happened yesterday playing Byzantium on Expert.

year one:
my 100Baz infantry and 12naptha d00ds face a rebellion in Southern Italy............. so i attack Rome.
Rome has some 500 peasants, spearmen and militia, and i somehow beat them.

year two:
i know however that the pope sitting in the Papal States to the north is not going to be a happy fellow, and thus he would counterattack.
banking on the fact that he would move the bulk of his forces from the Papal States to Rome I therefore decided to launch an attack on the Papal States. ships passing in the night and all that..................... only to find that el Pope'io had remained in the Papal States whilst all of his forces launched a glorious counterattack on Rome

year three:
62 Baz infantry and 6 Naptha d00ds took on 20 Papal knights............ and won.

112 men kill the Pope and annhilate the Catholic Church as a Faction. :D