Hard is pretty hard!

[Zarky]

Looking at the Global Achievement stats for winning campaigns -

Easy - 4%
Medium - 0.7%
Hard - 0.1%
Very Hard - 0%
Legendary - 0%

Hard to say what these numbers actually mean, but it's certainly consistent with the theory that Shogun 2's campaign is pretty tough. Good job, CA!

I'd imagine other people ran into the same problem I did, going way too unprepared for Realm Divide.
The real reason it's so challenging is because you're essentially deprived of all trade, and I've always relied on trade for my money in Total Wars.