Suggestion - Perhaps you can fall back on Piracy.... You could build an army of light infantry and Cretan archers and capture lightly defended settlements all along the African coast. Once you capture them you sell the population into slavery, and sell all of the buildings for money. That will net you some money that you can use to maintain your lifestyle. Then you can sell or give away the conquered cities too third parties. If that doesn't work, just crank up the tax rates, and abandon the city while raking in two turns of free tax money. Crete was renowned for its piracy, and your two-three city kingdom can become a major player in the Mediterranean if you are willing to play that role. This tactic can be especially effective in North Africa against Both Carthage and the Ptollie cities west of the Nile. Things are so spread out there, that you will be able to defeat local forces and escape before there is any response. Of course you can always give captured cites to the Greeks, Maks, or Romans so that the Ptolomies have to fight for their cities when they show up in force. The only real risk to this tactic is that your navy might get annihilated with your army on-board, and you will lose your offensive force (such are the travails of piracy). Other good targets for piracy are the various islands (if you don't keep them), Illyria, Southern Anatolia, and the Black sea basin.

As a big fan of Baktria, I am keeping an eye on this campaign. At least you tried to fight in the East before you migrated your faction, which is a pleasant change from most migration AARs...