In my current campaing as the Byz, you'd be inteested to know that the Khazars are doing rather well for themselves, give or take my limited reconnaissance capabilities. It's 1121 and I'm somwhat strapped for cash, since I'm now at war with FOUR other factions (Turk/Eggie/HungarySicily) and haven't had much opportunity to raise agents.

Now I could have attempted to bribe them at the start of the game but wasn't sure what to do about that situation where the stack is split into two portions, one garrisoned in a fort and the other in the field. In other words, do you only get half of them and immediately have to do battle?

I've seen those Royal Cavalrymen and they looked reasonably impressive, so I've not gone over my border to mess with them yet - not ready/not enough men/too busy on other fronts. Just glad they haven't come my way yet...
Worth noting that the RC's were in the garrison, so the bribe would have got the smaller half of the split force so, in spite of quality, I wouldn't have been able to acquire them without a certain amount of casualties (lots of HAs in the field army).

I got an inkling that something was up when I noticed that they'd been building stuff - most unusual for rebel stacks, in my experience. I sent a daugher up to Novgorod for a mosey and the port she arrived at (Baltic) was rebel-held, or worse - rebel built! Further inland, the Novs looked rather moribund, in terms of troop numbers.

Though I could barely afford them (really needed 1 or 2 VG units instead), I built the two ships required to link the capital to a Polish port (Moldavia?) and a Khazari port in Crimea. However, before the pair were even ready, the Polish province was taken - by the Khazars again - and its port destroyed. To make matters worse, a lousy rebellion on Rhodes (100 BI vs my 100 spears, which I autoresolved just to get it over with) now meant I was at war with *all* rebels. Since the Khazars share a border with me in Bulgaria and Georgia, I cannot disengage from this 'war' and the trade income I so desperately needed is now just a pipedream. Sicily will blockade me everywhere else, even assuming I could afford the number of ships required.

This is my first go at Expert level and already I'm finding it challenging. Nicve to see the rebels actually doing something for a change and this lot are looking to be more successful than some of the principal factions, at the moment.

Incidentally, when I've played as tyhe English, the Byz always seem to end up collapsing and confined to Rhodes. In this campaign, the French have just grabbed Wessex, so it looks like the boot is on the other foot this time. Why is it that some factions just totally crumble, so long as the AI is in charge?