Is England to Scandinavia a shorter distance than Anatolia to Egypt?

Mostly I'm thinking of a "War of Words" situation. Say the "Count" (or whatever title he has) of Scandinavia has a conflict with the Duke of Edinburgh and starts a Civil War. Will it be less of a hassle for one to reach the other than when Tristan and Iggy wanted to fight it out?

I like England's roster as well, and think they work well with the rules as written (although I'm also fond of factions with muskets and other late era troops, like Spain and Venice). Maybe the issue of far flung territories could be partly resolved by toning down the 2 units per ship rule and making it easier for players to get their own ships that can't be taken away (at least not easily).

Could you explain your idea about mercenaries in greater detail? It sounded interesting...