On early vassal management: You immediately start over your Demesne limit. More mercs means you can fight faster and more frequent wars, as you don’t need to wait for your levy to replenish. There is no need to form Retinues or improve your holdings yet – I didn’t improve any holdings or form retinues until forming Italy spending on Retinues or holdings means less cash for Mercenaries. You need mercenaries to reliably win wars take the Business focus while you wait for your claims to fabricate. In the mean time focus on two things: vassal management and saving money. Start fabricating a claim on another county in de jure Ferrara so that you can create the Duchy for CB later. If you have lower than 16 Diplo on your chancellor, reroll. At 1066, the opportunity to expand in the HRE exists and Tuscany is the most powerful vassal in the region.
The 867 start has large dukes, but you will need to fight relatively large kings and you cannot expand within the HRE. This guide assumes you have most of the major DLCs, excluding Sons of Abraham and Charlemagne.
