I'll echo Empirate's sentiments - I also heeded the advice of the masters and concentrated on trade and shipbuilding. I also established Malta as my initial crusade base.

Naples fell first, and when the Byz had some "loyalty issues" I pounced on the newly rebellious provinces of Crete and Rhodes. These two, along with Malta, were used for military purposes (and while teching up, I kept pumping ships out of all 5).

I was absolutely amazed at what you can get out of essentially just Sicily and Naples! In the early years, I had Sicily pumping over 9,000 florins per year, and Naples over 5,000!

Crusades soon secured Antioch and Tripoli, and with the Eggies still in a state of shock, I pushed on into Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Sinai. Palestine became my new crusade base, allowing my to crush the Eggy pocket up in Edessa....lo and behold, now nobody else can get any crusade points! And if you thought I was scoring some florins before, wow! I soon had Antioch contributing well over 8,800 florins per year and Tripoli a further 5,000....

So, flush with cash, and quite happy with the state of the world thus far, I consolidated for a while. Rebellions again opened the door for me to seize Cyprus and Sardinia - and all the while the cash just keeps rolling in.....

I am enjoying Sicily!