans. I have managed to annex all of the Ottomans allies, as well as take some land off them. The next Ottoman war should see the first large scale land gains, however. All their provs left to the east of their capital will be taken. They are unable to reinforce them due to my province selection (again, see screenie).
The largest issue has been in the north, in Russia, Lithunia, Sweden, and Poland. I continued to war Russia factions, and took most of them down. Eventually this led to all but Norvgood being eliminated by myself and Lithunia, who was now massive. This began a series of wars between myself and Lithunia, Poland, and Sweden (all allied). My basic strategy was to take a couple provs off Poland and Sweden and get a seperate peace, while holding on as I could against Lithunia, then working to get a white peace off them. Eventually that switched to getting one provence off Lithunia, with Sweden dropping from the allience around the same time. My last two wars with Lithunia have been very successful, and I feel despite their still formidable size, they are no longer a threat.
Now 100 years into the campaign, here stands the Empire:
The homeland and Japan:
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3990/eu31lh9.th.png
India (note the occupation of all their provinces by my armies):
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4070/eu32hw5.th.png
Central Asia:
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2314/eu33gt3.th.png
South African holdings:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1864/eu34ow7.th.png
North Africa and Turkey:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6554/eu35no5.th.png
And finally, the fancinating state of the areas around Russia and Eastern Europe:
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8788/eu311ma3.th.png